Posted on 08/20/2004 7:28:53 PM PDT by Pikamax
The National Down Syndrome Society is extremely disappointed by Maureen Dowd's recent use of the term "extra chromosome conservatives" in an interview on Bill Maher's show "Real Time" on HBO. Using "extra chromosome" as a negative descriptor is insensitive and demeaning to the more than 350,000 people in the United States who have Down syndrome, which occurs when there is an extra copy of the 21st chromosome. Regardless of who originally coined the term "extra chromosome conservatives," Ms. Dowd has perpetuated it as a slur again hundreds of thousands of Americans who are contributing members of society and who deserve the same respect that we all expect.
NOTE: I have contacted The New York Times and requested a response but my contact left for the weekend. Hopefully, I will have more on Monday.
We all know Maureen Dowd is always good for a cheap laugh at the expense of the less fortunate and this time she hit the trifecta as she came out swinging against persons with Down Syndrome on HBO the other night. The always uproarious Dowd has managed to conflate false statements about stem-cell research with disparaging comments about evangelical christians, conservatives and persons with Down's Syndrome by labelling opponents of stem-cell research as "extra-chromosome conservatives."
The medical definition of Down Syndrome is a duplicate appearance of "Chromsome 21" hence Dowd's use of the term "extra-chrosome".
For those who don't know...
Down Syndrome is one of the most common chromosome problems. It is a problem your baby is born with and has for the rest of his life. There is no cure or way to prevent Down Syndrome from happening. Most children with Down Syndrome look different and have more health problems than other children. A Down Syndrome child may learn to do things more slowly and have some amount of mental retardation. Accepting that a child has Down Syndrome can be difficult for parents. It is normal and common for parents to feel sad, angry, and guilty.
As noted above, it is often very difficult for parents to deal with Down Syndrome but one of the best ways is for internationally known satirists to riducule their children on national television - or in newspapers column syndicated to hundreds of newspapers.
Dowd was at it again during an appearance on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. In this case, the topic is stem-cell research by which she probably means embryonic stem-cell research so she is not only raising the topic of Down's Syndrome but doing so in the context of a debate over a form of selective abortion which is an issue of relevance to unborn children with Down's Syndrome. Nice!
The relevent portion of the transcript follows:
Dowd: ...She's [Teresa Heinz Kerry] been sort of eclipsed this week by Laura Bush, I think.
Maher: Yeah, who, ah, said she came out against the stem cell research. Why is she an expert on something so technical?
Dowd: Because Karl Rove thinks that if the Bush White House gets four million more evangelical votes than they did last time it ensures Bush's re-election, which means he's not his dad. And so they've dragged poor Laura Bush out to go for this, what Lee Atwater used to call the extra-chromosome conservatives.
NOTE: A Lexis/Nexis search shows no such statement ever attributed to Lee Atwater but we all know Dowd does not like to get too picky when sourcing her material! And hey, what better way to slip this term into the conversation than use it to criticize conservatives and then blame a Republican! She's good!
Dowd has used this term previously in print including this Liberties column from 2001.
HAT TIP: TND Reader Gary Krasner
UPDATE: I have passed this information along to the folks at the National Down Syndrome Society for their comment.
UPDATE: Apparently Dowd was confusing Lee Atwater with Al Gore who reportedly used the term "extra-chromosome conservatives" in the 2000 campaign (HAT TIP: C. Dodd)
UPDATE: The National Down Syndrome Society has issued a statement condemning Dowd.
Typical liberals. Smug, arrogant and oh-so-condescending towards anyone who doesn't lap up their foolishness.
Sad, really.
are you sure it isn't Dowd Syndrome?
If Dowd wasn't such an extreme left winger caught using such a slur against conservatives the press would have already made her leave her job at the NYT...
Maureen is that weird off kilter girl we all know who needs Prozac and never seems to get laid.
Remind you - of anyone?
Thanks for the CZJ picture. That's the only reason I stop by on Dowd threads. CJZ looks yummy in that shot.
Maureengoloid Dowd is funny. Bernard Chapin wrote some good ones about her stuff.
What's the deal with the Zeta-Jones pics? Not that they aren't easy on the eye of course...
Dowd used to date Michael Douglas and was thrown over for the lovely Zeta-Jones.
Eugenics has always been on the agenda of the radical feminists, who take after their godmother Maggie Sanger. Maybe they know that it can happen in the "best" of families, but their solution is still theelimination of such childrem. Only those children who pass their tests will be allowed to live. Can't get rid of Down's Syndrone, but they can rid the world of people who suffer from it.
We all know that most libs think Downs Syndrome children should have been aborted.
as usual, Real Time with Bill Maher is schilling for the pinks. I have many times e-mailed and called HBO to stop using my monthly fees to subsidize these biased shows in addition to their soft and hard porn and their def/hiphop crap. If not for sopranos and movies, I would ditch it...
I don't find the retarded funny topic.
Is she going to impugn Holocaust victims next?
This is the same thing 'ol Alpha Gore had to apologize for a few years ago. It plays big with the hating, red meat liberals. You'd think she would have learned.
"Dowd was confusing Lee Atwater with Al Gore"
These people still think we're too stupid to be able to check out what they say. This fact is why they will lose the election.
NATIONAL DOWN SYNDROME SOCIETY SLAMS MAUREEN DOWD FOR "INSENSATIVE AND DEMEANING...SLUR"
Since it's in quotes, I assume the National Down Syndrome Society doesn't know how to spell insensitive either??
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