Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Next he will walk on water...

...raise the dead, etc. Glory be.

2 comments:

dcat said...

Tom --
Tell me you are not this dumb. I've posted similar comments on HNN blogs, but let's be clear, since you love to lecture folks about what optimism and belief in progress can do: We have made greater advances than ever in spinal cord technology, to the point where folks like Reeve could actually dream of a day when quadriplegiucs could walk again. This has nothing to do with divine fantasies, it has to do with scientific progress. people are already living lives unimaginable a decade ago as the result of these changes, changes for which Reeve himself is largely responsible. Sometimes I wonder if cheap political point scoring has no depths. Then people mock Edwards for beliefs that scientists working in this field are cautiously optimistic about, and I no longer wonder. Scientists have consistently ocked missile defense, and yet it remains pie in the sky for the GOP. Scientists believe in advancments, many that couild come from stem cell, and yet those same folks then make fun of such pronouncements. Every time I want to defend conservatives against charges of stupidity, something like this sorty of idiocy occurs.
dc

Tom said...

Derek,

I responded at Cliopatria to these attacks on me for having a little fun at the expense of Edwards saying something the wrong way. You have been all over President Bush for saying "facile" in the debate, and that is fine, it was funny. I know lots of people are really fired up over this campaign, but I am not one of them, I do not think a Kerry win will mean the end of civilization as we know it. For the ten millionth time: the issue I'm voting on is who is going to kill more terrorists. I think the answer is President Bush, although I do not think he is killing or promises to kill enough. I generally agree with the president on economic issues, but I would be weighing his stands on those issues against Senator Kerry's much more seriously if it weren't for the war.

It is clear who I am voting for--mostly because I do not want to waste my vote by voting for none of the above--I am not trying to score cheap political points. I think there is reason to be optimistic about stem cell research (although I do oppose federal or state funding for the use of new embryonic stem cells), but I am not going to be told what is funny. It's not my fault John Edwards sounded like some preacher at a revival meeting wearing a white suit and stomping on serpeants. He did. Lighten up.