More on the developing Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure story — Karen Handel (not grasping that this was, you know, maybe a pretty bad idea) decided to retweet a Jade Morey tweet vaguely defending the Foundation:

Just like a pro-abortion group to turn a cancer orgs decision into a political bomb to throw. Cry me a freaking river.

The retweet has since been deleted, but there’s a few things to note here before we move on:

1) Jade Morey’s not the problem, and arguing with her isn’t the solution: We’re not going to change Ms. Morey’s issue position on reproductive rights. As with so many of these cases (see Dr. Pepper, for example), let’s just not give the satisfaction of attention, even bad attention. Some challenges need to be faced by shining a light on the issue, but by trying to show her reasonable arguments, we’re just increasing her profile in the modern Republican establishment online. Our time’s better served elsewhere.

2) Karen Handel’s retweet may not have been endorsement (they’re often not), but even if it wasn’t (hey, let’s be real, it was), it showed remarkably poor judgment: your organization has no response to a major concern/frustration, and indeed faces specific attacks about your past and present decisions, and so you retweet a response that will only fan the flames? Just another piece of driftwood on the bonfire that is the rapid response strategy of the Foundation to this entire incident.

3) Karen Handel’s one part of the story here, but is not the only part: I’m glad to see some intellectual rigor going through the staff and decisions over at the Foundation, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that there’s almost certainly more at work here. I’ll try to provide some more background on Nancy Brinker, founder and CEO, and others when I can. This feels like an anti-choice organization choosing a time to spread its wings, and so the last thing I want is for them to sneak past scrutiny by firing or replacing one staffer and claiming the whole kerfluffle was due to that person. Let’s have better, more responsible nonprofit work, not just smoke and mirrors from the same old Republican folks.

(via Sara Langhinrichs and Lisa Mcintire)