Many are asking: Where are all the Democrats? Shouldn’t even they be criticizing the Planned Parenthood traffic in aborted baby parts?
A better question is where are all the Democrats defending Planned Parenthood? And not just politicians. Where’s all the elite support Planned Parenthood can usually muster with barely any effort at all? Other than Nancy Pelosi’s tepid defense, there’s mostly silence from the left.
Look back only a few years to the attempt of the Susan G. Komen Foundation to remove itself from the culture wars by defunding Planned Parenthood.
Komen founder and CEO Nancy Brinker thought she and her friend Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood could come to what she called “a gentle-lady’s agreement” and Komen could leave without Planned Parenthood squawking.
This miscalculation nearly cost Komen everything.
In December 2011 Brinker informed Richards of her plan. Barely a month later Richards and her colleagues meticulously worked out a strategy that almost utterly ruined the breast cancer research foundation.
On Tuesday morning, January 31, Richards activated her plan. The first story appeared that morning in the Associated Press. And then the deluge.
Huge stories appeared in all the major media. It was the number one story in the country.
Rafts of Democrat Congressmen issued coordinated statements, including a letter from 26 U.S. Senators.
Major Hollywood figures engaged.
So did sports figures. Lance Armstrong wrote Planned Parenthood a check for $100,000. Other foundations stepped in to make new donations.
Andrea Mitchell performed a journalistic takedown of her friend Nancy Brinker.
Keep in mind this was over a measly donation of less than a million dollars, a drop in the bucket for a billion dollar a year organization, fat and getting fatter on the government teat. And Nancy Brinker was genuinely a friend to Cecile Richards and, though a Republican, was still thought to walk on water by the center left.
Within 72 hours, Komen caved, Brinker apologized to Planned Parenthood, and said funding would continue.
And what of the current crisis facing Planned Parenthood? Mostly crickets.
The New York Times editorialized. Not many more, though, with the exception of the abortion blogs and sites. I am not aware of any Hollywood stars who’ve made statements in support. It is reported that two corporations have asked to be taken off their list of financial supporters.
Only a few House members have defended Planned Parenthood. One was quoted as saying that Planned Parenthood is already taking good care of itself in the crisis. You can be sure Cecile Richards doesn’t look at it this way. There is little doubt she and her powerful PR agencies, connected to the White House, are busy working the phones trying to keep allies in the fold and desperately trying to convince them to publicly support trafficking in fetal body parts.
In the mean time, the videos have millions of hits. Two Congressional investigations have begun. Bills have been introduced to suspend Planned Parenthood funding for a year. Eight states have announced investigations. Prosecutors are no doubt sniffing around. And there are more videos to come.
Even Komen took a hit in this crisis. The House excluded Komen from funding for cancer research that will be raised from sales of a commemorative coin. Even so, given what Cecile Richards did to her four years ago, you have to think Nancy Brinker of the Komen Foundation is quietly chuckling to herself.
Follow Austin Ruse on Twitter @austinruse
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