UPDATED BELOW:

It is a serious issue and a serious accusation.

At issue is this campaign ad for Democrat Claire McCaskill against Republican Jim Talent:

Fox is clearly suffering from the effects of Parkinson's.  The question raised by many was "how come on Boston Legal and at other appearances, he doesn't seem as bad?"

It is on the surface a cynical and mean question.  Would he really do something as exploitive like stop taking his meds to appear more symptomatic and therefore sympathetic?

Sadly, yes...or at least he has in the past.  From his own site:

I had made a deliberate choice to appear before the subcommittee without medication. It seemed to me that this occasion demanded that my testimony about the effects of the disease, and the urgency we as a community were feeling, be seen as well as heard. For people who had never observed me in this kind of shape, the transformation must have been startling. 

So yes, Fox has done that, and may have this time as well.

What bothers me more then the obviously emotional exploitation of the ad is the common misconception that is being ignored about stem cells and research behind the DNC talking points.  Republicans typically support adult stem cell research, and generally oppose funding for embryonic research.  And make no mistake, that is the issue:  Funding.  The fact that remains under reported is that there is funding already in place for embryonic research, just not federal.  What I and many others continually ask is why so many rich democrats will vilify the Federal government for it's lack of funding, yet they generally do not offer their own funding sources.  Get Soros and Gates and Buffet to endow a few billion.

I could also mention the inconvenient fact that embryonic research has yet to offer any tangible benefit whereas adult research has.  But no, lets get the embryos in the hope that they will offer some remote chance of cure. 

Another aspect of this that continually chaps me is the star aspect.