Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Tuesday, December 1, 2015

When "Pro-Life" Means Pro-Death, by (O)CT(O)PUS of The Swash Zone



(O)CT(O)PUS has a timely post up on The Swash Zone:







From The Baltimore Sun:


None of the GOP presidential candidates may have asked for volunteers to attack a Planned Parenthood clinic, but it's not just "left-wing tactics," as Ms. Fiorina alleges, to ask whether there is a connection between such overheated rhetoric and the rise of real threats against an organization that provides legal health care to millions of women. It hardly seems coincidental that Mr. Dear reportedly used the same kind of language to describe Planned Parenthood supposedly trafficking in "baby parts" that the organization's political critics have. But the sad truth is this: Just as tragedies like the Sandy Hook massacre failed to shame Congress into taking up meaningful gun control, this one won't stop Republican hard-liners from pushing for a federal government shutdown over Planned Parenthood funding. Rhetoric trumps reality and, sometimes, tragically becomes it.



One of the Tea Party's leading candidates, Ted Cruz, pals around with and welcomes the endorsement of a man who advocates the murder of doctors who perform a legal medical procedure. 

Cruz considers himself a "godly" man, but he has no problem accepting the endorsement of a man whose rhetoric would influence the unhinged to murder a policeman, a mother of two, and an Iraq war veteran:  

From Media Matters:

"Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is touting the endorsement of Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue and a board member for The Center for Medical Progress (CMP). Newman is one of the country's most notorious anti-choice activists. 

He was a 'driving force' behind CMP's series of misleading videos smearing Planned Parenthood and has a long history of incendiary remarks that include 'praising the killing of abortion doctors' and calling women who have abortions 'murderers.'" 


"I am grateful to receive the endorsement of Troy Newman," Cruz said. "He has served as a voice for the unborn for over 25 years, and works tirelessly every day for the pro-life cause. We need leaders like Troy Newman in this country who will stand up for those who do not have a voice."
Troy Newman calls for the murder of Americans and Ted Cruz welcomes his endorsement:


From Right Wing Watch:

Although he never explains exactly what he thinks the civil punishment for women who have abortions should be, Newman directly calls for the execution of “abortionists” as “convicted murderers” who are bringing God’s judgment on America:  


He explains that the only way to purify the land is through atonement…or the “lawful execution of the murderers, which is commanded by God in Scripture": The innocent blood of the New Covenant in Christ has the power to atone for all the innocent bloodshed from the beginning of time to the end, and to purify the whole earth - the land." 





Emily Bazelon of the New York Times:


"Questioned on Sunday about Dear’s reference to 'no more baby parts,' Cruz cited a claim that Dear was registered to vote as a woman and called him a 'transgendered leftist activist.' 


There’s no more evidence for this characterization than there was for Fiorina’s video claims. But it was handy, in the moment. 

In the past four years, Planned Parenthood’s opponents have concluded they can wage political warfare by creating a swirl of negativity around the organization with extreme rhetoric. The most vitriolic of them have marked off an increasingly narrow space for themselves, embracing the language of brutality and violence while disavowing real violence when it occurs.





19 comments:

Jerry Critter said...

Words do have consequences.

Paula said...

The Dumbest Man on the Internet, Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit, rushed to post a stupid unverified story claimed Robert Lewis Dear was a transgendered female and a Democrat.Never believe anything that idiot writes on that putrid blog. He's always wrong. But what is more astounding is that a supposed intelligent US Senator Cruz repeated the same stupid story. ANd that has turned out to be complet3ely wrong. The Tea Party nuts: Do they EVER get ANYTHING right? But who's surprised, look at the asshat they're supporting for the presidency.

"The Planned Parenthood shooter wasn’t a transgender leftist activist as Republicans claimed. It turns out that a clerical error on his voter registration card is responsible for the shooter being labeled a female.

According to The Gazette:

Ryan Parsell, El Paso County’s chief deputy clerk and recorder, said his office incorrectly recorded Dear’s gender in October 2014, leading to the issuance of both a driver’s license and voter’s registration card erroneously identifying him as a woman.

