That means that Fox's appearance could have been whatever the producer wanted. Calm, as we see him on his TV show. Or shaking as we see him in he ad.

In other words, they could have shot it dozens of times.

Obviously they wanted to show him shaking. We now know, as MJF has admitted, that he had taken too much medication, which caused the problems.

Why? The answer is, dramatic effect.

If you want to claim that embryonic stem cell research, which is the question.. not stem cell research... will cure MJF's disease, and many others, fine. But if you want to be honest about it, you should show the individual as that person looks when properly medicated. Not over medicated, and not under medicated.

We are also hearing that one group in MO has contributed $28M to the cause. This same group, we are told, will profit if it is made part of the state's constitution.

The effort appears to be dishonest and politically driven. That's a shame because it plays into the hands of the nuts on the other side.

If you want to know why we can't get drug law reform, national health care, etc., just look at this and understand how cheesy commercials to win elections hurt the honest efforts of people working for change.

But there are no actually results.

Adult stem cell research has had results.

As I have noted, embryonic research works for me.

But claiming that voting for a particular candidate, Demo or RINO Repub is shameful.

Soon after having the cells injected my Parkinson's symptoms began to improve. My trembling grew less and less, until to all appearances it was gone, only slightly reappearing if I became upset. Dr. Levesque had me tested by a Neurologist, who said he wouldn't have known I had Parkinson's if he had met me on the street. I was once again able to use my right hand and arm normally, enjoying activities that I given up hope of ever doing.
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Last year, after four years of being virtually symptom free, my Parkinson's symptoms began reappearing in my body's left side. Today I have various degrees of trembling in both hands, although I feel that the left is slightly worse. Nevertheless, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to have Dr. Levesque use my adult stem cells to treat me a second time, since in my case they were safe, effective, and involved no risk of rejection.
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This summarizes my history with Parkinson's and the positive effects I experienced through a treatment that used my own adult stem cells. I'm very happy with its results and would dearly love to have a second treatment.

If they had wanted to show the effects of improper medcation, they should had said so.

They got what they wanted for dramatic effect.

That's shameful. It's also fu*king disgusting. More than a tape could be shot later. You guys are running out of feet to aim at.

The fact that the drugs can't consistently maintain their optimum level is very much a part of the disease.  So is the fact that Fox has such a hard time going 30 seconds without shaking that it would take dozens of takes to get a shake-free one.

Why is hiding these negative facts, as you suggest Fox should have done, more honest than hiding the positive ones, as you suggest Fox did?

My father has Parkinson's disease and like MJF he developed and has lived with his disease from a young age. If anything the comercial is an honest presentation of what a person with Parkinson's lives with everyday. THere are up times and down times. As the disease progresses there are more down times than up times. The medication for treating Parkinson's has been truly miraculous over the years for my father. However, it does not work in the way you think. My father takes the medicaton and waits for it to kick in. How well he does after it kicks in depends upon how much sleep he has had, his diet, his mood, etc. When is needs to walk and is impatient, or hasn't slept well (Peaople with Parkinson's often suffer from sleep disorders because of the medication and disease), he takes more medication, and his tremors are exagerated. This is just part of living with the disease. There are days when he is better than others but over time he has always gotten worse except when he has undergone surgery (which both times was experimental and once involved stem cells--both times he has improved, but he still lives with the disease that grows worse over time).

The effort appears to be dishonest and politically driven.

Nancy Reagan's support of stem cell research must also be dishonest and politically driven.

Rush may know his OxyContin and Viagra, but, according to Jonathan Cohn at TNR's The Plank (1), who interviewed Dr. William J. Winer, chairman of the department of neurology and director of the Parkinson's clinic at the University of Maryland Medical Center, he needs to bone up on his Parkinson's meds. "[Winer] ... was fairly surprised to hear about Limbaugh's reaction. Here's why: 'What you are seeing on the video is side effects of the medication. He has to take that medication to sit there and talk to you like that. ... He's not over-dramatizing. ... [Limbaugh] is revealing his ignorance of Parkinson's disease, because people with Parkinson's don't look like that at all when they're not taking their medication. They look stiff, and frozen, and don't move at all.' "

The general consensus in the blogosphere wasn't quite outrage. Most have come to expect this kind of blather from Dick Cheney's favorite journalist. In fact, some liberal bloggers, like Kevin Drum of Political Animal (2), were actually pleased by Rush's immolation. "Too often it's been liberals who respond to tough ads with whining, but now conservatives are doing it instead -- and it's a sign of weakness. If conservatives want to defend [Missouri Sen. Jim] Talent's position, they should go right ahead and do so. But accusing Michael J. Fox of faking his symptoms and then complaining that a 30-second spot isn't a Brookings white paper? That shows a kind of helpless desperation that it's nice to see on the other side for once."

...Rush did a disservice to the legitimate debate over stem cells and the use of Fox in a political ad. "What is really despicable is to play on people's concerns and hopes for a cure for a terrible disease in order to score political points. And that point has been lost in the fuss over Rush Limbaugh's insensitive comments.