My friend Chris Mooney is right to praise Hillary Clinton for promising to stop the politicization of science if she’s elected president. But as Chris points out, the document promoting her plan repeatedly uses the misleading phrase “ban” to describe President Bush’s stem cell policy before clarifying that Bush’s policy only limits federally funded research. Given the numerous previous claims by Democrats (here and here) that Bush has banned stem cell research, this is a troubling sign that the tactic will be revived for the 2008 campaign.

Here’s the summary at the top of the release:

Hillary will restore the federal government’s commitment to science by:
-Rescinding the ban on ethical embryonic stem cell research…

The body of the document begins with this:

Hillary Clinton’s Agenda to Reclaim Scientific Innovation

Hillary will restore the federal government’s commitment to science by:

-Signing an Executive Order that:

*Rescinds President Bush’s ban on ethical embryonic stem cell research and promotes stem cell research that complies with the highest ethical standards…

The release finally explains later that “President Bush issued an Executive Order banning federal funding for some of the most promising avenues of stem cell research.”