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Darcy Burner (candidate for Congress from WA-01) gave me my first goose bump moment at Netroots Nation last week. It was during the Keynote plenary “The War on (and for) Women“.
About 10 minutes into her address, after speaking about the cultural shift that now has her Republican dad speaking openly about her uncle Charlie who “probably is gay”, Darcy explained that the stories in people heads have changed. It’s due to a change in the way we look at things, and become more accepting of ideas that we didn’t, couldn’t or wouldn’t not too long ago.
She then segued into talking about a way to change the stories in peoples heads about a particular issue for women, but first asked the audience not to applaud or say anything for the next 30 seconds. She then made a request that I don’t think has every publicly been asked before”
“If you are a woman in this room -and statistically what I am about to say is true of about 1/3 of the women in this room – if you are a women in this room who has had an abortion and is willing to come out about it, please stand up.”
I can’t say how many stood – but I saw quite a few around the cavernous convention ballroom. I’m lucky in that I never had to make that difficult decision, but I knew many friend throughout my life who did, and I thought of them in that moment, how they weren’t alone. I was proud of these women – proud that they felt safe enough to come out, to admit there was nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. A few people in the audience probably felt as I did, as some began to clap, but Darcy asked them to hold off. She then continued,
“Now if you are willing to stand with every woman who is willing to come out about having had an abortion, please join them and stand up.”
Wow! I stood up proudly, as did virtually everyone else in the room. My friend Greg Basta tweeted
If you’re not inspired by @DarcyBurner‘s speech at #NN12, you don’t have a pulse. Wow.
That summed it up. Women felt empowered. Those who had to make that most difficult decision, for whatever reason (and it is her reason alone), no longer had to feel alone in it.
And then we applauded. We were not applauding the fact that these women had gotten abortions, but for the fact that they have the choice to do the correct thing for them selves, their families, their health and yes, even the zygote or fetus they felt they could not bring to term.
Please watch the whole thing for yourself here:
Unfortunately, the room contained a few from the other side of the aisle who think women should not have the right to decide what’s best for their bodies and families. They believe the government(?) should be up in her uterus telling her that if she gets pregnant, she has no choice.
One such woman was a blogger named Melissa Clouthier who showed her stupidity and should have her female credentials revoked after this gem:
The War on Women panel featuring Elizabeth Warren revealed much about the leftist perspective on abortion. In an act of public bullying, one of the three speakers, Darcy Burner of Washington (the others being Elizabeth Warren and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii), asked women who had had an abortion to stand up in front of other attendees. It was difficult to estimate the number of women as they were sprinkled through out the audience. They stood alone while Burner admonished the attendees to hold their applause. Then Burner asked the others seated in the audience to stand and give these women a standing ovation. The audience complied enthusiastically. I sat during this spectacle.
Burner said, “If you are a woman in this room, and statistically this is true of about 1/3 of the women in this room, if you’re a woman in this room who has had an abortion and is willing to come out about it, please stand up.” She continued, “Now, if you are willing to stand with every woman who is willing to come out about having had an abortion, please stand up.” Nearly everyone stood. Burner said, “This is how we change the stories in people’s The bolded parts are bold-faced lies. No one was admonished, and no one was asked to give anyone a standing ovation. When I confronted this woman about her lies, she lied again. Par for the course. I found that gem of a quote in a story on TownHall.com, ridiculously entitled Left Wing Conference Cheers Abortion. (Now do you understand why I constantly refer to “Opposite World”?). His lies are even more absurd than were hers: A familiar “pro-choice” trope is that abortion should be “safe, legal and rare.” No one is pro-abortion, we’re told, and it’s insulting to suggest otherwise. But evidence of abortion celebration abounds. Lefty ‘ethicists’ have advocated post-birth abortions, feminist activists have rhapsodized about how much they “love abortion,” and most Democrats regularly vote against even broadly-supported attempts to limit the so-called “right to choose” — including measures that give women access to more medical information prior to making an abortion decision. The Left also fights tenaciously to maintain federal funding for America’s largest abortion provider, even though the organization has been caught on tape covering up statutory rape, accommodating explicitly racist donors, and agreeing to perform gender-selective, late term abortions. Again, though, no one is pro-abortion. Which brings us to Netroots Nation, an annual gathering of hardcore liberals, put on by Daily Kos. This year’s keynote speaker was Darcy Burner, a former Microsoft executive who’s running for Congress in Washington State. Once again, the bold-faced lies are (appropriately) bolded. This poor guy (Guy Benson is his name) even got some stupid things wrong ie Netroots Nation is not “put on by Daily Kos” and although Darcy Burner was a keynote speaker, she certainly was not “this year’s keynote speaker” and on and on…. And, I know I don’t have to say it, but I will. NOBODY “LOVES” ABORTION. Even we libbie commie pinko feminists who believe we should and do have the right to choose what we do with our own bodies DO NOT “LOVE” ABORTION. Hell, we don’t like abortion. No one wakes up and says “today I’m gonna go get an abortion, just because I can.” Women I know who have had to make this difficult choice struggle with it and usually after it too. But they best know what is the right thing for themselves, their families, their children. And how dare the “small government” conservatives insert their beliefs into any other woman’s life or uterus. I’m glad there’s someone like Darcy Burner our there who knows what women’s rights are and who will fight for them. And I thank her for making women who have made this difficult decision understand that they have nothing to be ashamed of. The should be proud they did what was best for their individual situation, and that they live in a country where they are free to do just that. I was proud to have Darcy on the show this morning to discuss the situation. She comes in at about the :30 mark, though I spent the 15 minutes prior to getting her on the phone giving the background. In hour two, as we do every Tuesday morning, I chatted with The Progressive Carnival’s GottaLaff about some other stories we might not have otherwise gotten today, including these: VIDEO- BLUNT: Citizens United is Democracy’s Castration “This is the same dunce cap leadership as W! Romney thinks W was smart! Jesus!!” Republicans Eating Their Own: Grover Norquist vs. Jeb Bush Karl Rove super PAC apologizes for tasteless “joke” about Commerce Secretary John Bryson Now we know why the GOP insists that there’s no climate change
