WP: 2 GOP Senators Defend Bush on Stem Cell Research

[kskiska]

Two Republican senators rose to President Bush's defense yesterday on the emotional issue of stem cell research, although both said they are pushing the White House to embrace an expansion of the policy advocated by Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry.

At a time when polls show overwhelming support for the research, Sens. Gordon Smith (Ore.) and Trent Lott (Miss.) expressed concern that Bush is not receiving his due for allowing some federally funded research to go forward while Kerry is not being properly scrutinized for supporting the more controversial "therapeutic" cloning. That involves creating a cloned embryo for the sole purpose of research.

In accusing Kerry of "demagoguing" the issue, the pair entered a fray that has caused a public rift in the family of former president Ronald Reagan and prompted first lady Laura Bush to make a rare foray into public policy. And the fight will continue: Republicans announced yesterday that Michael Reagan, who calls embryonic stem cell research "junk science," will speak at the national convention in New York. His brother, Ron Reagan, spoke in support of that research at the Democratic National Convention last month.

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A recent Zogby International poll found that one of every five Bush supporters would consider switching to Kerry if he were to announce "a major initiative in stem cell research."

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Ron Reagan, in response to Laura Bush, wrote in yesterday's New York Times: "If destroying even an artificially created 'embryo' in a petri dish is equivalent to murder, then I would expect the White House to campaign vigorously against in vitro fertilization clinics that routinely dispose of unneeded early-stage embryos by the thousands."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61162-2004Aug12.html