{"id":6584,"date":"2006-02-10T10:59:27","date_gmt":"2006-02-10T15:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=6584"},"modified":"2006-02-10T10:59:27","modified_gmt":"2006-02-10T15:59:27","slug":"steeles-stem-cell-stupidity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/steeles-stem-cell-stupidity\/","title":{"rendered":"Steele’s stem-cell stupidity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opposing stem-cell research is odd, and comparing stem-cell research to Nazi experiments is ridiculous, but it takes a special kind of stupid for a statewide political candidate to compare stem-cell research to Nazi experiments in front of a group of Jewish leaders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele infuriated some participants at a Baltimore Jewish Council meeting yesterday by raising the specter of Nazi experimentation on Jews when explaining his opposition to embryonic stem cell research.<\/p>\n

“Look, you, of all folks, know what happens when people decide they want to experiment on human beings, when they want to take your life and use it as a tool,” Steele told the group of about 35 Jewish leaders and other guests, according to a tape recording of his remarks.<\/p>\n

Steele, considered a Republican rising star nationally, is running for an open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland. […] “If the lieutenant governor was drawing a comparison between stem cell research and human medical experimentation during the Holocaust, he must understand the pain this kind of analogy would inflict on survivors and their families,” said Arthur C. Abramson, the Baltimore Jewish Council’s executive director.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Steele explained that he made the remark after having recently returned from Israel. As he put it, the “powerful memories” of visiting the Holocaust museum in Israel left “a lasting impression,” which prompted his remarks yesterday. Of course, that doesn’t help — it merely reinforces the fact that Steele was, in fact, drawing the comparison.<\/p>\n

What’s particularly dumb about Steele’s remarks is that it reflects a very short memory on his part. Just five months ago, James Dobson drew widespread condemnations for — you guessed it — comparing stem-cell research to Nazi experimentation<\/a> during his nationally-broadcast radio program. Even some high-profile conservatives blasted Dobson for the “grotesque<\/a>” comparison.<\/p>\n

And yet, here’s Lt. Gov. Steele, on the campaign stump, making the same mistake. But instead of repeating this nonsense on a far-right evangelical radio show, Steele decided it was wise to draw the comparison between life-saving medical research and Nazi experiments while speaking to a group of Jewish leaders?<\/p>\n

Let’s just say we’re not talking about a man with a Steele-trap intellect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opposing stem-cell research is odd, and comparing stem-cell research to Nazi experiments is ridiculous, but it takes a special kind of stupid for a statewide political candidate to compare stem-cell research to Nazi experiments in front of a group of Jewish leaders. Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele infuriated some participants at a Baltimore Jewish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}