Webb's Moral Compass: Lost or Broken?

Jim Webb and his not-ready-for-prime-time campaign staff are spinning faster than Captain Jack Sparrow's faulty compass. Unfortunately, their treasure chest contains human embryos (pre-born babies in early stages of development) instead of a heart.

The press release on the Webb campaign site titled Allen Votes Against Stem Cell Research: Webb Joins Reagan, Warner in Support of Potentially Life-Saving Research addresses the recent Senate vote on "stem cell research" and in my opinion is a sad, unethical piece of propaganda.

No where in the press release is the bill number mentioned (H.R. 810) and absolutely nowhere in the press release can you find the words HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH which are plastered all over the text of the actual bill. Instead Webb refers only to "stem cell research" in his references to the legislation.

H.R. 810's sponsors gave it the euphemistic title "Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act" in hopes, no doubt, that voters would not read beyond that. Well, perhaps Mr. Webb didn't read further either. His vision on healthcare can be found here. Go ahead and click the link it is a fast read - all of six sentences.

Adult stem cell research and embyonic stem cell research are two distinct issues and not to make that distinction is tantamount to a lie of omission. (See Modern Propaganda Techniques #21)

From Webb's press release: Nancy Reagan has been a leading advocate for ethical stem cell research. She believes that expanding stem cell research can be President Reagan’s living legacy. “She has made the case,” wrote Washington Post columnist David Broder, “that voting for stem cells is doing it for the Gipper.”

“As Nancy Reagan has so eloquently reminded us, we cannot turn our back on this issue,” said Jim Webb. “Responsible stem cell research holds too much potential for too many people to be obstructed by politicians. The President should immediately sign this legislation into law and give new hope to the victims of disease and their families.”

As President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Navy for 10 months, he might have gotten close enough to recognize the beautiful soul that made Reagan a true humanitarian and a great man.

"Doing it for the Gipper" is not doing it to humans in the earliest stages of life. The thought of someone freezing, extracting, slicing, dicing or mutating what was a glorious gift from heaven makes my skin crawl. Adult stem cell research is the only ethical path and is proving to be the most promising.

President Reagan's own words:
"My administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land and there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning."

"That unless and until someone can prove the unborn human is not alive, we must give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it is. And, thus, it should be entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

"We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life -- the unborn -- without diminishing the value of all human life."

An Explanation For Webb Campaign Kids: "A person's a person no matter how small." Dr. Seuss