With five weeks to go until the June 20 special election runoff, Jon Ossoff is finally going at Karen Handel's biggest weak spot: Planned Parenthood. If you're unfamiliar with this ugly backstory, a refresher is in order. In 2011, the year after Handel lost a bid for governor, the breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure hired her as a top executive. The following January, Handel announced that Komen was cutting off support for Planned Parenthood, on the entirely pretextual grounds that Planned Parenthood was "under investigation." (House Republicans, led by then-Rep. Cliff Stearns, had launched a witch-hunt against the organization that, of course, ultimately went nowhere—just like Stearns' career.)
The move generated an instant, massive backlash, since it was obvious that Handel's real motivation was her hostility toward abortion. Indeed, during her gubernatorial campaign, she had said, "[S]ince I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood." As a result, Komen reversed itself just four days later; a few days after that, Handel resigned. The entire debacle didn't just damage Handel: It also caused lasting harm to Komen, which saw its funding drop 22 percent in the ensuing fiscal year.
Meanwhile, despite the GOP's best efforts, Planned Parenthood remains very popular nationwide in poll after poll, and in a well-educated, affluent district like Georgia's 6th, you'd expect it to be well-liked there, too. Indeed, it must be, because Ossoff's newest TV spot just shreds Handel for betraying Planned Parenthood. The ad stars an exceptionally poised and authentic OB-GYN named Mindy Fine, who talks about her job and what Planned Parenthood means to women like her:
Part of a normal exam is screening for breast and cervical cancer.
When we catch it early, we save lives.
But Karen Handel cut off funding for Planned Parenthood cancer screenings when she was an executive at Susan G. Komen.
I don't usually get involved in politics, but as a doctor and a breast cancer survivor myself, what Karen Handel did is unforgivable.
Even though Handel once happily shouted her hatred for Planned Parenthood from the rooftops—after her implosion at Komen, she wrote a book called, if you can believe it, "Planned Bullyhood"—she now seems to recognize that her strident past is a danger to her future. Last month, in a telephone interview with Fortune magazine, a Handel aide cut the conversation short when reporter Alana Abramson asked about Planned Parenthood. Calling Abramson back 20 minutes later (presumably after a hasty strategy session), Handel still refused to say whether she supports Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. Ossoff, obviously, is not going to let her get away with trying to change the subject.
Meanwhile, Handel's own new ad—her first since the primary a month ago—steers clear of anything controversial. As such, it's an entirely forgettable spot in which Handel says she's "been involved in the 6th District for almost 25 years" and offers some pabulum about how wonderful it would be to represent it in Congress.
Send $3 Jon Ossoff’s way so that he can keep hammering Karen Handel over Planned Parenthood.