It was an onslaught of savvy PR tactics yesterday that brought the Susan G. Komen Foundation to its knees, apparently prompting the organization’s retreat today from its initial decision to cut its funding to Planned Parenthood. As Politico reported this morning:
On a day when the breast cancer charity’s top official made the rounds with the national media, insisting the organization’s decision to stop giving grants to Planned Parenthood wasn’t political, the firestorm only got worse. Top Democrats piled on; the head of the Komen chapter in Los Angeles quit; and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is giving a $250,000 matching gift to Planned Parenthood.
The Atlantic Wire reports that the Susan G. Komen foundation’s website was even hacked, for some period displaying a banner that had been changed from “help us get 26.2 or 13.1 miles closer to a world without breast cancer“ to read, “help us run over poor women on our way to the bank.” And the long repeated myth that the current Komen CEO takes home a half a million dollar salary was brought back to life yesterday – even though the truth is that Komen’s current CEO, Nancy Brinker, takes home $0 in annual salary.
But hey, breast cancer isn’t supposed to be political, right?
Officials with the Susan G. Komen foundation had insisted the initial decision was never political, that it was about providing more direct mammography screening services for women, according to Nancy Brinker, the charity’s founder and CEO. From Politico:
Media outlets didn’t cover March For Life while it happened, despite knowing it was going to happen and hundreds of thousands of people there. News outlets do have stories on it now, but of course the number of people there are distorted and the stories are pretty bland. Again, remember how much effort went into Occupy Wall Street coverage. Reporters were at the scenes. News stations were always on them. Also if they had anyone on the scene at March For Life they’d have a more accurate number of people.
Photo Credit Michelle Fields from The Daily Caller
The best coverage belongs to Judge Andrew Napolitano on his show ”Freedom Watch” on FOX Business Network. Judge Napolitano is a fierce pro-life advocate and doesn’t shy away from the issue. At the end of every show he signs off with “The Plain Truth” and yesterday it was about abortion.
I then went to FOX News and I’ll admit, I was disappointed. The article was written by Shannon Bream and just like C-SPAN she called the protestors anti-abortion. Yes they are anti-abortion, but why doesn’t anyone ever call them pro-life? Why do they have to be constantly addressed as anti? When pro-choice protesters march they’re referred to as pro-choice, not anti-life. She did, however, give a reasonable estimate of people there, tens of thousands. Trust me, that’s much better than some of the others.
Pro-lifers have long understood the issue of media bias. Years ago, the late, pro-choice David Shaw wrote a series of articles in the Los Angeles Times showing how biased his own newspaper was when reporting on abortion. Shaw showed that bias came through not just on stories about abortion. Shaw showed how even stories that related to surgery on unborn children were skewed or spiked to avoid anything that might have a pro-life message.
Now, we have National Public Radio (NPR) lining up to support the pro-abortion side in the ongoing struggle over this issue. Managing Editor David Sweeney recently issued a memorandum to staff ordering them to use only the politically correct designations for the contending sides in the debate: abortion rights advocates is the approved way of referring to those who favor liberalized abortion; abortion rights opponents is the only way NPR will refer, from now on, to pro-lifers.
This should not come as any great shock to us. NPR has long been hostile to conservatives and traditional values. The part I object to most strenuously, that I think we should all object to, is that NPR takes public tax money to spread its pro-abortion bias.
You are more likely to hear about transvestites in Mongolia on “All Things Considered” than to learn about the 3,000-plus Pregnancy Resources Centers created and staffed by American volunteers. “Fresh Air” would be more likely to cover a hole in the ozone layer than to report on California’s underground reporter Lila Rose. Lila Rose’s brave and truthful reporting blew the cover off Planned Parenthood’s racist practices and disclosed how that world trafficker in abortion ignores laws on statutory rape. (more…)
At this late date it appears CBS is not going to surrender to pro-abort pressure and renege on its agreement to run Focus on the Family’s life advocacy ad featuring Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mother Pam on today’s
Super Bowl telecast.
In the n-game thirty-second ad, Pam is prompted to describe her harrowing experience of suffering from a life-threatening illness while pregnant with Tim in 1987, yet rejecting her doctors’ recommendation to abort. She and husband Bob were serving as missionaries in the Philippines at the time.
But the battle against CBS has generated a battle over the battle. Has opposing the Tebow ad been public relations capital well spent?
No, but don’t take my word for it. I’ll let the opinions of abortion proponents speak. First, a January 31 editorial by the notoriously liberal New York Times: (more…)
The Huffington Post is reporting that everybody’s favorite, too-classy-for-words feminist attorney, Gloria Allred, has written a protest letter to CBS over their decision to run the Tim Tebow celebrate-life ad during this year’s Superbowl.
