By a Whisker

msnbc ^ | 11/09/06 | Arian Campo-Flores

[madprof98]

Nov. 9, 2006 - Until recently Lisa Greening didn’t know a stem cell from a jail cell. But earlier this year, the bookstore owner from University City, Mo., spotted a new hardback by her former U.S. senator, John Danforth, titled “Faith and Politics” in which he bemoans the influence of evangelical Christians on the GOP and the country. Greening, 36, went on to see Danforth speak and emerged incensed by what she considered the religious right’s distortions on the issue of embryonic stem-cell research. “The extreme right is going around scaring people that [scientists] are going to steal women’s embryos,” she says. “That’s preposterous.” So on Tuesday, she endured a tedious, two-hour line at her local polling station for two reasons: to cast a ballot for the Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, who supports stem-cell research, and to vote in favor of a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would protect such research.

[snip]

Though the stem-cell fight was as much a squeaker as the Senate race, the divide between McCaskill and Talent supporters didn’t coincide exactly with the one among amendment supporters and opponents. The stem-cell issue created fissures among both Democrats and Republicans. The former, for instance, split between liberal pro-choicers and Catholic pro-lifers, while the latter broke between social conservatives and business-oriented conservatives who see economic potential in cutting-edge research. According to turnout figures, many counties outside Missouri’s urban centers showed slightly more support for the stem-cell amendment than for McCaskill. Which for Rubin signals “that there’s still a bipartisan aspect to stem cell research.” Missouri Right to Life’s Patty Skain, however, argues that the more voters become educated about such research, the more they’ll resist it.

[Intolerant in NJ]

“The extreme right is going around scaring people that [scientists] are going to steal women’s embryos,” she says...small wonder leftists can't realize how vicious and dangerous the terrorists we face really are - they spend all their time fighting easily defeated strawmen like this........

[8mmMauser]

Pinged from Terri NOVEMBER Dailies

8mm