SCHWARZENEGGER SUPPORTS STEM CELLS!
Arnold pushes for a biotech industry!
Reported By: TheARNOLDFANS.com Staff
Wednesday, October 20, 2004

Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday that his speech backing President Bush at the Republican Convention in August resulted in a dramatic cold shoulder from his wife Maria Shriver, a member of the very Democratic Kennedy family.

"Well, there was no sex for 14 days," Schwarzenegger told former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta in an on-stage conversation in front of 1,000 people. "Everything comes with side effects."

The crowd roared with laughter. The Oak has said little in public to back fellow Republican Bush. In fact, Arnold, a Republican, is backing stem cell research which is making Democrats feel the Terminator is on their side.

Schwarzenegger has endorsed a $3 billion bond measure that would fund human embryonic stem cell research, a move that bucks Republican leaders and threatens to further strain the state's budget.

"California has always been a pioneer," Schwarzenegger said Monday. "We daringly led the way for the high-tech industry and now voters can help ensure we lead the way for the biotech industry."

The endorsement will put Schwarzenegger at odds with the state Republican Party, which officially opposes Proposition 71, and perhaps the Bush administration, which has limited federal funding of the research.

Schwarzenegger has said he supports stem cell research. His father-in-law, Sargent Shriver, is in the early grips of Alzheimer's disease, which supporters of the measure say could someday be treated with stem cells.

If the measure is passed, it would provide California researchers with nearly $300 million annually for 10 years but cost a total of $6 billion to pay back. The proposition also would fund cloning projects intended solely for medical research.