Comments on: GritTV on Stupak

By: Lori

Lori — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:05:42 +0000

I was getting ALL the information from Planned Parenthood, etc., and not from bloggers–I got at least 3 emails from these groups on Saturday…so, really, you didn’t get those mass emails? I admit: I just do not believe you. You maybe didn’t read them, but they came out. (Admittedly, I’m not on Twitter and don’t want to be.)

But mostly I hate these cat-fight set ups. It DOES feel like a needless attack on these very hard working, underfunded women-centered organizations by other hardworking underfunded women. Let’s all go with both/and next time.

By: Jill

Jill — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:01:01 +0000

Sure, I didn’t mean to imply that it was either/or. Just wanted to point out that bloggers and grassroots folks did a lot of work, and often don’t get credit.

By: Sid

Sid — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:29:24 +0000

Just saw this on FSTV, great stuff.

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:27:10 +0000

Here’s the thing: the action alerts you were seeing all over twitter and facebook and from feminist activists were probably calls to action that organically grew from thoughts like “I just saw this on CSPAN and wtf, please do something!” but they were also at the urging and working WITH the folks at PPFA and NOW and NARAL and NWLC and etc etc etc.
As someone who works for one of these organizations AND identifies as a feminist blogger & netroots activists, i need to stress that these are not two categories that are – or should be – mutually exclusive.
i was on twitter and facebook and sending texts and making calls all day long as an (off the clock) employee of a women’s group and as just Jen. our groups also work closely with feminist bloggers and netroots activists, and there isn’t a line you can really draw between what these advocacy groups did on Saturday and what was going on in the blogosphere.

Jill, i appreciate the clarification, and i know the question that you were asked was pretty leading.
But my point here is that it’s not an either/or thing. It’s a together thing. As it needs to be.

By: BoilerLawyer

BoilerLawyer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:56:44 +0000

My biggest fear politically has always been that cultural conservatives would co-opt the Left’s economic agenda. The more control the government has over health care and other personal matters, the easier it will be for cultural conservatives to use such government interference for their own ends. By advocating for anti-market health care, one is implicitly advocating for a system where the government rations care by political means. The Stupak Amendment seems to be the natural result of advocating for the political (i.e. anti-market) distribution of economic goods such as health care.

By: FW

FW — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:54:54 +0000

I’m with Kissling in being surprised that so many others were surprised. I’ve seen this before. sigh.

By: Aardvarker

Aardvarker — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:49:26 +0000

Cecile Richards from Planned parenthood was writing letters to all on FaceBook and urging calls and action on this. If you have a FB account, go connect to her for updates.

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:32:24 +0000

Yeah Lisa was awesome — I also saw her Tweets.

By: Caro

Caro — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:28:16 +0000

I did get emails from Planned Parenthood, NARAL, Feminist Majority Foundation, and Catholics for Choice on Saturday asking me to make calls to my Congressman and spread the word about Stupak before the vote in the evening. But the place I was going throughout the day for updates and getting the most useful and up-to-date information was definitely Twitter – particularly Lisa Maatz of AAUW (@LisaMaatz) – and non-organizational blogs.

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:44:41 +0000

Oh definitely. Again, didn’t mean to imply that the women’s orgs weren’t doing their jobs. Just that, from my vantage point, most of the info and the calls to action were from grassroots feminist activists.