"I think it's a huge mistake," warned the top Timeswoman. "Laura is this fantastic, nice, Marian-the-librarian type who was curled up with a cat on her lap reading Dostoevsky" and "they drag Laura on to the campaign trail because she had such high approval ratings."

Of course, Dowd failed to note that the first lady's "attack" on stem cell research amounted to warning that the new science wouldn't do much to cure Alzheimer's.

That's exactly what Mr. Stem Cell Research himself, Ron P. Reagan, said last month.

"Alzheimer's is a disease, ironically, that probably won't be amenable to treatment through stem cell therapies," Reagan told MSBC's Chris Matthews.

Make that "attack dog" Ron Reagan.

Editor's note: