John Edwards - What was he thinking?

How can anyone remotely say that John Edwards is prepared to be one heart beat away from becoming the most powerful man in the world after his idiotic comments?

It did not take John Edwards very long to politicize Christopher Reeves tragic death. Speaking at a campaign rally in Iowa on Tuesday, Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards declared if his running mate Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA) is elected president, then they "will stop juvenile diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other debilitating diseases" and will enable the crippled to "get up out of that wheelchair and walk again."

What a misguided, lying jerk. To say that if elected the result will be a cure all of these horrible diseases is misleading, irresponsible and classless. Is this the best VP nomination you can get Dems?

http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/news2004/1004/101304-edwards.htm

OMG Billy! You are SOOOO right! Damn that Edwards!


Of course, you do realize that Reeve was an advocate for stem cell research, so it seems fitting. Edwards wasn't the first though, there was an article in the SF Bay area mentioning Reeve and the effect it *might* have on California's Prop 71 this election year.

I read that Sen. Kerry said Chris had left him a lovely voice mail on his cell phone praising his stance on Stem Cell research on Saturday. Didn't he go into a coma on Thursday ?

On Saturday, Reeve was at his home, where he suffered a heart attack. After the heart attack, he slipped into a coma. He had been undergoing treatments at home for a blood infection.

It is likely that he could have called someone on Saturday, especially if his condition was worsening.

Optimisim means "misguided jerk" now? I'd like to see more people in power who dream of bigger and better things, who look for answers instead of problems, who give us hope instead of fear. Maybe we won't quite meet the ambitious goals hes talking about, but what's wrong with chasing a dream and getting *some* of it done?

Well his TV show is still pretty successful, and his ability to talk with the dead is a big plus I think....

Siggy.

hahahah.. OMG Siggy.. I thought I'd been duped for a minute!

Okay, so Edwards brings a hopeful message of curing disease.

Bush was going to restore dignity ot the White House by fucking his wife and invading a sovereign country under false pretenses.

I'll take Edwards. (who also fucks his wife)

Optimism is one thing, PROMISING a cure to all of these diseases if you vote for me it ludicrous, it is immoral and it is a LIE that everyone who knows anything about finding cures for these types of diseases knows. Will these diseases be cured? Hopefully the answer will be yes but it will most likely take 40-50 years to do so no matter who is president.

VOTE FOR ME AND I WILL CURE YOU, DON’T VOTE FOR ME AND YOU WILL NOT BE CURED is a pathetic scare tactic.

It is pathetic.

It's almost as bad as telling people if they don't vote for you they will be murdered by terrorists.

Yep... almost. Except that the 'Terrorists will come and kill you' scare tactic has eroded some of our civil liberties.

Oh, and Billy... True, he probably shouldn't have said 'we WILL cure you'. But, if the reverse the restrictions Bush has put in place for stem cell research, indirectly they *could* cure you. Sure, it may be years down the road, but the research needs to start sometime.

Of course, I'd take his comment over the restrictions Bush has put in place which has a much great potential to affect thousands by not allowing open, federally funded research.

Don't you just love a political system where one word out of place can label you for the rest of the campiagn? "we WILL cure you." Oh, yes, that *one* statement proves he's an arrogant incompetent. Kinda like Al Gore's "I invented the Internet" statement (which, BTW, was taken fully out of context). But its a lot easier to take one statement, turn it into a label, and make your decision. Don't consider the issue...just label Edwards an arrogant jerk and forget him! Don't THINK, just vote Bush! Or Al-Queda's gonna jump out from under the bad and go BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!!!!

This is why Bush will win re-election. We Americans, as a society, are a group of scared sheep who prefer simplistic answers to complex questions. Kerry thinks too much; Bush gets things done...thinking is for wussies. And terrorists, evidently.

Billy,

It's just not true that stem cell research is 40 or 50 years away. This is not the only case of someone with SLE being cured by stem cell transplantation. In all cases when chemo was coupled with stem cell transplant the patient was cured (or put into a very long remission). The cure rate was 98% - that's better than the percentage of people cured by antibiotics.

