Bush and Stem Cells - what am I missing?

Great Debates
1

First, full disclosure. I despise GW Bush.

And I hate his policy on limiting federal funding for stem cell research on the 12 existing lines. I’m for expanding the policy to, at the MINIMUM, allow research on fertility clinic “extras” that are going to be discarded anyway. And I’d be happy to go a bit past that, too, even though I’m ok with drawing the line somewhere, as long as the line isn’t as limiting as it is now.

But… am I right to be disgusted by Bush’s artificial limitation? After all, federal funding on stem cell research was totally taboo under Clinton. So didn’t Bush expand the research capabilities?

In other words, while I think his expansion is limited, how can democrats be anti-Bush on this particular point, without being even MORE anti-Clinton for keeping the research even more limited?

Am I missing something here? Are my facts just wrong? Was the research too new under Clinton’s presidency to expand funding at that time?

2

It was new (but not too new), and your facts are a bit wrong. This should help clear up a few things.

I don’t give Clinton a pass on these sort of things, even though I supported him. To give you an example, while I understand that his “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was a compromise, and I’m often very understanding about the necessity of compromises, I found that a chickenshit stance. I think he’s in the clear on stem cells, though.

3

Thanks for the link, great editorials! (I KNEW Bush’s response to this would be as despicable as I thought it would be… lol)