Just last year, during his re-election campaign, Rep. Mike Coffman was apparently so enamored with Planned Parenthood that he featured the organization's logo in an advertisement.
Now, after a bogus video has been released attacking Planned Parenthood, Coffman is acting like he's always hated the organization, telling a Denver radio station Thursday, "It's just one thing after another with Planned Parenthood."
Then why did Coffman feature a Planned Parenthood logo in a campaign ad just last year, KNUS 710-AM's Dan Caplis should have asked Coffman. Coffman's 2014 ad stated that Coffman "was praised for protecting women from violence" and showed the Planned Parenthood Action Fund logo on the screen.
Judging from yesterday's radio interview, Coffman has a list of longstanding grievances against Planned Parenthood, and Caplis would have done his listeners a favor by asking Coffman what they are. What was Coffman thinking of when he said Planned Parenthood has done "one thing after another?"
When Coffman's ad ran last year, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains responded by pointing out that Coffman "voted many times to de-fund Planned Parenthood health centers, which provide many important health services to women including birth control, family planning services, and lifesaving cancer screenings."
In 2011, Coffman voted against Planned Parenthood funding, as part of a House resolution to the federal budget bill, HR 36, which prohibited making funds available "for any purpose to Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc. or any affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America Inc."
For most of his political career, Coffman maintained his ardent opposition to abortion, even in the cases of rape and incest, as well as his support for personhood ballot measures in 2008 and 2010, which would have outlawed all abortion and some forms of birth control.
However, in 2013, Coffman flipped, and his office stated that the Congressman supported giving rape victims the option of having an abortion.
Coffman has never explained what motivated this change, leaving everyone to conclude that he was trying to shine himself up for women voters in his swing district,where women think favorably of Planned Parenthood. Hence, his unauthorized use of the Planned Parenthood logo in the ad.
Coffman made his comments about Planned Parenthood in response to Caplis' question about the release of a heavily edited video, accusing the organization illegally selling fetal tissue.
Independent fact checkers have concluded that the video does not prove that Planned Parenthood is doing anything illegal, and an unedited version of the video shows the organizations staff saying, 10 times, that he Planned Parenthood would not sell or profit from the sale of fetal tissue.
But Coffman was apparently fooled by the video, and used it to confirm his existing anger at Planned Parenthood.
So the question remains, if Coffman really dislikes Planned Parenthood so much, why does he wrap himself in the organization's logo when campaign season rolls around?