She specifically aimed her criticism at David Daleiden, the founder of the Center for Medical Progress group that produced the fake videos they claimed were taken inside Planned Parenthood offices; and at Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, whose book Their Blood Cries Out actually calls for doctors who provide abortions to be "executed."
This is the same Troy Newman whose endorsement Ted Cruz boasted about and has listed as the first name on his web site's list of endorsements from "Celebrities, Commentators, and Activists."
Ilyse Hogue wrote on her Facebook page:
Sorry, David Daleiden. You don't get to create fake videos and accuse abortion providers of "barbaric atrocities against humanity" one day and act shocked when someone shoots to kill in those same facilities the next.
And you, Troy Newman -- using Operation Rescue to call for state-sanctioned execution of doctors who serve women -- and then crying crocodile tears when someone takes that vision into their own hands.
It's America. You are free to have your speech. The language you choose matters. You are not free from the judgement of the consequences of your hate-filled rhetoric.
Free speech is a cherished value in America. But so is reasonable moderation when it comes to someone else's safety. We don't allow someone to cry "Fire!" in a crowded theater and start a stampede. Nor should we allow people's lives to be endangered by a climate of hate speech that falsely demonizes them. At the same time, we cannot take away people's freedom to speak their minds.
Finding the elusive line in that gray area -- that's where wisdom and judgment are called for. Look at the presidential candidates. Which ones do you think have that wisdom and judgment, as well as the courage to act on the wisdom and judgment?
Carly Fiorino, for one, rejects any connection between rhetoric and violence. On Fox News Sunday, she called it "typical left-wing tactics" to attack the messenger. Fiorino, herself, probably more than any other GOP candidate, stirred the anti-abortion hype during one of the debates with her melodramatic description of gruesome details of the (fake) video she claims to have seen. It was later established that what she described had nothing to do with Planned Parenthood -- but she has not backed down nor retracted her claim; instead, just yesterday she repeated to Chris Wallace on Fox News the false claim that PP "sells body parts." Using her slippery rhetoric, hoping that people won't notice, she said:
"Well, first it [selling fetal body parts for research] is not "alleged." Planned Parenthood acknowledged several weeks ago that it would no longer take compensation for body parts, which sounds like an admission that they were doing so."Wallace, like most journalists these days, did not challenge her false equivalence and context slippage. The undisputed fact is that PP has been, quite legally, accepting reimbursement only for the actual expenses of preserving and shipping fetal tissues to legitimate research institutions. They have never "sold body parts." No one has offered a shred of evidence that they do. But Fiorino slides from "compensation" (payment for actual expenses) to "doing so," which can only refer in this context to her charge of "selling body parts."
In order to try to avoid even this false charge, PP went the extra mile and announced it would no longer take this expense compensation. But Fiorino takes that as an admission of guilt. GRRRR. This is one of the subtle ways Republicans lie. If your wording is carefully crafted with the specific intent to deceive your audience, leading the average person to draw the wrong conclusion -- then I call it lying.
There has, in fact, been a sharp increase in threats to Planned Parenthood Clinics, and there have been several actual cases of arson, since that fake video was given such media spotlight last summer. If these conservative politicians don't want to accept any blame for fomenting violence with their rhetoric, then let them attach a disclaimer to everything they say about the subject. They should warn people: "No matter how upset you get about what you hear us say, do not resort to violence." Otherwise, they are part of the problem. Yes, you, Carly Fiorino. And you, Ted Cruz. And especially you, Mike Huckabee.
Ralph
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