From Robert George and O. Carter Snead, in a Wall Street Journal editorial on the whole Komen – Planned Parenthood controversy:
The Susan G. Komen Foundation, an organization dedicated since 1982 to fighting, and one day curing, breast cancer, decided to extricate itself from the culture wars by discontinuing grants to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest provider of abortions.
On Planet Wingnuttia, caving in to the demands of one side is “staying neutral in the culture wars.”
The organization’s allies demonized the charity, attempting to depict the nation’s most prominent anti-breast cancer organization as a bedfellow of religious extremists. A Facebook page was set up to “Defund the Komen Foundation.” In short, Planned Parenthood took breast-cancer victims as hostages.
And the evidence is quite clear that they are, in fact, a bedfellow of religious extremists. The entire thing was orchestrated by a Republican from Georgia, now VP of Komen, who is stridently anti-choice and anti-gay, all due to her religious beliefs. This isn’t demonization, it’s accurate reporting. And why is it that when their side makes a case for their position and people respond by publicly criticizing and withdrawing their support, that’s fine — but when the other side does it, they’re “taking hostages”? The double standard could hardly be plainer.
Komen’s leaders had good reason to believe their organization could disintegrate under Planned Parenthood’s assault.
Planned Parenthood didn’t assault anyone. Supporters of the organization and women’s rights advocates expressed their disapproval and made the choice to use their contributions to support someone else if Komen didn’t reverse their decision. They did the exact same thing that the anti-choice groups did to pressure Komen to withdraw the funding, they just did it more effectively. Get over it. Or by all means, do the same thing — vote with your money. Refuse to support Komen. You have every right to do so. But stop the special pleading and irrational arguments, for crying out loud.
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dingojack
February 10, 2012 at 10:19 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“In short, Planned Parenthood took breast-cancer victims as hostages“.
Apart from the obvious, what other demands did PP make? Two extra-large peperoni pizzas and a helicopter to the airport?*
In fact, the donors didn’t like something, they complained and said they would donate their money, that they give of their own volition to this charity, to causes that suited their ideology better.
Free markets and freedom of choice at work, how could conservatives not like this?
(Answer: hypocrisy).
Dingo
—–
* Anyone got any other suggestions?
Aquaria
February 10, 2012 at 10:19 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
<The entire thing was orchestrated by a Republican from Georgia, now VP of Komen
She resigned on February 7.
But she didn’t act alone. There are more like her.
They did the exact same thing that the anti-choice groups did to pressure Komen to withdraw the funding. They just did it more effectively.
Imagine what could get done if more people of reason acted in concert…
Must give the religious right nightmares!
Get over it.
They won’t.
raven
February 10, 2012 at 10:24 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That is just a fact. And SG Komen isn’t a “bedfellow” of religious extremists, it is run by them.
SG Komen was demonized by…the SG Komen foundation.
heironymous
February 10, 2012 at 10:31 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That had to be one of the worst PR decisions ever. They will never get over it.
raven
February 10, 2012 at 10:34 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well guess who is demonzing SG Komen now and taking them hostage.
The christofascist extremists whose attempt to defund PP didn’t work very well.
IIRC, Karen Handel, the infamous female slaver/foreced birther admits that she didn’t act alone.
Hitchens: Religion poisons everything. Works every time.
Reginald Selkirk
February 10, 2012 at 10:41 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Still sticking to the original story. And the editorial doesn’t note that the reasons given were contradictory. Very shoddy.
a miasma of incandescent plasma
February 10, 2012 at 10:48 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
In short, Planned Parenthood took breast-cancer victims as hostages.
Liars. F###ing Liars.
From here: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/files/PPFA/fact_Pence_Fact_Sheet_and_TPs-4-12-11.pdf
“…every year, Planned Parenthood doctors and nurses carry out nearly one million lifesaving screenings for cervical cancer and 830,000 breast exams, and provide contraception to nearly 2.5 million patients and nearly four million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.
