Vote for me and I will cure cancer says Dem - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Drbio · 08-15-2006, 06:11 PM

Must be part of the No Lie Left Behind Dem Platform......

With a month to go before primary voters head to the polls to choose Senate nominees, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin kicked off yesterday a weeklong effort to highlight his congressional record and vision on health care by making the mother of all campaign promises - to cure cancer.

Cardin, a Democrat from Baltimore County, gathered with cancer survivors and doctors in Lutherville to detail his efforts to expand cancer screening and his plans to fight the disease.

"We are going to lick cancer by 2015," Cardin told a group of 15 people at the HopeWell Cancer Support Center on Falls Road.

The health care push comes as he and other candidates fight to distinguish themselves from the crowd of Democrats and Republicans vying to replace retiring incumbent Paul S. Sarbanes, the state's longest-serving senator. All are hoping to make their views and accomplishments known as voters start to pay more attention to the high-profile race.

Coinciding with the event, the Cardin campaign released yesterday an Internet campaign commercial in which a cancer survivor discusses how early detection saved him.

"They caught mine early and I'm cured," Dr. Edwin Adelson says in the ad. "Thanks to Ben Cardin, others can have their chance. ... He's literally a lifesaver."

Cardin's top rival in the Democratic primary, Kweisi Mfume, said yesterday that his health care pledges include fighting for stem cell research and universal health care.

"Kweisi Mfume ... has also been a leading advocate of stem cell research, which has the potential to revolutionize medical science," said Steve Marinoff, a campaign spokesman.

Robin Rorapaugh, campaign manager for candidate Josh Rales, said the Potomac businessman is sympathetic to Cardin's comments because his mother died two years ago of breast cancer.

"While a noble goal and one that all people hope will be achieved, Congressman Cardin should know that unless we get our budget deficit under control and redefine our national priorities and spending cancer will not be cured [and] cancer research will not get the funding that it needs," Rorapaugh said.

Cardin's campaign is trying to illustrate the candidate's long history of commitment to health issues.

In 1997, Cardin spearheaded bipartisan efforts that resulted in a new law that expanded Medicare coverage for screening several types of cancer. Two years later, he pushed for Medicare coverage of patients undergoing clinical cancer trials, a measure enacted by a 2000 executive order issued by President Bill Clinton.

Dr. Marvin Schuster, a retired Johns Hopkins gastroenterologist, said Cardin has been a leader on health care since he was first elected in 1987.

"Hillary Clinton once told me that Ben knows more about health care than any member of Congress, and she's right," said Schuster, who attended yesterday's event.

An advocate of universal health care, Cardin promised yesterday to restore Republican funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health. He also pledged to promote public awareness programs on screenings and study why certain cancers disproportionately affect African-Americans.

Promising a cancer cure by 2015 might strike some as an election-year gimmick, but that is the year that the National Institute of Cancer identified as its goal "to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer," according to the institute's Web site.

Zach Messitte, a political scientist at St. Mary's College, said Cardin's comments are not unrealistic.

"I had a tumor on my tonsils that spread to my lymph nodes" two years ago, Messitte said. "Six months later I was teaching. It's not a crazy thing to be saying that certain types of cancer could be cured by 2015."

Messitte said voters should expect all of the Democratic senate candidates to focus on medical issues because of Republican candidate Michael S. Steele's opposition to embryonic stem cell research. A Catholic who opposes abortion, Steele has said he supports research using adult and cord blood stem cells, but that he favors research seeking to extract stem cells without destroying embryos.

"It will be a very clear issue dividing the Democratic nominee and Steele," Messitte said.

Cardin said yesterday that Congress will override President Bush's veto last month of a bill to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

dude1394 · 08-15-2006, 06:38 PM

Should be a good platform for about 9 years or so, after they they'll put him in the nuthouse like the rest of the folks who say the world is ending in 10 years.

Gotta keep pushing those dates out brotha'...

Darth Ape · 08-16-2006, 02:38 PM

Funny, but I always thought it was the drug companies that cured diseases and created innovative new treatments... the same drug companies the Dems want to put out of business.

