Washington Post Piles on NARAL

Saturday, August 13th, 2005 1:55 pm by Neal

You know NARAL has stepped in it big-time when even the leftist, Washington Post editorial page slams the blatantly dishonest ad against Judge Roberts. From the editorial:

In releasing the ad, Nancy Keenan, NARAL’s president, said in a statement that she wanted “to be very clear that we are not suggesting Mr. Roberts condones or supports clinic violence.” That’s funny, because the ad does precisely that. It opens with the scene of a bombed clinic — a clinic attacked years after the case in question — and then shows a victim of the bombing. An announcer intones that “Supreme Court nominee John Roberts filed court briefs supporting violent fringe groups and a convicted clinic bomber.” It closes with the announcer telling viewers that “America can’t afford a justice whose ideology leads him to excuse violence against other Americans.” A reasonable viewer can only conclude that Judge Roberts — who served as deputy solicitor general in the administration of George H.W. Bush — had somehow justified or defended a clinic bombing.

NARAL is certainly within its rights to disagree with the position the government took in the case. But the impression it creates with this ad is not an argument but a smear– a smear that will do less to discredit Judge Roberts than it will the organization that created it.

Remember, this came from the Washington Post, not the National Review or Operation Rescue. Then we have the announcement that the NARAL Communications Director, David E. Seldin, has resigned, yesterday being his last day on the job. He claimed,

“I’ve been thinking for a while that I would most likely leave after the Supreme Court nomination fight was over. By leaving now I can spend the next two weeks in Cape Cod with my family relaxing, instead of trying to find a place with good cell phone reception”

Now that’s a good one. Best wishes to Seldin as he contemplates a career change.

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