ABC Says Hannity Listeners Can’t Hear NRL PAC Message

FOUL!: ABC SAYS HANNITY LISTENERS CAN’T HEAR NRL PAC MESSAGE

National Right to Life PAC ad rejected for being “too political”

 

WASHINGTON – Today, National Right to Life received notice from ABC Radio Network that it would not air National Right to Life’s ad entitled “Waiting for Obama’s Apology,” during Sean Hannity’s radio program.  In an email to National Right to Life, ABC Radio Network executives claimed the ad, “while supporting aspects of a Pro-Life position, weighs more heavily toward electioneering.” The ad, the text of which appears below, was to be paid for by National Right to Life Political Action Committee (NRL PAC), which is allowed to do “electioneering” under federal law.

 

“ABC’s rejection smacks of being a politically motivated gag order,” said Derrick Jones, NRLC Communications Director.  “It seems that the pro-Obama leanings of the mainstream media have overflowed into their sales departments as well.  To reject a political action committee’s ad because they think it is too political, borders on the absurd.”

 

The ad focuses on NRL’s role in revealing that Obama had for four years misrepresented his record on the Illinois Born-Alive Infants Protection Act (BAIPA).

 

“Four years ago, NRL PAC ran electioneering ads supporting George W. Bush. ABC’s lame excuse this year fails to hide their true motivation of helping Barack Obama conceal his extreme pro-abortion position from the American public,” Jones added.

 

On August 11, NRLC released recently uncovered documents proving that Obama in 2003 had presided over a committee meeting at which he killed a version of the BAIPA that was virtually identical to the federal BAIPA that Congress had enacted, without a dissenting vote, in 2002.  This contradicted four years of statements by Obama on the matter.  When Obama was asked about NRLC’s charges in a televised interview on August 16, he said that NRLC was “lying.”  Independent investigations by FactCheck.org and Politifact.org have since concluded that NRLC’s claim was accurate and that Obama’s denial was not.  The ad refused by ABC quotes the FactCheck.org conclusion that “Obama is misrepresenting the contents of” the bill that he killed.

 

“The ABC gag rule is part of a broader pattern of behavior in which the mainstream news media filter out or distort the extremes of Obama’s pro-abortion record, including his actions to block legislation to protect infants born alive following abortions in Illinois, his commitment to enact the so-called “Freedom of Choice Act,” which would make partial-birth abortion legal again and nullify all parental notification laws, and his support for requiring taxpayer funding of abortion,” said NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson, author of an article on the Obama abortion agenda published this week by National Review Online and posted at www.nrlc.org.

 

The ad is currently posted as a web ad on National Right to Life PAC’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/nrlpac.  The text of the ad is below.

“Waiting for Obama’s Apology”

Male:              The following is paid for by National Right to Life PAC at nrlpac.org.  Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee, NRLPAC is responsible for the content of this advertising.

Female 1:     In August, National Right to Life released documents proving that in 2003, Barack Obama was responsible for killing a bill to provide care and protection for babies who are born alive after abortions, and that he later misrepresented the bill’s content. 

Male:  When Obama was asked about National Right to Life’s charges in a televised interview, he replied:  (quote)  “…I hate to say that people are lying, but here’s a situation where folks are lying.”

Female 1:     We challenged Obama to admit that the documents are genuine, and admit to his previous misrepresentations.  FactCheck[dot]org then investigated, and concluded:

Female 2:     (clinical, detached tone):  “Obama’s claim is wrong . . .  The documents . . . support the group’s claims that Obama is misrepresenting the contents of [Senate Bill] 1082.”

Female 1:     Was Obama afraid that the public would learn about his extreme position —  that he opposed merely defining every baby born alive after an abortion as deserving of protection?

Will Obama now apologize for calling us liars when we were the ones telling the truth?

Barack Obama: a candidate whose word you can’t believe in.

Additional Resources:
August 18, 2008  NRLC White Paper: Obama Cover-up on Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Continues to Unravel After Sen. Obama Says NRLC is “Lying” www.nrlc.org/ObamaBAIPA/Obamacoveruponbornalive.htm

 

“Unholy Messaging” by Douglas Johnson (National Review Online article) posted at www.nrlc.org.

Still Waiting…

National Right to Life PAC posted a new version of its web ad: “Waiting for Obama’s Apology” last night.  Watch it below or view it on NRL PAC’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/nrlpac.

Obama’s “brazen scam” on abortion exposed in NRLC official’s article

Barack Obama’s sweeping agenda for pro-abortion policy changes examined by NRLC’s Douglas Johnson in National Review Online

WASHINGTON — The Obama campaign and its allies have adopted an extensive “messaging strategy” that seeks to persuade religiously committed Americans that Obama has a middle-of-the-road position on abortion policy and will promote “abortion reduction.”