Male30Dan · 08-16-2006, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Ape

Funny, but I always thought it was the drug companies that cured diseases and created innovative new treatments... the same drug companies the Dems want to put out of business.

Nope... It was Pavel! He is one talented man!

Mavdog · 08-16-2006, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Ape

Funny, but I always thought it was the drug companies that cured diseases and created innovative new treatments... the same drug companies the Dems want to put out of business.

who is trying to put the "drug companies....out of business"?

FishForLunch · 08-16-2006, 09:17 PM

Mavdog obviously has not heard of "Big DRUG", "BIG OIL", "BIG BLAH BLAH BLAH" coming from lefties

Hitman · 08-16-2006, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Ape

Funny, but I always thought it was the drug companies that cured diseases and created innovative new treatments... the same drug companies the Dems want to put out of business.

What was the last disease a drug company cured?

u2sarajevo · 08-17-2006, 12:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hitman

What was the last disease a drug company cured?

I don't know if this is the "last" one, but my Mother is benefitting from this one:

link

dude1394 · 08-17-2006, 08:34 AM

A bunch. Bashing drug companies in these the united states is pure jealousy. They've been a resounding success and a blessing to millions.

You gotta pay's some money to get's some good products man. Only problem I have is them negotiating lower prices to another country, that is bogus.

Drbio · 08-17-2006, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hitman

What was the last disease a drug company cured?

This is so stupid I almost hate to respond. Every major cure or beneficial treatment in the last 20 years has been funded by drug companies. Those like Merck et al provide billions in research dollars to research scientists. What a joke of a statement. I hope that was your weak attempt at schtick.

And I am drug company critic for the reason dude posted and a few others.

jacktruth · 08-17-2006, 09:29 AM

Quote:

"Hillary Clinton once told me that Ben knows more about health care than any member of Congress. . ."

Wow, those are some high standards.

Mavdog · 08-17-2006, 11:18 AM

I'm still wondering who is trying to put the drug companies out of business...

the drug companies are one of the many who devote time, energy and most importantly money to the pursuit of remedies for illness. colleges and universities, the state and federal governments as well as the not for profit groups that target specific illnesses also provide the same.

however it is the drug companies who reap the financial reward, and the data says they profit mightily. the drug companies have earned double the average profit margin of US corporations over the last few decades, much of that due to protected margins on their products and also from the favorable tax code they benefit from.

Darth Ape · 08-17-2006, 12:06 PM

So you're suggesting that the US government should take away their incentive to make a profit, and therefore their incentive to invest in new remedies.

you must really love diseases

Mavdog · 08-17-2006, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darth Ape

So you're suggesting that the US government should take away their incentive to make a profit, and therefore their incentive to invest in new remedies.

hmm, just where is the "incentive" taken away? that they would make the average profit margin as opposed to double the average?

the better question is why the drug companies are able to realize a higher profit margin on the drugs they sell in america than they do in europe? the regulatory environment in europe hasn't hurt the pharmaceutical developers, with 6 of the 10 largest companies based in europe they appear to be doing just fine, and they keep bringing out new drugs in spite of your ficticous disincentive "to make a profit" or "invest in new remedies".

Quote:

you must really love diseases

so who is it that is trying to "put the drug companies out of business"? odd that you haven't answered....

Usually Lurkin · 08-17-2006, 07:36 PM

didn´t someone a couple years ago claim that we´d cure spinal paralysis if we voted for them (and their stem cell platform)

also, are the record profits being reinvested in record amounts for r&d? That´s how capitalism is supposed to work (I´d read one story that that´s what´s happening in the BIG OIL industry right now)

Drbio · 08-18-2006, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Usually Lurkin

didn´t someone a couple years ago claim that we´d cure spinal paralysis if we voted for them (and their stem cell platform)

also, are the record profits being reinvested in record amounts for r&d? That´s how capitalism is supposed to work (I´d read one story that that´s what´s happening in the BIG OIL industry right now)

The R&D investments are not only at record highs, they are at staggering record highs. It is unbelievable the money they give back for research.