Stem Cell-a-vision

Man, Kerry just can’t win with some people

Lord Saletan runs a regular series condemning Kerry for his “caveats and curliques” and then turns around and blasts him for not explaining stem cell research in scientific detail when he’s on the stump. You see, Kerry is much too verbose when he isn’t and much too simplistic when he is and it’s all just so very unseemly.

Apparently his lordship just remembered the culture war and is appalled that the Democrats are fighting back with an issue on which most of the country agrees. Republicans can use terms like “the culture of life” and “partial birth” abortion as a club but if Kerry uses the stem cell issue as a proxy for the efficacy of science in ordinary people’s lives he’s a demagogue.

The fact is that this issue captures one of the main differences between the two parties and it’s one that has some real salience with the people. If there’s one thing that Americans have always believed in, it’s scientific progress. And there is an undercurrent of discontent out there that the right wing is imposing a religious agenda that is impeding that progress — specifically medical progress which is something in which we all have a personal stake.

I’m sorry that his lordship disapproves of using this issue to illustrate the medieval view toward science the fundamentalist right are forcing on the country, but that’s just tough. He’s the one who has made a fetish about Kerry’s overly complex rhetoric and now he complains when he hits a real emotional chord. His lordship is very difficult to please.