HAMPTON, New Hampshire, Oct 4 (AFP) - Democratic nominee John Kerry Monday accused President George W. Bush of sacrificing life-saving science for right-wing dogma as he joined ailing Hollywood star Michael J. Fox to skewer Republican curbs on stem cell research.
Kerry, riding high after several opinion polls suggested he had erased Bush`s opinion poll lead ahead of their second head-to-head debate on Friday, held a rally in a school in New Hampshire.
"The hard truth is that when it comes to stem-cell research, this president has made the wrong choice, to sacrifice science for extreme right-wing ideology and that is unacceptable," said Kerry, as he accused the administration of drastically stem cell research.
Supporters say research on embryonic stem cells could lead to a cure for patients living with diseases like Alzheimers, diabetes, and terminal leukaemia and some types of cancer.
"Back to the Future Star" Fox, now stricken with Parkinson`s disease, said Bush`s Republicans had severely limited the number of stem-cell lines available for research for purely ideologial reasons.
"George W. Bush has made the wrong decision on stem cell research, we are very excited that John Kerry will get us back on track," said the Canadian-born star, shaking perceptibly from his symptoms.
The Bush campaign however hit back at Kerry, accusing him of misleading Americans over Bush`s policy on stem cell research.
"John Kerry has made a repeated effort to mislead the press and the public on the reality of the new federal funding for stem cell research that the President announced in August 2001," said a White House statement.
"It is inaccurate to say the president `limited federal funding` of stem cell research, as such funding did not exist to limit."
Bush announced in April 2001 that he had made 60 stem cell lines available to federal researchers.
But opponents claim many have proved to have no scientific value, and that his policy is nothing but a political fudge to placate an ideologically conservative base opposed to research on embryonic material.
"It`s kind of like giving us a car and no gas and (Bush) congratulating himself for giving us a car," said Fox.
Bush`s program only permitted funding for work on embryonic stem cells that had already been destroyed. Opponents argue that tens of thousands of frozen stem cells in existence could be used to find a cure to deadly diseases.
Kerry is trying to paint Bush`s refusal to admit problems with a rising insurgency in Iraq as part of a pattern of oblivion or indifference to what Democrats say are disastrous domestic policies.
"President Bush just doesn`t get it. Faced with the facts, he just turns away. Time and again he`s proven that he`s stubborn, out of touch and unwilling to change course," Kerry said here.
The veteran Massachusetts senator was due to head on to Philadelphia and then to a late night rally in Iowa, the state that rescued his ailing campaign earlier this year, by giving him a shock win in the Democratic caucus, which eventually propelled him to win the nomination.