| Earlier today I had the opportunity of sitting in on Ray Buckley's first press conference as Chairman of the NHDP. There I heard from Linda Sheehan, whose son recently had a seizure in his dorm room, far from where she could help. Linda said that stem cell research "offers the best hope for a cure for type 1 diabetes," the disease which caused that seizure in her son.
I also learned about Laura Clark, who has been paralyzed for the past three years. Stem cell research holds significant promise for her. Laura is 23 years old. She said: "Take away research, you take away a cure. Time is a factor, too. Each time a bill like this fails to pass is another year I spend in my wheelchair."
Well, for this bill not to fail, it needed to be veto proof. And S.5, the stem cell federal funding bill, just cleared the Senate, 63-34, but not far enough to clear Bush's veto pen.
Guess who helped it stall at the Decider's desk? Hint: It's not Gregg.
Undoubtedly John E. will defend himself by saying that he voted for the Isakson-Coleman "Hope Act" instead. But as Linda Sheehan noted at the press conference, that bill is "not a compromise bill," because it uses stem cells that are significantly older than the ones needed. Or as she put it, a vote for the misnamed Hope Act is "a vote against treating or curing diseases."
I really have no idea how Sununu thinks he can win in 2008. He just keeps putting nails into his own coffin. As Buckley put it, "The only constituent it appears Sen. Sununu in the past has been concerned about is President Bush."
But you don't have to take Buckley's or my word for it. Think Progress caught an eye-opening poll from SurveyUSA last January. It turns out that 62% of New Hampshire Republican primary voters support stem cell research. Buckley is right. The only constituent Sununu is serving doesn't live in New Hampshire, but on Pennsylvania Avenue. |
