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You are here: Home / Handel’s Coda

Handel’s Coda

by $8 blue check mistermix|  February 7, 201210:58 am| 132 Comments

This post is in: Assholes

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Karen Handel is out at Komen, but not before she posts a whiny, self-justifying letter of resignation that has to be read and savored:

We can all agree that this is a challenging and deeply unsettling situation for all involved in the fight against breast cancer. However, Komen’s decision to change its granting strategy and exit the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood and its grants was fully vetted by every appropriate level within the organization. At the November Board meeting, the Board received a detailed review of the new model and related criteria. As you will recall, the Board specifically discussed various issues, including the need to protect our mission by ensuring we were not distracted or negatively affected by any other organization’s real or perceived challenges. No objections were made to moving forward.

I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it. I openly acknowledge my role in the matter and continue to believe our decision was the best one for Komen’s future and the women we serve. However, the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen, and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization. Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone’s political beliefs or ideology. Rather, both were based on Komen’s mission and how to better serve women, as well as a realization of the need to distance Komen from controversy. I believe that Komen, like any other nonprofit organization, has the right and the responsibility to set criteria and highest standards for how and to whom it grants.

What was a thoughtful and thoroughly reviewed decision – one that would have indeed enabled Komen to deliver even greater community impact – has unfortunately been turned into something about politics. This is entirely untrue. This development should sadden us all greatly.

The answer to the question “What took you so long?” is that she was writing this pile of horseshit.

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Reader Interactions

132Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    February 7, 2012 at 11:02 am

    Given that she basically nailed herself to a cross with that letter, perhaps “Handel’s Messiah” would have been a better title?

    Quibbles aside, the damage has been done. One person who either fell on her sword or was pushed out won’t change that.

  2. 2.

    geg6

    February 7, 2012 at 11:03 am

    Fuck that beyotch. Just fuck her and SGK, too.

    Never again a penny. Not one.

  3. 3.

    mistermix ... World Peace

    February 7, 2012 at 11:04 am

    @dmsilev: “Handel’s Messiah Complex”?

  4. 4.

    BGinCHI

    February 7, 2012 at 11:04 am

    Bottom line with these GOP hacks: they are gutless and cannot make arguments. They play politics and when called on it, accuse everyone else of “playing politics.”

    Straight out of the Karl Rove Handbook.

    Oh, and how do you know that Chrysler/Clint Eastwood ad was so powerful and harmful to the GOP brand?

    Rove was the first to denounce it the next morning. He only goes after the strongest stuff.

  5. 5.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    February 7, 2012 at 11:04 am

    Shorter Handel: You won’t have Karen to kick around anymore. I gave this organization the best nine months out of my life and you pick a bunch of baby-killers over me? Ungrateful savages.

  6. 6.

    scav

    February 7, 2012 at 11:05 am

    ‘S probably good for all sides to be reminded that nothing has changed under the hood at Komen, all in all. I don’t think she nailed herself to the cross or fell on any sharp object in that letter. Water Music for me, until I find something better, maybe in an opera.

  7. 7.

    Violet

    February 7, 2012 at 11:05 am

    Every time a wingnut resigns, Fox News Victims Collective gets a new member.

  8. 8.

    r€nato

    February 7, 2012 at 11:05 am

    What was a thoughtful and thoroughly reviewed decision… unfortunately been turned into something about politics

    I’m shocked that dirty fucking abortifascist hippies would suggest that the VP of Public Policy was involved in making decisions that might have a political aspect to them.

  9. 9.

    slag

    February 7, 2012 at 11:06 am

    What dmsilev said.

    I am “deeply disappointed” that more of the Krazy Komeni didn’t get handed the Mitten along with her. More work to be done on that front, I guess.

  10. 10.

    r€nato

    February 7, 2012 at 11:07 am

    @BGinCHI: shorter Rove: wingnuts are shitting their pants because Clint Eastwood won’t join them in rooting for America to fail.

  11. 11.

    slag

    February 7, 2012 at 11:07 am

    @mistermix … World Peace: Even better.

  12. 12.

    Privatize the Profits! Socialize the Costs!

    February 7, 2012 at 11:08 am

    has unfortunately been turned into something about politics. This is entirely untrue.

    Amd my shitting in my hat and then clapping it onto my head has also been unfairly turned into some sort of attempt at comedy.

    Entirely untrue!

    I was SERIOUS when I did that!

  13. 13.

    Violet

    February 7, 2012 at 11:08 am

    I think now would be a good time to write SGK’s corporate shills partners and let them know you aren’t going to support them if they support Komen, DESPITE Handel resigning, because Komen doesn’t give enough of its money to actual research and treatment support. Let them know this isn’t over.

  14. 14.

    Culture of Truth

    February 7, 2012 at 11:08 am

    1) Defunding PP was the right decision

    2) Ok, maybe it was wrong, but the whole
    Board agreed with me

    3) Perhaps not the whole Board, but this was planned before I ever got there!

    4) We can all agree basically this is a national tragedy

    5) Fuck all you mean liberals

  15. 15.

    Steve

    February 7, 2012 at 11:08 am

    My favorite part was where she says she “openly acknowledges her role,” only she doesn’t.

    It’s also kind of weird how she mentions that the donations to Planned Parenthood were controversial before she joined the organization (which is true, I guess) when we all know the decision to defund Planned Parenthood had nothing to do with any controversy ginned up by pro-life groups and was 100% about the awesome new grant standards. Right?

