DOWNLOADS: (148)

PLAYS: (411)

Embed

This has to be one of the more pitiful segments that I've had the unfortunate circumstance of watching for a while now. Anderson Cooper really should be ashamed of himself for allowing Mary Matalin and Ari Fleischer get away with this ridiculous defense of Rush Limbaugh where they decided to start attacking Arianna Huffington for a satirical piece posted at her web site, The Huffington Post.

Here's the offending piece that apparently had Fleischer and Matalin worked into a tizzy -- The Jesus-Eating Cult of Rick Santorum.

And here's his response which was also posted there as well where he explains what he wrote and why he wrote it -- Dear Catholics: I Am Heartily Sorry, etc.:

Actually, I'm not sorry at all, but I suppose an explanation is in order.

Last week, I wrote a piece with the somewhat provocative title "The Jesus-Eating Cult of Rick Santorum." The purpose was to take Santorum to task for his persistent and opportunistic attacks on the faith of others, in particular his dog whistle references to President Obama's "phony ideology" and his assertion that it is impossible to be a Christian and liberal. My criticism took the form of a ridiculously over-the-top broadside against Roman Catholicism, a demonstration of the type of vicious religious ignorance and intolerance I too often see coming from too many so-called Christians, especially Santorum. [...]

I won't say that Catholics need to lighten up or learn to take a joke, because the piece wasn't intended to be light-hearted or funny. It was satire, meaning... well, you can look that up. (It was probably a mistake to put it in the Comedy section; the editors wanted readers to know it was not to be taken literally.)

It's traditional at this point for me to half-apologize, to say that I'm sorry if anybody was offended, but I really don't mind if anybody was offended. I hope they will now think twice before they question the faith of progressive Christians, or Mormons or Muslims. I doubt they will.

Apparently that was completely lost on Matalin and Fleischer as well, or maybe not and they know full well the piece was satire and their only defense of Limbaugh is to distract, attack and lay it on thick with the false equivalencies. And note to Maria Cardona here, the correct answer for Fleischer when he ambushes you with a question about something you haven't read is to say you haven't seen it and won't comment on it until you do and you'd be happy to discuss it later after you look at what he's talking about instead of ceding ground to their attacks.

A writer that most people have not heard of at Huffington's site writing a piece of satire and his response after the fact explaining what he did and why is in no way the same as Rush Limbaugh's nasty, personal attacks on Sandra Fluke and Fleischer and Matalin know it.

And speaking of Ari Fleischer, why is anyone listening to anything this man has to say about women's reproductive rights or contraception after that sage advice he was paid to give the Komen foundation?

And one last note to Cooper and Cardona, someone needs to call Matalin out when she conflates contraception with abortion like her buddy Rove did a little while back.

h/t Digby

Transcript below the fold.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (94)

PLAYS: (215)

Embed

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney warned voters on Wednesday that President Barack Obama might eventually curb the rights of gun owners since he is also requiring all health insurers to cover contraception for women.

A man at an event in Fargo, North Dakota asked the candidate how he would "protect our right to the Second Amendment and our right to bear arms."

"I like all the amendments," Romney replied. "And I like the Second Amendment. And I like the Constitution. It is my blueprint and I will protect the right to bear arms in this country for any lawful purpose -- self protection, hunting, what ever purpose people have. I have a couple of guns myself. Shotguns, that is."

"I know there will be an attack on the Second Amendment, just as there was recently attack on the First Amendment," the former Massachusetts governor asserted. "Obamacare is interpreted by this administration to say, for instance, to the Catholic Church that they have to provide to the employees -- let's say universities that are in the Catholic Church -- they have to provide to them sterilization treatment free, contraceptives and morning-after pills. And that violates the conscience of the church, the conscience of the individuals. And fortunately, there is an effort in Washington to stop that, to reverse that."

"But this is a president, I agree, who is attacking the principles of the Constitution: the First Amendment, the Second Amendment and there will be more. And by the way, the Tenth Amendment is the one most constantly under attack."

On Wednesday, Romney calmed the fears of one supporter in Ohio who worried that the candidate was going prevent gun owners from protecting themselves from a “tyrannical government.”

DOWNLOADS: (252)

PLAYS: (2107)

Embed

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) has a simple solution for women who work for religious institutions that refuse to cover birth control: Find a new job.

During a call-in show on C-SPAN Monday morning, a woman named Doris from Osawatomie, Kansas told Brownback that she was worried that he wanted to turn back the clock on women's rights.

"No, goodness," Brownback replied. "That's not true."

"I am concerned that -- along with lots of other red states -- Gov. Brownback feels that we should be the reddest state in the country," Doris explained. "Women's rights are being trampled. He was talking about what President Obama is requiring insurance companies to do, to cover birth control. You know you are taking away the individual woman's right to decide if they need birth control."

