Griper Blade: Jonah Goldberg, Gay Sheep, and Stem Cells

More Jonah Goldberg. That's my plea to the right -- please, please get more columnists like National Review's Jonah Goldberg. Nothing could do more to doom their cause. Never satisfied to simply make a point, Goldberg seems to feel you have to pound your point into the ground and, in the process, completely destroy your own argument.

Case in point; in his last column, Goldberg argues that medical research of stem cells can continue without destroying embryos. I pretty much called this when I wrote, "Expect the right wingers to ignore this and bring up amniotic stem cell research all the time -- they did the same thing with adult stem cells."

The 'this' that the wingers will ignore are the words of amniotic stem cell researcher, Anthony Atala:

"Some may be interpreting my research as a substitute for the need to pursue other forms of regenerative medicine therapies, such as those involving embryonic stem cells. I disagree with that assertion," wrote Anthony Atala of Wake Forest University, the author of a study published this week and widely seized upon by opponents of embryonic stem cell research as a more moral option.

[...]

In a letter to sponsors of legislation up for a House vote tomorrow, Atala wrote that it was "essential that National Institutes of Health-funded researchers are able to fully pursue embryonic stem cell research as a complement to research into other forms of stem cells."

Amniotic stem cells show as much promise as embryonic stem cells. How many ways are there to treat cancer? To abandon one line of research because another shows promise makes as much sense as dropping all cancer research in favor of chemotherapy.

But that's just dishonesty -- a lie by omission. More Jonah Goldberg. That's my plea to the right -- please, please get more columnists like National Review's Jonah Goldberg. Nothing could do more to doom their cause. Never satisfied to simply make a point, Goldberg seems to feel you have to pound your point into the ground and, in the process, completely destroy your own argument. Nothing new there, it's what we've come to expect from rightie columnists. But like I say, Goldberg thinks he needs to hammer his point into the ground. That's when things really get crazy...

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