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NARAL Hypocrite Keenan Gets Her Just Desserts – Railing Against Obama’s DNC Chair

By Anita Finlay ("Ani") on April 1, 2009 at 10:30 AM in Abortion, Backtrack Obama, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Obama's Broken Promises, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Stem Cell Research

From NARAL’s website:

Today Governor Kaine [DNC Chair] announced that he will sign SB 817, which authorizes the creation of a “Choose Life” license plate and will funnel thousands of dollars to anti-choice, deceptive “crisis pregnancy centers.” “We are disappointed that Governor Kaine refused to recognize that when faced with an unintended pregnancy, women need information, not ideology,” said Tarina Keene, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia. “In their zeal to prevent women from accessing abortion services, crisis pregnancy centers frequently mislead women about their options and completely disregard the neutrality that is a commonly accepted tenet of counseling. Organizations like these should not benefit from a state-approved funding stream.”

I respect that the issue of abortion is a very volatile one for many. There is certainly room for debate and common ground but the answer is education and making resources available to women, not denying them their options. We can see quite clearly where DNC Chair Governor Kaine falls on this issue and it is anything but progressive. NARAL President, Nancy Keenan, in abandoning Hillary Clinton last year during the primary in order to endorse Barack Obama, turned her back on the lady who helped put her organization on the map. Keenan is a hypocrite of the first order and is getting her comeuppance in having to protest Kaine’s actions.

While I firmly believe in a woman’s right to choose, I am in agreement with Secretary Hillary Clinton’s long stated position on abortion: safe, legal and rare. But wherever one is positioned on this debate, we have to trust that a woman is capable of making a moral, healthy and informed decision for herself and her family.

It is preposterous to me that we were voting on the possibility of a woman being president and vice president, yet in this day and age we are still debating whether a woman has the right to dominion over her own body. This is an equal rights issue. Women should not have to be legislated to by rich old white men. Until a man has the ability to pass something the size of a bowling ball through his privates, he can keep his big mouth shut about my reproductive rights. Period.

Governor Kaine is the man hand picked by President Obama to be the new leader of the DNC. This is a man who is anti-choice, anti-stem cell, anti-GLBT and pro-Iraq. Wow. Sure sounds like a Democrat to me. I wonder to whom President Obama was pandering with this choice of the most un-progressive, reactionary Democrat he could find. As he did during the campaign, President Obama wishes to have it both ways.

According to Boston Globe’s article, NARAL blasts DNC chief, “[t]he abortion-rights wing of the Democratic Party is none too happy today with a top leader.” I can see why. Governor Kaine today….

…signed a bill including state funding for crisis pregnancy centers, which abortion right advocates calls “anti-choice organizations.”

The NARAL Pro-Choice America political action committee said today that Kaine has “taken action that’s inconsistent with the strong pro-choice platform adopted by party leaders last August.”

“This is the first piece of legislation involving a woman’s right to choose that Kaine considered since being elected chairman of the national party,” said the committee, which says it sent 17,266 messages from activists to the DNC urging Kaine to veto the measure.

Nancy Keenan further stated:

“It is unfortunate that, even after receiving thousands of messages from Virginians and pro-choice activists across the country, Gov. Kaine has opted to sign a bill that advances a divisive political ideology at the expense of women’s health… This action reminds America’s pro-choice majority that we must hold elected officials in both political parties accountable when they take actions that are inconsistent with mainstream pro-choice values.”

Unfortunate? Perhaps. But not unexpected.

This is another time we get to say, ‘I told you so, Nancy.’ When she went against her district offices and much of her membership, unilaterally deciding to come out and endorse Barack Obama for President, she left many in her organization fuming. She endorsed a man who, in his interview with The Advocate last year, said that “many Democrats do not understand that abortion is a wrenching moral issue.”

Oh? Do we not? How insulting. I can assure you that is not the case. And now, he demonstrates not only his insensitivity to his constituency, but chooses someone to lead his party who panders more to a right leaning agenda than anything else. Who did his voters select again? Even if Kaine wishes to say he is acting as Governor of his state in this instance and not wearing his other hat, he is sending a powerful message by signing this bit of legislation in Virginia. And well he knows it. Governor Kaine’s action is hardly consistent with President Obama’s stated platform to his supporters.

And by the way, the right of choice means exactly that – which means defending Governor Sarah Palin’s choice as much as anyone’s.

Hillary Clinton always fought for women’s rights and cared about their reproductive health. As Secretary of State, she continues to fight for the rights of women.

How ironic that Nancy Keenan chose to ignore this fact and abandoned the principles her organization is supposed to stand for, only now to be abandoned in return.

