When American dollars were being wasted on Pres. Bush's not so excellent adventure in Iraq, Fox News didn't seem to be concerned about waste of taxpayer dollars. But, as we saw with Bill Hemmer's interview with GOP Rep and Cecile Richards haranguer Jason Chaffetz, when it comes to Planned Parenthood, it's a different story.
Hemmer began this morning's piece, about yesterday's GOP attack on questioning of Planned Parenthood head Cecile Richards with some subtle shading. The House Committee hearing was about the necessity of federal funding for Planned Parenthood but Hemmer, in his description of the event, used language that reflected the anti-choice contention that "taxpayer dollars" are being misspent for Planned Parenthood. Hemmer's affect was intense as he reported that the hearing was "focusing heavily on how your taxpayer dollars are spent." Hemmer referenced the anti-choice sting videos without noting that they have been debunked.
Hemmer kept with the propaganda meme when he noted that the politicians "argue that there are better places to spend federal funds," he played video of GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz's question of whether Planned Parenthood "needs federal subsidy" and his noble assertion that he doesn't want to waste taxpayer dollars. After saying "wow," Hemmer warmly introduced - drum roll please- Rep. Chaffetz.
Chaffetz provided context free stats, from the Planned Parenthood budget, to claim that the organization "doesn't need the money" because "they are flush with cash." To Hemmer's question of "what is the end game," Chaffetz opined that "the American public needs to know" that Planned Parenthood money is going to political campaigns. Naturally, neither he nor Hemmer mentioned Richard's testimony that none of the money, used by Planned Parenthood's political arm, is from the taxpayers.
Chaffetz then provided us with a truly spit out the coffee moment of irony when he said that "Planned Parenthood is the new ACORN" which was an organization that, like Planned Parenthood, served the impoverished. ACORN was defunded by Congress after bogus sting videos, which purported to show ACORN workers involved in illegalities, were released; but it was eventually cleared of wrong doing. The irony is rich, given that the maker of the new Planned Parenthood sting videos, David Daleiden, once worked with James O'Keefe, the fake "pimp" who produced the ACORN videos.
Chaffetz continued to rant about taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood which, according to Chaffetz, is a "democratic machine" (as opposed to "pro-life" groups which fund GOP candidates?). Naturally, Hemmer didn't provide any information on the services provided by Planned Parenthood; but he did provide Chaffetz with the opportunity to defend himself against charges that he is "anti-woman" and express his wish that the money taken from Planned Parenthood could be used for cancer research.
Back in 2011, an article in "The Nation" connected the dots between the right wing attacks on unions, ACORN, and Planned Parenthood - attacks that "are all carefully aimed at the same critical juncture: institutions that work for people in their daily lives and in the political arena - attacks that are aided and abetted by Fox News. It's 2015 and the beat goes on....