Bush did not shoot down stem cell research so they could go ahead and find some other way of doing it. He did it because he found it perfectly acceptable that this form of research, which could one day make very great contributions to health care development, would get suffocated.
The fact that scientists managed to find another way to do it is not only miraculous, but also something you cannot attribute to George W. Bush. You make it sound as if he was right all the time. He wasn't. He gladly would have let this kind of research die out in the U.S., let's not forget. The very fact that he was willing, and able, to deliver a great blow to medical science, is what made that an extremely poor decision by him.
You say that Bush is moderate for this reason, but that's nothing short of ridiculous. (The reason why he's not been in the spotlight lately is because he's busy trying to polish his image as much as possible, which would account for his current Africa trip. He's not going to get all that much done anymore, anyway.)
I'm not saying that he had this in mind at all. I'm saying that because he had the balls to go out there and do that (as cruel and unfair as it seems), it indirectly helped. I think pulling stem cells from embryo's would be a bad thing (in my eyes -- everyone has different opinions on life, where it begins, etc). I'd be worried a lot of people would find it more acceptable to just kill off life -- that one of these babies could grow up to be the next Einstein or something. But you could at least agree that yes, as a result of his decision, we've found what could be considered a more responsible, morally "decent," method of finding stem cells? We were forced to. No, he didn't perpetuate these changes by saying, "Hey, look for other ways," because, yes, he more or less did just pull the plug on it. But people found a way to get around it. And now conservatives/Christians/etc can't say a damn thing about it.
And yes, I realize he's been out of the spotlight trying to fix his tarnished image. I guess he's not so "moderate." But maybe I just agree with what happened. This is off on a tangent, but I feel like Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction -- just not in the form of nuclear weapons. Biological agents, and all of the other crap that they found there, are serious problems. Worse than Iran or North Korea, Russia, or somewhere else? Probably not. I feel like despite the problems with Iraq (I know I'm not there fighting right now -- and I'm not paying the bill for it yet), that it was the right thing to do. Taking care of North Korea would be nice to do too, after seeing the type of shit they do to their people. But that would assume a stronger "world police" role. Which would be a pain in the ass and checkbook, for sure. Maybe more so North Korea -- seriously, was watching a documentary and saw how they did "surgery" over there -- on fold-out tables that weren't clean, without antibiotics, and the people still say how their "great leader" is watching out for them. I mean, at least he is pushing for them being self-reliant, but it still seems like they're getting raped within their own country. Anyway. Just my few cents on it. I do worry a little that Bush was just trying to take out Sadam for the sake of his father, though.
@ASE -- my friend showed me that today, haha. I'm totally about to hit the hay, damn, it's late.
--Terin