Floor Speech: John Kerry to President on Stem Cell Debate: Don’t Veto Hope

[kerrygoddess]

John Kerry to President on Stem Cell Debate: Don’t Veto Hope
July 18th, 2006 @ 11:54 am

As some Republicans remain in denial about the benefits of Stem Cell research, John Kerry spoke on the Senate floor this morning about his support for the research.

He was accompanied by Beth Kolbe, a Massachusetts college student and stem cell advocate originally from Tiffin, Ohio, who is interning in his Washington office this summer (see earlier post). Below are the remarks of Senator John Kerry on the Senate floor today on his support for stem cell research (As prepared for delivery):

Mr. President, for each of us, and for millions of Americans, this is a personal issue, almost impossible to separate from our own experiences.

I will never forget almost two years ago standing in the amphitheater in Denver, talking to people — many in wheelchairs, many who had lost loved ones to disease, and many who knew a cure wouldn’t come in time for them — who held out hope that stem cell research might save them, save a loved one, or save others. They wanted leadership. They wanted someone to fight for them back in Washington, and I promised them that I would. I will never forget the looks in their eyes, or the promise they were asking of leaders they placed their hope in.

When I think about them, when I think about the people I met all over the country who were so personally invested in this issue, I’m even more deeply troubled to see that today we find ourselves in a place of division when we could have been united – so much promise threatened by President Bush’s threat to veto a bipartisan bill that funds stem cell research.

MORE - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=3628

[globalvillage]

1. He was great, as always.

I think his speeches are so effective because they speak to the heart and from the heart. And always about how decisions will impact real people.
It's the difference between someone who works people into their discourse and someone whose worldview centers around people.
That says a lot. The difference is subtle to people who don't pay attention. And it goes right over the heads of the clueless. To the rest of us, it couldn't be more obvious.

Also, he rocks in that suit. Is he losing weight again?
:-)