October Surprise: A sermon on the mound

Tonight, World Series fans, you will get to view the latest in the paid political advertising entertainment served up for the mid-term election stem-cell wars of the Cardinals' home state. Watching, on YouTube, a fuzzy preview of the ad -- which was apparently thrown together in response to Michael J. Fox's latest star turn as an advocate for stem-cell research -- your blogstress felt the hand of Mother Church orchestrating this video confab of right-wing Roman Catholic sort-of celebrities. Now, your Webwench is not saying that she knows for a fact that Big Ma is behind this whole thing; that grail continues to elude her.

However, her ears pricked up at the mention of the name of Patricia Heaton, whose face graces the misleading Feminists for Life ad that has run on various political Web sites -- including that of The American Prospect Online, for which your cybertrix writes -- off and on for the last month. As your écrivaine reported for The Prospect's site last week, Feminists for Life is closely allied with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and even took funding from the bishops for its first ad campaign.

The television spot featuring Heaton makes a case against a Missouri ballot measure, Amendment 2, that would, according to a pro-amendment editorial in the Kansas City Star, "guarantee Missouri scientists the right to conduct all forms of stem-cell research permitted under federal law." The ad, which also features Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in the Mel Gibson's Jew-baiting film, "Passion of the Christ" and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jeff Suppan, will air tonight during a World Series game in which Suppan is slated to pitch.

To learn more about the links between the bishops and the anti-stem-cell spot, check out your net-tête's post on TAPPED, the blog of The American Prospect Online.

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