“The Clerk and Recorder’s Office processes over 500,000 transactions a year,” Parsell said. “Mistakes are going to be made, and it is a reminder to us of the important job that we do to see that a mistake made by us has had national implications.”

BB-Idaho said...

Having studied the far right at least as far as nausea permits, I think their perception of a dozen people wounded and killed at Planned Parenthood might go like "lets set up another long series of congressional investigations, like Benghazi!" Or the Donald Trumpeting "Thousands cheered the killer". But the folks of progressive bent observe sadly and remain civilized. That must bore and enrage
the rabid.

Dave Miller said...

Twinkies... I am sure Ted Cruz will apologize for his mistake...

Hello Ted, hello Ted... calling Ted Cruz, please pick up Mr Cruz...

D.K.J. said...


Not that it really matters what religion or politics the Planned Parenthood shooter is because innocent people are dead and wounded and labeling Dear won't bring them back, but its interesting to note how quickly and wrongly the Tea Party glommed onto the lie that Dear is a transgender female and Democrat. Someone on this thread asked if the Tea Party nuts ever get anything right. No. They don't. They live in a bubble, talk to each other and reinforce their stupidity and rabid hatreds. Robert Lewis Dear is an evangelical CHRISTIAN who swallowed the toxic rage the Republican Tea Party has been spewing for the past 7 years. Like Donald Trump, Robert Lewis Dear belongs to the Tea Party Republicans, he's what they've become.

“He claims to be a Christian and is extremely evangelistic, but does not follow the Bible in his actions,” Ms. Micheau said in the court document. “He says that as long as he believes he will be saved, he can do whatever he pleases. He is obsessed with the world coming to an end.”

End times insanity.

dunkinville said...

Jerry Critter said...
"Words do have consequences."

Yeah. Like those pukes on that Geezus blog that wanted to assassinate the president of the United States. Whats it gonna take to get Americans to see who the real traitors are?

Shaw Kenawe said...

Here's something that will, as Charlie Pierce would say, make you want to guzzle antifreeze:

Marco Rubio: 9/11 terror attacks were part of God’s plan for the universe

So by that logic, if we are against, and hate, what the 9/11 terrorists did to this country, then we're be against God's plan?

What's Rubio trying to accomplish here? It all sounds like gobbledegook. And pandering to the evangelicals.

Les Carpenter said...

Some crazy sh*t, eh?


“Given the public light shed on the atrocities committed by Planned Parenthood … it really should be surprising that Americans … have not taken the law into their own hands.”

Shaw Kenawe said...

From the link you left, RN:

"Cecile Richards is about the closest we have come in the United States to Joseph Mengele. Under her leadership at Planned Parenthood, doctors have been killing children and harvesting the children’s organs. In some cases, the children are born alive. In some case, whole children are born and then carved up."

Really? Mengele performed his atrocities on living, breathing born human beings. Cecile Richards does no such thing. She is the president of PP. She doesn't perform anything. Plus, most abortions are performed on nonviable fetuses. Not "children." The rest of that paragraph is nothing more than propagandist lies meant to encourage more people like Richard Lewis Dear to shoot and kill people who have nothing to do with abortions.

Erickson is encouraging more attacks with his fetid rhetoric.

Les Carpenter said...

Yes he is. Unfortunately many on the right (certainly not all however) listen to Erickson's sick rhetoric and believe it.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Carly Fiorina WRONG again. Do these people EVER know what they're talking about? She's shameless when it comes to spreading lies:

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina falsely claims “the vast majority of Americans” support defunding Planned Parenthood. Actually, national surveys show the opposite: most Americans support continued federal funding for the group’s health services.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Aug. 19 found that “54 percent supported federal funding of Planned Parenthood, and 26 percent opposed it,” according to a Reuters article about the poll.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll taken Sept. 20-24 asked respondents if they favor or oppose eliminating funding for Planned Parenthood. NBC reported that 61 percent opposed eliminating funding (including 44 percent who said they “strongly” opposed eliminating it), while 35 percent favored eliminating funding (including 22 percent who “strongly” favored eliminating it).

A New York Times/CBS Poll taken Sept. 23-27 asked, “Should Planned Parenthood receive federal funding?” About 55 percent of respondents answered “yes,” while only 36 percent said “no.”

