The Black and White World of Wingnuts

We thought Elizabeth Dole's insane TV spot linking her Democratic opponent with "godless Americans" was about as low as conservatives were prepared to stoop during this election cycle.  We were wrong.  A right-wing organization called the Susan B. Anthony List has sent mailers to over half a million swing state voters, essentially accusing Barack Obama of infanticide.  The first image you see on the mailer is a sepia-toned photograph of a baby carriage sitting in the middle of a railroad track.  In what I presume is meant to be "scary" font face, are the words:  "If you saw this, you would take action - Wouldn't you?"  Page two of the mailer shows the Democratic candidate frowning, and the dire message:  "Barack Obama won't!"  The text reads: "Despite hearing horrifying testimony from nurses about healthy babies being left to die in supply closets, he voted against protecting these innocent children who defied all odds and survived an abortion.  Seem too gruesome to believe?  It's true!"  (Emphasis theirs.)    

Fred Clark at The Slactivist writes:  Let's try, for the sake of argument, to accept the premise of this ad: Abortion is indistinguishable from killing babies and politicians who support abortion rights are the kind of people who would do nothing and pass by if they saw a baby -- a poor, adorably helpless baby -- abandoned in the path of an oncoming train.  The people who composed, prepared, funded and shipped this mailer do not believe any of that.  They're not lying, exactly.  They like the idea that something like this might be true.  They want the world to be like this.  They want the world to be easily divided between heroes and villains, and they want to be able to count themselves on the heroic side of that divide.  It's amazing that in the 21st century there are Americans who still view the world in absolutes.  But that's the reality of the fundie mindset.  In the final half of his post, Clark correctly suggests that part of the social conservatives' strategy is to slowly wear us down with their shocking images and shrill warnings.  (At least they've eased off on the clinic bombings - for now.)  Apparently these anti-choice activists are in this fight for the long haul.  To them, anyone who dares to consider gray areas in the abortion debate - y'know, victims of rape or incest, or the health of the mother - is no better than a person who would leave a baby on a train track to die.

Related Post:  Leslee Unruh, and South Dakota's New Abortion Ban Initiative

Comments

[sumac3]

They couldn't have photoshopped in a baby?
I should risk my life for an empty baby carriage?

um... how stupid do they think people are, anyway?

[sumac3]

Oh, and BTW. Yes, I would take action against anyone who would do the equivalent of yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded theatre. If ever I did come across a dire situation where ANY LIVING CREATURE was in danger and I risked my life for a rescue? If it were to turn out that I had been "punked," as the kids used to say, I would track down and kill that person. Just sayin.

[Bee Girl]

This is just sick.