Next: Republicans cure cancer!

I used to worry about how the profit motive motivated or distracted medical research, but I'll admit, I'd overlooked entirely the electoral calculus.

Newt Gingrich thinks curing cancer would be good for his party:

...starting with health, Republicans need to include African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans and Native Americans in their policy development and policy implementation. Because African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics disproportionately suffer from diabetes, the right answers on diabetes and obesity are inherently good answers for America's minorities. Eliminating cancer as a cause of death ... has a powerful appeal to minority Americans

(via Matthew Yglesias)