by Paula Berrer

First Lady Laura Bush said today that actor Michael J. Fox is out of line for using his disease to press the stem-cell issue in the highly contested mid-term elections, and wondered whether he has Communist sympathies, in an interview today on CNN. “I know a lot of people, a lot of young people in this country, respect Mr. Fox as an entertainer, but I wonder if they remember him from the program where he played Alex P. Keaton, where he was a true communist in that nice household with that family,” she said. She was describing the 1970s television series, “Family Ties,” that starred Mr. Fox as a rebellious teen, though the series in fact depicted a conservative-leaning son in a household more sympathetic towards liberal views. “And playing a part on a television program might influence one to take on those views in real life, and I would not be surprised at all if Mr. Fox were to take on the views of this Keaton young man, and I think that is what we are seeing here in his working against Republican candidates in this election.” Mr. Fox has held that his views are not confined to a particular party but rather the agenda of advancing support for stem-cell research, and that his character on the show was not a communist sympathizer in any way.

Fox later complained to reporters that his views were misrepresented by Tony Snow when the White House Press Secretary disparagingly referred to him as “Mr. Michael J. ‘I hope the terrorists win-I hate the Republicans’ Fox,” and said Mr. Snow and anyone else should not refer to him in that way.