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DALLAS, August 30, 2001 (LSN.ca) – U.S. President George W. Bush's compromise in allowing limited federal funding of embryo stem cell research continues to draw mixed reaction from moral conservatives. Former GOP presidential candidate Alan Keyes, speaking at a Republican supporter convention in Dallas-Fort Worth, referred to Bush as an “evil” leader who allows politics to determine policy. “I cannot support leadership that sits in the backroom trying to figure out how much harm can be done without opposition,” said Keyes.

Alternately, Mr. William McGurn, chief editorial writer for the Wall Street Journal online, questioned whether it is hypocritical to expect Bush to take a principled stand when so little is said in American Catholic churches. McGurn, in an editorial criticizing American Catholic Bishopâs, noted how seldom sermons are preached on moral issues such as stem cell research, abortion or contraception. “We can hardly demand from a president an orthodoxy we've given up requiring from the pulpit,” said McGurn, a practicing Catholic.