I wrote earlier today about how necessary it is that Democrats stand up against Republican efforts to slime Planned Parenthood with a patently bogus video. Then, later, I read this:

Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) asked U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Tuesday to review whether the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress broke state and federal laws when it created a fake human tissue procurement company in order to gain access to and secretly film Planned Parenthood staffers. The Huffington Post reported on Friday that the CMP may have also illegally deceived the IRS and its donors by posing as a biomedicine charity in 2013.

“I am deeply concerned about the allegations that federal and state laws were violated in an attempt to attack Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides critical health care services to more than three million men and women each year, and that the attack was coordinated by conservative activists who want to discredit Planned Parenthood and its work,” Clarke said in a statement. “I urge Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the Honorable Kamala Harris, Attorney General of California, to initiate a full investigation into this incident to determine if any fraud or other illegal activities were committed.”

The Center for Medical Progress, which has ties to the violent anti-abortion activists at Operation Rescue, has released two heavily edited undercover videos that purport to show Planned Parenthood employees discussing the sale of fetal tissue. Planned Parenthood said the videos actually show employees discussing the donation of fetal tissue to scientific research, which is legal, not-for-profit and done only with the permission of the woman seeking the abortion. FactCheck.org debunked the CMP’s claims, noting that Planned Parenthood cannot possibly profit from the donation of fetal tissue based on the small reimbursement costs the doctor was caught discussing.

Nobody from Missouri’s on that list of righteous Democats – right, Claire McCaskill? In Missouri they line up with the Republicans – am I telling the truth Chris Koster – or else they keep their mouths shut and hope nobody notices.

But, outside Missouri the news is getting out that as far as “scandal” goes, there’s no there there in the CMP video, As today’s New York Times writes in an excellent editorial:

The Center for Medical Progress video campaign is a dishonest attempt to make legal, voluntary and potentially lifesaving tissue donations appear nefarious and illegal. Lawmakers responding by promoting their own anti-choice agenda are rewarding deception and putting women’s health and their constitutionally protected rights at risk.

Now just tell me how we go about getting some good, stand-up Democrats in Missouri to get that message out there.