  16. 16.

    BGinCHI

    February 7, 2012 at 11:08 am

    @r€nato: First they came for the Gran Torinos….

  17. 17.

    philpm

    February 7, 2012 at 11:09 am

    I’m surprised she didn’t deliver her resignation on F&F this morning to be able to wring the full drama out of how she’s been wronged. Her wingnut welfare should kick in over the next day or two.

  18. 18.

    Jewish Steel

    February 7, 2012 at 11:09 am

    That is a grotesque piece of equivocation. On par with the non -apology apology that’s so fashionable, “I’m sorry if you were offended.”

  19. 19.

    jibeaux

    February 7, 2012 at 11:09 am

    So….”other people approved of this decision….I stand by the decision…also too it was made before I ever got there.” You can take a girl out of the Bush admin, but you can’t….

  20. 20.

    vernon

    February 7, 2012 at 11:10 am

    “This development should sadden us all greatly.” … Wait, did she just concern-troll herself?

  21. 21.

    opie jeanne

    February 7, 2012 at 11:11 am

    “…a realization of the need to distance Komen from controversy (the funding of PP)…”

    “….and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization..”
    and

    “… and exit the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood and its grants was fully vetted by every appropriate level within the organization…”

    There it is, she admits that it had nothing to do with rules, everything to do with dumping PP, and everyone was in on it.

  22. 22.

    BGinCHI

    February 7, 2012 at 11:11 am

    @vernon: It’s like masturbation for people who are too repressed to touch themselves.

  23. 23.

    philpm

    February 7, 2012 at 11:12 am

    @Steve:

    Yep, the whole “the decision was made before I got there, but I still had a hand in it” routine. Jeez, she’s an idiot.

  24. 24.

    Martin

    February 7, 2012 at 11:13 am

    @jibeaux: No shit. “You go to war with the charitable organization you have, not the charitable organization you wish you had”.

  25. 25.

    Cambridge Chuck

    February 7, 2012 at 11:13 am

    I actually believe her when she claims the whole process was thoroughly and “carefully” considered by the board. That’s why her resignation is not sufficient to repair the damage: the whole leadership team was involved. More importantly, the episode has de-sanctified the pink ribbon scam, and allows us to focus on organizations that support health for all women, not just women of a certain kind.

  26. 26.

    gypsy howell

    February 7, 2012 at 11:13 am

    Her wingnut welfare should kick in over the next day or two.

    The drama over the last few days has made me realize that SGK IS wingnut welfare.

  27. 27.

    scav

    February 7, 2012 at 11:13 am

    Handel coda, perhaps (for this particular opus) but Komen, da capo.

  28. 28.

    MattF

    February 7, 2012 at 11:14 am

    Set the Wayback Machine to repeat Mary McCarthy’s famous line about Lillian Hellman:

    “Every word she wrote was a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the’.”

  29. 29.

    philpm

    February 7, 2012 at 11:14 am

    @gypsy howell:

    Yeah, I realized that after I posted and re-read it. I wonder what the second tier of wingnut welfare is?

  30. 30.

    Linda Featheringill

    February 7, 2012 at 11:15 am

    @BGinCHI:

    Chrysler, halftime in America.

    Isn’t the whole thing just beautiful? The Republicans are making damned sure that Obama is responsible for the comeback in Detroit.

    [I know that Obama didn’t do it by himself. Lots of people worked hard to pull off that feat. But in the current environment, he gets the credit/blame.]

    And the arguments and accusations serve to make sure that just about everyone notices the ad.

    And Google now says there are 1780 articles available about the ad.

    :-)

    Edited. I can’t spell.

  31. 31.

    Benjamin Franklin

    February 7, 2012 at 11:16 am

    @Violet:

    S’ok. As long as the Typhoid carrier is quarantined.

  32. 32.

    dave l

    February 7, 2012 at 11:16 am

    @opei jeanne: Yes, it was clearly all about avoiding controversy. And you have to wonder how mendacious/stupid everyone involved was to imagine that they could shake off all that pesky controversy by taking sides.

  33. 33.

    butler

    February 7, 2012 at 11:17 am

    What was a thoughtful and thoroughly reviewed decision – one that would have indeed enabled Komen to deliver even greater community impact

    You were going to deliver more community impact… by cutting off access to members of the community. Makes a whole lot of sense.

    She’ll be signing copies of her new Regnery press volume about her terrible struggle against the mean hippies in about a week.

  34. 34.

    eric

    February 7, 2012 at 11:17 am

    cant imagine this will help getting a job anywhere but FOX and maybe a book deal, because crapping on the Board is a bridge burning of fail proportions. I suspect that these are people not without influence in the non-welfare world of the wingnut. Stupid is as stupid does. Her letter is proof of her poor judgment.

  35. 35.

    Jay C

    February 7, 2012 at 11:18 am

    Well, what would one expect from a former Republican State official?

    “I was completely involved in the decision, but it really wasn’t my fault it all went wrong, but I’m going to resign anyway”

    Oy.

  36. 36.

    IM

    February 7, 2012 at 11:19 am

    a) No need ti drag Händel in this.

    b) Hasn’t she a point? She is the sacrificial goat now, but:

    At the November Board meeting, the Board received a detailed review of the new model and related criteria. As you will recall, the Board specifically discussed various issues, including the need to protect our mission by ensuring we were not distracted or negatively affected by any other organization’s real or perceived challenges. No objections were made to moving forward.

    as she says, the board made the decision and the board did know, had to know that this meant to cut off PP. So the others are responsible too.

