The Forrester campaign is in crisis mode, trying to deal with the fallout of the Carl Riccio ads that have hit the airwaves hear in New Jersey. His lack of support for embryonic stem cell research has always been a problem for Forrester, as New Jersey voters overwhelmingly support it. However, the anti-choice wing of the state's Republican Party does not. And in order to win the gubernatorial nomination earlier this year, Doug Forrester needed their support. Rather than taking a principled stance against embryonic stem cell research, Forrester has tried to play both sides of the issue, claiming that he supports stem cell research, but not public funding for it. He's been much more quiet about the fact that the stem cell research he has supported is adult stem cell research, not embryonic. There's a huge difference between the two (see the non-political Wikipedia's 'stem cell' entry for more information).

On Friday, Forrester claimed to have a miraculous change of heart and now claims to completely support embryonic stem cell research and even the public funding of it. But he sounded like a complete and total buffoon in the process. The Star-Ledger reported his bizarre transformation.

Essentially, Forrester has no credibility on this matter and everyone knows it. And supposedly changing his stance after the 'Carl' ads have been released does not now mean that Carl Riccio and the Corzine campaign are somehow not playing fair. That would be like the Bush administration suddenly pulling out of Iraq and claiming they're now absolved of all responsibility. It's absurd to the point of surrealism.

At Forrester's blog, they're keeping up the attacks on Carl Riccio. In crying foul about Carl's criticism, blogger Brook Schaaf (Forrester's nephew, incidentally) doesn't even seem to be sure about Forrester's position on embryonic stem cell research, never explaining it while trying to defend it. Tellingly, he equates "pro-Corzine" with "pro-embryonic-stem-cell-research," obviously not realizing that Uncle Doug had already flip-flopped on the issue.

Setting aside the hypocrisy, what kind of grade school whining is this? Carl Riccio has every right to say what he said about Doug Forrester -- it was all true. In the first televised debate, explaining why he supports neither embryonic stem cell research nor the public funding of such research, Doug Forrester said that "adult stem cells are where the smart money is." I'll be generous and say that Forrester was mistaken.

But Riccio is not. It's Carl's opinion that, with all of the resources that would be at his disposal as Governor, Doug Forrester's decision to not support embryonic stem cell research means that Forrester doesn't care about him. That's a tough case to argue, especially coming from Carl himself. No one is saying that Doug Forrester hates disabled people, as his campaign is trying to characterize Carl's statements. That's why the reference to Forrester's daughter is so manipulative. Even though stem cell research could help develop treatments for the Hodgkins disease that has afflicted his daughter, Doug Forrester has repeatedly said that he supports the restrictions on embryonic stem cell research put in place by the Bush administration. Forrester also has not supported public funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Those aren't attacks. I'm not saying it makes Forrester a bad guy. I'm just giving the facts about his positions. If simply stating Forrester's positions somehow equates attacking his character, then perhaps he should sit down and seriously rethink those positions. (Which he claims to have done, and in record time, no less.)

There are two final points I'd like to make here. The first is that Forrester is being a real jerk in repeatedly claiming that Carl is somehow being used by the Corzine campaign in this ad. Let me try to make this real clear for Forrester. Carl may be disabled, but he is not a child. And for Forrester to undermine his dignity and intelligence by painting Carl as a rube, somehow being used, is nothing short of insulting.

But the second point is directly about Carl. In doing this ad, he knew he would be putting himself at the center of a political firestorm. But he apparently looked at the circumstances and decided to move ahead anyway.

Carl Riccio is one heck of a brave guy. He's a wheelchair-bound young man with the guts to come forward in the largest media market in the world to fight for what he believes in -- embryonic stem cell research. He's willing to fight even though he knows it means he's now in the political cross-hairs of not only Doug Forrester, but the entire national Republican Party machine that supports him. This is the same national Republican Party machine that mounted a campaign to convince the public that the wounds which earned John Kerry his Purple Heart in Vietnam were self-inflicted. This is the same national Republican Party machine that used its network of allied journalists to expose the identity of a CIA operative just because her husband dared to disagree with them. And now they're coming after Carl Riccio.

Carl Riccio knew what he was getting into when he decided to publicly support Jon Corzine. But does Doug Forrester know what he's getting into now that he's decided to tangle with Carl Riccio and the countless families who hope and pray every day for the cures and therapies that can only be found through the miracles of embryonic stem cell research? I sincerely doubt it.