John Edwards mentioned the death of Christopher Reeve in a speech on Monday, and in doing so, commented that if John Kerry becomes president, people like Reeve would “walk again”, insinuating that by re-electing George Bush, the crippled will stay crippled and might even die. There is absolutely no scientific proof today that embryonic stem cell research will remove paralysis. Time will tell, but the fact that Edwards would exploit Reeve’s death before the man has even been buried is outrageous. Comments like these are typical of the trial lawyer approach. It emphasizes Edwards inexperience. I’d like to believe that his rhetoric was simply a slip, a misjudgment of thought. No, that’s not what it was. With calculation, Edwards used fear and emotion to gain the approval of a small crowd of loyal democrats during a political rally. This is the kind of politics that democrats crave – the ability to use an emotional issue like death as a way to pit people against each other. This is not good politics…it’s dirty and wrong. John Edwards should be ashamed for what he said, and democrats should apologize to the millions of disabled Americans whose hopes they’ve raised.
UPDATE: The Kerry Spot has more…
The Bottom Line:
“I’ve heard a lot of hype over the last 30 years about the keys to the kingdom here in this issue. And all of them have proved false. For Edwards to make the claims he did is the worst demagoguery I’ve heard in Washington in a quarter century. To imply that Christopher Reeve was kept in the wheelchair because of the policies of the Bush administration on stem cells is ridiculous and insulting” – Columnist Charles Krauthammer.
Still More… Edwards: ‘We will stop juvenile diabetes, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other debilitating diseases… When John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve are going get up out of that wheelchair and walk again.’ Edwards made the unprecedented campaign promises during 30-minute speech at Newton High School gym in Newton, Iowa…