    And should go, from Brinker on down.

  37. 37.

    CaptainFwiffo

    February 7, 2012 at 11:20 am

    Achievement Unlocked: Winger Scalp Collected

  38. 38.

    beltane

    February 7, 2012 at 11:20 am

    @Jay C: Sounds like Sarah Palin translated into standard English.

  39. 39.

    dmsilev

    February 7, 2012 at 11:20 am

    @mistermix … World Peace: Yes, that works quite well.

  40. 40.

    IM

    February 7, 2012 at 11:20 am

    At least we now know who was the cut-out in this operation.

    I like my mysteries well-explained.

  41. 41.

    kindness

    February 7, 2012 at 11:23 am

    Doesn’t matter. Komen is a scam operation which spends most of it’s money on itself and not enough on actual research.

    The American Cancer Society & Planned Parenthood will get my gifts from now on. So in that sense, I’m actually glad this happened as now I know my limited dollars will actually be better spent.

  42. 42.

    Garbo

    February 7, 2012 at 11:23 am

    If she was so hot shit at her job, as VP of Public Policy, she should have alerted Komen to the possible ramifications of dropping funding for PP. but she was blinded by her bias and now has to live with it. TFB, baby.

  43. 43.

    dmbeaster

    February 7, 2012 at 11:23 am

    This letter confirms my suspicions about several things. First, that the change in policy was sold internally based on the alleged “controversy” about Planned Parenthood, and predated Handel. I am sure Komen was measuring the cost-benefit of PP grants well before Handel ever showed up. In other words, wingnut craziness about PP justifies more craziness in order to avoid the craziness. There is a reason wingnuts constantly double down – it is a working strategy to get what they want. And that strategy works best against the spineless who are willing to compromise principle in order to avoid the heat of defending principle from attack.

    Second, this letter is mostly about how Handel feels that she was stabbed in the back. In other words, she was doing what they wanted, and doing it how they wanted (allegedly). Even though the basic course of action was phony baloney (“we aren’t dumping PP – just changing grant criteria”), “how dare anyone criticize me when you went along with it”. And she is basically right – the corporate Komen is stabbing her to deflect its own accountability for its own decisions. Of course, she is engaging in the same dodge of pretending that her policy was more about protecting Komen from “controversy” rather than a political anti-abortion agenda, and that she was allegedly serving women by putting anti-abortion issues ahead of breast cancer.

    Liars to the core – all of them.

    And in the greater context of these issues, this is why tote-bag liberals are so infuriating and useless (whether it is abortion of other issues). Equally infuriating are the reflexive contrarians or split-the-difference types. If you are not willing to take the heat to defend principle, then you actually don’t have any you believe in.

  44. 44.

    Culture of Truth

    February 7, 2012 at 11:23 am

    I suspect she does have a point. Mitt Romney would tell her wingnut welfare ain’t beanbag. Time to take one for the team.

  45. 45.

    Trentrunner

    February 7, 2012 at 11:25 am

    An Andrew-less Dish (byline Chris B.) has given Doug one of their tastelessness awards for daring to call for scalps in this mess, for “politicizing what shouldn’t be political.”

    Funny how Andrew’s concern tone trolling rolls downhill to all his staff as well.

    If you’re reading this, Chris B., fuck you. Who politicizes women’s health? Remember HPV vaccine? Now contraception? And always abortion? We didn’t start this fire. But we responded. And we got a scalp. FUCK YOU.

  46. 46.

    Elizabelle

    February 7, 2012 at 11:26 am

    Handel seems to be furious that she’s been singled out, and (it seemed to me) points out that the whole Board is complicit.

    She’s making the case for lots more housecleaning.

    I have carried out my responsibilities faithfully and in line with the Board’s objectives and the direction provided by you and Liz.
    __
    …. Komen’s decision to change its granting strategy and exit the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood and its grants was fully vetted by every appropriate level within the organization. At the November Board meeting, … [n]o objections were made to moving forward.
    __
    … the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen, and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization.
    __
    …What was a thoughtful and thoroughly reviewed decision

    by everyone is now getting blamed solely on me. No way, Jose.

  47. 47.

    amk

    February 7, 2012 at 11:26 am

    brinker is the next on the chopping block for blatant lying on public teevee about handel’s role in this whole fiasco ? Not that it would do much good for a fucked up brand name.

  48. 48.

    rikryah

    February 7, 2012 at 11:29 am

    Bitch, bye

  49. 49.

    Culture of Truth

    February 7, 2012 at 11:29 am

    If someone could score an interview with Handel, some veeerrry intersting things might come out of it. She sounds a tad peeved.

  50. 50.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    February 7, 2012 at 11:30 am

    @amk:

    brinker is the next on the chop block for blatant lying on public teevee about handel’s role in this whole fiasco ?

    I’ll believe that Brinker’s going down about the same time Dick Cheney is tried at the Hague. Komen is her baby. She’ll take everyone else down before she lets them take it away.

  51. 51.

    trex

    February 7, 2012 at 11:30 am

    There’s all sorts of stuff to unpack in this jeremiad:

    I openly acknowledge my role in the matter and continue to believe our decision was the best one for Komen’s future and the women we serve.