Blood Stem Cell Transplant Works For Lupus Patient

For patients with severe autoimmune diseases, blood stem cell transplantation may be a promising therapy option.

This process involves an infusion of healthy blood cells to replace the body's own malfunctioning ones and restore immune function.

A recent case study published in the June issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, has shown this approach to be particularly effective in treating patients with the most severe form of Systematic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE).

A chronic rheumatic disease, SLE affects joints, muscles, kidneys, lungs and other parts of the body by autoimmune attack. In the case of an 18-year-old female patient, a short, intensive course of blood stem cell transplant produced complete remission of the disease.

Diagnosed with SLE at age 14, the patient had suffered bouts of pneumonia, requiring ventilation and resulting in serious lung impairment.

Failing to respond to conventional drug therapy, she also continually battled infections, weight loss and anemia.

In February 2000, the young woman began the blood stem cell transplant therapy as part of a study at the University of Vienna. She repeatedly received infusions of high dose immunosuppressive agents followed by stem cells purified on the basis of a protein on the surface of cells called CD34.

Within 9 days of receiving her transplant, the patient's blood cells began to regenerate -- completely free of disease.

Fifteen months after completing her blood stem cell transplant regimen, the patient had maintained overall excellent health -- without taking any medication. She showed no signs of SLE-related problems. Her lung, kidney and ovarian functions were all normal. In addition, she had fully intact function on a standard measure of a person's ability to perform routine activities.

There have been numerous studies indicating the potential of blood stem cell transplants for patients with blood diseases and certain types of cancer.

To date, researchers have studied only a small number of patients undergoing this therapy for autoimmune diseases. Consequently, the case of this young SLE patient is significant because it confirms blood stem cell transplantation as a potentially effective course of action for restoring healthy immune function.

Researchers at the University of Vienna are currently conducting clinical trials to explore wider use of this therapy, as well as ways to apply it in the early stages of disease to prevent organ damage

While John Edwards may have gotten a little carried away - I don't think he was that far off on what stem cell therapy is capable of.

Rose

But stem cell research may provide a cure. So it isn't a lie. We need stem cell research and having a president who denies the ability to do so will be detrimental to success. And where exactly do you get 40-50 years from...the breakthrough could be tomorrow and it could be in 100 years. But to stop the flow of information by saying that harvesting stem cells is immoral is ludicrous and short sighted.

To put is bluntly...voting for a religious righter will put a wrench in our ability to cure these diseases.

Any way you slice it... VOTE FOR ME AND YOU WILL WALK OR BE CURED AS A RESULT is nothing but a fear tactic and a moronic statement that you CAN NOT come close to defending.

no more ludicrous then Bush promising he's qualified to be President of the United States.

I withdraw from Neualtenburg kthx bye

Can the REPUBLICANS CRY ANY LOUDER PLEASE!!

No more than: VOTE FOR ME AND YOU WILL BE SAFE FROM TERRORISM IN THE HOMELAND.

Try again, Billy.

I think you really should pull back a little to see a bigger picture. If you had an illness that would be addressed by stem-cell research, you would probably look at it in a different way. Yes, we all know that results might take a long time to become available, and then are only available if you have the money to pay for them. Still, the research so far seems to indicate enormous progress in areas that have been stalled for years. I don't anticipate anything that will help me, personally, but I know that it's a sure bet many will be helped if stem-cell research is allowed in the USA. One party is for stem-cell research and the other party is opposed. It's ironic that the party morally opposed to stem-cell research has no moral problems with invading other countries without provocation.

Oddly enough, I don't remember ever actually hearing that in a campaign speech.

Which is quite a different situation that what this thread was launched to discuss.

I don't think it was, but that's definately the message they are playing to the voters.

You're kidding, right?

...without provocation?

http://www.womenforiraq.org/links.php

Please read.

I'll accept human-rights violations as a justification for war, once the US invades China.