Michael J. Fox shows up on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, twitching, shaking and rocking due to Parkinson’s disease. In the midst of the interview, his microphone falls off. Of course, for dramatic effect, Katie Couric reaches over to help him clip it back on and instead of editing that mishap out, they leave it in. After all, how can we faithfully promote Fox’s agenda without showing every detail of how devastating (and make sure you say it in Katie’s concerned voice for full effect) it is.

Well thanks Katie, but we all know it is. We don’t need your fake concern to prove the point.

Michael J. Fox has been quite the forefront celebrity. He appeared in an ad against Michael Steele, saying he’s against stem cell research. Of course, as is usually the case, the critics are wrong and Michael Steele is nowhere near “against” stem cell research. As is the case with most Republicans, he’s against embryonic stem cell research. Fox obviously didn’t read up on Steele’s position because in an ad for Ben Cardin, he said, “George Bush and Michael Steele will put limits on the most promising stem cell research. Fortunately Marylanders have a chance to vote for Ben Cardin.”

In a way, this is no different than Democrats saying on numerous occasions that Republicans are against immigration. Just like in stem cell research where they leave out embryonic, in immigration they leave out the word illegal.

And Michael J. Fox is a big emotional prop and nothing more and is not to be criticized, again much like prior ad props like the 9/11 widows and Cindy Sheehan.

But what’s worse about Fox is that he has a debilitating condition that’s physically obvious and people are swooping in on him to show just how bad it is. I don’t have so much of a problem with that. If Fox is okay with being exploited like some kind of shaking mannequin, then go to it. If he wants to put himself out there, go right ahead.

But what drives me crazy is that George Stephanopoulos had a scoop dropped right in his lap and he ignored it. He either did it out of stupidity (not likely; Stephanopoulos is a lot of things, but stupid is not one of them) or he was driven by the same bias that drove CBS to leave the mic foible on the tape that was shown to the public. What was the scoop he missed?

Well, though Fox is campaigning for Claire McCaskill, he never read the bill he was preaching to the camera for.

Stephanopoulos: In the ad now running in Missouri, Jim Caviezel speaks in Aramaic. It means, “You betray me with a kiss.” And his position, his point, is that actually even though down in Missouri they say the initiative is against cloning, it’s actually going to allow human cloning.

Fox: Well, I don’t think that’s true. You know, I campaigned for Claire McCaskill. And so I have to qualify it by saying I’m not qualified to speak on the page-to-page content of the initiative. Although, I am quite sure that I’ll agree with it in spirit, I don’t know, I— On full disclosure, I haven’t read it, and that’s why I didn’t put myself up for it distinctly.

But I’ve made this point before, and I really am sincere in it, that anybody who’s prayed on this, and thought about it, and really considered it and can’t get their mind around or their heart around the idea of embryonic stem cell research, I’d go to war for your right to believe that. And you’re right to feel that. I respect it. I truly do.

My point is, and our point as a community, is we have a very good and supportable conclusion that a vast majority of people in this country are in favor of science playing a leading role in making changes in the future and believe in embryonic stem cell research.

So we’re just saying, know that we have prayed on it, too, and we have thought about it, and we are good people, and we are family people, and we are people that take this very seriously, and we’re as concerned as you are.

And we’ve decided that we would like to take this step and to do it with caution and to do it with oversight and to do it with the strictest adherence to ethics and all of the principles this country stands for.

But, allow us to do that without infusing the conversation with inflammatory rhetoric and name-calling and fear-mongering. It doesn’t help.

How’s that for some crap? The great hero that everyone is falling all over themselves to pat on the back is just a stuffed suit on television lending his shaking and tortured body to a political campaign with no real idea what he’s doing.

Understand, my problem is not really with Fox’s involvement in McCaskill’s campaign; it’s more about the way it’s being covered. He told Katie Couric he was over-medicated for his interview with her (which is ironic because Limbaugh claimed that Fox didn’t take his meds, then Fox came back and said he was over medicated and his condition would be more exaggerated because of it and Couric never even followed it up). He told George Stephanopolous that he hadn’t read the bill he praised McCaskill for being in favor of because he would “agree with it in spirit” not having read a word of it.

Couric and Stephanopoulos, however, did nothing with either of these huge scoops. Why? Because you can’t criticize Fox on anything related to stem cells or anything that might hurt his credibility.

I feel for Fox. I don’t wish Parkinson’s on anyone, but that’s not the issue here. The issue is the fact that having the disease does not make you an expert on it. Nor does it make you aware of the issues surrounding the disease beyond the issues you have to deal directly with yourself.

I know that’s directly contrary to the way things work now. You can never criticize Fox for his positions now because he has the disease and showed it on television in multiple interviews and commercials.

In the end, I have a piece of advice for Michael J. Fox.

If you’re going to show up in commercials for candidates the support of whom you base on a bill or an issue, you may want to actually read the bill or understand the position of the opposition on the issue that’s so central you’re lending your face to. He supported Claire McCaskill based on a bill, but he never read it. He came out against Michael Steele but apparently has no idea that Steele isn’t actually against stem cell research.

And God forbid you criticize him for it. Then you’re insensitive, unfair, harsh, a scumbag, or whatever else they can throw at you.

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