    So by ending contributions to Planned Parentood, which is the screener of last resort for poor women, we therefore can conclude that poor women are not “the women [Komen] serve[s]. Presumably Komen is directing their efforts toward the jet-set, wives of corporate execs, and upper middle-class soccer moms driving loaded mini-vans – you know, the right kind of women you’d want to rub shoulders with whole buying a guilt-free yogurt with a pink ribbon on it.

    However, the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen

    That’s funny, the decision to update the granting model by denying funds to organizations under investigation was made prior to April of 2011 when she was hired? Because the investigation by Stearns wasn’t announced until September of 2011, months later. Either Karen is lying or now she’s tipping her hand that there was actually some collusion he between Komen and Stearns to gin up an investigation to provide cover for defunding PP. This story keeps getting better and better! Was the Board involved? Ari Fleischer? Just how deep does this thing go? I’d love to see Brinker hauled before Andrea Mitchell again and have to answer the specifics on these questions and see just how much further she throws Handel under the bus in order to salvage her organization.

  52. 52.

    Roger Moore

    February 7, 2012 at 11:32 am

    @IM:

    Hasn’t she a point? She is the sacrificial goat now, but

    This. She’s absolutely right that she’s taking the fall for a group decision. I just hope she convinces people who weren’t paying that careful attention that is the case, so they’ll know that SGK is still a bunch of anti-choice wingnuts.

  53. 53.

    Maude

    February 7, 2012 at 11:33 am

    @rikryah:
    Notice she didn’t say she was wrong. Of course not.

  54. 54.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 7, 2012 at 11:33 am

    @CaptainFwiffo:

    Worth 15 nerd points! Woohoo!

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    February 7, 2012 at 11:34 am

    @Culture of Truth:

    Per the Jim Galloway link, she’s meeting reporters this afternoon. Wonder if she’ll show. Galloway’s with the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

    Note that Handel says she is declining the offer of a severance package from Komen — which might have required her to keep silent. She’s got a session with reporters this afternoon in Atlanta.

    http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2012/02/07/karen-handel-resigns-from-komen-for-the-cure/

  56. 56.

    amk

    February 7, 2012 at 11:38 am

    @Shawn in ShowMe: Does she ‘own’ the trust that takes public money ? Don’t think so. The ‘board’ might dump her if they feel if she is pissing away their gravy train.

  57. 57.

    The Moar You Know

    February 7, 2012 at 11:38 am

    Way too late to matter. She should have hung in there because liberals now know that SGK is nothing but a right-wing, forced-birth organization. They might as well operate as such.

  58. 58.

    Culture of Truth

    February 7, 2012 at 11:39 am

    She’s got a session with reporters this afternoon in Atlanta.

    “We’re gonna need a bigger bus.”

  59. 59.

    Elizabelle

    February 7, 2012 at 11:40 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    I was wondering if this was how it might play out. Agree that SGK is never going to see a lot of donors back.

  60. 60.

    Raenelle

    February 7, 2012 at 11:40 am

    Now she’ll become a wingnut darling and either run for office or get a Fox gig. They’re never shamed; they never get punished; they never change.

  61. 61.

    Roger Moore

    February 7, 2012 at 11:41 am

    @trex:

    So by ending contributions to Planned Parentood, which is the screener of last resort for poor women, we therefore can conclude that poor women are not “the women [Komen] serve[s]

    Absolutely right. The women Komen serves are Nancy Brinker and her cronies at the top of the organization. They get fat salaries and social stature for their “charitable” work. The have to do something about cancer to keep the money flowing, but that’s really a means to an end.

  62. 62.

    Roger Moore

    February 7, 2012 at 11:43 am

    @Culture of Truth:

    “We’re gonna need a bigger bus.”

    And Komen needed a bigger bribe severance package.

  63. 63.

    Howlin Wolfe

    February 7, 2012 at 11:43 am

    Right. Handel couldn’t imagine that the decision to cut off PP would be seen as political because, because, it was “thoughtful”, it was “vetted”, it was, I dunno, “fuck-all”! How stupid she must think people are to buy that. And quel surprise when a political firestorm is unleashed that singes her nose hairs. WAHHHH!

  64. 64.

    Patricia Kayden

    February 7, 2012 at 11:43 am

    Was she the one who retweeted the “cry me a river” comment? If yes, it’s good that she resigned.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    February 7, 2012 at 11:44 am

    Wait, what? You mean the DFHs won a round? GTFO! Their brand is still screwed, I say.

  66. 66.

    gelfling545

    February 7, 2012 at 11:45 am

    @Steve: I

    t’s also kind of weird how she mentions that the donations to Planned Parenthood were controversial before she joined the organization (which is true, I guess) when we all know the decision to defund Planned Parenthood had nothing to do with any controversy ginned up by pro-life groups and was 100% about the awesome new grant standards.

    It would have been helpful to her if Word had a “wildly inconsistent checker”.

  67. 67.

    The Lilac Hand of Menthol Dan

    February 7, 2012 at 11:45 am

    That’ll be the freaking river cried, then.

  68. 68.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 7, 2012 at 11:45 am

    @Roger Moore:

    Cynical, but sums up the actual situation quite nicely. What this controversy has done is focus a very bright light on what SGK is actually doing about breast cancer, which apparently is not really all that much. Most of the money is in “overhead” of various types…not going to actually preventing breast cancer, or finding a cure.

