More on the Fox Ads

November 4, 2006

A letter to the editor in today’s Washington Times compares what Fox says in the ads with what Fox’s foundation actually does:

What’s most interesting about the Fox ads is just how dishonest they are and just how willing the actor is to use the safety of victimhood to indulge in a whopping portion of inconsistency. Indeed, the research program of Mr. Fox’s impressive nonprofit foundation — the single largest private supporter of Parkinson’s research in the country — is more in sync with the views of both Mr. Steele and Mr. Talent than it is with Mr. Fox’s extreme commercial.

. . .

It’s OK to be passionate and partisan. And Mr. Fox has every right to campaign for and support candidates he thinks will advance Parkinson’s research. But he is fabricating reality, misstating science and the work of his own foundation for a partisan purpose. Worse, he is smearing the reputation of public officials who have sought to overcome a bitter divide on an issue of critical importance to millions of Americans who wish to keep politics out of science, so that their hopes can remain at the center of its pursuits.