I really hope every AP story, when he does pass on, does not include a commercial for embryonic-stem-cell research, like this one does. He deserves more than that. The issue deserves more than that, as the issue is about life and death itself.
This gets me thinking though, about our lack of articulate spokesman on the life issue. They’re out there. Stem cells is slightly harder, because most people don’t get the science on its face. But it extends to abortion too. There are many women who are actually out there and willing witnesses, well-rounded, beautiful who’ve made sacrifices for human life and would do it all over again even if it put them within an inch of their lives–but none of them are household names or, to put it crassly, in your face about it, in a loving way. In a Michael J. Fox, Superman, or Nancy Reagan, you have a person whose story breaks your heart. I really don’t know how one “wins” to use the wrong word again, the stem-cell debate without conveying that same genuine sense of pain and love of life. Of course, with stem cells you have the added difficulty that most people just don’t understand what the issues are, mostly because the reporters who are covering the issue, for the most part, don’t understand themselves, or else are just mimicking talking points.