Romney Is Smarter Than Harvard

Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney tries to do through the DPH(Dept of Public Health) that which he couldn't do in the Mass legislature.

(AP)Romney said Thursday the Legislature and Harvard scientists are trying to expand stem cell research in Massachusetts to an "Orwellian" form of "embryo farming" by seeking to unite sperm and egg so they can study the resulting stem cells.

"It's almost like the movie, 'The Matrix,'" the governor said in unusually animated comments.

But a Harvard spokesman and the Republican nominee for Gov. of Mass., who was once Romney's running mate, disagree with the DPH's decision.

B.D. Colen, a Harvard spokesman, dismissed those concerns and said the legislation purposely did not prohibit scientists from uniting sperm and egg to create a diseased cell for research.

He also cited a 107-48 House vote against a Romney amendment to the 2005 law that had proposed: "No person shall knowingly create an embryo by the method of fertilization with the sole intent of using the embryo for research."

Colen said: "The party trying to go beyond the law here is the Department of Public Health, which is attempting to insert into the law the precise language that the Legislature rejected in a lopsided roll-call vote. What Gov. Romney appears to be doing is using the DPH to accomplish what he was unable to accomplish through the legislative process."

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, Romney's 2002 running mate and now the Republican nominee to succeed him as governor, opposes the Department of Public Health regulations.

So why would Romney be doing this?

Romney, meanwhile, is laying the groundwork for a potential presidential run. His position on embryonic stem cell research more closely mirrors that of conservatives who are key players in primary voting.

Yet the governor dismissed any suggestion that his statements were motivated by political considerations.

Yeah, sure they're not.