I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that I've performed research which proves that the PLANNED PARENTHOOD scandal is just what we all thought it was - heavily edited video manipulated to give a FALSE IMPRESSION about Planned Parenthood. Since it worked so well the last time, certain SCOUNDRELS on the right are now trying to "pull an ACORN" on Planned Parenthood. Please recall that the ACORN VIDEO created by a certain James O'Keefe - you know the one - and which pretty much ran 24x7 on the FOX NEWS channel, was
ultimately found by several STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL to be heavily edited:
In 2009, workers at offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) were recorded secretly in videos by conservative activists Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe. They played a young couple who appeared to be receiving advice from these workers as to how to hide prostitution activities and avoid taxes. These videos were released on Fox News and the website BigGovernment.com from September into November 2009, generating extensive, negative publicity for ACORN. This non-profit organization had been involved for nearly 40 years in voter registration, community organizing and advocacy for low- and moderate-income people. O'Keefe said in September 2009 that he "targeted ACORN for the same reasons that the political right does: its massive voter registration drives." ...
Independent investigations were made by state attorneys general of Massachusetts and California, and the U.S. Attorney of Brooklyn, New York; their reports were released beginning in December 2009 and extending through April 2010. The attorney general's office in Massachusetts and the U.S. Attorney for Brooklyn concluded that the ACORN workers had committed no criminal activity and that the videos were "heavily edited" to create a misleading impression of their activities." ...
On March 5, 2013, O'Keefe agreed to pay fired ACORN employee, Juan Carlos Vera, $100,000 and issued a public apology as part of a lawsuit settlement.
And yet, ACORN was DEFUNDED by Congress and is now part of Yesterland.
ACORN's massive VOTER REGISTRATION drives, on behalf of LOW- and MODERATE-INCOME people, are no more. O'Keefe got a slap on the wrist and continues to make videos. And all the FOX WATCHERS who believe their favorite channel is "Fair and Balanced" still HAVE NO CLUE as to the truth about ACORN. They lapped up the PROPAGANDA given to them by their trusted sources on the right, and are apparently ready to swallow more.
The good news is that ANYONE can perform my EASILY REPEATABLE research and see for themselves that "Carly" Fiorina (née Cara Carleton Sneed) is a tremendously capable ACTRESS and LIAR. When she recently claimed at the latest GOP DEBATE that
http://time.com/...
As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it’s heart beating, it’s legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.
she was making a BALDFACED LIE.
Please continue with me under the fold and I'll show how you too can perform this research (in only three steps!)
First, let's take a MOMENT now to remember how CONVINCINGLY "Carly" told us all that LIE:
Pretty AMAZING, huh? Doesn't she sound like SHE KNOWS what she's talking about? Don't you instinctively BELIEVE her? She's sooooooooo good. Comments on the youtube page include:
God bless you, Carly.
I love this woman with all my heart
Carly you are beautiful and intelligent, America needs you to put them back on track.
and my personal favorite:
Except there is no video by Planned Parenthood in which this happens. Stop pulling shit out of your ass Carly.
As promised, here are the THREE EASY STEPS to see that "Carly" made a BALDFACED lie about Planned Parenthood at the GOP DEBATE.
STEP 1) Visit Factcheck.org, and read what they have to say about Unspinning the Planned Parenthood Video.
Several Republican presidential candidates have claimed that Planned Parenthood is “profiting” from abortions. But the full, unedited video they cite as evidence shows a Planned Parenthood executive repeatedly saying its clinics want to cover their costs, not make money, when donating fetal tissue from abortions for scientific research.
STEP 2) Watch the FULL, UNEDITED video. A TRANSCRIPT is available here. When I downloaded a copy (on Sept 18, 2015) it looked like a PRETTY COMPLETE transcript for the most important parts; however, since it is hosted on www.centerformedicalprogress.org, they could REPLACE IT at any time.
PLEASE watch the full, unedited video. DO IT for the sake of DEMOCRACY. Watch the ENTIRE thing (all 2 hours and 42 minutes of it). It will be DIFFICULT. Look closely for
a fully formed fetus on the table, it’s heart beating, it’s legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain
and let me know in the COMMENTS what you find. All I seem to be able to see is THREE FOLKS at a LUNCH TABLE having a long, long conversation, kind of like a less interesting version of
My Dinner With Andre.
COMPARE and CONTRAST your findings to what the people at Factcheck.org had to say. Were they RIGHT? Or were they RIGHT?
(OPTIONAL) For bonus points, you might want to now REVISIT the clip of "Carly" at the GOP debate; this time give her the PROFOUND RESPECT as an ACTRESS that you will now more clearly see she deserves. I'll make it EASY and post that video again JUST BELOW. There was no "fetus on the table". NOBODY said "we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain". And yet, Carly UNFLINCHINGLY dared both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to "watch these tapes". Such a PERFORMANCE! I hope the ACADEMY remembers and gives her a nod when the OSCAR NOMINATIONS come out next year.