Just desserts, anyone?

http://syd4.blogspot.com Stray Yellar Dawg

It is going to be a very difficult 4 years for people like Keenan.

Unfortunately, it will also be hard on the rest of us.

The groups we thought had our backs on this issue have failed us. BIG TIME.

http://thenewagenda.net/ Woman Voter

Well, she knew what she was doing when she became a ‘feMANist’ for Obama and chose the him over someone with a track record and experience.
http://thenewagenda.net/ Woman Voter

Well, she knew what she was doing when she became a ‘feMANist’ for Obama and chose him over someone with a track record and experience.
trixta

This move by Gov Kaine is all the more ironic in the context of Sarah Palin who just recently appointed a woman pro-choice judge over a woman anti-abortion judge. Considering this and Kain’s standing on other hot-button issues as stated above (i.e. anti-stem cell, anti-GLBT and pro-Iraq), it looks like he’s more right wing than than Gov Palin.

Keegan’s poor judgement — or her propensity to sell out her feminist soul — deserves the Pod Feminist of the year award.

BTW, great article!

NoTrollZone

“pod feminist” aptly coined.
mary

trixta

And Sarah Palin approved a pro-gay ordinance and voted in favor of a pro-choice piece of legislation in Alaska!

Why? Gov. Palin answered simply: “It’s not my personal choice I was voting. I looked to the Constitution for guidance”!….Need we say more?

Ah Hillary! The Judases are getting their comeuppance. And that jerk Kaine Neanderthal should be told to stick a bowling ball in his tummy–after some good nurse practitioner-turned-surgeon gives the jerk a Caesarian! Wonder how many women would love to give a Caesar to Kaine!!!
With a rusty knife!!!1 and with a Teleprompter to give guidance to newly ordained female surgeons…

Ellen D

We knew what we were in for on January 11. Remember this?

http://www.fourthwavefeminism.com/2009/01/this-is-what-feminist-looks-like.html

mamatx

Just wait until confirmation of Obama’s latest nominee who supports using Sharia law in US courts “in appropriate cases”. Which ones would that be? Ones where a man can murder his wife for having an abortion or an affair? Or the one where he can kill his children if they dishonor him?

http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

GREAT post, Ani – you have hit the nail on the head. These backstabbing so-called “women’s organizations” sold us down the river to support Obama, and now look at who they have given us. GRRRRRR.

And mamatx, I just wrote a post on the whole Sharia Law/Harold Koh piece. I think some other NQ writers have, as well, so it will be discussed here at some point, I trust!

Ani, thank you!

Peggy Sue

Yes, this is a “told you so” moment, yet it gives me little pleasure in saying it because we’re all stuck with the results. Elections have consequences and we’re witnessing the grim results of choosing a candidate on appearance alone, of overlooking election fraud and strong arm tactics, of spineless capitualtion to the DNC, all on the “hope” that things would be different after the Dems took power.

This is what we get. I have no sympathy for any of the women’s groups who turned their back on the truly historic candidate: Hillary Clinton. Nor will they see a dime of my money. They betrayed their own constituency, so Keegan’s voice of shock and sadness is totally irrelevant.

Btw, Ani, I’m in full agreement with this statement:

“And by the way, the right of choice means exactly that – which means defending Governor Sarah Palin’s choice as much as anyone’s.”

It’s always been about the “right” to choose, not the choice itself. And I, like HRC, would like to see abortion to be safe, legal and “rare,” which means diligence on the first two counts and sisterly responsibility on the last.

Nancy Keegan is getting a taste of her own medicine. Unfortunately, the taste is bitter for all of us.

Ani

Well stated. The taste is bitter for all of us and I get no satisfaction telling Keegan ‘I told you so’ either.

The amazing thing is how could she have not seen this coming. Did she care?

elise

Thank you Ani. Nancy Keenan betrayed all of us and she was very nasty about it. I thought she would be rewarded with a position in the administration, but I haven’t heard if that happened. Half of NARAL’s board of directors are men and they dropped the “Pro Choice American” from the name in 2003. It’s all about politics now and I even wonder if her objections are genuine.

Ani

Good point,Elise.

I wonder if her objections are genuine as well — I seem to recall several years ago she did something else that went counter to the agenda of what NARAL is supposed to stand for. This is not new for her. I’ll nose around and try to find the exact reference.

Docelder

It’s always been about the “right” to choose, not the choice itself.