    In their eagerness to appease the vile wingtards, they’ve sabotaged their own gravy train. Boo fucking hoo.

  69. 69.

    Howlin Wolfe

    February 7, 2012 at 11:45 am

    @Trentrunner: THIS AND A HALF!

  70. 70.

    scav

    February 7, 2012 at 11:47 am

    @Roger Moore: Besides, wasn’t one of the excuses that went screaming past that PP didn’t serve anyone so they were going to concentrate on the groups that did actual mammograms? So, PP doesn’t serve women but SGK does?

  71. 71.

    Satanicpanic

    February 7, 2012 at 11:48 am

    This makes me very happy. Next we need Brinker to step down. Then the rest of the board. Then we tear down their HQ and salt the ground it was built on.

  72. 72.

    philpm

    February 7, 2012 at 11:48 am

    @Raenelle:

    Now she’ll become a wingnut darling and either run for office or get a Fox gig.

    Gotta be the Fox gig. She already tried the running for office track and failed miserably.

  73. 73.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    February 7, 2012 at 11:50 am

    @amk:

    I imagine the board will retain Brinker to keep her mouth shut. She knows where the bodies are buried and she’s the face of the organization. Handel was a recent addition who the board can dismiss as a pushy disgruntled employee if she decides to sing to the press.

  74. 74.

    Culture of Truth

    February 7, 2012 at 11:50 am

    She already tried the running for office track and failed miserably.

    Indeed. Time to take that midnight train to Georgia.

  75. 75.

    FreeAtLast

    February 7, 2012 at 11:51 am

    What was a thoughtful and thoroughly reviewed decision – one that would have indeed enabled Komen to deliver even greater community impact

    She must be referring to that highly regarded scientific study that proved definitively that abortion increases the risk for breast cancer. I’m just having a hard time finding a link to it in the peer-reviewed literature.

  76. 76.

    LAC

    February 7, 2012 at 11:58 am

    And here’s my letter back to her: “Fuck off, bitch. Get off the cross and spare the wood. Someone else will be needing it for Easter. buh bye!!”

  77. 77.

    artem1s

    February 7, 2012 at 11:58 am

    I believe that Komen, like any other nonprofit organization, has the right and the responsibility to set criteria and highest standards for how and to whom it grants.

    by vilifying some organizations and their services and then pitting our constituents against one another… Rove playbook operation.

  78. 78.

    Woodrowfan

    February 7, 2012 at 12:01 pm

    @BGinCHI: It’s OK to concern-troll yourself, everybody does, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards…

  79. 79.

    amk

    February 7, 2012 at 12:01 pm

    @Shawn in ShowMe: That I can buy but not the argument that she founded the frigging thing. The moment she went for public donations, her claims of ownership are null & void.

  80. 80.

    Culture of Truth

    February 7, 2012 at 12:03 pm

    “I believe that Komen, like any other nonprofit organization, has the right and the responsibility to set criteria and highest standards for who how and to whom it grants. it hires.”

    true enough

  81. 81.

    pat

    February 7, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    I mentioned this on another thread, but there are a lot of Komen supporters who were outraged to find out they were sending money to PP. They are probably gone now too.

    Tee hee.

  82. 82.

    amk

    February 7, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    @Culture of Truth: LOL. Niiice.

  83. 83.

    Mike E

    February 7, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    @Culture of Truth: I’m sorry that you were offended by my actions.

    ETA Jewish Steel beat me to it!

  84. 84.

    amk

    February 7, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    @Mike E:

    I’m sorry that if you were offended by my actions.

    fix’d.

  85. 85.

    Mike E

    February 7, 2012 at 12:13 pm

    @amk: I suck at non-apologies, and I am sorry!

  86. 86.

    Ben Cisco

    February 7, 2012 at 12:13 pm

    A couple of old ladies on scooters have something to say.

  87. 87.

    Lex

    February 7, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    At the November Board meeting, the Board received a detailed review of the new model and related criteria. As you will recall, the Board specifically discussed various issues, including the need to protect our mission by ensuring we were not distracted or negatively affected by any other organization’s real or perceived challenges. No objections were made to moving forward.

    I actually believe this. And if it’s true, then Brinker and the board need to resign, as well. And amid all the celebrating over Handel’s well-earned departure, let us not forget this.

    This ain’t over.

    I forget now whether it was John or Doug who said that liberals need to stay on the offensive, but this is a perfect example. This deal is not yet closed, and it needs to be.

  88. 88.

    Soonergrunt

    February 7, 2012 at 12:17 pm

    @geg6: Don’t hold it in. You should express yourself more…
    :)

  89. 89.

    Jeff Boatright

    February 7, 2012 at 12:18 pm

    @trex:

    she’s tipping her hand that there was actually some collusion he between Komen and Stearns to gin up an investigation to provide cover for defunding PP

    Ding! Ding! Ding! You win the intertoobes for a day!

    Runner-up: Everyone here who is pointing out that Handel is basically telling the truth, that Komen Inc. was totally on board with all the wingtard politics, and that she simply facilitated the execution of the Board’s desired outcome.

  90. 90.

    Garbo

    February 7, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    @scav: Last time I checked, you can’t just waltz into a radiology office and order up your own mammogram. You need to have a referral. Which is what PP does.

    Everything these people say makes no sense to me. I think that is a relief, actually.

  91. 91.

    Southern Beale

    February 7, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    She threw Komen under the bus as she left. Hilarious.

