Embryonic Stem Cell Research Financier Joins Pro-Gay Fundraiser To Host Mitt Romney San Diego Event

RenewAmerica ^ | Thursday, February 22, 2007 | James Hartline

[torchthemummy]

Well I guess I'm convinced - I cannot vote for any Republican that doesn't tow the line 100% (Q: who decides the line?). In fact any candidate that has supporters that don't tow the same line 100% I also cannot vote for.

[nowandlater]

He hasn't had the fundraiser yet--I am not sure he is vetting yet the political beliefs of his fundraisers. He probably went to his rolodex and didnt filter anyone out. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to this though.

[nowandlater]

He hasn't had the fundraiser yet--I am not sure he is vetting yet the political beliefs of his fundraisers. He probably went to his rolodex and didnt filter anyone out. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to this though.

[EternalVigilance]

He probably went to his rolodex and didnt filter anyone out.

Too funny. He went to his Rolodex and found all of his old pro-abort, pro-gay funding sources, and now he's tapping them again?

And you think that spin is helping him how? ROFL...

[EternalVigilance]

It will be interesting to see how he reacts to this though.

With three pages of spin and obfuscation, of course.

[Democratshavenobrains]

"Still looking for a Hunter/Gingrich ticket"

"Ah! Now THAT"S the ticket."

Yeah, if we just want to win the South.

[Pinkbell]

Well, I had considered Romeny out of three front runners, but now I've changed my mind.

Hunter just looks better and better.

[CharlesWayneCT]

If people who do embryonic research are willing to give money to a candidate that opposes their research, that's supposed to be a bad thing?

[CharlesWayneCT]

I hope Dick Cheney doesn't come support him, because he has a gay daughter and says he's fine with it.

[CharlesWayneCT]

IF you really want to throw the purists into a tailspin, announce that you are pro-choice, pro-gay-marriage, and pro-gun-control, and that you are sending checks to Hunter, Tancredo, and Gingrich.

[Gelato]

Romney supports embryonic stem cell research:

"Stem cell research does not require the cloning of human embryos. Some stem cells today are obtained from surplus embryos from in-vitro fertilization. I support that research." -- Mitt Romney, March 6, 2005

[CharlesWayneCT]

But he opposes using federal tax dollars to fund the research. Which puts him on par with Bush, to the left of some pretty otherwise conservative pro-lifers, but still not where the pure pro-life position is.

Romney Clarifies on Stem Cells

Now, I oppose Embryonic research, AND I oppose federal funding for it. But the "limited government" position has been to oppose federal funding by arguing that if people want to do the research, let them fund it themselves.

Nobody is proposing a ban on Embryonic research, so Romney's position on that may be the same as other candidates. The important thing is to have a veto in the white house on federal funding, because given that a large majority of the house and senate support FUNDING the research, there's no chance a president is going to get to push banning the research altogether.

But despite my 30-year history in the pro-life movement, you have to watch out -- I'm not pure enough here either because while I oppose the rape/incest exception, I don't think we should ban abortion until the embryo is implanted in the womb (meaning I don't support banning drugs which prevent implantation, NOT that I support using embryos for cloning or research).

My position is based on an idea people have trouble with -- the embryo is human and therefore cannot be experimented on, but the mother's obligation to provide nurture and care to the embryo does not start until her body has accepted that responsibility through implantation.

If you don't adopt this position, you end up opposing all in-vitro fertilization. Because they breed more embryos than they use, and if the mother has an obligation to the embryo before implantation, it would be "murder" to not implant every fertilized embryo. BTW, banning in-vitro fertilization is a coherent position.

[Gelato]

he opposes using federal tax dollars to fund the research...

Another "cover-the-road," "please-all-sides," unprincipled position we've grown to expect from Romney.

Unfortunately, it doesn't cover the fact that Romney DOES NOT OPPOSE the destruction of embryos for "cures." He remains supportive of the research.

[Gelato]

In case anyone missed it:

Romney's stem cell view may upset the right
Use of excess embryos at issue
By Scott Helman, Globe Staff | February 11, 2007

In the heated debate among conservatives over whether Mitt Romney deserves their vote, the focus has been largely on whether his big swings to the right on social issues are sincere.

But on the charged issue of stem cell research, he's facing conservative criticism of a different shade: that he hasn't swung far enough.

Unlike many on the right, Romney supports research on excess embryos created during fertility treatments. Because couples are making embryos to have a baby, he reasons, it is ethical to use the leftovers for research when they would otherwise just be discarded.

Romney's position, however, is at odds with the views of many conservative anti abortion activists, who believe that any work on stem cells derived from human embryos is wrong, because it destroys the embryos in the process. Some say Romney's views make him unacceptable to many voters and will complicate his attempt to win the 2008 GOP nomination by appealing to the party's conservative flank.

Romney's views on stem cell research, which have drawn little public scrutiny amid the static over his shifts on abortion and gay rights, are sure to attract more attention with Congress poised to pass a bill expanding federal support for human embryonic stem cell research, the latest flashpoint in a long-running debate about the sanctity of life and when it begins.

"It's a no-no for some people," Nick Lantinga, a Republican activist in heavily conservative northwest Iowa, said of Romney's support of using excess embryos.

[. . .]

Congress sought to lift the ban last year by passing the CastleDeGette bill. The measure seeks to promote, under certain conditions, research on embryos left over from fertility treatments by sanctioning federal funding for it. It would not authorize federal funding for research that involves cloning.

Bush, using his first presidential veto, rejected the bill.

But the issue is pressing again -- the House passed an identical measure last month and the Senate is expected to follow suit. With Congress still apparently lacking the votes to override a Bush veto, the views of the next president are crucial.

Romney, in an illustration of his delicate maneuvering on the issue, supports the principle at the heart of the bill -- that it's ethical to use excess embryos for research -- but opposes the bill itself, in part because he objects to any expansion of taxpayer-funded human embryonic stem cell research.

Romney aide Peter Flaherty explained in an e-mail statement that Romney does not believe the public should pay for research that is "ethically troublesome."

"Governor Romney believes that because of its inherent ethical issues this research should not be funded by the taxpayers," Flaherty said, adding that Romney supports government funding of research into alternative methods of extracting stem cells.

[. . .]

Romney's views on stem cell research have evolved over the past five years. When he ran for governor in 2002, he endorsed embryonic stem cell research in broad terms, saying at one campaign stop that he would lobby Bush to embrace it.

But in February 2005, as the state Legislature was considering a bill to promote embryonic stem cell research, Romney, after consulting with specialists on both sides of the issue, tried to forge a middle ground: He would fight efforts to clone human embryos for research, he said, but believed it was ethical to experiment on embryos left over from fertility treatments.

Romney continues to hold that position, but he also now expresses opposition to expanding federal funding for research on excess embryos.

[. . .]

Tom McClusky, vice president for government affairs for the influential Family Research Council, noted that Romney, after his education on stem cell research as governor led him to abandon his past support for abortion rights, now describes himself as "firmly pro-life." But the organization is concerned that Romney's position on stem cell research is not a pure "pro-life" position.

[. . .]

"Mitt Romney's position on embryonic stem cell research is not pro-life, and no one should say that it is," the Republican National Coalition for Life, a group founded by conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly, said in a weekly e-mail.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/02/11/romneys_stem_cell_view_may_upset_the_right/

[EternalVigilance]

Great post!

As I've been telling anyone who will listen: Romney is the same liberal he's always been, in spite of his brazen lying to the contrary.

[MHGinTN]

Stem cells are the body parts of an ORGANISM named embryo. Stem cells are not embryos because they are sub-units of the greater called ORGANISM. You are an ORGANISM, SIr, with sub-units, even stem cells.

[Torie]

I don't think the LDS church has a problem will killing zygotes, fertilzed cells, or whatever, that are stored in a frozen state. Perhaps you can help me with the correct term.

[MHGinTN]

The embryo is a being, an organism composed of sub-units. In the human species the embryo is a human being, a human ORGANISM.

As I understand it, the LDS Church does not recognize the humanity until implantation has occurred, as Orin Hatch has so clearly enumerated in public discourse. IOW, the 'where and from where life support is coming' defines for Orin Hatch (and one would presume for Mitt also) the status as human being or not.

They and you mistakenly conflate stem cells with embryo; you mistakenly conflate ORGANISM with specific sub-units of the organism. Once fertilization occurs, there is no no longer an egg only a new ORGANISM called zygote at the first cell stage in the lifetime begun at conception.

[Torie]

The LDS church apparently focuses on implantation. Thanks for clarifying that. I focus on brain waves. The LDS church is more restrictive than I about public policy when it comes to what should be legal to abort. There is no right or wrong answer. It comes down to a priori beliefs as to which inchoate humans should be protected, and which not. JMO.