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:

WHEN “PRO-LIFE” MEANS PRO DEATH

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.