White House repeats promise of stem cell veto

A week ago, Karl Rove assured conservatives that President Bush would veto any bill to expand federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.

Today, the White House issued a statement reaffirming that promise.

In an emotional session marked by tales of death and hope, the Senate debated on Monday whether the government should pay for new embryonic stem cell research, pushing a measure to do it toward passage and President Bush's first veto.

"He would veto the bill," the White House declared in a written statement, underlining the words for emphasis.

That quieted speculation by supporters that Bush, perhaps persuaded by new science and strong public support for embryonic stem cell research, would reverse course and sign the legislation into law.

The Associated Press slugged the story, "Bush promises veto of stem cell bill." That is not what the story says, however. The institution of the White House issued a statement on behalf of Bush, referring to him in the third person. This seems odd to me. So far, we have two statements, from Karl Rove and the "White House" respectively, speaking for Bush on the issue. What we don't have is the president himself saying it.

I have no doubt that Bush's official position is consistent with the positions of those speaking for him on the subject of stem-cell research, but I think it is curious that he isn't making the veto promise himself.

Could it be that Bush isn't as personally committed to the veto, or to the distrust of the science, as the administration's political arm needs for him to be? Perhaps that is why he is letting them speak for him, rather than making the veto promise in his own voice.

Just another oddity in a week of really odd Bush-related news.