Eric Cantor vs. The FrankenDem Monster

It keeps getting more and more surreal to watch the GOP in action.

On a day where the main GOP talking point was to blame President Obama for the collapse of Wall Street (as if the economic crisis began on Election Day), Rep. Eric Cantor, the 2nd-highest ranking House Republican, had the most over-the-top soundbyte of the day, on an entirely different subject.

On CNN's "State of the Union," Cantor, with a straight face mind you, had this to say about the repercussions that may occur once Obama reverses the George W. Bush ban on expanding embryonic stem cell research:

"Frankly, federal funding of embryonic stem cell research can bring on embryo harvesting, perhaps even human cloning that occurs. We don't want that. That shouldn't be done. That's wrong.""

This called to mind the 4-year-old legislation, shepherded by Senator Sam Brownback, that I blogged about back in January of 2007. Back then, when Brownback was a candidate for President. I marvelled that the GOP might consider a man who had on his resume,'The Human Chimera Prohibition Act of 2005.' A chimera, for the record, is an entity made up of more than 1 species. That act, had it passed, would have outlawed the following:

`(a) In General- It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly, in or otherwise affecting interstate commerce--
`(1) create or attempt to create a human chimera;

`(2) transfer or attempt to transfer a human embryo into a non-human womb;

`(3) transfer or attempt to transfer a non-human embryo into a human womb; or

`(4) transport or receive for any purpose a human chimera.

Yes, thanks to the good Senator, we may soon have have laws banning the creation of manimals. Dr. Moreau would have a hard time staying out of prison. I had been under the impression that the law had actually passed, but it apparently never has come up for a vote...yet.

And you thought Sarah Palin was the Neanderthal of the party?

But I digress.

Today you have Rep. Cantor speculating that allowing expansion of stem cell research would lead to Democrats stepping into their mad scientist outfits and trying to clone humans.

It makes FrankenDem sound less like the upcoming Senator from Minnesota and more like the way the GOP is trying to demonize Obama and the Democrats for seeking to cure disease.

When I saw Kantor on CNN today I was really hoping that the press would set the record straight. Nobody who is a regular viewer of Fox would ever know that the embryonic stem cells that would be used in research would be taken from embryos that were bound for the scrap heap. As was correctly explained by AP reporter Philip Elliot,

Bush and his supporters said they were defending human life; days-old embryos — typically from fertility-clinic leftovers otherwise destined to be thrown away — are destroyed for the stem cells.

So, those in the GOP would rather those embryos be thrown out, than be put to use curing disease and saving lives.

They certainly do not seem to be protesting the fertility clinics that eventually destroy those unused embryos...a bit hypocritical, don'cha think?

So much for loyalty to the late President Reagan, whose widow has been a staunch advocate for the expanded research. Alzheimer's is one of those diseases prominently mentioned as being possibly defeated through such scientific methods.

But Rep. Cantor does not stop there. He also added this, referring to the government funding such research,

"Certainly that is something that we ought to be talking about, but let's take care of business first. People are out of jobs."

We get it Mr. Kantor. How silly of the President to think that we could try to cure the economy and find a cure for fatal diseases at the same time.

I guess in a McCain administration we would have gotten to health care issues...in about 8 years.

And there are some who still question why the Grand Ol' Party has become increasingly irrelevant?

Here's my answer...the #2 House Republican is telling America to beware of Obama the cloner.

That is all you need to know.