Posted on 10/27/2006 6:06:59 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
CBS News Exclusive: Parkinson's-Afflicted Actor Tells Katie Couric He Wasn't Acting In Ad
Responding to criticism by conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh, actor Michael J. Fox defended his appearance in a political campaign ad, saying he wasn't acting or off his medication.
In fact, at the time he was over-medicated for his Parkinson's disease, Fox said Thursday in an exclusive interview with CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.
"The irony is that I was too medicated. I was dyskinesic," Fox told Couric. "Because the thing about … being symptomatic is that it's not comfortable. No one wants to be symptomatic; it's like being hit with a hammer."
His body visibly wracked by tremors, Fox appears in a political ad touting Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill's stance in favor of embryonic stem cell research. That prompted Limbaugh to speculate that Fox was "either off his medication or acting."
Fox told Couric, "At this point now, if I didn't take medication I wouldn't be able to speak."
He said he appeared in the ad only to advance his cause, and that "disease is a non-partisan problem that requires a bipartisan solution."
"I don't really care about politics," Fox added. "We want to appeal to voters to elect the people that are going to give us a margin, so we can't be vetoed again."
Though Fox, a native of Canada who became an American citizen in 2000, has been politically active for Democratic causes, he said he has voted for and would vote for a Republican. "Arlen Specter is my guy," he said of the Republican senator from Pennsylvania. "I've campaigned for Arlen Specter. He's been a fantastic champion of stem cell research. I've spoken alongside Mike Castle, who's a Republican congressman. Absolutely."
"This is not about red states and blue states," added Fox, who has also lobbied Congress to lift President Bush's restrictions on funding for stem cell research. "This is not about Democrats and Republicans. This is about claiming our place as the scientific leader in scientific research and moving forward and helping our citizens. That’s all it is. It’s that simple."
On his Web site Tuesday, Limbaugh appeared to back away from his accusation.
"All I'm saying is I've never seen him the way he appears in this commercial for Claire McCaskill," says Limbaugh. "So I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox, if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act, especially since people are telling me they have seen him this way on other interviews and in other television appearances."
Fox told Couric that even though it's tough for him to sit for interviews as his symptoms worsen, he feel privileged to be able to do so.
"Honestly, I mean, I really feel this: That you get in your life very few chances to make a difference. And I really feel privileged to do this that I get a chance to do this. But having said that, it's not pretty. It's not pretty when it gets bad," Fox said. "I've learned to throw vanity out the window. I've had enough years of people thinking I was pretty and teenage girls hanging my picture on walls. I'm over that now."
In the Missouri ad, Fox says, "As you might know I care deeply about stem cell research. In Missouri you can elect Claire McCaskill, who shares my hope for cures."
McCaskill has made support for embryonic stem cell research a key part of her campaign to unseat Sen. Jim Talent. The Republican incumbent opposes the research as unethical, saying it destroys human embryos.
The ad debuted prominently Saturday night during Game 1 of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Detroit Tigers and will continue airing statewide this week, a campaign spokeswoman said.
Debate over stem cell research looms large in Missouri, where voters are considering a ballot measure that would amend the state constitution to protect all federally allowed forms of the research, including embryonic stem cell research. The scientific study holds promise in the search to cure diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.
"Unfortunately, Sen. Jim Talent opposes expanding stem cell research," Fox says in the 30-second spot. "Sen. Talent even wanted to criminalize the science that gives us a chance for hope."
Talent's campaign called the ad a false attack.
"Sen. Talent supports medical research including stem cell research that doesn't involve cloning or destroying a human embryo," said Talent spokesman Rich Chrismer.
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. 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.
McCaskill, running even with Talent in the latest polls, hopes to get a boost from aligning herself with support for the ballot measure, which recent polls show has the support of 58 percent of likely voters. Backers of the measure have raised nearly $29 million toward its passage, the costliest political campaign in Missouri history.
Fox's ad urges voters that "what you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans. Americans like me." The ad ends with a picture of McCaskill and her voice approving the message.
Couric asked, could he have waited to film it until he was having a better day, with less dyskinesia?
"You don’t know when that’s going to be," Fox said. "My mother was visiting that day, was in the back room and she was saying throughout the filming of (the ad) — and she was talking to my friends back there — and she was saying, 'he's trying so hard to be still.' And so she was the one actually when the comments were made, she was the only who was really angry, and she said 'I can’t even see straight.' I said, ‘Mom, just relax, it’s OK, don't worry about it.' But it’s just not that simple. That’s why we're doing this."
So it can be done in the private sector with private money? TIA
Not to mention the laughing and hilarity that ensued when Rush admitted his drug use/deafness. It was the funniest joke in the land! But if a liberal suffers...
Correct.
So true.
Poor Rush. Always putting his foot in his mouth.
So he couldn't wait until the overmedication wore off?? The point is he was lying about stem cells in the ad.
Pray for W and Our Troops
He is a liar and a fraud
He REFUSES to talk about the difference of ADULT stem cell research and embryonic stem cell where a baby is created for body parts
He continues to talks as though they are one and the same
The amendment falsely defines "cloning" as the implantation of an embryo into the uterus. But it allows the creation of embryos, so long as they are destroyed in order to use their stem cells.
So...is he insinuating that he did NOT OVER medicate on purpose? That is the crux of it all IMO.
If he truly believes this, then he was used by the Dems... Somehow I doubt he is that naive though.
That is correct
Though I would point out that this amendment2 in Missouri is not about stem cell research .. it is about cloning
Bleeding hearts will make excuses for fox, but the truth is he is a little punk arsed, liberal liar! Talent does NOT oppose Stem Cell research, and the bill itself deals with cloning... and the dim voted against it!
LLS
How true. We must declare all-out jihad on the old media. I cancelled my subscription to our local liberal newspaper over 3 years ago and it has made me MORE informed. I never plan to watch news from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, etc. If I have to because it's on a public TV or if I catch them by surfing, I try to remember any sponsors and avoid their products as much as possible. God forbid any of these butt-monkeys from sticking a microphone in my face.
Precisely, and the PRO Amendment 2 forces have come up with a new ad that aired twice during the game last night, in the St. Louis market. The new one has William H. Danforth, calling for passage of this admendment. The Danforth brothers, with their interest in Washington University research are really pushing this thing locally.
I don't blame Fox, as much as I do the Rat SOBs that chose to exploit him for their own political gain.
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