Michael J. Fox has over time become pretty much my favorite public figure on the planet. The reason is simple: he's fearless. He has proved his peerless mettle once again with his courageous and principled participation in a series of 30-second TV ads backing the campaigns of five Democrats who support stem cell research (which is itself no doubt redundant). One is this one for Senate candidate Claire McCaskill in Missouri that is, as you will see, a study in selflessness and personal sacrifice for an urgent cause.
What you'll see on this political spot is a man whose Parkinson's disease symptoms have grown increasingly acute, which we've seen far too many times before. He is captured involuntarily twitching and constantly moving while looking straight into the camera, seemingly unmotivated, or unable, to dispense the energy it would require to try to mask the effects of this ghastly malady that robs sufferers of their dignity, their coordination and their energy. It's a monumentally powerful snippet that showcases someone who -- despite the advance of his condition -- has never appeared stronger or more confident.
This is a profound example of a battle-hardened dude once again taking one for the team in the interest of a far greater goal. I've already caught rumblings from the right charging Fox with shamelessly currying sympathy and, in the process, capturing votes for the candidates he's supporting. But it's incomprehensible to me how anyone can look at Fox and have anything but the utmost compassion, empathy and respect. If you trash Michael J. Fox and question his motives, I think that may be God's way of telling you you're affiliated with the wrong political party.
I can, in fact, think of no loftier ambition for a Parkinson's sufferer than to use the severity of his actual condition to generate research dollars and candidate votes in support of stem cell treatments and ultimately a cure. Fox could run and hide from public view and no one would think the worse of him. But like Christopher Reeve before him, he's instead led a crusade. And in now carrying the fight into the political arena, Mike continues to do the human race proud.
*****UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE (on Wednesday 10/25, 3:22 p.m.)
I hadn't realized when I wrote the above about Fox just how harshly the bombastic Rush Limbaugh had gone off on him on his syndicated radio show on Monday, essentially calling the brave MJF a faker. "He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," he told his listeners. "He's moving around and shaking and it's purely an act...This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting. This is the only time I've seen Fox portray any of the symptoms..."
Where to even begin? First off, Fox's not taking his medication in anticipation of doing the commercial strikes me as perfectly appropriate. He's trying to shock people into voting for a candidate who will give stem cell research -- and yes, even embryonic stem cell research -- the chance that the current Republican-controlled Congressional regime will not. If Fox wants to evoke a vivid (and not contrived) example of the tremors and uncontrollable weaving and writhing that are the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease in its full-blown stage, I haven't got a problem with that. One could even make the point that covering up his symptoms would prove less honest.
As for Limbaugh, he's obviously completely shameless and, in another way, shame-ful. He suddenly knows what's going on in Michael J. Fox's body? He's been there to monitor the disease's progress as it has its way with Fox's nervous system? It's simply appalling to give national voice to such a narrow, cruel, inhumane and stridently partisan view. But that, unfortunately, is Rush.
I wonder how Limbaugh would have taken it had the unfailingly classy Fox -- or anyone else -- accused him of trying merely to summon sympathy when he underwent ear surgery to correct a serious hearing impairment. This is a guy who also pulled strings to gain wrist-slap treatment for legally-dicey issues surrounding his addiction to Oxy-Contin. And he's questioning the legitimacy and motives of Michael J. Fox? It would be utterly laughable were it not that this man has such a powerful pulpit from which to spout his hypocrisy and hatespeak.
For an eloquent take on the Fox/Limbaugh brouhaha, check out this from Patti Davis. And here's another exceptional piece from the Hollywood Reporter's very own editorial director, Howard Burns, that's in Thursday's edition.
Yeah, it's all so clear now why Rush Limbaugh, whom TMZ has dubbed an Oxy-Moron, saw fit earlier this week to trash Michael J. Fox for faking his Parkinson's symptoms for political gain. This is what happens when a bloated gasbag doesn't take his medication. And in Rush's case, if I recall properly, it wasn't by prescription.
