By Dave Andrusko
Pro-abortion former President Barack Obama and pro-abortion former Texas State Senator Wendy Davis
It was, for me, an interesting juxtaposition of stories and headlines. First, in today’s Washington Post, “For Obamas, paid-speaking circuit can pose risks to their brand” while in the South Carolina Charleston Post-Courier, “Former Texas senator Wendy Davis says Planned Parenthood is under intense pressure at Charleston rally.”
One account follows a man who won the presidency twice and about whose wife there is a constant swirl of political gossip. The other is a puff piece about a former Texas state Senator whose star shone brightly before being extinguished in her run for governor.
The gist of Krissah Thompson’s story for the Post is that getting $400,000 a pop for speeches “poses risks to a personal and political brand rooted in their middle-class backgrounds.”
The defense of Barack Obama’s representative is, well, so have other former Presidents. And whether paid (which no doubt will be the case on most occasions) or not, “President Obama will be true to his values, his vision and his record.”
The only reason the Post wrote this story (which is a thinly disguised defense) is that the $400,000 speech delivered at a health-care conference sponsored by an investment bank drew a wave of criticism, “including a New York Post headline that dubbed Obama ‘Wall Street’s new fat cat.’”
More important some, such as Independent Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders, said, “I would have hoped that the president would not have given a speech like this” to “Big Money” interests. This from a man who owns three homes.
Meanwhile Mary Katherine Wildeman of the Post-Courier writes that Wendy Davis delivered a “feminist speech in support of Planned Parenthood Thursday evening to a crowd of almost 100 supporters at Cannon Green restaurant.”
As NRL News Today wrote previously, PPFA is in the midst of celebrating its 100th anniversary and the local Planned Parenthood paid Davis to give a keynote address. What did she say of interest, based on Wildeman’s account?
#1. “Davis stressed the importance of fighting anti-abortion efforts on a state level, but said the campaign against Planned Parenthood in Washington D.C. in recent months is the most intense she’s seen.
“’Right now we’re facing it at the federal level in a way that we never have before,” she said.”
Yes! Our Movement has always employed a pincer movement, attacking abortion on both flanks, state and national. Now that Obama is gone, busy making a fortune telling an adoring audience how wonderful he is, we can (and have) made advances in Congress with more to come.
#2. “Most recently, an anti-abortion measure advanced in the South Carolina legislature Wednesday that defines life as beginning at the moment of conception. Davis characterized such legislation as ‘absurd’ and attributed the bill to ‘politicians who believe that thumping their chest … is something that they’re rewarded for when they run for re-election.””
This to be distinguished from absurd comments pro-abortionists make for which, of course, they would NEVER expect to be rewarded for by pro-abortionists at election time.
And by the way, only in the evidence-free universe that people like Davis exist would it be “absurd” to say what countless embryology books teach: the life begins at conceptions. Finally (and predictably)
#3. “Davis also addressed what she saw as sexism in her 2014 gubernatorial campaign.” You may have noticed that during her failed presidential campaign and after she surfaced from her all-too-brief period of self-imposed silence pro-abortion Hillary Clinton also played the “sexism” card.
Did “sexism” do in Davis? Then Attorney General Greg Abbott obliterated Davis, carrying nearly 60% of the vote and winning by over 950,000 votes
According to an analyst provided by the pro-abortion Dallas Morning News (which swooned over Davis)
* “Abbott carried men and women, a group that in the past has lined up solidly behind Democrats. It was a stunner for Davis, who had targeted women and touted her efforts in support of abortion rights and fair-pay laws. She especially had hoped to appeal to Republican women, but got only 4 percent of their votes.”
* “Abbott scored support from 44 percent of Hispanics.”
* How about vote by educational attainment? “Abbott won across the board, outpacing Davis among high school graduates, those with some college, college graduates and those with postgraduate work.”
You get the picture. Davis had been carried aloft on the shoulders of the usual suspects and feted by the Abortion Establishment which poured money into her race like it was going out of style. And she got clobbered.
Like an old baseball player, reduced to attending conventions to sign Sports Memorabilia, Davis now travels the abortion speaker circuit to reminisce about the good old days when she was relevant.