Sandra Fluke’s address to the Democratic Convention last night had a distinctive theme: me, me, me.
She also wants things for free, free, free.
Ms. Fluke began her address by recalling the poignant moment that catapulted her (with some help from a high-priced public relations firm with close ties to the Obama White House) into the national spotlight. “Some of you may remember that earlier this year, Republicans shut me out of a hearing on contraception,” Ms. Fluke remembered, adding, “In fact, on that panel, they didn’t hear from a single woman, even though they were debating an issue that affects nearly every woman.”
Only somebody with a truly gargantuan ego could regard herself as having been “shut out” of a congressional panel composed of prominent religious leaders and assembled to talk about religious freedom. The panel was not about contraception per se, though, Lordy, we’ve heard enough about that bogus “issue.” (All together now: Republicans have no policy regarding contraception, a settled matter for many years. They do, however, have qualms about forcing those religious employers, who regard contraception as morally wrong, to violate their consciences and foot the bill for contraception–which, by the way, is widely available and inexpensive.)
As for Ms. Fluke’s claim that no women were on the panel—well, she is wrong. “Start counting Pinocchios,” says the Weekly Standard. There were two women on the panel. “Surely, Fluke must be aware of this information,” writes the Standard’s Mark Hemingway, "but she keeps pretending otherwise. The claim there were no women on that panel may be central to Sandra Fluke's mythology, but that's all it is—a myth.”
Ms. Fluke went on to posit two futures for American women. Here is the scary one:
In that America, your new president could be a man who stands by when a public figure tries to silence a private citizen with hateful slurs. Who won’t stand up to the slurs, or to any of the extreme, bigoted voices in his own party.
Yeah, it was pretty horrible that Mitt Romney didn’t drop everything and devote every waking minute to defending Ms. Fluke when radio host Rush Limbaugh made some unfortunate remarks about her. How shameful that the country just kept going, when Sandra needed comforting from big, strong men. For the record, Romney criticized Limbaugh’s remarks, which were inexcusable. (Glad Nikki Haley can take the heat and is more capable of defending herself!)
Ms. Fluke mischaracterized an abortion bill veep candidate Paul Ryan supported before picturing a happier future:
An America in which our president, when he hears a young woman has been verbally attacked, thinks of his daughters—not his delegates or donors—and stands with all women. And strangers come together, reach out and lift her up. And then, instead of trying to silence her, you invite me here—and give me a microphone—to amplify our voice. That’s the difference.
Also, an America in which our president sometimes thinks of his imaginary son…
We’ve also seen another future we could choose. First of all, we’d have the right to choose. It’s an America in which no one can charge us more than men for the exact same health insurance; in which no one can deny us affordable access to the cancer screenings that could save our lives; in which we decide when to start our families.
Somebody should tell Sandra about IPAB, the unelected board of bureaucrats that will be making our most personal medical decisions under Obamacare. Sandra, being young and healthy, will not be affected immediately. But one day, when she wants a medical service more expensive than contraception, she may learn about the truth about access to affordable care under President Obama’s system.