MSNBC passionately kept pushing the line on Thursday that moving to defund Planned Parenthood would be a debacle for Republicans On Andrea Mitchell Live, Mitchell toed that line not once, but twice.
First she set up Rep. Steve Israel, head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. It’s a bit hilarious for such a partisan to hammer the other partisans for being so partisan:
ANDREA MITCHELL: What about the threat of a government shutdown, what about their votes against Planned Parenthood? It seems as though the House is even more dysfunctional than ever and that only adds to the arguments of people like Donald Trump who are saying Washington is broken, we need somebody to fix it.
STEVE ISRAEL: Well, you know, we left for August recess about five weeks ago. We left a Republican train wreck. We came back five weeks later to a Republican train wreck. Five weeks ago, we left with the threat of a Republican shutdown. We now face that Republican shutdown. Five weeks ago, we left Republicans frothing at the mouth against Planned Parenthood. We come back, they're frothing at the mouth against Planned Parenthood.
No one asks the Democrats if they support late-term abortions, carefully manipulated so the organs are ripe for "donation" at $200 a specimen. Mitchell also boldly declared the Republicans were courting disaster to Teamsters Union boss James Hoffa:
ANDREA MITCHELL: So from your standpoint, if there were a government shutdown based on Republican objections to Planned Parenthood funding or any other obstacle, this would be a nightmare for you and your membership!
JAMES HOFFA: Oh, it would be devastating to us and it would hurt all America. The last shutdown hurt the Republican Party. And the leadership I don't think wants it, but you know, it's the people with the poison pill, whether it's Planned Parenthood, they basically want to burn the house down to get the mice. And they're really going overboard and the last time it happened the consensus was it really hurt the Republican Party.
In the next hour on Live with Thomas Roberts, the host turned to ex-Cycle host Krystal Ball for another serving of pro-abortion trash talk. Donald Trump’s rude comments about women are a disaster, and so is any attack on Planned Parenthood:
BALL: You’ll remember the comments that Todd Akin made a couple election cycles ago back in 2012 and how that cast a pall over the entire Republican party because they were seen as the party of Todd Akin. Donald Trump is the Republican Party’s new Todd Akin, erecting a new barrier with women, and when you add to that attacks on Planned Parenthood, I think this is a very devastating thing for the Republican Party going forward.
On Thursday night, Rachel Maddow touted how birth control is much more popular than Ted Cruz shutting down the government over Planned Parenthood.
MADDOW: House Speaker John Boehner barely containing, or not containing at all his total disdain and disregard for Ted Cruz. But now, Senator Cruz is at it again leading another charge to shut down the government, this time over Planned Parenthood. He has invited House conservatives to a meeting where they can hash out his new strategy for the government shutdown. And the whole thing is getting a ton of attention in the Beltway media, the idea the government may turn off the lights because Ted Cruz wants to lead a government shut down to not defund Planned Parenthood. Maybe the beltway press is right. Maybe this will happen because Ted Cruz wants it to happen.
But, remember, birth control is very popular, and Ted Cruz is not.
Maddow suggested Ted Cruz might just fear being poisoned like some Latin American autocrat:
MADDOW: The only tangible result of Ted Cruz`s shutdown efforts two years ago is everyone was annoyed by Ted Cruz, including his fellow Republicans. I mean, these are the kinds of headlines he has earned over the last two with years. I think the likes these. But still, Cruz alienated in the Senate than ever, the most hated man in the Senate. How unpopular is Ted Cruz right now? Republicans hate Ted Cruz so much, he`s going to need a food taster.