If we could “gel” that statement it might help unite the broad center of Americans. If only.
Chris

Yes and you stated the one thing most ignore…Choice, not just to be able to choose to abort, but to choose to continue the pregnancy. That means choosing what is best for you and everyone involved according to your beliefs. Sarah Palin always stated that she would not put her beliefs ahead of the rights of others in upholding laws. She would educate and provide help to women making those choices. However, based on how many abortions are done in the US, it has become a tool of birth control in many cases rather than an informed choice. Support and education and free birth control, would go a long way to help this issue.

brodie

Well, that “I told you so” was pretty quick in coming! This crap makes my head spin. I wrote some very nasty emails to Ms. Keegan about her choice during the primary. Those creeps even sent me more fund-raising emails after I had requested being removed forever from their list. It just makes my blood boil that we came so close and were so completely robbed & disenfranchised. I see a lot more of this anti-woman reactionary shit coming.
politicalidentitycrisis

I will just sit back and watch the NARAL folks write their letters and make their phone calls and meet the same response as I did last year when trying to make them see the error of not supporting Hillary. I hope they enjoy being ignored, abused, and verbally assaulted! They need to have this experience before we can all come together and fight for what we want. They have to understand what Hillary supporters went through last year. Once they have that lightbulb moment, then I’ll consider helping, but not before.
politicalidentitycrisis

How would this be for an ad campaign? Posters of Americans, holding hope signs with the word crossed out and a caption: What did you see in him?

Ellen D

How about this:

Ladies, he’s just not that into you.

trixta

This also goes for all of those Dems who originally supported HRC during the primaries, but decided to vote for the Dem candidate thinking He would be better for this country. So far He’s proven to be disastrous.

Senneth

Trixta, Political Identity, Amen. How could women have fallen in line, despite the many betrayals by That One’s campaign, and voted for him? I am still shaking my head. No wonder the ERA has still not been passed.

Diana L. C.

I may not be as good a person as most others: I get some joy in saying, “I told you so! I didn’t vote for the man who appointed him.”

Jackarooty

Yes, me too!

Schadenfreude is a beautiful thing.

the gal from cal

The sad part is Keegan is probably so self unaware that Backing Obama instead of Hillary had anything to do with her current misfortune…

candymarl

I’m heartsick. Women’s rights groups were warned. Where is Emily’s List now? Where’s Gloria Steinem and Ms. magazine now? This is just sad.

http://syd4.blogspot.com Stray Yellar Dawg

Goes to show ya…. even the most “informed” feminist can exhibit poor judgement when it comes to her “Super Man.”

Wonder how many times they’ll go back for more, before they realize he’s never gonna change?
barb

The Dem feminists are way worse than their GOP counterparts because they are truly hypocrites. Steinem, Ferraro, and yes Hillary have let all women down by choosing their political side over their feminist side. Even if they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a Republican, they did not have to become party to the media slaughter of Sarah Palin. Every woman with a sense of fairness to other females and a objective mind knows what Obama and company did to Gov. Palin. Especially the ones laughing it up to Tina Fey’s completely sexist impression on SNL. To those women I say you do not deserve equal rights because you engage in the unequal treatment of your sisters.

Julia

Hillary hasn’t chosen her political side over her feminist side. She’s always with women.

Diana L. C.

I don’t recall Hillary joining any of the Palin bashing during the campaign.

Ani

Correct. She absolutely did not — in fact she refused to do so and received a lot of crap from the Obama followers for this.

She made a statement when this started, in re Palin, that sexism had no place in the campaign. Period.
WMCB

She not only didn’t join in, she said judiciously nice things about her, and got SLAMMED by the Left for flatly refusing to be their attack dog against Palin. They tried to get her to do it, and she publicly said “NO”.

jbjd

BO has legitimized the use of public funds for a variety of private enterprises, including charities. Why would we expect that NARAL is any less deserving of our monies in the form of tax revenues than, say, ACORN? Maybe that explains why these groups could not care less that we withhold our monies in the form of membership fees or dues. (And obviously, they could not care less that their support of BO was guaranteed to impose significant hardship in peoples’ lives.
Pat Racimora

When I did my NARAL toon way back in May, I always wondered if Karma would eventually come to pass and only the ID of the “bees” would change.

http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/05/24/naral%e2%80%99s-bad-choice/

Yep–it happened!

Ani

Spot on, Pat. Your cartoon says it all.
Peggy Sue

Pat, the cartoon was good then, and now it turns out you were a prophet. Of course, it didn’t take a crystal ball for those of us paying attention.