STEP 3) Now watch the MUCH SHORTER (8 minutes) of HEAVILY EDITED video that was ORIGINALLY released by the GOOD FOLKS at the Center for Medical Progress. Observe how they turned My Dinner With Andre into more of an ACTION FLICK complete with good guys and BAD GUY. Note especially how APPRECIATIVE and FRIENDLY the videographers are at the end of the show. Imagine what they were THINKING when they said those words! Imagine how the Planned Parenthood representative, Deborah Nucatola, must have felt when this video came out!
The full video makes clear that the OBJECTIVE of PP is to PROVIDE ACCESS to family planning services to WOMEN, not make a profit.
Factcheck.org writes:
At one point in the unedited video (which was also released by the group), Nucatola says: “Affiliates are not looking to make money by doing this. They’re looking to serve their patients and just make it not impact their bottom line.”
Nucatola also says, “No one’s going to see this as a money making thing.” And at another point, she says, “Our goal, like I said, is to give patients the option without impacting our bottom line. The messaging is this should not be seen as a new revenue stream, because that’s not what it is.”
Conservative CON ARTISTS, who were most likely inspired by the success of the ACORN video, are now trying to use the SAME EXACT STRATEGY to make blatantly OUTRAGEOUS LIES about what Planned Parenthood is actually doing. It is SHAMEFUL.
They are COUNTING on the fact that NOBODY wants to spend 2 hours and 42 minutes watching a video to find out the truth for themselves.
And SILVER-TONGUED "Carly" wants to double-dip and also prove what a steely-eyed guy she can be. She is COUNTING on the fact that NOBODY wants to spend 2 hours and 42 minutes watching a video to find out that she is, in truth, a BALDFACED LIAR.
Remember, she actually said
This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up in and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us.
Now reflect upon the character of "Carly" Fiorina (née Cara Carleton Sneed). Please visit and share
this website created by HP employees who knew her best and did everything they could to stop her from becoming a CA Senator in 2010.
Finally, reflect upon the character of those in the GOP party who are willing to lie and cheat to accomplish their goals. They supposedly hold "pro-life" views because they are such good and obedient Christians, and yet they are willing to break the Ten Commandments whenever it suits them.
There are six things that the LORD strongly dislikes, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
— Proverbs 6:16–19
Propaganda is poison to a democracy. We need to LEARN THE LESSON from the ACORN scandal:
propaganda works, and is being used by those on the right to spread disinformation to our fellow citizens. We must find a way to hold those who are GUILTY of intentionally spreading lies such as these ACCOUNTABLE for their actions. Please do what you can to spread the TRUTH about the Planned Parenthood videos.
12:39 PM PT: LA Times published an article about this yesterday, It's time for Carly Fiorina to apologize to Planned Parenthood h/t Michael Hiltzik
"... at this week's GOP debate she raised the ante, making the most extreme statement about Planned Parenthood of anyone in the field.
"As regards Planned Parenthood," she said, "anyone who has watched this videotape, I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain."
This is a pure fabrication. Fiorina is referring to the surreptitious videotapes distributed by the inaptly named anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress. The tapes have been conclusively discredited as heavily edited misrepresentations, but not even the "full" versions (though also somewhat edited, according to a Planned Parenthood analysis) show the scene Fiorina describes. Sarah Kliff at Vox, who has viewed every tape in full, provides a helpful guide to finding the scenes shot inside Planned Parenthood clinical laboratories."
Also, see Republicans Are Legislating Based On Fake Videos. Should Someone Tell Them? h/t Laura Bassett
"WASHINGTON -- In the second GOP presidential debate Wednesday night, candidate Carly Fiorina passionately described a graphic scene from an undercover video of Planned Parenthood in which a fetus that survived an abortion waits, its "heart beating" and "legs kicking," for a technician to harvest its brain. On Friday, House Republicans passed a pair of bills inspired by the same videos: One measure would defund Planned Parenthood and another would protect "abortion survivors."
The problem is, the videos are so heavily edited that they bear little resemblance to reality, and the scene Fiorina described doesn't exist."
5:22 PM PT: In the comments, LeighAnn shared a couple of interesting articles:
Published on Salon today:The right’s Planned Parenthood trap: Manufactured controversies, pliant Democrats and the decades-long plot to “defund the left” h/t Josh Mound
"Though Planned Parenthood is the right’s current target, this plan of attack found its first success six years ago with conservative provocateur James O’Keefe’s undercover footage of ACORN offices."
And from several years ago on The Baffler: The Long Con - Mail-order conservatism h/t Rick Perlstein
LeighAnn summarizes this as "Has more about RW fundraising scare mongering with ties into the pyramid and snakeoil products pushed along with it. Much on Richard Viguerie's Conservative Digest and Heritage Foundation founder Paul Weyrich who sent a fundraising letter containing "babies are being harvested and sold on the black market by Planned Parenthood" many years ago."
