Posted on 10/31/2006 5:27:11 AM PST by Clive
Re: Oct. 28 editorial cartoon, showing Rush Limbaugh shouting into a radio microphone, with a technician saying, "He must be off his meds."
There is no doubt that the U.S. radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh's direct style and his own past medication issues make him an inviting target. And although he was, in all probability, technically inaccurate in accusing Michael J. Fox of "acting" in his recent political TV ad supporting a Democratic senatorial candidate, Mr. Limbaugh may have been very close to the mark.
As a neurologist with a large number of Parkinson's disease patients, my impression of the video is that Mr. Fox displayed the poorly controlled "choreo-athetotic" movements seen when advanced Parkinson's patients take their medication to turn "on" and emerge from their natural state of rigidity and rest tremor. At some point after taking a pill, a patient's voluntary movements are freed up, without much excess involuntary movement.
The issue, then, is one of timing. Indeed, a few days after his political ad came out, Mr. Fox appeared at a Democratic event in Chicago with his movements under control, a situation he called "ironic." Strangely, however, he seemed unable to appear controlled for a pre-taped TV ad a few days earlier, when the appropriate timing should have been easier, given the possibility of multiple "takes." Lest this all sound too cynical, consider that Mr. Fox admitted in his 2002 autobiography to going off his medication to appear more disabled before a 1999 Senate subcommittee appearance.
Democratic party manipulation appears to go much further. In offering Mr. Fox as a spokesman, they have clearly hoped he would cut a sympathetic figure immune from criticism, and the faux outrage at Mr. Limbaugh's comments seems to confirm this. While Mr. Fox deserves sympathy for this medical plight, he must assume full responsibility for his words and actions when he chooses to enter the political arena. By politicizing a medical issue, he is, in effect, saying that anyone who cares about new treatment hope for Parkinson's disease patients must vote for the the Democratic candidate in Missouri -- not coincidentally, a pivotal state in the upcoming election to control the U.S. Senate.
This is not only unfair, but absurd. Everyone, including Republicans, supports the many new treatments emerging for Parkinson's patients that promise far more immediate application than do stem cells. Republicans also support stem cell research when it comes from ethically sound sources, such as adult tissues and umbilical cord blood. Ironically, these forms of stem cells have had greater success to date than the embryonic-source stem cells lionized in the Michael J. Fox TV ad.
Dr. Paul Ranalli, FRCPC, Toronto.
Bump!
No .. Rush was open for a target because he is a conservative
If Rush was a Democrat saying this on NPR or Air America .. many in the media wouldn't have said a thing
Oh wait, I forgot -- this story will never appear on any of those networks......
Well, if it happened on Err Amerika nobody would have heard it. :)
IOW...RUSH WAS RIGHT
Mocking the pathological symptoms of someone who is disabled is simply unacceptable. Anyone with a chronic illness who depends on medication to function normally knows that it isn't always possible to time it perfectly. Whether Fox could have timed the filming of the commercial better or not, we don't know, but his suffering is real. Rush's identification of the Republican party with mockery of a disability and failure to show compassion showed an appalling lack of judgment.
Well!what do you know?Rush hit the Bullseye again.
It will be interesting to see if Rush talks about this on his show or lets this story die.
Lil shake and bake just turned it on for the audience end of story.
Huh? He's a doctor giving a medical opinion.
Exactly. If he were a liberal he would actually be given extra moral stature as a "victim" of drug addiction. Seems part of being conservative is to reject such status, which in turn makes liberals very uneasy about you. People who don't pull cop-outs concerning moral responsibility scare liberals to their core.
I must have missed your </s> tag...
Yes we do. This was taped and he could have chosen to do it when his symptoms were more under control. This was intentional. Everyone sympathizes with those suffering from awful afflictions like this, but we do not have to be sypathetic over his USING his disease to get dems elected on the incredibly insulting premise that Republicans don't care about alieviating suffering. Fox chose to lie about Talent's position on stem cell research. Nobody should get a pass for that.
Rush should have stuck to the lies in the ad and not gone into Fox's physical symptoms.
While there would have been several ways to make a reasoned argument against the Fox spots--such as pointing out the indignity of using one's illness to promote a medical practice that destroys potential human life, Rush just shows his own shallowness and insecurity by acting like the clown gasbag he has become. Indefensible.
Timing is exactly the issue. Timed just so to make Republicans appear cold and unconcerned. It was disingenuous and it should not be allowed to stand. It was a lie. Fox put himself up as the poster boy for a proposal that he hasn't read.....he was just out to help Dems and hurt Reps. He had to have had control over the whole commercial. He is the star! Your response is like asking someone if they STILL beat their spouse. It hamstrings those that are on the opposite side of Fox's party. That was no doubt the intention in using Fox and his presence all over the country.
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