Posted on 10/25/2006 6:13:59 AM PDT by rightinthemiddle
Conservative talk show host accuses actor of faking Parkinson's disease
Updated: 42 minutes ago
Possibly worse than making fun of someone's disability is saying that it's imaginary. That is not to mock someone's body, but to challenge a person's guts, integrity, sanity.
To Rush Limbaugh on Monday, Michael J. Fox looked like a faker. The actor, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, has done a series of political ads supporting candidates who favor stem cell research, including Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin, who is running against Republican Michael Steele for the Senate seat being vacated by Paul Sarbanes.
"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," Limbaugh told listeners. "He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. . . . This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Guess they changed it.
CAN YOU BELIEVE THE BIAS?
It's MSNBC ... how can you possibly be surprised?
The keyword is "mocks" in the headline.
For those of us who've listened to Rush the past couple of days, we know the story is really just a lie.
PMSNBC wishes they had Rush's numbers.
ping
No mention of how evil it is for the people who promised Michael J Fox that embyronic stem cells contained the cure to Parkinsons and Republicans were holding out on him.
Looks like the 'mediacrats' are doing their regular bs....
anytime a dem, whether it be MJF or anyone else that is from Loonywood, the 'mediacrats' will put them 'walking on water'.
I don't know why people from Loonywood even think they are important....I haven't went to a movie or rented a DVD for years, and don't plan to...I'm not lining Loonywood's idiots pockets...
Nor will I go to one of their concerts...I don't want to be associated with loony people...
I have Rush/24-7 and was watching, and Rush didn't make any more movements than he usually does..and I feel exactly the same way Rush does, MJF was off his meds and doing this for the purpose of helping influence a campaign of certain people....MJF needs to go back on his meds and go home...
I watched that video of Fox and what amazes me is how much he moves but his voice is not shakey. I have known several people with Parkinsons and it always affected their voice too.
HIGHER doses of Parkinson's medication causes involuntary movements, like Michael J. Fox has.
*****
"Sinemet is one of the most widely prescribed treatments for Parkinson's disease. It has two main active ingredients, levodopa (which turns to dopamine in the brain) and carbidopa (which prevents the levodopa from breaking down before reaching the brain). Side effects that may occur include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, lightheadedness and dizziness, and sleepiness. Sinemet may turn your urine, sweat, and saliva a dark-brown or red color, which is not harmful. If you experience sudden INVOLUNTARY MOVEMENTS on the drug, you may need a lower dose."
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/brain/parkinsons/park.treat.drugs.dopreplace.htm
It's bad form to mock one's disability. Poor choice on Rush's part.
Primary Symptoms
Bradykinesia is slowness in voluntary movement. It produces difficulty initiating movement as well as difficulty completing movement once it is in progress. The delayed transmission of signals from the brain to the skeletal muscles, due to diminished dopamine, produces bradykinesia.
Tremors in the hands, fingers, forearm, or foot tend to occur when the limb is at rest but not when performing tasks. Tremor may occur in the mouth and chin as well.
Rigidity, or stiff muscles, may produce muscle pain and an expressionless, mask-like face. Rigidity tends to increase during movement.
Poor balance is due to the impairment or loss of the reflexes that adjust posture in order to maintain balance. Falls are common in people with Parkinson's.
Parkinsonian gait is the distinctive unsteady walk associated with Parkinson's disease. There is a tendency to lean unnaturally backward or forward, and to develop a stooped, head-down, shoulders-drooped stance. Arm swing is diminished or absent and people with Parkinson's tend to take small shuffling steps (called festination). Someone with Parkinson's may have trouble starting to walk, appear to be falling forward as they walk, freeze in mid-stride, and have difficulty making a turn.
Secondary Symptoms
The progressive loss of voluntary and involuntary muscle control produces a number of secondary symptoms associated with Parkinson's. Most patients do not experience all of them, and symptoms vary in intensity from person to person. Some secondary symptoms of Parkinson's disease include the following:
* Constipation
* Difficulty swallowing (dysphagia)saliva and food that collects in the mouth or back of the throat may cause choking, coughing, or drooling
* Excessive salivation (hypersalivation)
* Excessive sweating (hyperhidrosis)
* Loss of bladder and/or bowel control (incontinence)
* Loss of intellectual capacity (dementia)late in the disease
* Psychosocial: anxiety, depression, isolation
* Scaling, dry skin on the face and scalp (seborrhea)
* Slow response to questions (bradyphrenia)
* Small, cramped handwriting (micrographia)
* Soft, whispery voice (hypophonia)
Yes .. they have been doing it for years
And with the way their ratings are sinking to the basement .. One would think someone over at MSNBC would realize that the public ain't buying their BS
A source with direct knowledge of Fox's illness who viewed the Cardin ad said Fox is not acting to exaggerate the effects of the disease. The source said Fox's scenes in "Boston Legal" had to be taped around his illness, as he worked to control the tremors associated with Parkinson's for limited periods of time.
So why didn't they do the same thing for this commercial?
Oh, because they wanted to demonstrate the effects of the disease.... wait a minute! That's just what Rush said!
This reminds me of the argument Ann Coulter made some time ago that Dems use people with situations with which rational arguments cannot be made without setting themselves up for accusations of insensitivity of the worst kind. She said that 9/11 widows, some of them, traded on their "grief." Limbaugh is pointing out a that Fox may (and I say may because I don't know what the situation is with Fox) be trading on the natural sympathies people have for a person with talent that is being eroded by a vicious disease. In either case, no one can point out what the dems are doing (or may be doing) without an outcry of what horrible, insensitive people Republicans are--people of the worst order. It's a calculated strategy.
Rush has apologized for this. I heard it on CBN news this morning.
MJF said in his book when he is about to appear in public, say to testify about stem cell research or other, he stays off his meds so his parkinsons appears more severe. Screw this little toad.
Rush said that he watched Boston Legal which features Michael J. Fox. He said he did not have ANY of the symptoms on that program that he showed in the political ad. That's why Rush thought he was exaggerating his movements. Now Fox is saying that the movements were caused because he WAS on his meds. What's going on here? Does anyone watch Boston Legal here?
Am hearing on WABC radio that Sean Hannity made some excellent points defending Rush this morning on Good Morning America. They played the cuts and Sean was outstanding!
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