The Gacy Clown Defense is when you try to nullify shockingly horrible things someone or some organization has done or is doing by invoking their charity.

In the case of John Wayne Gacy the defense would be, despite the fact that he brutally murdered 30+ people, Gacy would volunteer to dress up as a clown and entertain sick kids at hospitals.

See. He wasn’t really all that bad…

Similarly, despite the fact that they perform hundreds of thousands of abortions per year, Planned Parenthood also gives out free condoms and std tests.

See. They’re not all that bad…

The most recent incarnation of this defense, that I’ve seen, was made by Jazz Shaw over at Hot Air’s Greenroom:

Yes, money is fungible. We all know this. But those without blinders also know that abortions are actually not the majority of the work done by Planned Parenthood. In fact they are not anywhere near the 90% figure once quoted by Jon Kyle. (Disregarding his later politically charged pronunciations that the figures were not intended to be factual statements.) In fact, such procedures account for roughly 3% of the work performed. (EDIT: See below) And Komen, according to every source I can find, has never once spoken out or supported in any way abortion procedures. They raise funds which go to early cancer detection, and this is also something which PP provides at little to no cost to tens of thousands of women, along with other routine preventative health services. I’m only aware of this because of personal family and friend contacts who have made use of these services over the years and who have never had an abortion.

See. Sure Planned Parenthood does hundreds of thousands of abortions (which is actually more like 10% of the procedures they do not 3%) each year but, hey, they also offer “routine preventative health services”. So it’s a wash, right?

The point here isn’t that Planned Parenthood or even John Wayne Gacy never committed a good act in their existence. The point is they’ve committed such overwhelmingly heinous acts that whatever good they’ve done in comparison will never be enough to nullify that. That is why the Gacy Clown Defense will always fall flat. That is why it is deserving of mockery & ridicule.

So whenever you come across somebody making this argument please do identify it as such. Let them know they’re employing the Gacy Clown Defense and let them know how wrong it really is.

(How did nobody guess this guy was a serial killer by the way?)

UPDATE: It seems that Ezra Klein feels the Gacy Clown Defense is as good as some of the Nazis’ ideas. Here is how he’d like to nullify the more than 300,000 abortions Planned Parenthood performs each year:

As you can see in the chart atop this post, abortion services account for about 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s activities. That’s less than cancer screening and prevention (16 percent), STD testing for both men and women (35 percent), and contraception (also 35 percent). About 80 percent of Planned Parenthood’s users are over age 20, and 75 percent have incomes below 150 percent of the poverty line. Planned Parenthood itself estimates it prevents more than 620,000 unintended pregnancies each year, and 220,000 abortions. It’s also worth noting that federal law already forbids Planned Parenthood from using the funds it receives from the government for abortions.

See. They’re not so bad.

A bit of advice for pro-choicers: everybody knows you don’t think abortion is wrong so don’t try to tell the rest of us that abortion mills are ok because along with the abortions they perform they also do other stuff. Just go with your original line that abortion mills are ok because abortions are ok. It’s far less insulting & bizarre.

Anyway, enjoy:

Obama: bla bla bla bla bla hey guys bla bla bla the constitution says I gotta bore you to death tonight

Obama: bla bla bla bla I inherited a mess just like the world wars bla bla *Biden head shake* bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla random small town reference bla bla bla wall street hates children bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla this is the hardest presidency EVAH bla bla bla *fox letting teleprompter screens in the frame* bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla bla bla I healed the economy bla bla bla but not really bla bla but I will

Obama: bla bla bla bla taxes are fun and good for the economy bla bla bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla bla taxes arent fun and so I killed them all bla bla bla bla *obvious politician joke* hahahahahahahah bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla *harry reid falls asleep* bla bla bla *Pelosi displays no emotion or appearance of humanity* bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla the stimulus is totally awesome, come on guys, stop laughing bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla ok, so, never mind about the stimulus working bla bla bla bla lets do it again anyway! bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla bla bla *head swivel* bla bla bla bla bla bla *head swivel* bla bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla lets eliminate the capitol gains tax bla bla bla bla lets re-institute the WPA also!

Obama: bla bla I want to give a shout out to *looks at back of guitar* THE HOUSE!!! bla bla and lets not forget *looks again* THE SENATE!

Obama: bla bla bla bla people told me not to do stuff bla bla bla bla but I said hell no man! *slow serious head shake from Biden*

Obama: bla bla bla bla the US sucks at stuff compared to China and Germany bla bla USA USA USA USA!!! bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla solar power *crikets* bla bla bla bla nuclear power *cheering* bla bla bla oil drilling *cheering*

Obama: bla bla bla bla just kidding about oil and coal *puts on gotcha face* bla bla bla cap and trade!

Obama: bla bla bla bla exports will double because I want them to bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla *clapping* bla *clapping* bl*clapping* bla bla *clapping*

Obama: bla bla bla bla government schools suck bla bla bla bla solution? More government! bla bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla bla universal college! bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla universal healthcare! bla bla bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla I suck at politics bla bla bla bla bla insurance companies are evil bla bla bla fat kids

Obama: bla bla bla bla bla *dust off trusty talking points that have worked so well before* bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla seriously, your gonna like my health plan eventually bla bla bla bla seriously

Obama: bla bla dude, Bush made me spend all that money bla bla bla bla just statin’ the facts

Obama: bla bla bla bla *fox cuts to weird overhead view* bla bla bla belt tightening

Obama: bla bla bla bla bipartisanship bla bla *random democrat* bla bla bla *random republican*

Obama: bla bla I never believed all that crap I spewed on the campaign trail bla bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla Democrats have massive majority bla bla Republicans stop blocking everything we do!!! bla

