Karen Handel: Komen Was Trying To Move To Neutral Ground Until Politics Took Hold
Karen Handel: Komen Was Trying To Move To Neutral Ground Until Politics Took Hold
The way that this entire saga unfolded points to the work of a political master. While I have no love lost for the Susan G. Komen foundation, if I were their board, I would be angry and sheepish about having my organization used as a political stepping stone and then left as collateral damage for an ambitious self-serving culture crusader. Make no mistake: we’ve not heard the last of Karen Handel. And when she surfaces to tell her story, people should remember: she’s not the victim, she’s a sophisticated political operator who may have gotten exactly what she wants.
Compare and contrast Handel's tone and attitude with Cecile Richards from Planned Parenthood:
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Tell me. Who is bullying who? Also, Mother Jones has a great piece refuting Handel's oft-repeated comments about Komen being a "private foundation" which is entitled to do and fund what it pleases. Here's an excerpt:
But my point isn't about who's a Republican and who's a Democrat. The point is that Komen is a giant grant-making operation (nearly $2 billion since 1982) that purports to represent all of womanhood and it's being run as if it were still a small family foundation. Brinker and son, Custard, and O'Neill all run in the same circles, sit on the same boards, send their kids to the same elite schools. Komen's board makes a nod to race (both Lauderback and Leffal are African-American), a nod to medicine, and a nod to someone with pull in DNC circles, but the core is a group of rich, Texan, conservative friends.
Yes, and let's not forget that it also represents a huge bloc of tax-deductible, tax-exempt dollars which necessarily remove it from the universe of "do what they want" philanthropic groups into the "act into the public interest" philanthropic group. Like it or not, Planned Parenthood's mission is to provide no-cost, low-cost services to women in need. That means the gamut of services, not just those cherry-picked to satisfy political ideologies. And now, the Komen foundation will need to deal with these same questions if it has any hope of recovering any form of public support.