Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill appeared with Wolf Blitzer on CNN today. The topic . . . negative ads. Here's what went down:
BLITZER: As you look at this, the reaction from Jim Talent, your opponent, was basically that you know what? He supports stem cell research, but not necessarily the way you do it. He says, "Claire McCaskill's attacks are false. Senator Talent supports medical research, including stem cell research, that doesn't involve cloning or destroying human embryos."
First of all, do you support cloning as part of your stem cell program?
MCCASKILL: No, of course not. The measure the Missourians are going to vote on that I support and that Senator Talent opposes strictly prohibits human cloning and the commercialization of the marketing of women's eggs for purposes of research.
What it does say is that we are not going to criminalize research that can save lives. And I support it. And Senator Talent opposes it. And that's why Mr. Fox has been -- has reached out to our campaign and said that he wanted to help.
BLITZER: He also said you support destroying human embryos.
MCCASKILL: Well human embryos are thrown away every day, Wolf, thousands of them. And if we are throwing them away, and that is not criminal, why wouldn't we use them to save lives, especially under a strict ethical framework that this measure will provide?
And this is not about public money. This is just making sure that the scientists that are working with private endowments in Missouri will never be made criminals such as the legislation that Senator Talent supported in the Senate, he sponsored in the Senate, to, in fact, make certain forms of this research criminal.
BLITZER: The actress Patricia Heaton from "Everyone Loves Raymond," she has got a commercial that is being put out by a group calls Missourians against Human Cloning. It's called the "Clone Me State," this commercial. I want to play a little clip of what she charges.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICIA HEATON, "EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND: Amendment two actually makes it a constitutional right for fertility clinics to pay women for eggs. Low-income women will be seduced by big checks. And extracting donor eggs is an extremely complicated, dangerous and painful procedure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: All right. Do you want to respond? Because you support amendment two and she says it's going to lead to all of these horrible things.
MCCASKILL: Well, it's just not true. It strictly prohibits that. Right now, women could sell their eggs. They can't if this measure passes. And I think, frankly, what she said is, frankly, insulting to low-income women.
BLITZER: The race is very, very close right now. And as it gets closer and closer, and certainly only 12 days away, some of the ads are getting very nasty. I'm going to play this ad that goes after you. It's put out by the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Claire McCaskill needs help. She's misplaced some of her income in Bermuda. Claire McCaskill and her husband have misplaced their income so they don't have to play taxes, yet she wants to raise yours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: All right. Do you want to respond to that? Because it suggests that you put money in Bermuda in tax shelters and that you want to go ahead, instead of lowering taxes for people in Missouri, you want to raise their taxes.
MCCASKILL: Well, certainly, this is the same ad company that's making the ads in Tennessee that are so out of bounds, making the ads other places. The Republicans have decided this year since the issues are not on their side to try to make this personal. There's no income that's being sheltered anywhere. Senator Talent knows that.
My husband owns a very small percentage of a re-insurance company that insures 43,000 units a year and has paid $32 million in claims. It has nothing to do -- and our disclosure shows that we are not getting income off of it.
But that's not the point. For them, it's about a personal character attack. We are not doing that. We are just talking about changing Washington, changing the mess in Iraq, changing healthcare. But they are trying to make this race intensely personal. And I think the voters are figuring it out, and I trust Missourians to definitely figure it out.
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