Yep–it happened! And you called it.

http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

Seems like it is time to re-post that excellent toon, Pat! And yes – prophetic, indeed!!

http://noquarterusa No-nonsense-Nancy

I have been a Dem for 42 years and didn’t change my registration thinking that maybe the party can be improved upon and brought back to what it once was, but I no longer think it can. Therefore, I think I will stop being a dem and register as an Independant. BTW, I’m all for men passsing bowling balls through their private parts!(some men, that is).
Masha

Keegan should put her “Choose Life” license plate right next to her collection of “Yes, we can” memorabilia. Her organization has lost all credibility for supporting Obama instead of Hillary. It’s not only Madoff who swindled people. It’s also organizations like NARAL. They should all be ashamed of themselves.
rw

“should not have to be legislated to by rich old white men”

followed by:

“Governor Kaine is the man hand picked by President Obama to be the new leader of the DNC. This is a man who is anti-choice,”

aren’t these two statements contradictory…rich white old men might have been the fight in the 60′s, I don’t know, but it certainly isn’t the fight today. Kaine ain’t old and Obama ain’t white.

Ani

I was speaking historically. Most of the people in Congress and the Senate who put this crap on the books to begin with ARE. While the word “old” can be taken a lot of ways — I dfon’t think someone who is 60 is old at all — but Bush certainly tried to further restrict women’s reproductive rights and access.

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Mandelay

Just desserts indeed! When NARAL threw its support to Obama, I was totally disgusted. Only this morning did I receive an email, looking for contributions, with a message that began with “As a supporter of HIllary Clinton ….” and same sentence ending with “reproductive rights.” When are women’s groups going to get it that as long as women are reduced to a single issue, as long as politicians dangle this carrot to us, then we will never have a woman as POTUS. NARAL is not focused on the big picture … they are too busy fighting over a message an individual might want to put on his or her license plate. Where is the woman in the White House? In the East Wing? In the kitchen? Cleaning the family’s living quarters? Where is the woman in the Oval Office? And why isn’t that more important than the single issue that is being used very successfully by both parties to divide women and keep them from the top job?

WMCB

When are women’s groups going to get it that as long as women are reduced to a single issue, as long as politicians dangle this carrot to us, then we will never have a woman as POTUS.

AMEN.

diane

http://www.poorrichardsalmanac.biz
OBAMA’S ILLEGAL ALIEN AUNT GETS TO STAY!
BREAKING NEWS!
WMCB

Keegan is a fucking fool. You get what you vote for.

This may sound selfish, but I am past the age of reproduction, and am not going to fight the battles anymore over choice for these stupid young women who have NO CLUE how we fought for them.

Let ‘em learn. Let all the simpering Obama Girls learn. Let their rights get taken away because they were stupid enough to think the presidential election was American Idol. I don’t feel fucking sorry for them. I’m tired of carrying the weight for their vacuous, cause-of-the-day obsessed, celebrity-obsessed little airhead asses.

I may change my mind tomorrow, but at the moment, that’s how I feel.

barb

I join you in that sentiment. Each generation must fight their own battles. I fought for mine, let them fight for theirs. To be honest a lot of people fell for Obama, not just the Dem feminists, and now we will all pay the price. The sad part is that Obama said what he planned to do all along. A lot of Americans need to improve their listening skills. I was soooo lucky to have a true feminist mother who taught me to beware of slick men. I never fell for Obama.

Mandelay

The biggest right is one they’ll never take away … because they won’t let us (women) have it in the first place — the right to lead the nation.

barb

Oh we will have it one day….By any means necessary!

Mandelay

That keeps me going!

NMK

Karma bites Keenan in the tush. I’m still fuming over NARAL’s endorsement of OFakeo. I wonder how their fund raising has been affected. They’ll never get my money again.
Cahil

Good article, Ani.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first nor will it be the last time we’re going to hear “I told you so”.

The Keenan’s of this world who sold everyone down the river for their head up their a** fantasy will unfortunately cost us all in the long run.

This administration is going to set personl freedom rights, and maybe freedom itself, back hundreds of years.

We currently have a gutless group in Congress who have forgotten what freedom means and how the exercise of free choice has gotten them where they are today.

It’s going to take a revolution by grass roots Americans to take back our nation from those who advocate “everything for everybody” with no plan as to how to pay for any of it.

And, by the way, if the Obumble government is guaranteeing all waranties on GM cars, that means that you and I are paying for it. Ergo, we should have a say in how it’s done or at least be getting free cars out of the deal.

Our baa baa black sheep nation of followers who all felt American Idol was a model for president, will be our undoing if we don’t demand a return to teaching civics and government. Maybe then they’ll learn to read up on a candidate before they vote for him.

