Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
The evidence of things not seen
–Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
Some assholes made a video,
In which they told some lies—
They asked dishonest questions,
And they did so in disguise…
These assholes sent that video
To everyone they knew
To press, to politicians…
And they told them it was true.
In mere hours (maybe minutes)
It was clear what they had done
So it should have been “game over”
Just as soon as they’d begun
But these assholes knew their audience;
They knew they wouldn’t care:
Who cares if it’s all fictional—
THE EVIDENCE IS THERE!
The evidence of things not seen
A fantasy, defended!
The horrid things you do not do—
We want your funding ended!
The fable fits the narrative,
So, true or false, it fits:
Planned Parenthood takes toddlers
And it cuts them all to bits
And it sells them to the butcher
For the atheists to eat…
(A proper villain always
Makes the fantasy complete)
The godless eat the babies
And the right wing takes the bait
And the assholes are rewarded
For the chaos they create
Some assholes made a video,
In which they told some lies—
They asked dishonest questions,
And they did so in disguise…
Sorry, this one is behind the curve, news-cycle-wise. GOP candidate Carly Fiorina vividly, graphically described a video showing Planned Parenthood as the mercenary butchers she knows them to be… a video which does not seem to actually exist. Some sites (mediate, slate, think progress, etc.) called her out on her lie (which, when asked about specifically, she reiterated). At least one prominent source (Ross Douthat in the NY Times) has defended her account as within the realm of honest human memory.
I don’t know if Fiorina believes what she claims to have seen or not. I have no qualms at all believing she believed it when she said it at the debate. Since then, though, there is no way that her staffers have not been combing the internet for a video that fits that description. She would silence her critics, make PP look horrible, and (no big thing) skyrocket in the polls, if she could uncover a video that (without Douthat’s contortions) fit the description she so vividly gave. I’d have had staffers working overtime, going through my browser history (if I believed that’s where I saw it), my email history (ditto), to stuff this video down the throats of the barbarian unbelievers.
Hasn’t happened yet; isn’t gonna. So doubling down now is following the evidence of things not seen… quite literally. Fortunately (for her) that’s a virtue in the GOP rabid right base. And fortunately for the rest of us, it is not valued nearly so much by the general electorate.
“The fable fits the narrative,
So, true or false, it fits:”
So fucking, and sadly, accurate.
Would’nt put it past them to manufacture a fake video that fits their bill specifically.
Horrible slander / libel – wonder if she could be sued for it?
While I support a woman’s right to choose and even support the harvesting of fetal tissue for research and possibly for transplant, i’m sure I would find a video of the process to be disturbing. For me, I’m able to separate my visceral reaction from my intellectual response but I still don’t want to see the video. However if I were to see it I could still use my intellect to control my response, but i’m sure there are people who cannot make that distinction… It’s icky therefore it’s wrong. As for Fiorina, I’ve read that there are some anti-abortion videos which may match what she claims to have seen although they are not of a Planned Parenthood facility. But as the poem says, for a lot of people that doesn’t matter.
The West Philadelphia doctor was tried both for 4 baby deaths…He was found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three of four babies. At the clinic, confessed workers, they even ‘snipped’ the spines of living babies
One assistant testified that “Baby A”, whom the jury convicted Gosnell of murdering, was about 30 weeks old when aborted — big enough, she said, that Gosnell joked it could have walked to the bus.
All told, he reportedly made about $1.8 million each year, much of it in cash. He spent more than 30 years as an abortion doctor, performing thousands of the procedures during that time.
When his home was raided following a 2010 investigation, authorities found more than $250,000 in cash hidden in a bedroom.
And without Planned Parenthood, the West Philly guy would be amongst the *best* options for women, with back-alley procedures making a comeback as among the worst.
These stories always leave out that mass of tissue surrounding the fetus–the pregnant person. Can you imagine the sorrowful state of their lives, that a late term abortion like that was their choice? To leave it that late, often it is a very wanted baby, but something wrong with pregnant person or fetus that means there is no chance for a viable birth. The choices are abortion, or watch a slow, lingering, and unavoidable death later (I’ve witnessed the latter in a friend, and I would not wish it on anyone).
Bottom line is, it is the pregnant person’s choice, and needs to be.