    “It wasn’t me! I was just doing WHAT THE BOARD SAID TO DO!” Hilarious.

    Now there’s a hilarious Twitter hashtag, #Karenhandelsnextjob.

  92. 92.

    dave

    February 7, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    @amk: She is also president of the board and has placed her son on the board so she may not be easy to oust.

  93. 93.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    February 7, 2012 at 12:22 pm

    She’s a natural on the wignut welfare circuit:

    Handel’s aggressive changes to Georgia’s election systems provoked a quick backlash. She became a leading figure in the push for a restrictive voter ID bill, which was enmeshed in litigation for more than three years over charges that it disenfranchised African-Americans, Latinos, students and the elderly.

    Even more controversially, in 2007 Handel engineered a system to “purge” thousands of Georgia voters who didn’t match Social Security Administration and other government data. The purge system, which a federal panel later ruled had been wrongfully implemented without approval from the Justice Department, identifed more than 200,000 “no match” voters.

    But the data was riddled with errors. Misspellings, multiple people with the same name and other flaws generated thousands of “false positives,” with many legitimate voters wrongfully identified — and in some cases removed from the voter rolls.

    In the weeks leading into the 2008 elections, Handel stepped up her crusade. Georgia sent letters to 4,770 voters saying their registration was being “challenged.” Handel even went so far as to encourage Georgia residents to challenge the votes of anyone if they doubted their citizenship, a move savaged by voting rights advocates as opening the door to racial profiling and intimidation.

    The following year, the Department of Justice ruled that Handel’s no-match law was inaccurate and discriminatory. The DOJ found that by relying of bad data, Georgia may have disenfranchised thousands of perfectly legal voters; according to their analysis:

    [Georgia] flagged a large number of persons who have subsequently demonstrated that they are in fact citizens, Indeed, of the 7,007 individuals who have been flagged…as potential non-citizens, more than half were in fact citizens.

    The flawed purging was also discriminatory in its impact:

    The DOJ also calculated that although blacks and whites made up equal numbers of the newly registered, blacks were flagged 60 percent more than whites. The DOJ similarly found that “Hispanic and Asian individuals are more than twice as likely to appear on the (flagged) list as are white applicants.” In essence the program puts an undue burden on blacks, Hispanics and Asians to prove their citizenship when trying to vote.

    Handel’s moves were widely seen as a bungling and heavy-handed in their partisanship; an Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial wrote days before the election, “No matter the outcome of Tuesday’s election, a loser has emerged — Secretary of State Karen Handel.”

    FYWP. Everything above this, starting with italics is quoted from the link. Did I say FYWP?
    They will love her for her history!

  94. 94.

    FormerSwingVoter

    February 7, 2012 at 12:23 pm

    My response:

    I just read the letter of
    resignation by Karen Handel.
    …
    I would like to re-iterate my
    prior stance: this changes
    literally nothing. The fact
    that management feels –
    victimized – by their
    intentional decision to
    declare war on the
    Constitutional rights of
    American women says all that
    needs to be said. Perhaps if
    the Komen Foundation were more
    focused on their supposed
    goals rather than being a
    right-wing front organization,
    this would have gone
    differently. However, the
    sheer audacity with which your
    management – insist s- on things
    that are untrue (that this
    was, in fact, not
    politically motivated) shows
    that nothing has changed.
    …
    Management of your
    organization is evil, and are
    unapologetically so. I will go
    out of my way to ensure that
    not a single dollar of mine
    ever goes to the Komen
    Foundation again, at any time,
    and for any reason.
    …
    You should quit your job and
    work for an organization that
    has at least the tinest bit of
    concern for the health of
    women. In the meantime, you
    should feel ashamed of
    yourself for continuing to
    support an organization based
    explicitly on lies.

    Want to put in your own two cents? Contact the Komen Foundation here.

  95. 95.

    JGabriel

    February 7, 2012 at 12:23 pm

    mistermix @ Top:

    The answer to the question “What took you so long?” is that [Handel] was writing this pile of horseshit.

    Handel:

    Susan G. Komen for the Cure has been the recognized leader for more 30 years [sic] in the fight against breast cancer here in the US – and increasingly around the world.

    Handel can’t have spent that much time writing or editing it — she let it get published with a missing word (“more than 30 years”) in the very first sentence.

    .

  96. 96.

    Villago Delenda Est

    February 7, 2012 at 12:25 pm

    @Mike E:

    @amk: I suck at non-apologies, and I am sorry if you were offended by my suckage

    Fixd.

  97. 97.

    slag

    February 7, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    @Ben Cisco: I like those old ladies on scooters. They bring the good kind of Get Off My Lawn etiquette.

  98. 98.

    Cathie from Canada

    February 7, 2012 at 12:29 pm

    Someone probably already mentioned this upthread, but “cry me a freaking river, Karen!”

  99. 99.

    signsanssignified

    February 7, 2012 at 12:30 pm

    I love this bit:

    “Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone’s political beliefs or ideology.”

    Of course not. Quick class–name any decision by anyone that is not based on one’s ideology–whatever it may be.

  100. 100.

    amk

    February 7, 2012 at 12:32 pm

    @dave: Ah, typical wingnut welfare. Still not enough save her sorry a$$ when push comes to shove. Fuck, they kicked steve jobs out, remember ?

  101. 101.

