Child Exploitation

Cheap tactics by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Robert Novak reports:

In the office of freshman Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, lobbyists burst into tears Tuesday when they heard bad news about prospects for a bill they were pushing. That extraordinary reaction can be explained by the fact that the ''lobbyists'' were children.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation sent groups of children, some as young as 5, to lobby senators for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. The children were in Washington to attend the foundation's Children's Congress. In order for any child to attend, each parent had to promise, in writing, support for the organization's stem cell research position.

The sobbing in DeMint's office came after a lengthy explanation by the senator's aides of why he opposes killing human embryos for research purposes. Another freshman Republican, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, avoided dramatics by coming out of his inner office and giving the children a simple ''No.''

I wonder if the JDRF wants to fund stem cell research by increasing the deficit. Or do they want to fund it by by cutting some other program? But they may find out that children can lobby just about anything:

School lunches? "I don't want to go hungry..."
Head Start? "I can't read!"
Farm support? "Daddy says we'll be homeless if we lose the farm..."
Veterans benefits? "Grampa's too sick to take me to the park..."
Defense? "Mommy says she will lose her job if the base closes..."

If children are doing your lobbying for you, you've lost the battle of facts and logic.

Here's some advice, JDRF, spend less time pestering Congress to steal from the taxpayer to benefit your cause. If you want stem cell research, raise the money yourself.