It's Time to Play 'Shame That Toon'!

The mainstream media has taken its first nibble! See update below.

Today is Day 2 of Project Max, the action plan to get stories about Planned Parenthood's vile cartoon into Sunday newspapers across the country. If you haven't yet read yesterday's introductory post about the plan, including step-by-step instructions on what you can do to get the word out, please read it now.

Thanks to the efforts of the pro-life community, the news about "A Superhero for Choice," which depicts a Planned Parenthood "superhero" gaily blowing up pro-lifers, continues to spread throughout the Web. As I write, it's currently the top Planned Parenthood story on Google News, with 15 news articles listed, and that's not even counting the syndicated CNS News story (which includes a link to the cartoon). Google also lists a total of 125 Web references to "A Superhero for Choice," nearly all from blogs or publications critical of the cartoon.

UPDATE, 1:07 p.m.: The mainstream media has taken its first nibble! Gaylon Parker, op-ed writer for the Mississippi Press (owned by Newhouse), covers the cartoon in "Trapping government waste in the 'Net.'

Radio has also picked up the story—kudos to Frank Pastore, Relevant Radio's Drew Mariani (who interviewed me yesterday), and Michael Savage.

Two issues have been coming up in the news and blog coverage of this story which are important to keep in mind as you approach your local newspaper, talk-radio show, or TV station about covering it:

• Planned Parenthood Golden Gate is trying to stifle its own animation. It removed the link to the cartoon from its Web page, with no explanation. (A link is there, but it only takes you back to the same page.)
  
  Clearly, Planned Parenthood is on the run. They know they screwed up. We have to push this issue to the point where newspapers, TV, and radio start asking them questions. Questions like, how could they use public funds to create a cartoon that glorifies hate crime (considering that 53 percent of their annual budget comes from taxpayers)?


• The other important issue that's being raised about "A Superhero for Choice" is that it comes at a time when Planned Parenthood's friends at NARAL are spending $500,000 on ads falsely depicting John Roberts as supporting an abortion-clinic bomber. It is outrageous hypocrisy for the abortion industry to falsely accuse Roberts of supporting violence, while openly advocating it themselves.

If you've been following the uproar over "A Superhero for Choice" since I first posted about it early Saturday morning, it may seem as though the story's been played out. After all, Michelle Malkin, NRO's The Corner, Spirit Daily, Christianity Today Online, and many others have already covered it. But remember this: It often takes the mainstream media weeks to catch on to a story after it's hit the blogs. It's highly unusual for mainstream news outlets to catch onto a story quickly. They just don't work that way. Most reporters and editors do not comb the Web beyond Drudge, CNN.com, and whatever pops up on their AOL launch page.

However, we can't wait weeks for the mainstream media to pick up on this story. Planned Parenthood, as mentioned, has already removed the link to the cartoon from its site (and it's only a matter of time before it takes down its now-hidden direct link to the animation as well). Most people are discovering the animation through the links provided by bloggers, who are hosting it on their own sites—at risk of a lawsuit—in a remarkable display of grassroots activism.

If "A Superhero for Choice" doesn't get into this Sunday's paper, Planned Parenthood may succeed in covering its tracks, and the story could go down in history, if at all, as just one of those wacko pro-life myths. That's why we have to take action—today.

So, please reread the five-step plan for action, contact your local newspaper, and leave a comment in the comments section of the original Project Max post to let others know which paper you contacted and whom you contacted there.

Also, it's very important to contact the Associated Press. If they pick up on the story, it will be everywhere. Here again are the people to contact there—remember to personalize your e-mail for each of them, rather than sending a group e-mail: Burl Osborne, AP Chairman, bosborne@ap.org;Tom Curley, AP President and CEO, tcurley@ap.org; and Kathleen Carroll, AP SVP/Executive Editor, kcarroll@ap.org.

If you're in California, contact the California Pro-Life Council to see how you can help their efforts to raise awareness of the cartoon. Yesterday, they issued a press release calling on Attorney General Bill Lockyer to investigate Planned Parenthood to see if taxpayer funds were used to make the animation, which the CPLC rightfully terms "hate speech."

Thanks very much to everyone participating in Project Max. You really can make a difference. All it takes is just one mainstream newspaper to pick up the story. Then others will follow, and Americans will learn something of the true nature of Planned Parenthood.