In Missouri, State Auditor Claire McCaskill took a huge step toward defeating social conservative Senator Jim Talent on Meet the Press with her clear, candid and respectful articulation of her views. From Iraq, to a scandal-plagued Congress, from stem cell research bans to abortion, she demonstrated why American voters are tuning out social conservatives and their no longer subtle manipulations of the truth.

“I respect people who disagree with me on principle.”

Respect. How refreshing after the White House, Congress, State Legislatures and School Boards worked overtime disrespecting and stigmatizing any and everyone that didn’t behave as they were told to by the far right.Watch Claire McCaskill Debate Jim Talent on Stem Cells

Missourians will be able to vote on the Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative this fall, since it was certified by the MO Secretary of State on Tuesday. Supporters gathered more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot, despite lies put out by the opposition.

Focus on the Family sent out over 90,000 brochures to Missouri residents, with quotes from women's organizations to strengthen opposition to the stem cell initiative. When the Center for American Progress contacted several of the women's organizations, they said their quotes had been taken out of context in order to misrepresent their views. In fact, these women's organizations are supportive of stem cell research. They do NOT think it is "exploiting women in the name of science" as the brochure says. Looks like Focus on the Family was exploiting women's health advocates!

I've been following the stem cell issue and first ever veto from President Bush in a couple of previous posts, because for social conservatives the issue is linked to abortion. But in the Senate debate, and at the veto ceremony, the issue moved even closer to reproductive health with the introduction of "snowflakes."

Snowflakes refers to frozen embryos, ten percent of which are adopted by infertile, largely white, legally heterosexual, mostly Christian parents, and the other 90% are discarded ... instead of being used for life saving research for diabetes, Parkinson's, spinal cord injury, alzheimers and the list could go on and on.

President Bush was literally adrift in a blizzard of snowflakes at his veto signing, surrounded by the blinding whiteness of parents and children who participated in this ..... amazing triumph of science.

If you haven’t read Michael Kinsley’s recent op-ed in the Washington Post, “False Dilemma on Stem Cells,” you need to.  In it, he points to exactly the kind of inconsistencies in the logic of organizations that oppose sexual and reproductive rights that RH Reality Check often tries to highlight. 

We have talked about the thinking among these groups that seek to prohibit abortion at the same time as they seek to prohibit contraception – the most effective, proven way of preventing unwanted pregnancies (and thereby, abortions) among sexually active individuals.  In other words, they say they want to stop abortions, but they’re not willing to support the easiest way to prevent them.