I Will Ransom Them From The Power of the Grave
The New York Times published an anti-abortion/anti-Planned Parenthood screed by Campbell Brown, who just happens to be married to one of Mitt Romney’s top advisors, Dan Senor, formerly of the Bush Administration, and currently a shill on Fox News and the WSJ.The NYT forgot to mention that seemingly relevant fact, for some reason.
In any case, the op-ed made my teeth grind. If I wasn’t lazy, I’d pick the op-ed apart, but since Kathleen Geier did such a good job, I’ll just post a link to her rebuttal, and you can read it yourself.
Start with this excerpt, but make sure to click through, some of the comments are spot-on as well:
About the op-ed itself: it is one of those sleazy, totally disingenuous “I’m a pro-choicer but” arguments by someone who is trying to concern troll Planned Parenthood out of existence. Brown, never one to back down from a cliché, claims she wants abortions to be “safe, legal, and rare.” She also claims to be a Planned Parenthood supporter, but attacks the organization for very sensibly refusing to support certain so-called moderate Republican politicians who do not support their goals. One such politician is Senator Susan Collins, who Planned Parenthood declined to endorse because, among other things, she made the indefensible decision to support the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.
Another of the allegedly moderate Republicans that Campbell Brown wants to force Planned Parenthood to support instead of a far more ideologically friendly Democrat is Rep. Robert Dold of Illinois. To give you an idea of what a lying piece of crap this op-ed is, Brown refers to Dold as “pro-choice.” Well, it’s true that he calls himself pro-choice, but that label is completely misleading.
In 2010, Dold was backed by the anti-choice Right to Life PAC; among other things, Dold
opposes government assistance for women who cannot afford abortions, he supports the ban on late-term abortions, he supports parental involvement laws, and he supports the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act (which requires that a script be read to women before an abortion). Dold also supported the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which would have resulted in women losing health benefits related to abortions that they have today. In fact, Dold is so anti-choice that in 2010 he actually won the endorsement of Phyllis Schlafly’s far-right Eagle Forum. At Dold’s request, however, they rescinded the endorsement.
Sounding like an uptight schoolmarm, Campbell Brown also says she has a problem with Planned Parenthood’s “attitude”: an attitude that doesn’t ever seem to take into account that abortion is a morally complicated matter or that those on the anti-abortion side are often decent and well-intentioned people. Unsurprisingly, this is a straw man. First of all, there is absolutely no contradiction between acknowledging that, for individuals, abortion can be an extremely morally complex matter, while at the same time insisting politically that safe, legal, affordable, readily accessible abortions must be available to all women who seek them for any reason. The moral issues are strictly between the woman, her own conscience, and her God (if she has one) to sort out, and are no one else’s business whatsoever — least of all wingnut politicians, religious zealots, or fading former television personalities of no particular field of expertise.
(click here to continue reading Political Animal – Concern troll of the day: Campbell Brown.)
Girl In A Box
So who is Campbell Brown?
She used to be a journalist, but Campbell Brown’s new role is far more interesting: she’s becoming the female voice of the GOP. Brown, who worked for CNN and NBC, is married to former Bush administration operative and now Mitt Romney adviser Dan Senor. She has written her second op-ed for the New York Times, rapping Planned Parenthood for being insufficiently bipartisan (read: why aren’t you nicer to Republicans?)
In her first, she went after President Obama for being “condescending” to women (by being in favor of things most women support, and for not recognizing that most of the women she went to preparatory school with don’t need the evil federal gov’mint to be their nanny. They have their OWN nannies, after all.)
(click here to continue reading Campbell Brown: GOP hatchet-woman? : The Reid Report.)