Michael J Fox - Commercial & Foundation

[michaeledward]

Michael J Fox appeared in a television advertisment for Claire McCaskill and against Senator Talent.

On its own, it probably was a minor footnote in a political campaign.

Then, Rush Limbaugh, accused Mr. Fox of either a) being off his medication intentionally, or b) acting in the commercial by exaggerating the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease.

This turned the commercial into a National issue. I am sitting an airport in Fargo, ND - and FoxNews channel is being broadcast into the gate area has posted clips of the Fox commercial on the air at least once every ten minutes.

I watched a rather softball interview between Michael J Fox and Katie Couric this morning on the web. She asked the questions for the other side, but did not follow up as aggressively as she could have.

After seeing the interview, I wandered over to the Michael J Fox Foundation web page. I think this Foundation will be added to my charitable giving as we move forward.

Have you seen the ad?
Have you heard Mr. Limbaugh's accusations?
Have you seen Fox's broadcast of the snippets?
Have you seen the comments by their commentators?
Why does this story have National legs?
What is your opinion of all this?

And please visit, and consider, the foundation - www.michaeljfox.org

 

[HKphooey]

Michael J Fox appeared in a television advertisment for Claire McCaskill and against Senator Talent.

On its own, it probably was a minor footnote in a political campaign.

Then, Rush Limbaugh, accused Mr. Fox of either a) being off his medication intentionally, or b) acting in the commercial by exaggerating the symptoms of his Parkinson's disease.

This turned the commercial into a National issue. I am sitting an airport in Fargo, ND - and FoxNews channel is being broadcast into the gate area has posted clips of the Fox commercial on the air at least once every ten minutes.

I watched a rather softball interview between Michael J Fox and Katie Couric this morning on the web. She asked the questions for the other side, but did not follow up as aggressively as she could have.

After seeing the interview, I wandered over to the Michael J Fox Foundation web page. I think this Foundation will be added to my charitable giving as we move forward.

Have you seen the ad?
Yes and I think it is awesome that Mr. Fox put himself out there like that to sponsor a cuase he holds near to his heart.
Have you heard Rush's accusations?
Yes, I have never liked him or most of his opinions. I feel he does waht he does for ratings.
Have you seen Fox's broadcast of the snippets?
Yes
Have you seen the comments by their commentators?
Yes
Why does this story have National legs?
Because the issue of stem cell research is a hot topic in Washington and politics.
What is your opinion of all this?
I am glad this has become a hot topic. I just hope all the coverage moves to the issue of Parkinson's Disease. Two years ago my mom was first diagnosed with this illness. It has taken her from the strongest person in my life to someone dependent on those around her. She can no longer walk and her speech is almost gone. Since she has a rare form of the disease, there is not much they can do for her. She is completely with it mentally, but cannot control her body for the simplest of motor skills.

And please visit, and consider, the foundation - www.michaeljfox.org

Thanks you for posting this!!!! Mr. Fox is a great spokesperson for this cause!

:asian:...

 

[Ping898]

I've seen all of it, the original, and Rush's comments and the rebuttal and my two cents is while I don't think for one second he (Michael J Fox) was acting or exagerating his movements, even if he was "acting" who cares...it wasn't like he was making up symptoms and if he was making his seem worse then they really are, it isn't like they won't get that bad eventually, if they aren't already and it isn't like the ad was any better or worse than all the other political ads out there coming from both sides. I think he's a good actor and from all I have seen a good person who choose to take the curve ball life threw him and make the most of it to try and help other people like him. I think Rush is an *** most days of the week anyways, so today is no different from yesterday or probably tomorrow.....

Wish luck this uproar will spark debate and hopefully someting good will come of it for the fight against Parkinson's

 

[HKphooey]

And I forgot to add... If he had skipped his medication to exagerate the symptoms, I would still back the commercial. Seeing him off medication shows how great medicine can be and why we need to make it available to all that need it!

 

[shesulsa]

Some may not know this, but Fox opted for an experimental brain surgery to reduce his symptoms years ago which was apparently very successful. When he quit his most recent sitcom years ago, he was beginning to have some symptoms reoccur. This is a progressive disease.

 

[Ping898]

This link is an article that has links to some video clips being referred to

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/27/fox.couric.ap/index.html

 

[rutherford]

At best, Rush is a comedian and entertainer, and knows well what it's like to be heavily medicated. He jumped on this issue because it's controversial, and the story has national appeal because Michael J Fox is a beloved icon.

It's also not without some truth, because Fox has admitted he stopped taking his medication before testifying in front of a Senate committee, and typically overmedicates himself for interviews. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Fox

The man is dying. As far as I'm concerned, he should be in charge of his medication, and take however much he wants whenever he wants. I also strongly support funding for Stem Cell Research.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

This is more about Fox trying to get people to vote against Republicans than it is about the disease. There is no proven research that stem cells have or ever will cure his disease.

 

[michaeledward]

This is more about Fox trying to get people to vote against Republicans than it is about the disease. There is no proven research that stem cells have or ever will cure his disease.

You are aware that Michael J Fox is a strong supporter of Arlen Spector? Last I heard, he was a Republican?

 

[crushing]

Have you seen the ad?

No

Have you heard Mr. Limbaugh's accusations?

Paraphrases through other sources, such as on CNN and Headline News.

Have you seen Fox's broadcast of the snippets?

No, I don't watch Fox.

Have you seen the comments by their commentators?

