Video: CNN not exactly buying the War on Wimmenses meme

I missed this a couple of days ago, but reader Mike V brought it to my attention this morning, and it’s definitely worth watching. MoveOn spokesman Justin Ruben appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 to amplify their claim that the Republican insistence on using ObamaCare funds to pay for the student-loan subsidy program was just another example of the War on Wimmenses. When Cooper points out that MoveOn had nothing to say when Democrats proposed to use the fund for other priorities, the MoveOn flack stammers, “I think that’s just not true,” but Cooper then drops an Obama bomb on his head. MoveOn’s outgunned mouthpiece then makes the claim that MoveOn fights Obama “all the time! … We’ve cut ads against Obama!” Er … COOPER: President Obama himself agreed to take money out. His budget, in fact, for 2013 specifies taking billions of dollars out for this. But you don’t say he’s targeting women, do you? I haven’t heard MoveOn.org say President Obama is targeting women’s health, that the Democrats are targeting women’s health five months ago. Now it’s Republicans targeting women’s health because they are wanting to do it.



RUBEN: You know, the fact is you have — we have millions of –

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: So when –

RUBEN: — MoveOn members who benefit from programs –

COOPER: So when President Obama –

RUBEN: Rely on these programs — COOPER: Wanted to –

RUBEN: We fight president — we’ve fought President Obama all the time.

COOPER: So — so where’s your ad for — where’s your ad saying President Obama is targeting women?

RUBEN: We’ve run ads against President Obama. But the fact is if you want to look at who is consistently targeting women, who is — you know, who’s the party that’s trying to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, who is the party that has consistently been trying to cut funding for cervical cancer and Pap smears? That’s the Republicans.

And we’re going to call that out. And of course they’re going to try to dodge and get away from that. But the fact is, it’s true. There are over $200 million of 2013 funding that they are zeroing out.

COOPER: And Obama’s 2013 budget when –

RUBEN: And the bottom line is this is — we shouldn’t be having this conversation. Why are we having a conversation — look, you have student loan rates –

COOPER: Because my job is to report on facts. Not to meet your agenda. And when President Obama suggests in his 2012 budget cutting billions of dollars from this, I don’t see a MoveOn.org ad saying President Obama is attacking women. You only seem to be targeting Republicans because that meets your political agenda.

RUBEN: I just — I just don’t think that’s true. I mean look –

COOPER: So when President Obama wants to cut money from this, that’s not targeting women?

RUBEN: President Obama wants to — look, was it a problem –

COOPER: Yes or no? Does that target women when President Obama wants to take billions of dollars out of this?

RUBEN: When President Obama is taking billions of dollars out of this, that’s wrong and will have a disproportionate effect on women.

COOPER: So he’s targeting women.

Cooper might have had a pretty good career as a litigator. Of course, one can’t always count on having such an unarmed opponent in a battle of wits, either. This is what happens when demagoguery meets reality.