In case you hadn’t heard about this, in a new FX documentary about Norma McCorvey, aka “Jane Roe,” McCorvey made a deathbed confession that her about-face from pro-abortion to pro-life was “all an act,” funded by the Christian Right.
Whether or not you believe that is up to you.
But GQ political columnist Laura Bassett believes it and decided to use it as the inspiration for her piece about the origins of the American pro-life movement:
Did you know Republicans decided to start caring about abortion in the late 70s because they were looking for a more defensible moral wedge issue than "keep schools white" to mobilize white evangelical voters?
I wrote about it here: https://t.co/qkVT1H1RoS
— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) May 21, 2020
Oh, she wrote about it, all right.
Let's just assume that was true in the 70's. If you want to pretend that this is what is driving the movement today, and not genuine concern for life, then you're only deluding yourself and your 5 readers. https://t.co/9wFV7ZArtb
— David Edward™️ (@_David_Edward) May 21, 2020
Did you know the founder of Planned Parenthood wanted to literally eliminate the black population through keeping abortions accessible to them. You didn't write about it here.
— Wittorical (@Wittorical) May 21, 2020
This piece is hilariously awful https://t.co/CiLc7aMz10
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 21, 2020
And you’ll know doubt be shocked to know that Bassett fell victim to one of the clathic blunderth:
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 21, 2020
Hold up. George Wallace was a Republican? How in the world did that get through an editor?
— ScareCrow (@JustAwaylander) May 21, 2020
How at this point in history do you still “mistakenly” label Wallace a Republican? How do you do any research at all on the issue you’re writing about and not know that he was famously a Dixiecrat? https://t.co/LPH6pS6KmR
— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) May 21, 2020
LOL at you thinking George Wallace was a Republican and making that the foundation of your entire stupid premise. https://t.co/WN6EqwTptt
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) May 21, 2020
Man, this piece is a mess. She argues *Republicans* like Wallace were once pro abortion — for racist, rather than enlightened, reasons. While it's true Wallace shared the outlook of early progressives, there's a problem w/ this theory. (h/t @seanmdav)https://t.co/V4ISEY1DcB pic.twitter.com/CE9ByvqaWB
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) May 21, 2020
Just a little problem.
Lifelong Republican™️ George Wallace speaking at the 1972 Republican National Convention: https://t.co/vhzgyuUmCu pic.twitter.com/i3ArQmSG1w
— NeverTweet (@LOLNeverTweet) May 21, 2020
You lose all credibility and the piece becomes worthless when you can’t get right what party George Wallace belonged to.
— Justin Redalen (@Justinredalen) May 21, 2020
"As evidence for my thesis about Republicans, let's include notorious racist Democrat George Wallace's views."
Brilliant.
— BruinEric (@BruinEric) May 21, 2020
one convenient way to convince yourself that Democrats are the good guys is to pretend everyone you didn't like was a Republican pic.twitter.com/FkEJx7OGyB
— Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) May 21, 2020
Don’t worry, though. Eventually she realized her mistake:
"An earlier version of this piece misstated that George Wallace was a Republican. We regret the error." https://t.co/tCBV6Kj2WD
— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) May 21, 2020
She really regrets it, you guys:
A note on the segregationist George Wallace, whom I mistakenly labeled as a Republican here: He was a Democrat in the 60s, before the parties realigned in the 70s. Then he ran for POTUS in the far right American Independent Party. Made the correction
— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) May 21, 2020
Also, to be clear, this piece is not about Wallace. I quoted him as an example of segregationist support for abortion rights. But the architects of the plan to make abortion a wedge issue were conservative strategist Paul Weyrich and Jerry Falwell on behalf of the GOP, as I wrote
— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) May 21, 2020
As she wrote. What she wrote was wrong. What she wrote was stupid. What she wrote was the opposite of the truth and she didn’t care because narrative.
You know, working from home doesn't mean you get to work drunk. https://t.co/6IYWzdp5E5
— Eric Spencer (@JustEric) May 21, 2020
Not only is her theory deeply stupid (Republicans are pro life because of George Wallace???), it's the most blatant ad hominem–these icky people think this, therefore their argument is wrong.
— Mo Mo (@molratty) May 21, 2020
If the Left has the truth on their side, why do they feel so compelled to resort to lies?
Own your little racist homunculus George Wallace, Democrats. He is 100% yours.
— NeverTweet (@LOLNeverTweet) May 21, 2020
***
Update:
Uh-oh, Laura …
George Wallace ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 and 1976. https://t.co/7WfXUqyAv2 pic.twitter.com/gOBV03hzB5
— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) May 21, 2020
Sorry, dum-dum, he was a Democrat in the '70s as well. And in fact throughout the end of his electoral career.
Just own it, ffs. https://t.co/xNp9SzGOA1
— Jeff B, fightin' the COVID one bootleg at a time (@EsotericCD) May 21, 2020
Very hard, it seems:
Deleted! pic.twitter.com/bVaV2j0tSV
— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) May 21, 2020
You hate to see it.
More importantly, the piece isn’t about George Wallace! He’s just one quote in there. It’s about Falwell and Weyrich! NPR, Politico, many others have written this same history of abortion as a wedge issue, it’s not really even debatable anymore
— Laura Bassett (@LEBassett) May 21, 2020
Sure, Jan.
The giant factual error I made is ackshually not relevant to the piece I wrote now that it cuts across my narrative https://t.co/7faBXkZz23
— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) May 21, 2020
It's honestly kinda funny that a political reporter didn't know that George Wallace was one of the most famous Democrats of his time while in office in the 1960s, 1970s, and into the 1980s!
— JERRY DUNLEAVY (@JerryDunleavy) May 21, 2020