    FlipYrWhig

    February 7, 2012 at 12:38 pm

    Handel didn’t create the mess. Handel’s being brought in in the first place was a sign of imminent mess.

    My guess is that the existing low-level noise about Komen and PP made Komen nervous when they saw how much more PP was being vilified by wingnuts in Congress and statehouses. So they brought some right-to-lifers on board to help them avoid the “Komen funds abortionists” controversy they knew would flare up soon enough. And then Handel came up with the “investigation” idea.

    I still think everyone involved had no notion that _Komen_ would end up looking like the ones politicizing the issue. They should have had someone on staff who understood politics a little better. Perhaps a VP for public policy.

  102. 102.

    FlipYrWhig

    February 7, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    BTW, Karen Handel = Ayatollah Komeni.

  103. 103.

    Maus

    February 7, 2012 at 12:39 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Handel didn’t create the mess. Handel’s being brought in in the first place was a sign of imminent mess.

    Right, she’s symptomatic of the rot and illness.

  104. 104.

    nanute

    February 7, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    If her statement was true, (it’s not), she would have stayed on and fought to remain. Instead she acted like… I just can’t think of the right word.

  105. 105.

    Maus

    February 7, 2012 at 12:41 pm

    @JGabriel: Give her some slack, yo. She barely has a high school diploma, she was hired on for her hateful anti-woman, anti-gay political posturing and not her editing skills.

  106. 106.

    Soonergrunt

    February 7, 2012 at 12:42 pm

    @Patricia Kayden: Everybody with a twitter account should be tweeting that back to her.

  107. 107.

    Sad_Dem

    February 7, 2012 at 12:43 pm

    So, would singing a chorus of sha-na-na, hey-hey, goodbye be political, or just immature?

  108. 108.

    Bubblegum Tate

    February 7, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    Auf wiedersehen, jackass.

    Actually, before you go, I should thank you for one thing: Were it not for your wingnutty bullshit, I wouldn’t have known that SGK was such a shady operation all-around. So kudos to you for bringing that fact to wider attention.

  109. 109.

    Jennifer

    February 7, 2012 at 12:49 pm

    Eh…kind of hard to paint Handel as the sacrificial goat when we’ve all seen that tweet that she gleefully re-tweeted. Gee Karen, if it wasn’t “political”, then why the victory dance on twitter?

    In ANY organization where you do something like that that undercuts the corporate message (that tweet was contemporaneous with Brinker’s statements that the whole thing had nothing, NOTHING I TELL YOU, to do with PP’s status as an abortion provider – it was ALL about new grant guidelines), you’re going to get shown the door.

    Handel isn’t a fall guy here; she set herself up for the fall by making it clear that the decision was rooted in politics at the same time the rest of the organization was trying to spin the story that it wasn’t.

    Just typical wingnut FAIL, in other words.

  110. 110.

    Tone In DC

    February 7, 2012 at 12:58 pm

    @r€nato:
    Oh AYUH.

  111. 111.

    Ben Cisco

    February 7, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    @mistermix … World Peace: Stolen, but with attribution?

  112. 112.

    Ben Cisco

    February 7, 2012 at 1:05 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    It’s like masturbation for people who are too repressed to touch themselves.

    BWAHAAHAA!!

  113. 113.

    pseudonymous in nc

    February 7, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    I think I called it, albeit later than I expected. I definitely called the self-serving “it’s not me, it’s you!” tone. What I didn’t expect was “You fucked up – you trusted me!”

    Now that she’s a made wingnut, Handel has lifetime eligibility to wingnut welfare benefits.

  114. 114.

    Dave

    February 7, 2012 at 1:20 pm

    Handel pushed it, that’s why she’s the sacrificial lamb.
    From the Atlantic:

    He called the controversy over Planned Parenthood funding “a burr in the saddle of Komen, but it withstood the issue for years and years.” Hammarley said the issue became newly urgent after Handel was brought on last year. “The internal debate on a senior level rose in the past eight months or so, coinciding with her hiring.“

    “GUYS! WE CANT TOTALLY TAKE THEM! COME ON, FOLLOW MEEEEeeeeee!”

  115. 115.

    ReflectedSky

    February 7, 2012 at 1:55 pm

    I waited YEARS to get up the nerve to comment, finally did last night, predicted Handel wasn’t going anywhere for months, and woke up to find out I was already wrong.

    Oh, well. This is something that’s nice to be wrong about. If she’s out, then she’s free to talk, it sounds like, and she’ll keep the Komen = wingnut message out there nice and loud.

    It would have actually been smarter for the board to keep her close for while, if they didn’t have a gag in place before releasing her. Let’s see if I’m wrong about that, as well.

    The furor over this is the first time I can think of where women on Facebook really made a difference. It was nice to be part of that.

  116. 116.

    Kyle

    February 7, 2012 at 2:04 pm

    I believe that Komen, like any other nonprofit organization, has the right and the responsibility to set criteria and highest standards for how and to whom it grants.

    And, apparently, they have the right, with no responsibility, to deny grants based on transparently political just-made-up rules that don’t apply to anyone else.
    Cutting off PP was as transparently a hatchet job as Bush v. Gore.

    “Nobody could have expected” that hiring a Republican politician would bring Republican politics into the organization.
    Hopefully this will server as some kind of warning to other charities that hire political wingnuts into management – they will burn down your organization with their arrogance and self-righteous pursuit of what the voices in their head are telling them to do.

  117. 117.

