April 13, 2011; Source: The Hill | In what looks like a particularly cynical (and transparently flimsy) strategy to divide and conquer, a conservative group, American Principles Project, blasted the Obama Administration on Wednesday for making $600 million in cuts to community health centers while preserving funding for Planned Parenthood.

Before saying anything else, let us get on record as saying that we are big health center promoters ourselves and hate to see them cut when they are poised to become the nation's premier primary care network in many communities.

But back to the position taken by the American Principles Project. Frank Cannon, APP’s president said in a prepared statement, "Coating its ideology in flowery language about women's health and alleged Republican mean-spiritedness, liberal Democrats refused to cut one dime out of Planned Parenthood's plump federal purse during the budget debate . . . all the while a sharp knife was being taken to community health centers that actually perform full-scale exams for the needy.”

As far as we can see, this is the first time APP or Cannon has spoken up for the health centers which were, themselves, the target of conservatives during the health care reform debate as may be noted here (PDF) and here. —Ruth McCambridge