War on Women?' How Much of Moveon.org's New Ad is True?

Remember Moveon.org? They used to be the liberal website du jour before AttackWatch and ThinkProgress? Apparently they're back, and this time with an ad that weighs in on the Sandra Fluke controversy. You can watch the full (extended cut) of the ad below:

There's a problem, though - most of the quotes have either been personally withdrawn or may have never existed. Let's go through them.

Quote #1. Foster Friess' quote on aspirin: "The gals put it between their knees."

No one would care who Foster Friess was if he wasn't also a donor to the Rick Santorum campaign. Unfortunately for the Moveon crowd, Santorum himself thinks Friess went too far with this joke, describing it as "a bad off-color joke" and "stupid" in an interview with Greta Van Susteren. So if Friess has dated views on gender, they can't be hung around Santorum's neck.

Quote #2. Pre-abortion ultrasounds are fine because a woman already made the decision "to be vaginally penetrated" before she got pregnant.

The ad only cites this quote as coming from a "Republican lawmaker," and it's easy to see why - no one knows who said it, or even if someone said it. It is, in fact, a line that a Democratic lawmaker in Virginia has attributed to an unnamed fellow lawmaker, with absolutely no way to verify that it's true other than taking his word for it.

Quote #3. "The agenda of Planned Parenthood includes sexualizing young girls through the girl scouts."

All we can say about this one is that it's true. At least, it is in Indiana, where Planned Parenthood routinely sent representatives to administer a sex ed program to local Girl Scout chapters. Documentation from their own website supports this. And then there is the material that Planned Parenthood releases to children generally.

Quote #4. "The vast majority of abortions are matters of lifestyle convenience."

Virginia lawmaker Todd Gilbert said this one, and apologized for saying it on the same day, repudiating his own remarks this way (as reported by ThinkProgress):

Individuals on both sides of this issue agree that it is tragic for all involved. I recognize that few women undergo the procedure lightly. It leaves scars, both mental and physical, that can last forever. I regret that my comments earlier today on the House floor were insensitive to that reality.

Quote #5. Children that are the product of rape are "horribly created gift" and women who are raped "should make the best of a bad situation."

This one came from Rick Santorum in January of this year. It's missing a good amount of context, as he's responding to a hypothetical situation surrounding his own daughter, and does hedge somewhat before saying it. Watch the video below:

What is more curious about this quote is the question of what it has to do with hating women. At no point in the full clip, or in the section cited, does Santorum ever suggest that women are responsible for being raped, or say anything against women at all. In fact, he implicitly accepts the idea that the child was unasked for. So Moveon's ad seems to categorically imply that any women who decides to have a baby after being raped and getting pregnant is a traitor to her sex. Some would say that's just as extreme a position as Santorum's.

Quote #6. "Why should the government force you to insure for contraceptives? Are they going to have us have to ensure for toothpaste? I mean, this is ridiculous."

This quote comes from Rudy Giuliani and was cut out of the non-extended and more widely released ad. And it's easy to see why - Giuliani's point may strike a little too close to home for some people. In fact, it's exactly the same argument that the Blaze's Will Cain raised in conversation with Sandra Fluke on CNN. Are Cain and Giuliani part of a "war on women," or are they making a valid point?

Quote #7. "If we're going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want you to post the videos online so we can all watch."

This is one of the lines that Rush Limbaugh apologized for, but even at the time he said it, it was obvious that he didn't mean it. He was, to use his phraseology, "illustrating absurdity by being absurd." Irony and misogyny are scarcely synonymous.

Quote #8. "If we took away womens' right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democratic President. It's a personal fantasy of mine."

These words came from a woman - as the ad itself admits - namely, Ann Coulter. Coulter's famous for wanting to restrict voting rights on various bases other than gender in order to push the electorate in a more right-leaning direction. She has even said she'd gladly give up the right to vote herself for this to happen. Is Coulter a self-hating woman? And more to the point, have any conservative lawmakers actually proposed this idea?

In short, the ad stretches the truth at best and outright fabricates an alarmist spin at worst. It's vaguely reminiscent of another ad Moveon released in 2008, called "Not Alex":

This, in turn, inspired a raft of parodies like the one below: