Rush Is Right: Was Michael J. Fox Duped?

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Was Michael J. Fox Duped?

October 24, 2006

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: You know, in fact, it may be interesting to ask this question: Was Michael J. Fox duped by Democrats in Missouri and Maryland into doing this? Particularly in Missouri, was Michael J. Fox duped into doing this commercial because the thing he thinks he's doing a commercial about is a cloning amendment to the Missouri Constitution. He is not actually doing a commercial about embryonic stem cell research. I wonder if he was duped by Claire McCaskill or Democrats in general -- and if he was, could he have been duped by Democrats in Maryland to do the same thing? Here's Mark. We go back to the phones to Vienna, Virginia, welcome. Nice to have you with us.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. How are you?

RUSH: Just fine, sir.

CALLER: I love your show, man.

RUSH: Thank you. Appreciate that.

CALLER: I just had a quick point with regard to the Michael J. Fox commercials. It seems like this is just one more in a long list of images that Democrats and liberals kind of foist on the public when it suits their purposes, but yet they try to censor those images that they don't want the public to see when it doesn't suit their political purposes -- like the 9/11 shots, or people jumping off the buildings on 9/11. We can't see those things.

RUSH: Excellent point.

CALLER: But he can exaggerate his own image and make it look as utterly hopeless as possible for maximum impact value for their political purposes.

RUSH: Excellent point. No question. "We can't show the 9/11 video! It's too soon! Can't see all these 9/11 movies. Too soon! It's simply too tough. It's an emotionally gut-wrenching thing. We are simply not prepared for this. We cannot do this," and yet we are made to look at every other form of violence. CNN can show video of Al-Qaeda --

CALLER: The sniper videos.

RUSH: Pardon?

CALLER: The sniper videos.

RUSH: The sniper videos! Propaganda videos. CNN can show US soldiers on the verge of getting killed. They cut to black, but we all know what happens. CNN can do that, and that's getting the truth out.

CALLER: Yep.

RUSH: People need to know the truth about war! Yes, the liberals will be glad to show us anything they want us to see if it can affect emotions in their benefit, but anything that they consider to be over the line, which would damage their causes? Of course, we can't see this. "We're not tough enough. It's too soon! It's too traumatic," or what have you, but it's not too traumatic to see Michael J. Fox in the throes of Parkinson's Disease. "No, no, no! We need to see this because it's the Republicans' fault. "Republicans are against research and we'll find a cure for this. " That's the message. I wonder if Michael J. Fox really believes that. That's why I'm wondering if he got duped. Do you think he really believes Republicans are against Parkinson's Disease being cured?

I wonder if he really believes this. I don't know. I don't know the man. But that's what his commercial states: Jim Talent wants to criminalize this stuff, wants to criminalize research that could lead to a cure! This is not insignificant stuff. This is not some little confrontation, typical political confrontation between me and him. This is a serious issue. It is typical Democrat Party politics, and it needs to be identified for what it is, and I'm calling him on it, pure and simple -- and I don't care who they use to do the commercial. If they do something like this, I'll analyze it in the same way. Jay in Boston. I'm glad you waited. You're next on the EIB Network. Hi.

CALLER: Yeah, Rush, you know, there's another aspect to this Michael J. Fox thing. What it is to me is that the Democrats are exploiting Parkinson's people in the same way the Democrats exploited gays to promote the Foley scandal.

RUSH: Well, I think I know what you mean. Why don't you explain this.

CALLER: Well, they want to get the point across that the big, bad Republicans -- and they're basically running the ad, and they're doing it the expense of Parkinson's people, not really caring about Parkinson's people. It probably could be detrimental to their cause or to their interests, in the same way that the Democrats didn't care about gays. They actually bashed gays by running the ad. I mean, not by running the ad, by promoting the Foley scandal, because it actually was detrimental to gays.

RUSH: In a way, it was. They associated gay men with pedophilia. They tried to make it seem like the Republicans should have known this was going to happen.

CALLER: Yes.

RUSH: "Republicans should have known when you put gay men with these young pages..." Okay. It's an excellent point, but you can boil it down to something very simple. It is simple exploitation of people in minorities. It is exploitation of people who are suffering. It is exploitation of people who are being misled -- and, folks, I've gotta share this story with you one more time. I cannot just let this one pass my lips once, because the argument over stem cell research [sic] -- here I go! I have to say this one more time: What's on the ballot in Missouri, Amendment 2, is not about stem cell research in the slightest. What's on the ballot in Missouri is a cloning amendment, and it is called Amendment 2, "The Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative."

It has nothing to do with stem cell research and cures! It is something that Talent opposes; McCaskill favors. All does is legalize cloning, makes it constitutional, while appearing to put stem cell research in the constitution. But the two have nothing to do with one another. Embryonic stem cell research is happening. It's legal in Missouri and Maryland, and it's being conducted at universities in both states, but here's what's fascinating: "Researchers at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago have said a new Parkinson's Disease treatment reduced symptoms by 40%," and this treatment has nothing to do with embryonic stem cell research or adult stem cells. It's no kind of stem cell research. It is gene therapy.

"Further tests of the gene therapy method could solidify the treatment as the first known to slow, halt, or possibly reverse damage done by Parkinson's. Treatments are currently available to relieve symptoms of the illness but do not stop the disease from progressing." Now, this research at Rush University Medical Center Chicago involved 12 patients. "The procedure features two nickel-size holes drilled into the top of a patient's head by a brain surgeon. A virus..." This is not a stem cell. "A virus containing the desires gene is then inserted into the brain using a needle. The virus carries the gene to the brain cells. The cells are then instructed by the gene to produce a protein that protects and regenerates cells that make dopamine which is what's absent in significant quantities in people that suffer Parkinson's.

"The results were announced at a meeting of the American Neurological Association in Chicago. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research has donated $1.9 million for a follow-up study." This story is from October 11th, by the way, of this year. This story has nothing to do with stem cell research, nor does Amendment 2 in Missouri, the so-called stem cell research amendment. It is pure -- call it "misrepresentation;" it's an out-and-out lie, which I'm wondering to wonder if Michael J. Fox wasn't duped into supporting this when it has nothing to do with his condition. Everything that he thinks is important to cure Parkinson's is happening in Missouri, and Jim Talent has not opposed it. Yet his commercial states -- doesn't just allege: states -- just the opposite. In the meantime, his own foundation is funding gene therapy research involving a virus that does show promise and has nothing to do with stem cells.

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