Conservatives wonder: Why aren’t Planned Parenthood’s poll numbers falling?

[applegrove]

Conservatives wonder: Why aren’t Planned Parenthood’s poll numbers falling?

by David Weigel at the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/28/conservatives-wonder-why-arent-planned-parenthoods-poll-numbers-falling/

"SNIP...............

"When mainstream news organizations do decide to cover the videos, they’ve parroted Planned Parenthood’s talking points and added qualifying statements about the credibility of the videos," argued The Federalist's Bre Payton, in one of that conservative site's many critiques of the funding debate. "They also love to use the phrase 'highly edited' when talking about the undercover footage, which suggests to the reader there’s a slight chance the abortion provider deserves the benefit of the doubt.


Steve King had worried about that. "When this emerged, I said, 'Cut all funding and do it now,'" said King. "If we didn't do that, we'd give Planned Parenthood a whole year to spend millions of dollars on PR and lobbying. I wanted to do it like ACORN -- that vote came so quickly that I think many Democrats came to a conviction that ACORN funding was a threat to their re-election."

No such phenomenon has subsumed Planned Parenthood. Republican messaging has been impeccable -- female members at the head of the line to argue for defunding, the party fully committed to funding any "woman's health" that is not Planned Parenthood. From Carly Fiorina to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), the party's presidential candidates have insisted that it would be the fault of Barack Obama, not the GOP, if the government temporarily shut down over the funding issue. Yet the numbers haven't moved.

"Certainly, the debate's come a long way," said Quigley. "I don’t think Romney would have touched this with a ten-foot pole. You’ve got all these celebrities coming out to defend Planned Parenthood; on the other, the pro-life movement, as you know, does not exactly have a lot of Hollywood on call."


.................SNIP"

[applegrove]

1. I wonder what other organization they plan to destroy a la Acorn, overnight just before an election.

[SheilaT]

2. Because most people understand exactly

what Planned Parenthood is about. That's why people support them.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. It Looks Like People See Differently Outside The Bubble

It looks like people see things differently outside the right-wing bubble. Thanks to a very successful purge of pro-choice Republicans by the Religious Right, there's nobody within the GOP to oppose their plans for PP. thanks to ideological enforcement that some Marxist-Leninist parties would envy, there's nobody there who would dare tell the schemers and the Religious Right that their plan is a Really Bad Idea.

Which to me is almost like a good thing. What the Republicans need is a painful reality check.

What the country needs, though, is for the Republicans to go the way of the Whig Party.

[PSPS]

4. This PP nonsense only further shrinks the diminishing base of the GOP.

Let's see: Misogynists, bigots, xenophobes, and billionaires. I think that covers it.

[dbackjon]

5. People are fighting back

A friend was all gung-ho about defunding PP, using typical RW talking points. Several of us challenged him to actually research the unedited videos. Four hours later he came back and admitted he was wrong.

Pushback is needed, and so far the good guys are doing it.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

14. It's quite impressive

when somebody is actually willing to take five seconds to actually LOOK at the evidence and then come back and ADMIT that they were WRONG instead of just hearing something on Fox (I refuse to add the "News&quot and then just parroting it over and over again facts be damned.

[JHB]

6. That's because they believe their own bullshit about ACORN and PP

I don't claim any particular knowledge of ACORN, but I did get the impression that the Democratic establishment considered them at best annoying and at worst the embodiment of "radical left" (from their neoliberal perspective). The people ACORN tended to be at odds with (various "business interests&quot were the people the establishment liked to court. And that impression was formed some ten years before I heard conservatives boogeymanning it.

My impression may or may not have been accurate, but I wasn't surprised at all when it was thrown overboard without a second thought.

PP has a broader base of support with more clout with the party establishment, this time there's no period of shock and confusion: it's been identified as a fraud right off the bat, and more people have dug in their heels to not let them get away with this bullshit again.

[yellowcanine]

7. PPs numbers going up because Republicans overreached yet again.

That bullying session disguised as a "hearing" is a case in point. PPs numbers will jump some more after that because a strong poised woman played them for fools.

