Talk Check
Distributed Fact-Checking for Talk Radio
Ann Coulter: Stem Cell Research Expert

A key topic of the July 19th edition of the John Carlson Show was stem cell research, and John found a highly respected scientist to come on and educate his listeners: Ann Coulter. According to Carlson, a vituperative right-wing pundit with a law degree is now the ultimate authority for stem cell research on talk radio.

In fact, she's such an expert in the field that she didn't seem to know anything about the recently passed legislation to widen federal funding of embryonic stem cell research:
CARLSON: Charles Krauthammer, a friend of yours, and a highly respected physician, psychiatrist, turned neo-conservative writer, he says that he would have drawn the line where the US Senate drew the line. Why, in your opinion Ann, would that be unreasonable?
COULTER: Um, where did the Senate draw the line? [giggle] I'm sorry, I've been on a book tour, I know nothing that has happened.
CARLSON: Embryos discarded at fertility clinics.
COULTER: Did he say that recently, or was it when Bush first
CARLSON: Last week.
COULTER: Oh, ok, um, I don't know, you'd have to ask him. The one thing I noticed in researching that portion of the chapter in the left's war on science is how difficult it was to get information on what I'm describing right now about a lot of minds and the great science writer Micheal Fomento. But for example the paralyzed women in Portugal and South Korea who were treated with adult stem cells have been paralyzed, one for nineteen years, I forget how long the other one was paralyzed for. They started to walk. One with a walker, the other was beginning the process of recovery. Something the embryonic stem cell research is not close to. I read about this in a Michael Fumento column, and I did a Lexis/Nexis search, and I could find no mention of it any place in the Nexis archives. So I emailed Fumento, and I said 'Our you sure about this? Why is no one listed?' , and now it's come out a little bit more since then. But they are burying the truth on this, and maybe Krauthammer is unaware of this, and many are.

That's right: Krauthammer, a "highly respected physician", must be wrong on embryonic stem cell research because some dark forces are suppressing all of the good news of people being cured by adult stem cells. After all, Ann did her thorough research with a few Lexis/Nexis searches that turned up a National Review article by a right-wing hack who was fired from his columnist job because he was on the payroll of a major corporation that he often touted in his articles.

In another segment, Ann described her conspiracy theory on why there's such a fuss about embryonic stem cell research:
The whole thing is a fraud designed to persuade Americans to give ground on human experimentation. [Embryonic stem cell researchers] aren't' producing anything. If they were they could get private funding for it, and the hoax of promoting the stem cell research that isn't working ot the detriment of the one that is working is what is going to prevent us from finding a cure to Alzheimer's.

Ummm, sure... Thousands of experts in the field all of the world are just wasting their time, trying to fleece tax payers to fund research into an area they know won't work. And it's all because of a big conspiracy to get Americans to walk away from pro-life positions.

Seattle radio listeners are so lucky to have John Carlson and his expert guests to keep us informed on all of the complex scientific issues.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006


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