“The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.” Brandolini’s Law - The Bullshit Asymmetry Principle
I also found a nice article on the Daily Beast called Carly Fiorina, Crackpot Warmonger h/t Michael Tomasky
"Many have already picked apart what appear to be Fiorina’s flat-out lies about the Planned Parenthood videos. I haven’t watched those videos in their entirety, so I can’t say with personal authority. But Sarah Kliff of Vox has, and Kliff writes that all that business about a fetus with legs still kicking and people talking about needing to “harvest its brain” just isn’t true. Doesn’t exist. The charitable explanation, according to Kliff, is that Fiorina was confusing the Planned Parenthood videos with another that includes stock footage of the sort Fiorina described and maybe she confused them in her mind. Or maybe she didn’t. Maybe she just lied."
I also noticed that this diary somehow made it to Community Spotlight. Thank you Rescue Rangers! I'm grateful that more people might be having an opportunity to read it. It especially peeves me that so many right-wing conservative Christians seem to tolerate and even participate in so much blatant dishonesty. It needs to end, and those who spread disinformation need to be held accountable for their actions.
Sun Sep 20, 2015 at 1:27 AM PT: Here is ABC’s George Stephanopoulos pushing back on Carly about her claims regarding the footage in the videos. He quotes from Sarah Kliff who wrote on Vox: "Either Fiorina hasn't watched the Planned Parenthood videos or she is knowingly misrepresenting the footage. Because what she says happens in the Planned Parenthood videos simply does not exist."
Carly responds by doubling down on what she said at the GOP debate: "Rest assured, I have seen the images that I talked about last night."
Those words appear to have been very carefully selected. Do you notice how she's not claiming that the images are actually on the PP videos, but instead merely implies it? She's only claiming that she's "seen the images". She's crafted a nice alibi to be able to say that she must have been "innocently confused" between the PP videos and other videos if she's ever forced to admit that what she stated so movingly at the GOP debate was in reality simply not true.
In Silly Rabbit's recent diary (which is amazing!) I found more great links: from TalkingPointsMemo, Keeping Carly's Secrets h/t Josh Marshall
"Press failures, especially massive ones, tend to be right there in plain site and yet totally invisible, entirely ignored. And yet we have a massive one coming out of Wednesday night's Republican debate that the press seems inclined or insisting on totally ignoring. Commentators are toasting Carly Fiorina as the break-out winner of the debate. And yet she not only made a string of false statements, or claims that showed a willful disregard for or ignorance of reality, she almost certainly manufactured a bogus memory entirely out of whole cloth ...
the reality of what Fiorina did in this debate and a number of earlier press encounters is totally absent from the basic themes of the post-debate coverage.
Fiorina has a habit of simply making things up. In the case of the parts of the Planned Parenthood videos, the way she made it up seems to verge on the pathological. Again she says she saw something in these videos that completely wasn't there. And she doubled down on it the next day. This is just lying through your teeth or just being so indifferent to whether things are true or not that it amounts to the same thing."
Finally, in Fantasies and Fictions at G.O.P. Debate Paul Krugman writes:
"The real revelation on Wednesday, however, was the way some of the candidates went beyond expounding bad analysis and peddling bad history to making outright false assertions, and probably doing so knowingly, which turns those false assertions into what are technically known as “lies.” ...
Mr. Christie’s mendacity pales, however, in comparison to that of Carly Fiorina, who was widely hailed as the “winner” of the debate. ...
the truly awesome moment came when she asserted that the videos being used to attack Planned Parenthood show “a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.” No, they don’t. Anti-abortion activists have claimed that such things happen, but have produced no evidence, just assertions mingled with stock footage of fetuses."
Sun Sep 20, 2015 at 4:06 PM PT: Makers Of Sting Videos Can't Point To The Scene Fiorina Said She Watched
"pressed to identify which video contains the gruesome scene Fiorina described, neither her campaign nor the anti-abortion group who produced the sting videos have not been able to do so ...
No such scene was present in the hours of sting videos released in recent months. When asked by TPM to defend Fiorina's comments, the Center for Medical Progress, which produced the videos, pointed to a section of the third episode of its "documentary" series "Human Capital," a spin-off of the initial "sting" videos ...
There is no proof that the footage cited by Fiorina's defenders was filmed in a Planned Parenthood clinic, nor that it was even of an aborted fetus. "
And the lies from Carly continue ... Fiorina Defends Planned Parenthood Comment: I've Seen The Footage!
"Republican presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina defended her description of a Planned Parenthood video Sunday ...
Her campaign and the organization that released the "sting" videos can't point to the video that shows what Fiorina described.
“Do you acknowledge what every fact checker has found?” Fox News host Chris Wallace asked Fiorina Sunday. “As horrific as the scene is, it was only described on the video by someone who claimed to have seen it. There is not -- no actual footage of the incident you just mentioned.”
“No, I don’t accept that at all,” Fiorina responded. “I’ve seen the footage. And I find it amazing, actually, that all these supposed fact checkers in the mainstream media claim this doesn’t exist, they’re trying to attack the authenticity of the videotape, I haven’t found a lot of people in the mainstream media who has ever watched these things.” "
She's clearly counting on people not watching the videos for themselves. Not only is the MSM biased and unfair, apparently that also extends to "every fact checker". The liberal bias against conservatives is apparently growing.