Planned Parenthood Smackdown: Richards Calls Out Lying Chaffetz
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Today’s so-called House Oversight Committee “hearing” into Planned Parenthood quickly devolved into Shrill Witch Hunt Theatre after the health care nonprofit’s president, Cecile Richards, made her opening statement:
Chaffetz, who chairs the committee, started off by asking Richards about funds that were sent overseas.
“Do any of these funds go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo?” Chaffetz said early in the back-and-forth.
“Congressman, let me tell you —” Richards said before Chaffetz interrupted her.
“No, no, no. We don’t have time for a big narrative,” Chaffetz said.
“I’m not going to give you a narrative —” Richards said.
“Yes or no,” Chaffetz replied, before Richards gave a more lengthy response.
Riiight. Democratic Republic of Congo, because Kenyan Muslim Socialist or something [insert facepalm here]. You can be sure some bizarre conspiracy scenario is going to emerge in the next day or two.
Chaffetz also made a note of probing Richards’ income:
“Your compensation in 2009 was $353,000. Is that correct?” he asked.
“I don’t have the figures with me, but —” Richards said.
“It was,” Chaffetz replied. “Congratulations.”
But Richards and her legal counsel provided the most memorable moment of the day when they caught Chaffetz in an outright, Carly-Fiorina-magnitude lie after he started harping on a slide being projected on a wall:
CHAFFETZ: You’re going to deny that…
RICHARDS: I’m going to deny this slide that you just showed me that no one has ever provided us before! We’ve provided you all the information about everything — all the services that Planned Parenthood provides. And it doesn’t feel like we’re trying to get to the truth here. You just showed me this.
CHAFFETZ: I pulled those numbers directly out of your corporate reports!
RICHARDS: [legal team tells her something] Excuse me. My lawyers have informed me that the source of this is Americans United for Life, which is an anti-abortion group. So I would check your source.
CHAFFETZ: [looking caught off-guard, stammering] Then we will get to the bottom of the truth of that.
You needn’t bother, congressman. Esquire’s Charles Pierce has already done so, in glorious NSFW style:
In case there are three entities out there, besides the voices in Carly Fiorina’s head, who still believe that the “controversy” surrounding Planned Parenthood is in anyway authentic, as opposed to a concerted effort at ratf**king the organization into the Phantom Zone right alongside ACORN, Wednesday’s little encounter between Cecile Richards and Congressman Jason Chaffetz ought to seal the deal for you.
Indeed. And, unfortunately for Chaffetz, he got called out for what can only be an outright lie.
Richards definitely earned that compensation package for that moment alone. ‘Nuff said!
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