And people are getting a little more sophisticated about undercover videos from right wing groups. These groups have low credibility with all but the most right wing nutters out there.

[Rozlee]

8. People are getting fed up by all the witch hunting and hysteria by the right.

They've been yawning over hearings about Benghazi, the Hillary emails, IRS, Fast and Furious and a host of other GOP attempts at power grabs. They've become desensitized by conspiracy theories that many Republicans seem to be falling for like, Obama is a Muslim, the birther conspiracy, chemtrails, gun confiscations, Christian prosecution, Jade Helm 15 and all the other nutty intrigues conservatives are obsessed with. Normal people have lives. Like texting, FB, gaming and watching 'Game of Thrones.' Republicans are the shrill drama queen that they always cheer about when she gets eaten by zombies on the 'Walking Dead.' Conservatives shot their wad a long time ago and no one's interested in watching them jack off anymore.

[smirkymonkey]

9. +1000

[applegrove]

10. LOL! So true.

[ZX86]

16. A little vulgar.

But spot on!

[Dont call me Shirley]

24. We had a warm up of this crap during the Clinton Presidency. Ken Starr Redux.

[-none]

26. Nailed it.

I'm a gonna steal that, it's that good.

[wolfie001]

11. A much better question would be....

....why do the voters in Iowa elect that moon-bat lunatic Steve King. Surely there is no more wasted seat in Congress as the one taken by that imbecile.

[hifiguy]

18. I can tell you why you're wrong in two words.

Louie Gohmert.

[wolfie001]

19. I call him Looney Goobert

I agree he's a space cadet of the worst order but there's something about King's dead, 1000 yard stare that is chillingly devoid of humanity. Cheers

[TexasBushwhacker]

25. Gohmert is being challenged by a retired military nurse

with multiple degrees. She ran against him last time. Maybe she'll win this time.

[PatrynXX]

12. Jeb Bush flyer in the mail today

laughable BS all over it Taxpayers should not have to pay for Abortion services and the selling of body parts. Cut all funding now. Face palm. Thats illegal so PP doesn't get taxpayer money for that 3 % now many Conservative companies help fund that part of it. Why the media doesn't highlight this I don't know. How is Exxon Mobile doing. Yeah big Democratic Company there

[Rex]

13. Most Americans by now have figured out the GOP is the party of crime/pro-death/no-wages.

Same with the NRA, various extremist 'values' think tanks, fanatics...the clues were always there, but now most see them and understand what it means when a Fundie/GOPukers says they are doing something to benefit society. Total bullshit backed by years and years of more total bullshit.

Eventually the biggest dullard gets it. Sure it took 3 decades, but it happened.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. Check Conservatives poll numbers. - There's yer answer.

[NonMetro]

17. Most People Saw Through The Scam?

Plus some Democrats have shown some leadership. Bernie Sanders denounced the videos right away. HRC was slow and uncertain at first, but she's finally denounced it in no uncertain terms, too, and so has Elizabeth Warren. So, that's had some positive effect.

Now is the time for Democrats to denounce all of these Republicans. They're faking it! They know they have no evidence of any wrongdoing, and they've put this country through months of made-up controversy for nothing, not to mention the cost of these stupid investigations, court time involved in these Republican Governors illegally cutting off Medicaid funding,etc. They need to be roundly and loudly denounced for the lying rats they are!

[hughee99]

20. It's not complicated, the republicans have latched

On to this issue to pander to a certain group, but most people just, flat out, don't give a shit about it.

[Bucky]

21. When you take the position of being anti-cancer screening, it's tough to win support

Democrats: the Anti-Breast Cancer Party

[applegrove]

22. Mammogram screenings have gone down because scientists

have discovered that they don't help younger women, women under 50, beat cancer. New guidelines on mammograms came out in the last 5 years. Planned parenthood deals with mostly younger women. Republicans don't care about the facts on the ground, just how they can make it look bad.

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. Kick

[cstanleytech]

27. I just do not understand why the republicans are attacking planned parenthood like this because

they actually help prevent abortions more than anything with assisting people on birth control methods and if anything you would think the republicans would have some common freaking sense and help planned parenthood with more funds so as to reduce the number of abortions even more.