John Danforth's very strange support of candidate Ed Martin
Barb ShellyWhat the heck is John Danforth doing?
From the St. Louis Beacon comes word that the former U.S. senator will headline a fundraiser for Ed Martin, the Republican who is challenging Democrat Chris Koster for the Missouri attorney general seat.
Danforth took a bold stand six or seven years ago when Missouri was in the throes of the stem cell wars. He was honorary chairman of the Missouri Coalition for Lifesaving Cures, the group campaigning for scientists in Missouri to have the same rights as researchers elsewhere to pursue medical discoveries.
In a 2005 oped piece written in the New York Times, Danforth said,
It is not evident to many of us that cells in a petri dish are equivalent to identifiable people suffering from terrible diseases. I am and have always been pro-life. But the only explanation for legislators comparing cells in a petri dish to babies in the womb is the extension of religious doctrine into statutory law.
Martin, on the other hand, in those years headed up Missouri Roundtable for Life, a virulent anti-science organization which filed unsuccessful attempts at 30 ballot initiatives in a two-year span, all aimed at discouraging stem cell research. Martin’s group also filed a slew of lawsuits, to the same end. Martin still refers to scientists involved in embryonic stem cell research as “cloners.”
Lest we forget, Martin served an eventful 15 months as former Gov. Matt Blunt’s chief of staff before being shown the door. Among other things, Martin deleted government e-mails, claiming they didn’t count as public records. He insulted the state’s judges. And he was in the thick of a fiasco in which the governor’s office pressured the state Highway Patrol to publicly criticize they-attorney general Jay Nixon.
This is not the guy we want in the attorney general’s office. The very thought should make Danforth shudder. But apparently not.
George Hunsucker
Northland
10 months, 1 week agoMaybe he realizes we don’t need anymore D’s in office ms. shelly? Just a thought….
Matt Henry
10 months, 1 week agoIs being opposed to embryonic stem cell research all it takes to be considered ‘virulently anti-science?’
I will make sure and remember to bring that up the next time I hear a Barb Shelly harangue about coarsening of the culture and need to find common ground and all that other tripe that they mean only for those less enlightened than they are….
David Graham
10 months, 1 week agoKoster is a fraud. He will do anything to be elected. He’s the guy we don’t want to be AG.
Phil Cardarella
10 months, 1 week agoRev. Jack has usually been a responsible moderate conservative — but occasionally wanders off to slip off the right edge of his Party’s flat earth. Think Clarence Thomas — who Danforth is responsible for putting on the Supreme Court.
Like many people, he sometimes just likes a guy — particularly a guy who can play him with flattery — and turns a blind eye to the fact that the fellow is a mediocre intellect or demagogue.
Phil Cardarella
10 months, 1 week agoOh, and, yes, being opposed to embryonic stem cell research IS all it takes to be considered ‘virulently anti-science’.
You see, the earth is NOT flat, even if appears so from your perspective.
Gemey McNabb
10 months, 1 week agoI suppose every progressive must follow their leaders’ example by boldly lying again and again and hoping people will begin to believe them. Ed Martin did not delete any emails while he was Matt Blunt’s Chief-of-Staff. It has been examined, explained and testified to, but that doesn’t stop the left stream media from dragging it into every story it can. Ms. Shelley should use her journalistic ‘talents’ to crawl up Koster’s pay for play scheme and report the truth about that. Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen though…..