The Ongoing Insanity of the Theopolitical Right: The Marilyn Musgrave Edition

You might remember the recent assault on Planned Parenthood by the rightwing. Well, I forgot that former congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave also got in on the act:

Former Congresswoman and anti-abortion rights advocate Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) suggested Planned Parenthood covers up sexual assaults against underage girls during the Conservative Principles Conference in Des Moines on Saturday.

When asked by another advocate in the audience how to best pressure the Senate into defunding Planned Parenthood, Musgrave recalled watching a recent interview with former star NFL linebacker Lawrence Taylor discussing allegations he had sex with an underage prostitute.

"You know what I thought about? Underage prostitutes, runaway girls, girls in crisis. Guess what folks? Planned Parenthood will readily give them birth control. Planned Parenthood will cover up statutory rape, incest, whatever," Musgrave said.

Because the only thing better than a teenage prostitute is a pregnant teenage prostitute with a sexually transmitted disease.

If there's one thing that the supposed Lila Rose sting did not prove, it's that Planned Parenthood is in cahoots with pimps. All it did is establish that Planned Parenthood follows the law and does not physically confront potentially violent pimps in order to protect their staff and patients.

As Thers put it:

This is something we've been over in regards to the other recent O'Keefe "sting," of Planned Parenthood. That "sting" depended upon the right-wing fantasy that there exist extensive well-organized juvenile "sex-trafficking" rings, something that upon even cursory examination turns out to be utter crap.

What I'm getting at is that I don't think it is at all recognized the degree to which right-wing "ideas" are merely the emanations of a carefully constructed, internally coherent, yet deeply nonsensical folklore. It's a hothouse cargo cult that scavenges in plain sight, battening off frequent, generous Fox News airdrop cultivation.

What the O'Keefe "stings" should reveal, objectively, is that Matt Taibbi was far too kind to them, but basically correct: they have no capacity or desire to cope with empirical reality.

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Saying that Planned Parenthood "covers up" for crimes against women by giving them basic healthcare is like saying that the ER "covers up" for crimes like vehicular manslaughter and attempted murder by saving the victims.

Why, the ER is clearly just a liberal ploy to help criminals get lower sentences by preventing 'attempted murder' from becoming 'murder'! We should defund it right away!

Mokele -- don't give them any ideas! Seriously, these people couldn't decipher snark if it bit them on the ass. They read "1984" and "The Handmaid's Tale" as instruction manuals.

By Brea Plum (not verified) on 02 Apr 2011 #permalink

Reportedly US prospective presidential candidate Mike Fuckabee - er, Huckabee - would like to indoctrinate everyone with fundamentalism at gunpoint.

Can we strap him down in a university lecture hall and force him to listen to lectures on, well, things that actually exist?

By Katharine (not verified) on 02 Apr 2011 #permalink

Oh, but the bit about making people watch a video at gunpoint was a joke.
Why exactly conservatives think guns are funny escapes me, however. By the time I was 22 there had been, in my lifetime, six attempts on the lives of presidents or presidential candidates, resulting in two dead Kennedys, George Wallace in a wheelchair, and Ronald Reagan with a bullet in his lung. Throw in Martin Luther King, John Lennon and the Pope, and I lost the ability to laugh at gun threats 30 years ago.
I guess the humor of the situation depends on who is holding the gun.

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