    WaterGirl

    February 7, 2012 at 2:06 pm

    @ReflectedSky:

    Oh, well. This is something that’s nice to be wrong about.

    Welcome! Cole’s first tag line was “consistently wrong since 2002”, so you fit right in. And you can admit when you’re wrong, which makes the world a better place.

  118. 118.

    jimmiraybob

    February 7, 2012 at 2:24 pm

    …she was writing this pile of horseshit.

    I assume by “she” you’re referring to Ari Fleischer’s firm.

  119. 119.

    John M. Burt

    February 7, 2012 at 2:26 pm

    This development should sadden us all greatly.

    Um, sorry, no. :{ D

  120. 120.

    Ruckus

    February 7, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    A number of people have pointed out that she outed the board and everyone else at SGK. They are all in on it. Even if she is/was the mastermind behind the clusterfuck, the others in charge are in on it. And while I’m sure there are people who work there who were against the whole PP deal, they lost and the wingers won.
    So SGK outed themselves and now all of us know, not just those who did due diligence.
    So not a penny to SGK. Not one cent. It was mostly a scam before now that’s all it is.

  121. 121.

    Dr.BDH

    February 7, 2012 at 2:58 pm

    Whenever i read this sort of “I’m leaving but I didn’t do anything wrong” missive, I think of Roger Mudd’s interview with some Republican spokesperson when Nixon resigned. The mouthpiece went on and on about what a great president Nixon had been and how Watergate wasn’t such a big deal and all the usual crap. Mudd let him finish and then asked, quietly, “So, then, why is he leaving?”

  122. 122.

    Interrobang

    February 7, 2012 at 3:10 pm

    As I said before about the infamous retweet with which Handel so enthusiastically agreed: At least the pro-choice side only throws political bombs. Your side has got a hell of a lot of answering to do for all of those literal bombs, asshole.

    I suppose it’s too much to ask of a wingnut that they have the self-awareness to realise that even if they were someone’s hired hatchet-(wo)man, the hatchet is still in their hands, right, and the responsibility is at least partially with them? I mean, if that’s their general attitude — I didn’t do it, I only did it! — feel sorry for anybody out there who mistakenly hires a wingnut as a consultant; your project’ll be fucked, and your consultant not only will not admit that s/he fucked up, s/he’ll probably deny that there is a problem. And then want to be paid extra.

    Criminy. Do these people need to be reminded from time to time on how to breathe?

  123. 123.

    Xenos

    February 7, 2012 at 3:13 pm

    @Maus:

    She barely has a high school diploma, she was hired on for her hateful anti-woman, anti-gay political posturing and not her editing skills.

    That made me check here wikipedia entry. She had enough connections to get a job as Marilyn Quayle’s Deputy Chief of Staff, but not enough connections to get into a college that would graduate her with a minimal amount of work?

    Wow – she must be quite embedded in the wingnut welfare/upwards failure system. Probably Jonah Goldberg’s long lost fraternal twin. Hoocouldanode she would be completely incompetent at this job?

  124. 124.

    Gretchen

    February 7, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    @BenCisco: thanks for reminding me of Margaret and Helen. I haven’t been there in awhile, and they’re hilarious.

  125. 125.

    patroclus

    February 7, 2012 at 3:27 pm

    Cry me a freakin river, Karen!

  126. 126.

    Maus

    February 7, 2012 at 4:32 pm

    @Xenos:

    She had enough connections to get a job as Marilyn Quayle’s Deputy Chief of Staff, but not enough connections to get into a college that would graduate her with a minimal amount of work?
    Wow – she must be quite embedded in the wingnut welfare/upwards failure system

    Right! She didn’t even need a diploma mill PhD!

  127. 127.

    ReflectedSky

    February 7, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    @WaterGirl: Thanks for the welcome. I appreciate it.

  128. 128.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    February 7, 2012 at 5:05 pm

    Shorter Karen Handel:

    I was so busy nailing myself to the cross that I forgot that I would need help pounding the last nail in.
     
    Thank you for your kind assistance in this matter, I couldn’t have done it without you!

    I hope she enjoys the view from up there.

  129. 129.

    Gust Avrakotos

    February 7, 2012 at 5:07 pm

    What right wing hate media outlet hired her? Or maybe she gave the GOPers enough of a boner to consider her for Romneys VP running mate?

  130. 130.

    TG Chicago

    February 7, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    @Privatize the Profits! Socialize the Costs!: I loved that line, too.

    Or, the way I read it:

    What was a thoughtful and thoroughly reviewed decision – one that would have indeed enabled Komen to deliver even greater community impact – has unfortunately been turned into something about politics.

    That’s a load of crap! It was always about politics! And it never would have had greater impact. Oh wait…

    This is entirely untrue.

    Err… exactly!

    If she spent the last week writing something this poorly, then all the more reason they were wise to be rid of her.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. The Mahablog » Karen Handel Pushed Onto Her Sword says:
    February 7, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    […] resignation letter oozes with what the witty folks at Balloon Juice are calling “Handel’s Messiah Complex.” We can all agree that this is a […]

  2. Shorter Karen Handel: Whinewhinewhinewhinewhine « Blog on the Run: Reloaded says:
    February 7, 2012 at 10:53 pm

    […] And her  resignation letter  has to be read to be believed. Commenter BGinCHI at Balloon Juice called it ”masturbation for people who are too repressed to touch themselves,” and that pretty […]

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