I have to admit that not even in my wildest dreams would I have ever have imagined a TN&V that combines a discussion of pro-abortion President Barack Obama, a tasteful and wonderfully educational video celebrating life, and a proposed Super Bowl ad from PETA that is as tasteless as it is objectionable. Stay with me while I give the background.

Regular readers may remember our post that ran the day before the 36th anniversary of the ghastly Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions. ["Fortunately, His Own Logic Not Applied to Him"-- www.nrlc.org/News_and_Views/Jan09/nv012109.html] It dealt with one of the most poignant and inspiring advertisements I've ever seen.

Without giving away the punch line, "Imagine Spot 1" tells the kind of story that pro-abortionists regularly trot out to illustrate a kid whose initial life trajectory qualifies him as someone who would have been "better off" aborted. Turns out the narrative is of the life of Barack Obama!

According to today's Washington Times, after giving initial approval, NBC rejected it as an ad for this Sunday's Super Bowl.

"Imagine Spot 1," a YouTube video that has amassed more than 700,000 hits since its Jan. 20 premiere on Black Entertainment Television, was submitted earlier this week to NBC by Fidelis, a Chicago-based Catholic organization," writes Julia Duin. "Its subsidiary, CatholicVote.org, runs the 30-second spot on its Web site."

Fidelis president Brian Burch explained to Duin said that NBC's original response was for a much larger ad package, "including ads on NBC-owned or operated stations in the country's top 10 markets plus an additional four cities for a price tag of $1.5 million to $1.8 million."

Burch told Duin, "I was told the ad was approved and then there were a number of attorneys working on it. Then I was told they didn't want to run political or advocacy ads."

So where does PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] fit in? It, too, had an ad turned down. Various media accounts describe its advertisement as "salacious," as mild a description as one could possibly imagine.

But NBC did not reject the PETA ad out of hand, prompting Burch to suggest a double standard. PETA, an advocacy group by anyone's standards, posted a note on its website "attributed to Victoria Morgan, NBC vice president for advertising standards, suggested eight 'edits that need to be made' so the ad could run," Duin writes. "PETA refused to comply."

Burch told the Washington Times that NBC was "willing to air an ad by PETA if they would simply tone down the sexual suggestiveness," adding, "Our ad is far less provocative, and hardly controversial by comparison." He also pointed to another ad that ran in the Super Bowl that was political in nature.

You can read Duin's fine story and watch "Imagine Spot 1" at www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/29/nbc-rejects-pro-life-video-featuring-obama.

Here's the text of the spot. The visual backdrop is of an unborn child in his mother's womb. With violins playing in the background, the following text appears on the screen:

"The child's future is a broken home.
"He will be abandoned by his father.
"His single mother will struggle to raise him.
"Despite the hardships he will endure,
"This child will become
"The first African American President."
The tag line is, "Life: Imagine the Potential."

Fortunately, the logic of the people Obama hangs with and supports six days a week and twice on Sunday, was not applied to him.

Be sure to invite your friends to subscribe to TN&V by going to http://www.nrlc.org/join_our_mailing_list.htm. Also encourage them to subscribe to National Right to Life News, "the pro-life newspaper of record," which can be done by clicking on http://www.nrlc.org/news/subscribe.html, or calling 202-626-8828.