Bush Vetoes Progress

Just when you thought Dubya might be ready to embrace science (in rhetoric, anyway, if not in action), he hits you over the head with a dumb move on embryonic stem cell research. Congress did the right thing and passed legislation to expand funding for important research, research that many scientists believe holds the key for countless medical breakthroughs, and Bush says, “No. I don’t understand it, so I’m gonna veto it.”

Here's the story in the New York Times, which says, in part:

Democrats were criticizing the veto even before the president had actually wielded his pen. “President Bush won’t listen to the overwhelming majority of Americans who call out for stem cell research,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, said today. As for the morality of Mr. Bush’s stand, Mr. Reid said the president’s veto means that “our best scientists continue to work with one hand tied behind their back,” to the detriment of Americans suffering from cancer, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries and other calamities.

This action on the part of the Worst President in History is inexcusable and unforgivable. For more discussion, see DailyKos.

(Cross-posted at Cobalt 6)