No.

Why does this story have National legs?

Because it paints Mr. Limbaugh as a nasty windbag jerk he is. Not only does the story reflect negatively on Limbaugh, as it probably should, but there is a guilt by association factor in regards to other people.

What is your opinion of all this?

Hopefully an apology is forthcoming from Limbaugh, but I doubt it will happen. It does all seem overblown, but it may bring some giving to the Mr. Fox's foundation, which isn't a bad thing. I doubt very much that was Limbaugh's scheme all along.

And please visit, and consider, the foundation - www.michaeljfox.org

Will do.

 

[HKphooey]

This is more about Fox trying to get people to vote against Republicans than it is about the disease. There is no proven research that stem cells have or ever will cure his disease.

Tough to prove anything when they are not allowing the research.

 

[Ping898]

This is more about Fox trying to get people to vote against Republicans than it is about the disease. There is no proven research that stem cells have or ever will cure his disease.

Well Fox himself says he's supported republicans who support stem cell research. Arlen Specter for one.
While there is no proven research that stem cells will cure his disease, there is no research that suggests it won't and the current research available suggests that the best hope for a cure is found within stem cell research...

 

[rutherford]

This is more about Fox trying to get people to vote against Republicans than it is about the disease. There is no proven research that stem cells have or ever will cure his disease.

How can you prove that something will happen in the future until it does? However, many would say it's a very strong possibility and worthy of research.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3853791.stm
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2139
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6783024/


Edit: Whoa, fast thread.

 

[crushing]

Tough to prove anything when they are not allowing the research.

Who is not allowing the research? Some states have considered outlawing it, but I don't know if any have or not yet. The states that do allow it will attract the research facilities and corresponding jobs.

 

[Ping898]

Who is not allowing the research? Some states have considered outlawing it, but I don't know if any have or not yet. The states that do allow it will attract the research facilities and corresponding jobs.

Problem is even when they are "allowed" to do the research the research is cost prohibitive for many companies because of current laws, those that recieve federal funding for other research must duplicate resources to do this research and many can't afford to do that, especially the smaller companies...

 

[HKphooey]

Who is not allowing the research? Some states have considered outlawing it, but I don't know if any have or not yet. The states that do allow it will attract the research facilities and corresponding jobs.

Bad choice of words on my part. I should have said made it difficult with the restricitions and lack of funding and are lookin to make it even harder.

More info on Stem Cell Research...

http://stemcells.nih.gov/

 

[Carol]

Have you seen the ad?

Yes I have. Matt Drudge broke the story on his Druge Report radio show on Sunday night and spent quite a bit of time discussing it before Mr. Limbaugh made his comments. Mr. Drudge was clearly moved by the ad, noted that the video was on his website, and said that Mr. Fox was not in good shape.

A listener to the show said they were a big fan of the TV show Boston Legal, and they wondered why Mr. Fox looked so much different in the commercial than he did on the show. Mr. Drudge thought about it for a moment and said he didn't have an answer. As the show went on, a few people called in with differing observations...that Mr. Fox had also looked the way he did in the commercial when he had given talks before congress.

Later in the show there were several listeners that stated, albeit in an unsubstantiated way, that Mr. Fox goes off his Parkinsons meds before going before Congress, and the caller suggested that he likely went off his meds to make the commercial, and that he does this to show the ravages of the disease.

Between Matt Drudge and his listernership, several other points of discussion were brought up relating to the ad...was it exploitative, was it political genius, etc.

Have you heard Mr. Limbaugh's accusations?

Yes I have, I caught part of Mr. Limbaugh's show over the last few days of days. He made the comments that he did and then when the points were brought up about how Mr. Fox goes off his meds, Mr. Limbaugh seemed to step slightly away from discussing Mr. Fox and went headlong in to bashing stem cell research.


Have you seen Fox's broadcast of the snippets?

No, my television does not work.


Have you seen the comments by their commentators?

No.


Why does this story have National legs?

If any TV personality appeared in an advertisement with deeply unexpected appearance, the story would have national legs.

Combine the star power with some deeply controversial issues and the story not only has national legs, but is strong enough to last through a more than one news cycle.


What is your opinion of all this?

The topic of discussion seems to be Limbaugh vs. Fox and not Talent vs. McCaskill. For all the press that the ad is getting, I'm left with a bit of an academic wonder as to how this will actually work for her campaign.

Outside the senate rate, I've been hearing some very interesting debates about stem-cell research and I've been seeing the Michael J. Fox foundation get all kinds of press. I'm also glad things transpired the way they did.

 

[michaeledward]

Who is not allowing the research? Some states have considered outlawing it, but I don't know if any have or not yet. The states that do allow it will attract the research facilities and corresponding jobs.

President George W. Bush

The President vetoed a bill that passed in both houses of congress that would allowed facilities receiving federal funds to work on this area of study. It was the first veto of his six years in office. With that veto, the President is not allowing science to take place.

Several states have passed measures that appropriate State money to fund the research. There is a ballot measure in Missouri allowing state funds for this research, which is one reason for Mr. Fox's commercial.

But, any facility that receives any money from the federal government, can not perform any new stem cell research in any area where they apply those federal funds. Research facilities must create sterile - federal fund free - zones in order to move forward with this research. This is a damned near impossible task.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

More proof that Rush Limbaugh is an idiot.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I hadn't heard of it till now.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

hmmm..just chance that this all came up so close to November? I think not.