Seems there is quite a bit of pushback for the pigheaded decision by Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure political hacks:
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) both criticized and revoked their support for Komen on Wednesday. “I was perplexed and troubled to see the decision by Susan G. Komen for the Cure to cut off funding for life-saving breast cancer screenings through Planned Parenthood because of a political witch hunt by House Republicans. I truly hope that they will reconsider this decision and put the needs of women first,” Boxer said in a statement.
“I have been a big booster of the Susan G. Komen organization, but not anymore,” Speier said on the House floor.
One of Komen’s own affiliates withdrew its support as well. The Connecticut affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure said in a statement on Wednesday that it “shares” people’s frustration over the decision and that it will continue funding Planned Parenthood of New England.
“The decision regarding the funding of Planned Parenthood was made by Susan G. Komen for the Cure National Headquarters,” the group posted on its Facebook wall. “Susan G. Komen for the Cure Connecticut enjoys a great partnership with Planned Parenthood, and is currently funding Planned Parenthood of Southern New England. We understand, and share, in the frustration around this situation. We hope that any investigation prohibiting Planned Parenthood from receiving Komen grants is promptly resolved.”
Good. It is high time people start pushing back against these bullies. If we’ve learned anything in the past about the right, it is that they are very, very thin-skinned. And these bullies at Komen may be regretting their decision right about now:
The main sentiment among the thousands of people posting online seems to be that regardless of one’s position on the issue of abortion, it is wrong to politicize women’s health. According to a new Polipulse analysis of online conversations about the issue, only 26 percent of people believe Komen made the right decision. Nearly a quarter of the people who expressed criticism of Komen’s decision online said they were going to pull their donations from Komen.
In contrast, Planned Parenthood has seen a huge influx of financial donations in the 24 hours since Komen broke ties. While the organization has not officially released the new donation numbers yet, a source close to the issue said they’ve raised “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in individual donations during that period. That, combined with a donation of $250,000 from Texas oil executive Lee Fikes and his wife Amy for a “Breast Health Emergency Fund,” could put the family planning provider on track to match or surpass the roughly $680,000 it received from Komen in 2011.
The best, most delicious aspect of this is the fact that there simply is no way for the Komen foundation to undo the damage they have done. They simply can’t- this action will forever leave them branded as a tool of the reactionary right. And even if they wanted to reverse course, and begin working with Planned Parenthood again, they couldn’t because of the weaselly way they rolled this out. Are they going to change their rules back and claim they no longer care if someone is under investigation? Preposterous. Are they going to just hope that Republicans will drop their politically motivated investigations? Fat chance- PP, Acorn, and all the other boogeymen the right have created are constantly going to be heckled by wingnuts in congress with nuisance investigations.
So Komen is basically screwed, and it looks like it couldn’t have happened to a nicer group of people.