Ms. Allred’s complaint? That the ad (which she has not seen) will imply or state outright “false” and “misleading information.” You see, Ms. Allred contends that since Mrs. Tebow was living in the Philippines (as a Christian missionary) at the time she became pregnant with Tim, and that since Philippine law prohibits abortion, then she would not have – could not have – been advised by her doctor to have an abortion for health reasons.
Now, I’m no lawyer but I am a woman. And every woman knows full well that women were getting counseled to have abortions for health reasons before abortion became legal in the United States. In fact, doctors were performing D&Cs for women who were pregnant without a single soul outside the operating room being the wiser. Even before Roe, doctors were advising an expectant mother about health problems and risks to her pre-born child. It would surely take a fool to believe that doctors in the Philippines are so different. (more…)
The NFL is having a backwards week. The Pro Bowl is being played before the Super Bowl. And instead of commercials featuring cute monkeys, frustrated cavemen and talking babies being the most popular water cooler topics on the Monday morning after the game, it’s a yet-to-air Super Bowl commercial garnering all the attention and discussion in the week leading up to kickoff.
In case somehow you haven’t heard, the University of Florida National Champion quarterback, Heisman Trophy winner and NFL draft hopeful Tim Tebow is going to be featured, along with his mom, in a pro-life spot sponsored by James Dobson’s conservative Focus on the Family.
Even though nobody outside of CBS and Focus on the Family has actually seen the spot, conservatives are thrilled someone is taking a pro-life stand on the biggest world stage. Liberals are livid – Gloria Allred has already threatened a lawsuit against CBS – and pro-choice activists are calling for the ad to be yanked.
If one of my clients wanted to do this spot, I’m not sure how quickly and in how many languages I’d be able to say “no.” (more…)
My husband, a former college football player and stalwart fan still, has been telling me tales about Tim Tebow ever since the young man played his debut season at the University of Florida. Not only was this kid a super-great champion of the gridiron, proclaimed my totally jock husband, he is the kind of young man who stands upon his faith with uncommon strength and pride.
The first time I saw Tim for myself and spotted his now famous use of Bible verses in his under-eye paint, I must admit I was wowed. Admittedly, I was more impressed by Tim’s willingness to stand proud on his faith than on his prowess with a football, but even I must admit that winning the Heisman Trophy is no small feat.
So, now Tim has played his final season at the University of Florida, having brought his family, his friends and his school much reason for pride. And he has chosen, along with his mother, to make a profound revelation to the world at large regarding his even being alive. His mother, advised to abort for health reasons, chose instead to bring Tim’s life to fruition. And what a life Tim has had so far. (more…)
Pro-abort blogger Jenna Henry Hansen at the Huffington Post is typical of many in her dwindling tribe who feel the need to add this caveat when discussing abortion:
Every time I discuss abortion I find it necessary to mention that pro-choice does not mean pro-abortion. A person identifying her or his self as pro-choice supports a woman’s right to choose whether or not to be a parent at that time.
Were that statement actually true, a pro-abort would spend 50% of his or her time supporting the sanctity of preborn human life and 50% supporting the killing of preborn human life.
Of course, that’s not what happens. And I don’t know why pro-aborts are so defensive about it. Abortion kills a blob of tissue at worst or a parasite at best, so they say; big deal. The fact is that pro-aborts abhor any and all support of preborn human life. That includes conversations… for even 30 seconds. (more…)
The Heisman Trophy winner — un-aborted, home-schooled, and a devout Christian — is causing a stir on the Left with his upcoming Super Sunday ad extolling the virtues of the pro-life position. Since his mother was advised to abort him, maybe he ought to know.
Tim Tebow and his mom, Pam, are going to be in a Super Bowl ad. For those who aren’t college football fans, Tebow is the quarterback for the University of Florida Gators. He was the first underclassman to win the Heisman Trophy and led the Gators to two BCS championships. He’s also headed to the NFL draft, where he’s likely to be the top quarterback pick.
All right, you say, so a college football star is going to be in a Super Bowl ad. Big deal. But wait! The ad was purchased by the dreaded Dr. James Dobson’s pro-life Focus On the Family! And Tim’s mom will discuss her decision not to abort Tim when he was in her womb. (more…)
On my Twitter account, I follow a few hundred mainstream media-types (keep the enemy closer, right?), and unless I've missed it (and I hope I have), not a single one has spoken out in defense of Roland Martin. Not one. How scary is that. The politically correct Groupthink...