CNN's Jessica Yellin, a one-time "prominent feminist activist," [1]
helped forward the talking points of the pro-abortion lobby by devoting
part of a segment on Tuesday's Rick's List to EMILY List's new
anti-Sarah Palin ad. Yellin aired their left-wing accusations against
the Republican and her endorsed candidates without providing the other
side and/or fact-checking them [audio clips available here [2]].
Anchor Rick Sanchez introduced the issue by bringing up the Republican's recent "mamma grizzly" ad: "It seemed like a very effective ad that Sarah Palin had put out. I mean, professionally speaking, it was very clean, very well put together- the whole 'grizzly mom' ad that everyone was talking about- and, apparently, there's some blowback on this now. What is that?"
Before playing the PAC's video, which featured women dressed and made-up
to look like bears, in mockery of Palin's "mama grizzly" term, the CNN
correspondent noted that EMILY's List is a "political action group that raises money for Democratic women pro-choice candidates,
and they are now unveiling a new get-out-the-vote effort that's hitting
back on this idea that Sarah Palin speaks for women voters...EMILY's
List's campaign is called 'Sarah Doesn't Speak For Me,' and they're
taking the whole idea of 'momma grizzly' quite literally." She then
played a clip from the ad.
During the clip, the unnamed women
launched standard attacks from the left against the former Alaska
governor and her endorsed candidates: "Want to know what threatens
me? My daughter not having the right to choose. The fact that if you
were in charge of this country, my little cubs wouldn't have health
care....Unemployment benefits...something that you and your gang of
candidates want to do away with."
Sanchez and Yellin shared a
laugh over the ad, and the correspondent continued that EMILY's List is
"trying to drum up interest among Democratic voters who aren't that
energized right now, compared to Republicans, by taking on this whole
idea, and with a little bit of humor."
Neither CNN personality provided any response from a pro-life organization or individual, something that CBSNews.com brought up in their Tuesday article [3] about EMILY List's campaign:
Anti-abortion rights group the Susan B. Anthony List, which recently concluded a 23-city bus tour designed to spotlight its support for candidates who oppose abortion rights, quickly hit back with a statement suggesting "EMILY's List is running scared." "EMILY's List is busy perpetuating what it purports to abhor: using women candidates with whom they disagree as punching bags," said Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser. "On the eve of the 90th anniversary of women's suffrage, the SBA List calls upon EMILY's List to come to grips with reality."
Yellin also
said nothing of whether Palin and her endorsed candidates actually are
against health care for children and seek to "do away with unemployment
benefits." Obviously, the former governor and most, if not all, of her
picked candidates are pro-life.
It's not surprising that Yellin would omit doing this, given her past as a leader of Harvard-Radcliffe Students For Choice [4], and, as The Harvard Crimson described her [5], a "prominent feminist activist in her own right." During an April 10, 1992 interview with The Crimson [6],
she actually lamented the apparent opposition to women's studies at
Harvard when she was an undergraduate there (Yellin was a political
science and women's studies double major): "For people interested in
women's issues or gender studies, this is an overtly hostile environment."
The
transcript of the relevant portion of Jessica Yellin's segment on
Tuesday's Rick's List, beginning at the 19 minutes into the 3 pm Eastern
hour mark:
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you about the Sarah Palin situation going on, because- you know, we saw the ad, and I thought- and I had said on television- in fact, you and I were watching this- that it seemed like a very effective ad that Sarah Palin had put out. I mean, professionally speaking, it was very clean, very well put together- the whole 'grizzly mom' ad that everyone was talking about, and, apparently, there's some blowback on this now. What is that?
YELLIN: That's right. Well, that Sarah Palin 'momma grizzly' ad has caught a lot of attention, and driven a lot of media interest, at least in Palin and this movement of women candidates she's endorsing. But EMILY's List is a political action group that raises money for Democratic women pro-choice candidates, and they are now unveiling a new get-out-the-vote effort that's hitting back on this idea that Sarah Palin speaks for women voters who are- quote, 'conservative momma grizzlies.' EMILY's List's campaign is called 'Sarah Doesn't Speak For Me,' and they're taking the whole idea of 'momma grizzly' quite literally. Watch this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 1 (from EMILY's List ad): When my cubs are threatened- (unidentified woman roars like an animal)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 2: But want to know what threatens me? My daughter not having the right to choose.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 3: The fact that if you were in charge of this country, my little cubs wouldn't have health care.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 4: When the salmon stopped coming down the stream and I didn't work for three months, guess how we survived? Unemployment benefits, which is something that you and your gang of candidates want to do away with.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE 5: You know, Ms. Palin, that really gets under my skin and my-
SANCHEZ (live): (Yellin laughs) Oh, my God. Did we have to stop it there because the bear was going to really get mad? (Sanchez laughs)
YELLIN: It was going to climb out of the TV screen and get you. (Sanchez laughs) So, you see what they're doing. It's a get-out-the-vote campaign. That's on their website. They also ask people to go in and sign a pledge that they'll turn out to vote. Obviously, they're trying to drum up interest among Democratic voters who aren't that energized right now, compared to Republicans, by taking on this whole idea, and with a little bit of humor-
SANCHEZ: Yeah.
YELLIN: I think that's humorous.
SANCHEZ: Humor both ways- we will let the viewers decide. My thanks to you, Jessica.
-Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here [7].