Wolf Blitzer grilled Rand Paul on Thursday, demanding to know why the Republican presidential candidate would dare advocate the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Quoting liberal talking points, he complained, "Why do you want to defund Planned Parenthood? Because, as you know, according to Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, the president of the organization, they serve two and a half million people, a lot of poor people, a lot of poor women out there."
Blitzer chided, "So, tell us why you would defund, if you had your way, the entire organization." Paul shot back: "I know pro-choice people who are upset about [the selling of baby organs]. Even Hillary Clinton, who is not sure when life begins, she's even disturbed by this. You have to realize, this is really disturbing a lot of people from all spectrums of life."
Undeterred, the CNN anchor continued:
BLITZER: Isn't there a way, Senator, to fix this one part of Planned Parenthood? We have all seen that disturbing video, as you point out. Planned Parenthood says it was, sort of, edited not accurately. They deny some of the major allegations against them. Why not try to fix the organization, from your perspective, and allow all of these women to get the services that they have relied on at these 800 clinics, Planned Parenthood clinics around the country.
Again, Paul argued, "There are plenty of places women can go to for free government-provided health care. There's no reason for the taxpayer to be involved in something so grisly and ghastly that people from all walks of life are condemning this."
As though he couldn't follow the agrument, Blitzer repeated, "You want to see the entire organization, including all the good things, from your perspective, that they do, you want to see this organization disappear, if you had your way, but at least not get federal funding?"
A partial transcript is below:
Wolf
7/30/15
1:42 PM EDTWOLF BLITZER: Why do you want to defund Planned Parenthood? Because, as you know, according to Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, the president of the organization, they serve two and a half million people, a lot of poor people, a lot of poor women out there. They serve -- they test them for breast cancer screenings, cervical cancer screening, birth control. They point out 42 percent of services go toward testing, treating sexually transmitted diseases, 34 percent deal with contraception. And they point out that abortion services, their analysis, three percent. So, tell us why you would defund, if you had your way, the entire organization.
RAND PAUL: I think what's disturbing is a doctor talking about selling body parts. What is disturbing is a doctor talking about using ultrasound to manipulate the baby, turn it around so it comes out feet first to preserve organs to sell and crush the baby's head. It's impossible not to picture in your mind what is going on with this. I'm a parent. One of the first images I saw of my children was an ultrasound of them in the womb. We were excited about that. It is being used, maybe illegally to try to harvest organs.
Everything else they do is done by community health centers, also. We fund 9,000 community health centers and there's only 600 to 700 Planned Parenthood centers. There are plenty of government centers that do everything Planned Parenthood says they do, but don't do abortions. They manipulate the baby to harvest organs. I know pro- choice people who are upset about this. Even Hillary Clinton, who is not sure when life begins, she's even disturbed by this. You have to realize, this is really disturbing a lot of people from all spectrums of life.
BLITZER: Isn't there a way, Senator, to fix this one part of Planned Parenthood? We have all seen that disturbing video, as you point out. Planned Parenthood says it was, sort of, edited not accurately. They deny some of the major allegations against them. Why not try to fix the organization, from your perspective, and allow all of these women to get the services that they have relied on at these 800 clinics, Planned Parenthood clinics around the country.
PAUL: See, the thing is, we are doing that. We have doubled and tripled the number of funding for community health centers. There are plenty of places they can go. Planned Parenthood is completely unnecessary for women's health. You can go to any community health center. In fact, in my state, there are 65 community health centers for every one Planned Parenthood. There are plenty of places women can go to for free government-provided health care. There's no reason for the taxpayer to be involved in something so grizzly and ghastly that people from all walks of life are condemning this.
BLITZER: You want to see the entire organization, including all the good things, from your perspective, that they do, you want to see this organization disappear, if you had your way, but at least not get federal funding?
PAUL: What I would do, I would say to Planned Parenthood, show the videos around the country of people sorting through arms, legs and kidneys and ask people to contribute to your organization. It is free to get people to contribute to them. They can continue to do this. I'm guessing, when people see people sifting through body parts that someone is then going to sell. I mean it is so, just gruesome that I think they are going to have trouble voluntarily getting people.
...
BLITZER: Let's talk quickly -- because I only have a minute or two left -- the latest Quinnipiac University poll has Donald Trump, look at this, at 20 percent, Scott walker, 13, Jeb Bush, 10. You're down with six percent with a few others there. You see them. Why is he doing so well right now, Donald Trump?
PAUL: Television works, Wolf. If you would give some other candidates time from 8:00 in the morning until 8:00 at night, all day long for three weeks, I'm guessing other candidates might rise as well. For example, some people are hearing about one candidate all the time. Very few people know that I've offered a tax code that you can fill out your tax return on one page at 14.5 percent. If I had every network going gaga over that, I think we could get ours to rise as well. I think this is a temporary sort of loss of sanity, but we're going to come back to our senses and look for somebody serious at some point.
BLITZER: You think 20 percent who are supporting Donald Trump, Republicans, according to this latest poll, have a loss of sanity?
PAUL: No. I think what they are is hungry for someone who will tell the truth, who will say that Washington is broken and we really have to start over, have term limits, wash out the place, cleanse the place. Absolutely he's talking into that.
But we also have to have a serious discussion of how we're going to do it and simply saying that the Mexicans are going to pay for it, we're not going to pay the national debt by asking Americans to pay for it. OK? I'm the only one running for office that actually has a five-year plan to balance the budget. I'm ready to do the specific cuts to do it. I have a simple tax rate, one rate, 14.5 percent. I think that's a debate we're going to have to have. We'll start it next week, hopefully.