 Douglas Johnson, longtime legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) and author of an article published today on National Review Online, titled “Unholy Messaging,” calls the Obama effort “a brazen scam.”

 ”The scam depends on the Obama campaign, with cooperation from the mainstream news media, deflecting attention away from Obama’s actual record, and from his extensive commitments to pro-abortion interest groups,” Johnson said.  “Barack Obama is firmly committed to an agenda of sweeping pro-abortion policy changes that, if implemented, will surely greatly increase the number of abortions performed.”

 Johnson noted that a few short months ago, during his primary contest, Obama and his advocates were boasting about his record of leadership in opposition to legislation to ban partial-birth abortions, to protect infants born alive during abortions, and to require parental notification for minors seeking abortions, among other pro-life bills.  “Those boasts were well-founded, and the current effort to re-package Obama as a moderate is a brazen scam,” Johnson said.

 The Obama “messaging” campaign includes a recently launched “Faith, Family & Values Tour” that will visit Colorado, Indiana, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Florida, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin.  In addition, various independent groups are disseminating advertising and literature that advances the same strategy.

 Among the specific Obama positions documented in Johnson’s article (which contains extensive hyperlinks to documentation):

 – Obama is a cosponsor of the so-called “Freedom of Choice Act” (FOCA, S. 1173), which Johnson calls ”the most sweeping piece of pro-abortion legislation ever proposed in Congress.”  The FOCA is a bill that would make partial-birth abortion legal again, strike down restrictions on taxpayer funding of abortion, and nullify virtually every state and federal law or policy that would in any way “interfere with” access to abortion, including parental notification laws.  In a letter sent to every member of Congress by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on September 19, Cardinal Justin Rigali wrote, “No one who sponsors or supports legislation like FOCA can credibly claim to be part of a good-faith discussion on how to reduce abortions.”  In a speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund on July 17, 2007, Obama said, “The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act.  That’s the first thing that I’d do.”
 
– Obama advocates the nullification of state laws requiring parental notification or consent for a minor daughter’s abortion, which would be one of the effects of the FOCA.  Moreover, since entering the U.S. Senate, Obama has had two opportunities to vote directly on the question of parental notification for interstate abortions on minors, and he voted ”no” on both occasions.   

 – Obama advocates repeal of the Hyde Amendment, the law that since 1976 has blocked almost all federal funding of abortion, even though both pro-life and pro-abortion analysts agree that this law has prevented many abortions.  By even the most conservative estimate, there are more than one million Americans alive today because of the Hyde Amendment.   “Because the Hyde Amendment must be renewed annually, a new president hostile to the Hyde Amendment could quickly place it in jeopardy,” Johnson observed.  The FOCA would also nullify all state laws restricting state funding of elective abortion.

– In a written response to a pro-abortion advocacy group, the Obama campaign said that Obama is opposed to continuing current federal funding for “crisis pregnancy centers,” which provide needed assistance to many thousands of pregnant women.

– NRLC has thoroughly documented that in the Illinois state Senate, Obama led the opposition to legislation to protect babies who are born alive during abortions, and persisted in his opposition even after Congress had enacted a virtually identical federal bill without a single dissenting vote.  Obama has in numerous ways actively misrepresented the content of this legislation, and his actions on it, but even when such misrepresentations were proved by NRLC and others, the major media simply let Obama abandon them and fall back to a different set of equally misleading claims.

 In his article, Johnson criticizes recent coverage in the ”mainstream news media,” which, he writes, “have, with few exceptions, been very compliant with Obama’s recent efforts to downplay his hard-line pro-abortion history and policy commitments, for the purpose of winning the general election.”  Typically, journalists simply describe Obama’s position as “supports abortion rights,” without giving details regarding his advocacy of federal funding of abortion, invalidation of parental notification laws, and the rest. 

 NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson and other NRLC staff persons are available for interviews on the subject of the Obama agenda on abortion, including radio debates with advocates for Barack Obama.  To arrange an interview, please call the Federal Legislative Office at (202) 626-8820 or the Department of Media Relations at (202) 626-8825.

 Mr. Johnson’s article has been cross-posted on the NRLC website under the title “Efforts to Sell Obama to Pro-Life Americans Collide With His Support for Sweeping Pro-abortion Policy Changes.”

 The National Right to Life Committee is the nation’s largest pro-life group with affiliates in all 50 states and over 3,000 local chapters nationwide.  National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect those threatened by abortion, infanticide, euthanasia and assisted suicide.

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