NYT's Calmes Again Tries to Change Subject From Repellent Planned Parenthood Tapes: GOP Risks 'Overreach'

July 22nd, 2015 10:10 PM

New York Times reporter Jackie Calmes managed to write a 1,500-word story on David Daleiden, who runs the pro-life group that conducted damning undercover interviews with Planned Parenthood executives about harvesting baby organs, without once mentioning the actual contents of the newly released videotape, an interview with Mary Gatter of Planned Parenthood in California.

The omission is certainly not for lack of repellent quotes, like the one where Gatter is talking to people she thinks are medical company representatives about the price of baby body parts: "I want a Lamborghini." (Isn't it Planned Parenthood's defense that they make no money off donating the organs?)

As she did in her initial July 15 story, Calmes desperately tried to discourage the GOP from making the undercover tapes an issue, suggesting that it would backfire, either through a government shutdown or by reminding voters how much they love the government-funded abortion mill Planned Parenthood: "...Democrats said they were counting on Republicans to overreach with their attacks -- inciting a backlash from women, younger voters and political independents who support Planned Parenthood -- and then retreat, as has happened before."

Confronted with such hostility, it's no surprise that David Daleiden, who ran the successful sting of Planned Parenthood (which received over $500 million in federal funding last year) was reluctant to talk to the Times:

David Daleiden would only reluctantly talk about himself: “I don’t think I’m the story,” he said by phone on Tuesday. But he is the man behind the story and the hidden camera -- the anti-abortion activist who has provoked a storm with his video stings alleging that Planned Parenthood clinics are selling tissue from aborted fetuses for profit, a charge the group denies.

On Tuesday, for a second time in two weeks, a video appeared online showing a Planned Parenthood official in California discussing over lunch the price of providing fetal parts to a man and woman who are never shown on camera, but who are posing as buyers from a firm that procures tissue for medical researchers. Once again, Planned Parenthood condemned the scam for deceptively characterizing its handling fees to cover expenses, which are legal, as illegal profiteering.