With less than two months left before the next U.S. president is elected, ScienceBlogs wanted to dedicate a space to campaign politics. A Vote For Science is a group blog that will focus on the candidates' science policies. It is 
Democrats are far from innocent when it comes to twisting the reality of science policy for political gain. For example, back in 2004, when the Kerry/Edwards campaign tried to use stem cell research as a wedge issue against Republicans, Edwards infamously went well beyond the uncertainty of stem cell research and the realistic timeline for therapies when he said on the campaign trail: ""If we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve will get up out of that wheelchair and walk again."
And now in 2008, distortions on stem cell research enter again as a Democratic strategy. As Fact Check.org at the University of Pennsylvania reports (listen to ad and read full analysis):
An Obama-Biden radio ad hammers McCain for being opposed to stem cell research. Not true. Meanwhile two spots from the McCain-Palin campaign, together with the Republican National Committee, describe McCain's support for the research; they're largely accurate.By saying that "John McCain has stood in the way - he's opposed stem cell research," the Obama ad seriously misstates the view that McCain has held on this issue since 2001, when he began backing embryonic stem cell research, a position that was out of step with that of many of his fellow Republicans.
The McCain/RNC ads would probably lead listeners to believe that Palin shares McCain's views on this topic. That's not true. But we find that to be a minor flaw compared with the misrepresentation in Obama's ad.
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Actually, I'm not so sure that the Obama-Biden ads aren't true. From McCain's website:
"As president, John McCain will strongly support funding for promising research programs, including amniotic fluid and adult stem cell research and other types of scientific study that do not involve the use of human embryos."
Sounds like he's against embryonic stem cell research to me, which is generally what people mean when they use the term stem cell research. In the past he has clearly been for lifting the Bush ban on federal funding for stem cell research. However, as the election approaches, he has been continually pandering to the religious/conservative right, and support of stem cell research may be another casualty.
Posted by: Katie | October 8, 2008 3:30 PM
This is so nothing compared to the republicans that a cynic might say that it's simply ScienceBlogs scraping the bottom of the barrel to try to equal Republicans and Democrats scientific blunders to look impartial when pretty much all of us know the question has always been redundant in recent times because the party to vote for (despite their notable scientific misdemeanours) has always been obvious in light of their quite anti-science counterpart.
Posted by: Nova | October 21, 2008 3:30 PM