Saturday, April 9, 2011

When Liars Tell The Truth


One of my more amusingly disjointed readers pointed out, in a comment, a falsehood stated by Nancy Pelosi. I agreed with him. (These things happen.) I wonder what he thinks about this -- possibly the most laughable comment and clarification ever made by any politician, ever:

John Kyl, whose picture appears in several dictionaries alongside the word "egregious," said of Planned Parenthood that more than 90% of the services they provide for women is abortions. This was part of his defense of the R intention to cut funding for the organization. Other than the fact that it's pretty much more than entirely backwards, as false as any statement by any politician has ever been, ever, since the invention of political lying, it's right on the money. The actual number is 3%.

When it was pointed out that he was as full of shit as the colon on which I was helping to operate yesterday, his office responded thusly:

We did call his office trying to ask what he was talking about there. And I just want to give it you verbatim here. It says, ‘his remark was not intended to be a factual statement, but rather to illustrate that Planned Parenthood, a organization that receives millions of dollars in taxpayer funding, does subsidize abortions.’


"Not intended to be a factual statement." In the well of the Senate, defending the indefensible willingness of teabaggRs to shut down the government over funding an agency that provides vital health care services, the number two Republican senator asserts unequivocally something so wrong that, like looking at Medusa, you should turn to stone upon hearing it; and then claims it was "not intended to be a factual statement.

What, you didn't know I lie about stuff, he asks, in effect. On the floor of the so-called and self-described world's greatest deliberative body (for entertainment, I'm going with Parliament, hands down). You thought it was true? Why the hell would you think that? I'm practically the Republican leader. You thought I was telling the truth? What is wrong with you??

Until something else comes up -- and, as night follows day... -- I'm designating this as the best statement by any politician ever. The greatest revelation of what an entire party is really about; the Sigmund Freud award for the most unintentional acknowledgment of intentional bullshit ever.



7 comments:

  1. While it's clear that dems are happiest when they know that babies (especially black babies) are dying, you might want to broaden your reading beyond just what an organization puts out about themselves.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/153699-exposing-the-planned-parenthood-business-model

    :disjointed readers"...you just really don't like people who don't agree with you, do you?

    ReplyDelete
  2. See, BOF, it's not that I dislike people who disagree. I wish there were some that would attempt to address the issues I raise. It's people who make statements like your opening one that I find, well, "disjointed" was the nicest word I could think of at the time....

    Your style of disagreeing is typical, sadly. It's simply the spewing of, in this case, untruths or, just as often in your case, irrelevancy.

    Need I also point out that you ignored my specific question; whereas I agreed with you about Pelosi, you ignore people I mentioned here, to make what you must have considered a shattering rejoinder about dems and dying babies. Brilliant.

    If you'd like to address what Mr Kyl's office said, feel free. It was, after all, the point. If you'd rather make statements like you did, and then claim I don't like disagreement, well, you can expect the engagement of the "delete" button.

    I guess, though, that you did answer my question about what you thought about it: you ignored it. And that, I'd say, is answer enough.

    ReplyDelete
  3. So, BOF...
    regarding Planned Parenthood, it seems that 3% of you is against abortions; but 97% of you supports the other of services the organization provides to women (and men) like cancer screening, testing and treatment for STDs, STIs, contraception (to prevent dying babies - black, white, brown etc. - Dem or Republican) and all the other services they provide to the poor.

    Do I read you right?

    Since you are such a firm supporter of truth, you need to call up the senators office and tell him that 97% of what he says is BS, but you are cool with the other 3%.

    If you are unwilling to do that, then what you say is 100% BS.

    EugeneInSanDiego

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sid:

    You know me, but I'm going to publish this comment under "anonymous" to preserve my family's privacy.

    This is for the conservatives (and I hate labels like that because they are simply to simple to cover the belief spectrum of any individual extant) out there.

