Politics > Politics-USA > Rush Limbaugh attacks Michael J. Fox, says "he's acting" in Parkinson's ads
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24 Oct 2006 04:26:13 PM |
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Rush Limbaugh attacks Michael J. Fox, says "he's acting" in Parkinson's ads |
Limbaugh Says Actor Fox Exaggerates Effects of Disease in Ads
By Daniela Deane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 24, 2006; 4:42 PM
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh today attacked actor
Michael J. Fox for inserting his halting voice into the U.S. Senate
campaign in Missouri, suggesting Fox was "acting" in a commercial where
he's shown shaking while endorsing the importance of stem cell
research.
"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," Limbaugh told
listeners today, encouraging them to go online to watch Fox's
commercial, which first aired Oct. 21 in St. Louis during a World
Series game. "He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an
act."
In the commercial, Fox throws his support behind Democratic Missouri
Senate candidate Claire McCaskill, who supports stem cell research,
against Republican James M. Talent. Fox also taped similar ads for
other Democratic candidates, including Benjamin L. Cardin in his Senate
race against Republican Michael S. Steele in Maryland and Wisconsin
Gov. Jim Doyle (D), who is seeking reelection.
The ads bear witness to the actor's unmistakable decline from
Parkinson's, which the actor has suffered from for a long time, and
harnesses that physical degeneration into a political message.
"What you do in Missouri matters to millions of Americans, Americans
like me," Fox said in the television spot, which will continue airing
throughout Missouri this week.
"This is the only time I've ever seen Michael J. Fox portray any of the
symptoms of the disease he has," Limbaugh said. "He can barely control
himself."
Limbaugh said Fox could "control himself enough to stay in the frame of
the picture" and to keep "his eyes right on the . . . teleprompter. But
his head and shoulders are moving all over the place."
"He is acting like his disease is deteriorating because Jim Talent
opposes research that would help him get cured," Limbaugh said, adding
that Talent only opposes "fetal stem cell research, but not adult."
"This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox," Limbaugh said. "Either he
didn't take his medication or he's acting."
Fox, who gained fame for his roles in the "Family Ties" and "Spin City"
television shows and "Back to the Future" movies, has long been open
about his battle with Parkinson's and his support for the research that
could lead to a treatment.
But in this ad he shows a noticeable degree of decline not widely seen
in previous public appearances. His speech is clear but his head and
body are jerky and unsteady.
William J. Weiner M.D., professor and chairman of the department of
neurology at the University of Maryland Medical Center and director of
the Parkinson's clinic there, says the following about Fox's behavior:
"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. ... People with Parkinson's, when
they've had the disease for awhile, are in this bind, where if they
don't take any medication, they can be stiff and hardly able to talk.
And if they do take their medication, so they can talk, they get all of
this movement, like what you see in the ad." .....
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