MISSOURI STEM CELL RESEARCH INITIATIVE-- DID GOP NUTCASE JAMES TALENT JUST HAND HIS SENATE SEAT OVER TO CLAIRE McCASKILL?

Over the last couple of election cycles, whenever the Far Right was worried that one of their greed-and-selfishness candidates might not get the bigots and narrow-minded GOP base roused up enough to bother to come out and vote on election day, they'd inject some red meat into the race in the form of a hot button issue initiative. They'd get the delusional and deranged haters to vote in droves by offering them an opportunity, for example, to get all self-righteous about something that really matters in their pointless, brutish lives-- like protecting their fragile, miserable marriages from "the gay menace." They snap out of their vigils of sitting around with their heads up their butts waiting for the End of Times spaceships to arrive and run to the polls to vote their confused, vicious anti-Jesus hatreds-- and then, since they're there anyway, vote for the right-wingers who would wreck the economy and send their children to fight and die in Iraq.

This year Democrats have a mirror image strategy-- using initiatives to raise the minimum wage, for example, to turn out discouraged voters. Another initiative strategy that could work for Democrats-- and one that is already proceeding in Missouri-- is one calling for stem cell research, something that is approved of by the vast majority of Americans and even by a majority of Republican voters. It is not, however, approved of by the extreme right-wing and socially conservative Republican base. The types of moderate Republican voters in the suburbs who have been responsible for stunning victories for Democrats over the past year in Virginia and New Jersey may be comfortable calling themselves "Reagan conservatives," but they do not consider themselves supporters of Savonarolla. Like Nancy Reagan and Ron, Jr., they think grandma living out the rest of her life without Alzheimers is a pretty good idea.

And this brings us to Missouri's unpopular right-wing extremist nut case, James Talent. His voting record is ghastly, especially when it comes to helping out Big Business and to wreaking havoc on the environment. Look at his votes on social justice, women's rights, housing, education and you will not find anyone in the entire U.S. Senate worse than Talent. He has been the very model of a rubber-stamp Republican for all of the most toxic parts of Bush's horrendous agenda. But even with his far right voting record, he is distrusted and disliked by American neo-fascists like Rush Limbaugh (who was busy ridiculing his absurd $100 gasoline rebate proposal yesterday) and by whacky, superfluous blogger Tim Saler at the Republican propaganda site Red State, who admits Talent's been "an unimpressive senator."


People in Missouri seem to feel they would like an impressive senator and the winds of change are blowing in the direction of Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill. And by a two-thirds margin, people in Missouri also support the state's stem cell initiative. Yesterday the hapless Talent, buffeted by all kinds of winds coming from all sorts of directions said he was done flip-flopping-- which is what he's been doing for almost a year now-- and would oppose the state stem cell initiative. "Talent’s stand was announced the same day that supporters of early stem-cell research turned in 288,991 signatures to place the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot. That’s nearly twice as many as were required." Talent equates the initiative with "human cloning," although he has refused to answer any questions from the press about his announcement.

Yesterday, "a spokeswoman for McCaskill contended that many Missourians had hoped that Talent would support the stem-cell initiative after dropping his backing of Brownback’s bill. 'He was against it before he was for it and now he’s against it again,' McCaskill spokeswoman Adrianne Marsh said. 'Missourians are confused. Obviously, Senator Talent is confused himself because the initiative strictly prohibits human cloning. Senator Talent will probably change his mind again after his next poll.'"