    I say this because, those who know me well would put my political beliefs high in the conservative/libertarian arena because I believe that our government is far too big and far too intrusive. I believe that the amount of money it squanders is abhorrent. I believe that fraud, waste, kickbacks, payoffs and just plain stealing is common. I believe that the first 500 people in the phone book would, in fact, run the country better than those we have - on both sides - right now. I believe that our debt will eventually harm us more than any enemy could and will, likely, be the cause of our fall as a nation should it happen

    I fought in Viet Nam. I wore a uniform - proudly - for 31 years. I'm a Life Member of the NRA and believe that the 2nd Amendment says exactly what most of us think it says.

    With all of that out of the way, I believe that John Kyl's statement and later retraction - if such is what it was - was obscene. Obscene because it wasn't the truth. And anyone in government ( R or D) who plays fast and loose with the truth is worthy of nothing but contempt. Unfortunately, truth seems to end somewhere well this side of the Beltway and is seldom spoken by either side these days for fear of their being lynched for where they've taken us.

    The privacy part comes now. A while back (though the memory is as raw as the day the incident happened), a member of my family was raped and beaten and left on a street. At the time, she was a new mother, married to an abusive husband, and did not have a job.

    Guess where she went to get help. Yep. Planned Parenthood. Guess who was there and who helped her with appointments, counseling, getting treatment, and getting back on her feet. Yep. Planned Parenthood. No, she did not require an abortion, thank God, and no, it was never once mentioned by - yep - Planned Parenthood.

    I am fundamentally opposed to abortions, and I will argue that they are, in fact, the taking of a human life and I will further argue that they should never, in any way, be funded by any government funds. However, PLanned Parenthood does much (97% to be more accurate) more than fund abortions and, having seen this first hand, I will also argue that their other services are desperately needed by many women who have nowhere else to turn to.

    If anyone doubts their ability to do good for others in desperate need, I would offer that they experience forcing open a bathroom door in their home to find their own flesh and blood on the floor - passed out from the mental and physical ravages still going on weeks after the attack - and, then, calling the (Yep) Planned Parenthood number given to us and being helped IMMFUCKINGMEDIATELY!

    Cut them off?

    Over my dead body.

    Lie about the good that they do to simply play politics. Then "Echo Sierra Alpha Delta." And I'll leave Sid to explain that one.

    Anonymous

    ReplyDelete
  5. I appreciate that comment more -- or at least as much as -- you can know; exactly because I know you and know how far apart we are on so many things.

    Fact is, this post was sort of a throwaway: less about PP per se than a somewhat facetious commentary about a ridiculous response to being caught in a lie, or distortion, or whatever it was.

    Nevertheless your soul-baring is unexpected and honored here. The fewer abortions there are, the happier we'll all be; and that's another subject entirely. But, whether it's three percent or, as the link offered by the one who claims Democrats love killing babies states, twelve, there's no doubt that PP supplies much-needed services to countless women of all ages, all statuses, quite apart from abortion services.

    That was the point of a previous post: the willingness of so many to shut down the government over such a thing, when there's so much more heat than light when it comes to the organization.

    I don't doubt there have been and will continue to be employees who don't follow a given rule in a given situation; and, surely, ones who will fall prey to continued attempts to discredit them with doctored video. But, as you've said, that won't change the many services they provide to those in need.

    Your comment is quite something. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. And, yes, I know what Echo Sierra Alpha Delta stands for.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The only aspect sadder than the original comment(90%)is the explanation offered up when challenged with data! "..was not meant to be a factual statement".

    There in fact is the problem with too many politicians on both sides-data is not relevant, what they believe and whatever they have to say to gain support for their position is fair game.

    Perhaps we should pimp the press to start asking "was that meant to be a factual statement?" Kind of like you asking the Medicine Guy, what were you thinking, or were you thinking, or do you think-ya think?

    I would love to see this headline, in a remark that was not meant to be a factual statement, Senator Joe Blow said......

    ReplyDelete

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