Gollum had his “precious” and we know what happened to G. Let’s hope we’re not far behind because we’ve been saddled with ours.
Alice Paul

Barb, I would like to inform you that Hillary did NOT participate in ANY Sarah “bashing” she refused to do that when she was asked to go after her on a personal level. Hillary said NO. And some of us here are ex dems but, still feminists…I in no way think we are “way worse” and please don’t identify all of us with Pelosi, or Nancy, Brazile or any of those who sat silent for the onslaught of hatred and sexism that Hillary endured and all of us along with her.

Nancy, was not just blind. N.O.W. and NARAL took the money and ran and sat silent. It IS all about politics now for these organizations. Big donations to them procure and endorsement. Apparently values and policies don’t matter. What they didn’t get was they were being “hoodwinked” and “bamboozled” He never had ANY intention of caring about women’s issues. If he HAD he would not have cheated the millions of voters who wanted to put a capable woman in the White House. When someone shows you who they really are Nancy…next time….believe them you twit.
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ME

I don’t see the problem here….if gov money goes to one side only that’s not fair. It should go to both sides of the debate or at least go to as many groups trying to help women in crisis as possible…saying otherwise just shows the degree of your fanaticism. Afterall you’re assuming women aren’t smart enough to “chose” the intervntion that best suits them.

Of course if your goal is to destroy every fetus possible then your point make sense but it is still insane and evil. Choice is one thing, indoctrination of women in perceiving only one option is totally another…and it’s evil.

For the zealots among you…don’t bother responding because I won’t read your hateful responses anyway.

Ani

I certainly have no hateful response for you.

What NARAL is complaining about is that the money is going to “pregnancy crisis centers” that are not giving truthful information to women about their options. That is not about being pro-choice or pro-life. It is about NOT prosletyzing to someone who needs to make a very difficult and private decision.

That said, my post is not so much about being pro-choice as about pointing out the irony that the president of NARAL, who abandoned the cause her organization is supposed to stand for when she abandoned Hillary for the disingenuous Obama, is now getting her comeuppance in noting that he appointed as DNC CHair a man who could care a whit about a woman’s right to choose.

And as I also said above:

…the right of choice means exactly that – which means defending Governor Sarah Palin’s choice as much as anyone’s.

Hope that was not too hateful for you.
mountainaires

Hello, Zealot here.

Zealot for freedom to get as much information as it is possible to get. That’s why, of course, I opposed Bush limiting information about family planning–which of course reduces abortion– in the case of any US funding for family planning clinics domestically and overseas. You see, I’m not a zealot of abortion, or of eliminating abortion. I’m just a zealot for the free exchange of information; I’m a zealot for family planning clinics to reduce and eliminate abortion whenever possible. I choose life–which includes the life of a woman who may die as a result of being forced into a full-term pregnancy or delivery.

Don’t be a hypocrite. If you choose life, you should be against the Death Penalty. You should be against War. You can’t “choose life” and then support people being arbitrarily put to death, under a system in which hundreds of convicted death-row inmates have been proven innocent through DNA examination of the crime. You can’t “choose life” and arbitrarily believe that a pregnant woman should be forced to risk or lose her own life for that of a fetus. You can’t “choose life” and support any war–since death is a certain by-product of any war.

So, before you go off in a huff, get this straight: You’re distorting and perverting the position of people who support a woman’s right to choose, denigrating them as murderers when they are not. No one chooses abortion easily or lightly; and no one wants to be in that position. No One. But, I’d venture to say that the vast majority of women who do end up choosing to undergo such an emotional trauma–as abortion always is–do so because they are prohibited from receiving information, other options, or receiving any organizational support which could help them avoid such a life-shattering decision.

So, here’s the definition of a hypocrite: One who says they “choose life” but they refuse to support family planning systems fully funded; one who says they “choose life” but they “choose” death for human beings who are wrongly convicted of major crimes; people who “choose” life when it suits them, but then “choose” death for thousands of Americans in wars of “choice.”

mountainaires

Agreed, Ani. Keenan is a rank hypocrite. But she epitomizes a NARAL leadership which has sacrificed its principles on the altar of political power. When that occurs, memberships in organizations are inevitably tossed under the bus, so that the pursuit of being a political power player can be attained. That’s been Keenan’s aim; despite protestations from NARAL’s membership rank and file, Keenan fancied herself a political power player in the new Obama sphere of influence.

She’s looking pretty pathetic…
barb

OK OK not Hillary. But I do wish she had fought that OBast*rd to the end instead of ending it “gracefully”. She should have done a Lieberman and refused to support Obama