Obama: bla bla bla bla I’m like Kennedy and Reagan combined and will rid the world of nukes bla bla bla bla bla

Obama: bla Iran is gonna get it bla bla bla bla you know, eventually

Obama: bla bla bla America rocks

Obama: bla bla bla bla oh yea, I almost forgot, dont ask dont tell bla bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla dude, dont you guys remember my slogan? bla bla bla bla

Obama: bla bla *random average person quote* bla bla bla bla *random average person quote* bla

Obama: bla bla bla God Da– Bless the United States of America bla bla bla bla *republicans rush out* Thank you *the end*

Now for the McDonnell translation:

McDonnell: bla bla bla Republican bla bla bla jobs bla bla jobs bla jobs

McDonnell: bla bla unemployment is high bla bla bla jobs are the answer bla

McDonnell: bla the stimulus sucks bla bla bla jobs

McDonnell: bla bla bla bla children bla bla grandchildren bla bla bla

McDonnell: bla bla big government is bad bla bla bla bla limited government is good

McDonnell: bla Obamacare sucks bla bla bla bla Obamacare sucks bla bla

McDonnell: bla Virginia’s got lots of oil bla bla bla bla

McDonnell: bla bla bla bla *Asian glasses guy shakes head* bla bla

McDonnell: bla bla bla I and the president agree bla bla bla but not really at all

McDonnell: bla bla bla bla *randomly drop scott brown’s name* bla bla bla bla

McDonnell: bla bla big government is bad bla bla bla limited government is good

McDonnell: bla bla bla bla USA USA USA USA!!! bla bla bla

McDonnell: bla bla bla God Bless America bla bla thank you *the end*

The reason Obama wanted health care finished before the recess can be explained in one quote: “I plan to have a lot of town hall meetings.” This was said by Rep. Allen Boyd Jr. (D-FL), a leader of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscal conservative Democrats. When Congress hears from members of their respective districts, and their problems and questions about this legislation, Congressional backing for this type of health care change will decrease to match their voters’ support.

If you listen to Congressional Democrats and President Obama, you would think our health care system is broken and ineffective. However, groups around the world think differently. Recently, the World Health Organization, an agency of the United Nations, ranked our health care system number 1 out of 191 counties for being responsive to patients’ needs. Also, in an ABC News poll, 89% of Americans are happy with their health care coverage.

In President Obama’s vision, he would have the government insure the uninsured, control costs, allow those who have health care to stay in the coverage, and improve the quality of the health care system. Oh, and add in doing all of that without increasing the already record high budget deficit. Do you buy that? No? Don’t worry about it. Neither does he.

The Congressional Budget Office has come out, stating that the Senate bill would not reduce costs, as President Obama has stated as one of his goals. In fact, this legislation would increase health care costs for Americans.

Another big piece of selling this plan to America comes when Obama says if you like your plan you can keep your plan. However, this is not entirely true. The government will move in and look into all the health care plans Americans have. If they deem the plan is unacceptable, you will be forced into a government-approved plan. Also, if anything in your current plan changes, such as a deductible, again, you will be forced into a government-approved option. The Lewin Group has made estimates, and concludes that 118 million people will lose their private insurance.

While President Obama says he will improve the health care system with a government takeover, evidence from other government-run health care systems show otherwise. Politicians who support a universal health care system point to Europe and Canada, where government run systems are the norm. However, in those places, health care is rationed to the population.

For instance, a person might wait to receive open heart surgery in one of those counties while the same person would be treated immediately. Or, if a person wants a hip replacement, the government can refuse to do that, based on the person’s age. Also, there is a reason why that cancer survival rates in Europe lag behind the United States’. In fact, Great Britain, know for its government-run, universal health care system, has even worse survival rates than the European averages. On the other hand, the United States, with faster diagnosis and easier access to treatments, sets the standard for cancer treatment.

President Obama refutes these claims by saying we wouldn’t have a European system. We would create an American system for American needs. Well, fine. If you want American evidence that government-run health care doesn’t work, look no further than Medicaid and Medicare, the health care program for the poor and elderly, respectively. Both are over budget and are draining the federal budget.

However, there currently is a health care bill that could pass the House after narrowly getting approval from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, with 5 Democrats joining 23 Republicans in opposition. The full House is expected to vote on this next month after their break.

This bill comes with about a $1 trillion price tag, with some estimates even higher. This piece of legislation will consume 1/6 of our federal budget. Another plan in the Senate has a price tag of $1.5 trillion, according to the CBO. To pay for this, Democrats propose an $800 billion tax increase during a recession, and mandates for employers that will discourage job growth.

None of this is to say some tweaking couldn’t hurt. But let’s remember, no one in this country can be denied care based on money. Our government already pays hospitals each year to care for the uninsured. However, there is room for improvement. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has experience in health care reform. His plan has some points that could benefit the rest of the country.

First, like car insurance, make it mandatory to have health insurance. Currently, there are people who can afford health insurance who decide not to get it. So let’s not pay for those who can buy insurance. For those who actually cannot afford to buy insurance, let’s use the money we spend on free hospital care to help pay for private insurance for these people.

In Massachusetts, a health insurance marketplace was created to help the uninsured to buy private health coverage. Mitt Romney also put in tax penalties to those who do not buy coverage, and to businesses with 11 or more workers that did not buy their employees coverage.

Maybe these ideas will work to improve our health care system. On the other hand, maybe it won’t. However, we owe it to each American to evaluate the system, its strengths and its weaknesses, figure out ways to make our current system better without harming future generations, and to take our time on it. For something that even President Obama says is one of the most important parts of our economy, we cannot afford to move this quickly on health care.