Kirsten Powers…
…continues to be one of the few MSM figures with integrity:
Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page. The revolting revelations of Gosnell’s former staff, who have been testifying to what they witnessed and did during late-term abortions, should shock anyone with a heart…
“Chaos” isn’t really the story here. Butchering babies that were already born and were older than the state’s 24-week limit for abortions is the story. There is a reason the late Democratic senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan called this procedure infanticide…
A Lexis-Nexis search shows none of the news shows on the three major national television networks has mentioned the Gosnell trial in the last three months…
The Washington Post has not published original reporting on this during the trial and The New York Times saw fit to run one original story on A-17 on the trial’s first day. They’ve been silent ever since, despite headline-worthy testimony.
This is a companion piece to my post below, about the MSM’s reaction (or rather non-reaction) to the McConnell taping. The issues are very different—a horrific “abortion” mill the details of which should horrify everyone, whether pro- or anti-abortion, versus a possibly illegal political “dirty tricks” taping. But the common theme here is media coverage (and especially lack thereof, if the story would reflect poorly on the liberal cause) and how it shapes our lives, thoughts, and therefore our future.
There is another story out there about the horrible conditions at a Planned Parenthood Clinic in, I believe, NJ. I doubt that anyone will dare take the name of PP in vain either.
How much do you want to bet the the clients of these hellholes were very poor and largely black.
At times I think/hope that Ms. Powers is in the process of undergoing a Neo-like Change. But there’s an argument to be made that she would do the conservative cause more good by just doing what she does. Being one of only a handful of liberal media types capable of being intellectually honest will make her much more famous and well regarded than she could ever hope to become by blindly joining the lefty chorus.
She’s kinda staked out her turf, her brand here, hasn’t she? [cf, the Benghazi cover up]
It’s certainly weird that it’s getting better coverage in the British press isn’t it? Of course that may be as much because of the “horror show” element of the story is good for selling papers as much as the politics.
It reference to companions, here’s a pair mentioned by Voltaire:
“Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.”
In this case, I don’t think Voltaire would have minded at all to replace the word “injustices” with “atrocities.” It was an atrocity which had lasting influence upon Voltaire, in particular, the torturing and burning alive in 1766 of Chevalier de la Barre because he failed to doff his hat in respect while a religious procession passed through the streets of Abbeville. It was raining.
I wish Voltaire could be resurrected and allowed to comment upon the political scene and register his astonishment that the secular millenial faith could have so outdistanced the religious millenial faith in atrocity and absurdity.
“How much do you want to bet the the clients of these hellholes were very poor and largely black.”
Every bit of folding money I can get out of my ATM in next fortnight.
I imagine that many within the major media outlets are horrified, privately that is, if so it’s their fear that major media attention to this incident might well lead to exposure of other abortion providers zealousness crossing the line into infanticide that is motivating their silence.
It’s because they strongly sense that its far more common than the public imagines that creates that fear.
It also seems very likely that the editors and producers are not allowing themselves to contemplate their own culpability, that in remaining silent, in essentially covering up the story, they are actively facilitating the continuance of infanticide… (not passively, given their societal role of reporting the news).
In which case they had best pray that there is no afterlife with accounting to a just God, for if there is, they have much to answer for…
Kirsten Powers has been fascinating to watch. Following her on Fox News (is she still a contributor there?) from the beginning, she seemed to gradually let go of the knee-jerk party-line Democrat take on events and instead let her good sense shine through. I wondered, too, if she’d completely detach herself from the Left, but I think now she’s proud to be a Democrat who can see clearly the difference between right and wrong. No doubt her Dem colleagues hate her for it, but I think she does the most good staying right where she is, philosophically, especially because I can’t detect any opportunistic taint to her writing. That’s not to say that at some point she won’t find the conservative side irresistible. She’s staked out a nice niche for herself as it is, and I enjoy watching her there.
Anyone who watches (and thus supports) the MSM should not be surprised or disappointed by the ‘news’ they get or do not get. Not in the internet age. I routinely check multiple media home pages daily, both US and abroad, but I never click on a NYTimes head because 1) I can predict the story from the head, and 2) every click counts for ad revenue. It is often striking how American news are better and more thoroughly reported from abroad.
Per the comment from expat in #1, the other story not being talked about is from a PP clinic in Delaware only marginally less gruesome than the one that Gosnell was running in Philadelphia. Former nurses at the Delaware facility told the ABC affiliate in Philadelhia that operating tables were filthy and they routinely used instruments that had not been sterilized.
“Butchering babies that were already born and were older than the state’s 24-week limit for abortions is the story.”
I wonder if today the MSM would report on an extermination camp if it was discovered in Cuba or Venezuela?
“There is a reason the late Democratic senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan called this procedure infanticide.”
I always admired Moynihan, but there are no longer any moral, ethical politicians amongst the democrats.
@ Jan: I follow Powers on twitter and she gets a LOT of gruff from her fellow dems. She’s not having a “change” (hasn’t talked to me, yet), but that sense of right/wrong is there so she may come around. There’s a reason her allies are so slimy.
One of the reasons Clinton/Morris was able to navigate the Lewinsky thing what that every day every talking head repeated the same talking points. That way every idiot who overheard them at the dentist would be sure to have heard the party line.
