"As you might know I care deeply about stem cell research,"
"In Missouri you can elect Claire McCaskill, who shares my hope for cures."
(Lie #1) "Unfortunately, Senator Jim Talent opposes expanding stem cell research,"
(Lie #2) "Senator Talent even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us a chance for hope."
"what you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans. Americans like me."
(The Senate bill)
Earlier this year, Talent WITHDREW his support for a Senate bill that would ban all embryonic stem cell research and impose a million-dollar fine and jail sentence on violators.
(Missouri Amendment 2)
But he opposes the Missouri ballot initiative, claiming it would "make cloning human life at the earliest stage a constitutional right."
Supporters of the state referendum deny that assertion, noting the language of the proposed constitutional amendment explicitly bans human cloning.
Novak Writes about the amendment 2 obfuscation
But Amendment 2 is identified for many Missouri voters by the language at the beginning of the five-page, 2,000-word ballot initiative: "No person may clone or attempt to clone a human being." That explains why polls have shown a substantial margin of support for the constitutional amendment, also backed by key Republican politicians and business interests. It seems to offer the best of all worlds: government support of stem cell research without fear of cloning.
The problem is that the proposal so narrowly defines cloning as to open the door in Missouri to any cloning procedure that takes place outside the womb.
Talent at that time was taking no position on Amendment 2, but he has since come out against it. In a recent debate with the Democratic Senate candidate, state Auditor Claire McCaskill, on NBC's "Meet the Press," Talent said the proposal "would create ... an unqualified constitutional right to clone the earliest stages of human life. " But he hastened to add he is not against stem cell research.
Amendment 2 bans only cloning that involves planting an embryo within the womb. It specifically prohibits government from interfering with somatic cell nuclear transfer, which involves replacing the nucleus of a human egg outside the womb -- the cloning procedure used to produce Dolly the sheep.
Unequivocally, the proposal tries to keep politicians from interfering with its approved cloning process:
"[N]o state or local government body or official shall eliminate, reduce, deny or withhold any public funds provided or eligible to be provided to a person that lawfully conducts stem cell research or provides stem cell therapies and cures."