A Pew Research Center poll conducted Sept. 22-27 asked whether a budget agreement being worked on at the time by congressional leaders should maintain funding for Planned Parenthood or eliminate it. Pew reported that the poll found that “60% say that any budget deal must maintain funding for Planned Parenthood, while 32% say that any agreement must eliminate funding for the organization.”
A
n Economist/YouGov poll taken Sept. 11-15 showed 39 percent supported continued funding for Planned Parenthood, while 32 percent supported defunding it. So, in that case, neither position held a majority.

A Quinnipiac University National Poll taken Sept. 17-21 asked those surveyed, “Do you support or oppose cutting off federal government funding to Planned Parenthood?” That poll found 52 percent opposed cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood, while 41 percent supported ending funding.

A USA Today/Suffolk University poll taken Sept. 24-28 found that 65 percent of those surveyed said federal funding of Planned Parenthood should continue, while 29 percent say it should be eliminated.


Ducky's here said...

And here I thought Rubio was just going to lie low and not climb into the cab of the crazy train.

@Shaw - Do these people EVER know what they're talking about?

I think they have a pretty good idea what they are saying.
Accuracy is unimportant compared to whipping up the fanatical base.
Time for Ben Carson to pop up and give normal folk a scare. He's been quiet lately.

There is no sanity left in the Republican party.

Dr. Brain Surgeon said...

"Rubio noted that he had previously been asked why God would allow terrorist attacks to happen.

'Where was God on 9/11? Where was God in Paris?' he recalled being asked.

'I said, where God always is — on the throne in Heaven,' he explained. 'The question was how could God allow these bad things to happen? It always challenges us to understand that God’s ways are not our ways. What we may interpret as bad, and most certainly is in the case of Paris or 9/11, even that is part of a broader plan for the universe and for our lives..."



So if 9/11 was part of God's "broader plan for the universe and for our lives" as Rubio instructs us, then why are the Wingnuts so hateful toward the jihadists who were just carrying out God's plans? And if they were, by Rubio's account, doi9ng God's plan, then they must have been chosen by God. Ammirite?

Does Rubio even think about the crap he spouts?

Mal E. Volent said...


Nothing new here! The Nutwingers always twist the truth. They’re actually known for doing it and, more and more, are being called out for it.

FOX SNOOZE is watched by more than ALL OTHER cable news stations COMBINED by the NUTwingers. And they believe the lies presented there.

Anonymous said...



Everyone here says FOX SNOOZE lies. Yet no one can actually state some of these perceived lies. After a while you are shooting cotton balls.

Shaw Kenawe said...

For Anonymous @10:26 PM


The fact-checks behind 'The Daily Show's' 50 Fox news 'lies'



FOX NEWS LIES


‘Pants On Fire’: Analysis Shows 60% Of Fox News ‘Facts’ Are Really Lies

Fox Watch


World Public Opinion, a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, conducted a survey of American voters that shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. What’s more, the study shows that greater exposure to Fox News increases misinformation.

So the more you watch, the less you know. Or to be precise, the more you think you know that is actually false.
SOURCE

(O)CT(O)PUS said...

Cephalopod to humanoids: Pay attention. Your species is overpopulating the planet and trashing it.

Consider the supply-demand curve and it's effect on price. As the supply of any commodity rises, such as the supply of humanoids, its intrinsic value and any humane regard thereof is subject to devaluation. Endangered rhinos are rare and priceless; tigers are rare and priceless. Humanoids are cheap and a dozen per dime (which is close to worthless). Six billion of you will hardly be missed.

All that junk chimpanzee DNA in your gene pool ... that's your problem!

Les Carpenter said...

It is more likely than not the folks who consume FOX "News" on a regular consistent daily basis, will not even consider the material you present Shaw, let alone believe it. So many of them, like the Anonymous you responded to, are zombies, accepting without question whatever their choir leaders say.

The neo conservative snd Christian fundamentalist dumbing down of America seems more and more with each passing day near completion. Real actual honest conservatism is near dead in America. FOX News is certainly a top contributor in the effort to drive the final nail into the coffin.

Jerry Critter said...

Carly Fiorina quote "I won't be bullied into telling the truth."