When stories like this aren’t covered, every GOP office-holder needs to call them on it whenever they show up on any show for any reason. If you’re being interviewed about Korea, bring up Gosnell. Ask why CNN won’t cover it ON CNN and embarrass the host. Say something like “viewers at home, you should Google “Kermit Gosnell” and see what CNN has decided isn’t news.
We can’t just complain about them playing dirty, we have to make sure that there are tangible consequences for them tilting the news this way. Will they find a way to fight back? YES. Then we come up with something else.
In the meantime we gotta make every host squirm.
@Martel-
I agree with you. But we must come to grips with the facts that the Inside-the-Beltway GOPers, who are the only ones that face the mikes, are A) in the same game and B) if they highjack CNN or whatever, they will never be interviewed by them again. One short shot is all you get.
Powers is from Alaska. She’s representative of an Alaskan Democrat.
Progressive (i.e. monotonic change) activism is designed to overcome latent resistance through semi-peaceful action in a democracy or representative republic. A revolution (e.g. slaughterhouse) will prematurely expose the consequences of their “good” intentions, which will cause decent men and women to reconsider their support or tolerance for a behavior.
This, incidentally, is why they restrict their marriage activism to homosexual marriage, thereby violating equal protection and rights, and do not support universal rights to marriage. They know that acceptance to unpopular change can be realized through bribery (e.g. redistributive change), extortion (e.g. hate crimes), coercion (e.g. CRA), and progressive degradation (i.e. persistence).
Forward… to dysfunctional convergence.
As for Powers, there is no singular liberal. Just as conservatives are classical liberals, today’s liberal is tomorrow’s conservative. That Powers demonstrates integrity indicates that she is a liberal without progressive (i.e. changing) standards. She has reached a threshold, escaped her juvenile years, and has not been overwhelmed by corruption. She has matured and become that dreaded class of citizen: conservative.
I have corresponded with her – she is a very classy woman. I hate when O’Reilly calls her “Powers”.
@ DonCarlos: I know, I know. Fantasy world. It would require damn near every GOP member to be on board, and they’re more concerned with playing the game than WINNING.
It would also help for a “Republican Consultant” who works for the stations in question to do it. On one hand, they’d get fired. On the other hand, they’d become celebrities overnight.
There’s a balance in there somewhere. Sununu made Soledad exceptionally uncomfortable, but somehow he got invited back a few times.
The way I see it, what have we got to lose. The way they see it, all risk no reward.
People will do whatever they are told to do. That has never changed. Power is designed to make it easy for those who lack the will to decide for themselves. They merely have to obey the orders they are given by society.
After all, everyone knows best. And if everyone doesn’t say it is so, then it isn’t so…
“After all, everyone knows best. And if everyone doesn’t say it is so, then it isn’t so…”
Until the bullet meets the bone. This is what ‘everyone’ knows not. They will keep pushing and be utterly surprised when push pushes up against up the wall of push back.
Kirsten Power’s husband is an Egyptian Copt (I believe he is a Physician here in the US). So her in-laws are at great danger in Egypt. This I think is slowly opening her eyes to the dangerous nature of the left’s thinking. A slow change, but there is nothing like watching loved ones under attack to make it happen.
So glad Powers iswilling to call out the MSM on occasion, which in a small way makes up for all of the Scarborough-type squishes on other channels.
The MSM doesn’t cover this because it would be assisting the pro-life side in making their case, and winning the debate is more important than some random clumps of cells and their no-name birth vessels (sorry, can’t call them mothers when they’re aborting/killing babies who survive outside of the womb). If you watched any of the 2012 DNC – a full-throated abortionpalooza – then you know that there is nothing that would convince these people that what they’re supporting could be wrong.
I agree that KP is most likely comfortably a Democrat but she appears to have a solid feel for right and wrong and she is not afraid to speak up. And she lacks shrillness. I find her admirable in many ways.
Another bit of good news. I’ve heard Sharyl Attkisson (sp?) and CBS are parting ways. If this is true I hope she lands somewhere good where she can do what she does best. Honest, persistent, investigative reporting.
Set aside your feelings about abortion; the Gosnell story is really a WOMEN’S HEALTH ISSUE, a popular theme during the last presidential campaign. If you read a transcript of the trial, or Kirsten’s full post, you learn of many of the dangerous practices allowed in the clinic, rusty instruments, unsanitary conditions, and unclean equipment that spread venereal diseases.
There are records of the many government agencies who inspected the clinic and did nothing, hospitals which did not report the botched cases that came to them when they are required by law to do so, a former employee writing to someone in authority about the dangerous practices, and being ignored. I find it especially disturbing the the National Abortion Federation checked the clinic out and because the conditions were so poor, would not accredit it, yet DID NOTHING to have the clinic closed down TO PROTECT WOMEN’S HEALTH.
Besides the doctor and staff, all of these entities share some blame for the continued deaths, injuries, and diseases WOMEN SUFFERED as a result of the clinic’s practices.
And none of the major networks or media outlets report it with the outrage it deserves… Isn’t part of their job to inform people so they become more aware of the dangers out there? I only heard about this story on one cable news show and Kirsten’s reporting. Only they ‘got it’.
So, does the behavior of the governmental agencies, hospitals with doctors who’ve taken the oath ‘to do no wrong’ but turn a blind eye to others who do, the NAF, and media outlets show that they really care about women’s health?
Obviously not.
If you haven’t heard more about this story before, it’s time to check out sources you may have ignored in the past.