…
For many women, especially those in rural areas and other communities with few health care providers, Planned Parenthood is the only source of health care.”
Which org in this fight is taking patients hostage to further a political and religious agenda?
Liars.
Budbear
February 10, 2012 at 10:55 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
But…what else do they have?
Area Man
February 10, 2012 at 10:57 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Conservatives are always and everywhere the victims. Even when they’re physically assaulting others, it is they who have been aggrieved.
We should start a new holiday, call it “Conservative Pity Day”, where we show our respect to those brave conservatives who have been so horribly wronged by blacks, Muslims, atheists, and Planned Parenthood.
raven
February 10, 2012 at 10:58 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
This is a common and highly dishonest tactic of fundie death cult xians.
File false claims about a person or organization. Then, claim they are “under investigation”.
They did that to Terry Shiavo’s husband. Claimed that he had 50 claims of spousal abuse filed against him. Which was true, all filed by fundie xians. And all investigated and found to be false.
If I cared, I could do the same to SG Komen. File a complaint that they are involved in the illegal trade in dead bodies to the Ghoul community. That they had a complaint filed against them for stealing dead bodies from morgues and cemeterys would be 100% true. The factual basis that they are feeding the Ghoul community would however, be false.
This editorial is just a pack of christofascist lies strung together. It doesn’t say much for the WSJ’s standards that they even ran it. I guess things other than religion poisons things. Rupert Murdoch poisons everything he touches.
shallit
February 10, 2012 at 10:59 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Robert George is an embarrassment to Princeton University.
Jeremy Shaffer
February 10, 2012 at 11:03 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Only if you cave to the demands of one side (theirs). If you go with the other (read: wrong) side you’re a traitor/ terrorist/ fascist/ socialist/ communist/ liberal/ atheist/ Muslim/ whatever.
Raging Bee
February 10, 2012 at 11:15 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The Komen honchos lied about their reasons for their decisions about Planned Parenthood. Whatever one’s opinion of PP, abortion, or whatever, giving money to a charitable organization that lies is not a wise idea.
Chiroptera
February 10, 2012 at 11:16 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Supporters of the organization and women’s rights advocates expressed their disapproval and made the choice to use their contributions to support someone else if Komen didn’t reverse their decision.
This is why I don’t understand why religious extremists are against government single-payer health care.
Every gets government subsidized coverage.
Make sure everyone has to pay a minimum FICA contribution, just to make double sure that poor people can’t afford any supplemental coverage.
Then deny by law the use of government health care funds for abortions or any other reproductive health care.
In the United Religious States of America, how could this fail?
lofgren
February 10, 2012 at 11:49 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
The fact that Komen knew they had to lie about the reasons for discontinuing their support of Planned Parenthood shows that they either knew what they were doing was wrong or at least that they knew it would be unpopular. The fact that they didn’t anticipate people seeing right through their transparent rouse shows that ideology untempered by pragmatism makes you dumb.
John Hinkle
February 10, 2012 at 12:27 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Ha, exactly the opposite. PP received an influx of donations as people reacted to the stupidity of Komen. What, they’re not going to use that money for, among other things, breast exams? And at the Facebook page, they encourage people to continue funding research on breast cancer by providing alternative organizations to which you can donate.
Who’s demonizing who? Komen stepped in it, and no amount of dissembling will scrape that shit off their souls.
reverendrodney
February 10, 2012 at 12:30 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
One of two things: either Mr. George and Mr. Snead did not write that editorial but signed their names to a memo from Komen, or:
they were employed by Komen to write that editorial. It is so biased and dishonest that I can’t imagine any other possibility.
Another factor: the WSJ is owned by Murdoch. So, what else can you expect?
Tualha
February 11, 2012 at 9:14 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
But…but…without special pleading and irrational arguments, what would be left for them to say?
Oh. Right. If only they would all STFU forever. “I have a dream…”
Whoops, Budbear beat me to it. Oh well :)