"Ninety-eight percent of women have used birth control in their lives," she added. "Now, we can pay for vasectomies, we can pay for Viagra, but we cannot pay for birth control for women? I think it's a shame."

Brownback immediately disagreed.

"What the president basically said is if you are church that does not believe in this -- and the Catholic Church has problems with, the official Catholic Church, amongst other institutions, have problems with paying for contraceptives," the Kansas governor explained. "You have a number of religious groups who saying, 'We don't want to pay for so-called abortifacients, these have morning after pill-type effects. And this is against our religious beliefs.' And the president was saying, 'You got to pay for it.' And they were saying, 'This is against our view life is sacred.'"

"That's not denying women's rights," he insisted. "If a woman then wants birth control, go work somewhere else."

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (342)

PLAYS: (3850)

Embed

Chris Matthews just couldn't seem to make it through another segment talking about the Republican's recent overreach with their assault on women's access to affordable contraceptives without bringing on the Catholic bishops favorite water carrier, Melinda Henneberger.

Henneberger's recent piece at The Washington Post attempts to blame Democrats for ginning up the recent debate purely for political and fundraising purposes as though the backlash against the actions of the Catholic bishops and some of the recent statements from presidential candidate Rick Santorum, or the invasive transvaginal ultrasound bill that it appears Virginia Bob McDonnell has now backed off of, was not real or sincere.

Thankfully Salon's Joan Walsh was there to push back at Henneberger's assertions and I'll just lead readers over to her column where she has more on the interview above -- Did crafty Dems make contraception a campaign issue? :

First Rush Limbaugh, now the Washington Post women's blog, claim the GOP was set up by its enemies on birth control

Did you know the GOP doesn’t want to be talking about contraception? That it’s an issue ginned up by opportunistic Democrats? Rush Limbaugh made that case last week (while also insisting Republicans would win an election decided on culture war issues, so I’m not sure what his problem was.) But Wednesday it made its way to the Washington Post’s women’s blog, in a piece by Melinda Henneberger headlined: “It’s Democrats who are putting focus on birth control.”

Now, Henneberger is not a Republican. She’s a sorta-liberal, a veteran of the New York Times, Huffington Post, Slate and Politics Daily, who too often gives Republicans the benefit of the doubt, particularly when it comes to reproductive health issues. She emerged as a leading voice criticizing President Obama’s decision to require all employers, even religiously affiliated ones (though not churches) to provide contraception coverage in health insurance policies. You know my stand on that. But her questionable views on the politics of birth control got my attention a few weeks earlier, when she carried water for Rick Santorum and let him whine in an interview that Salon’s Irin Carmon had been unfair to him in her piece “Rick Santorum is coming for your birth control.”

Much more there where Walsh takes Henneberger's arguments apart, so go read the rest.

Transcript below the fold.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (124)

PLAYS: (305)

Embed

Rep. Paul Ryan told David Gregory on this Sunday's Meet the Press that he wasn't concerned about Republicans over playing their hand on the issue of contraception and women's health while discussing some of Rick Santorum's latest remarks on the campaign trail.

Ryan told Gregory that he was instead worried that matter "might get misconstrued" and that voters were going to look at this as a matter of freedom of religion and the government over reaching and demanding that employers are mandated to pay for "everyone else's free birth control."

Rep. Chris Van Hollen did a fair job of pointing out that the Republicans were turning to wedge issues to get their base riled up because they have nothing else to run on right now and the weren't screaming about the many states that already had similar requirements for religious institutions and what services they were required to cover for their employees.

I really wish the Democrats would ask Republicans one question when they start screaming about how religious institutions ought to be allowed to discriminate against their female employees and that is just how far do they think that religious "freedom" goes with what laws they should have a right to disobey. Should they be allowed to ignore child labor laws? OSHA rules? Laws and regulations on the safety of the medications provided in their hospitals? Just where is the line drawn with these so-called "conscience clauses"?

If Paul Ryan thinks the Republicans are going to be able to frame this is an attack on religious "freedom" and defending their "freedom" to discriminate against women is some women is some winner for them, again, I say, good luck with that. You're going to need it.

And if anyone else is as tired of seeing Ryan's smug mug on the television set, you can support his opponent Rob Zerban at our Blue America page here -- Stop Paul Ryan.

Transcript below the fold.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (885)

PLAYS: (3603)

Embed

Chris Hayes and his panel members Reihan Salam, Maria Hinojosa, Nancy Cohen and Kai Wright discussed the potential implications for presidential hopeful Rick Santorum's campaign after the release of this audio from 2008 uncovered by Right Wing Watch.

Santorum: Satan is Systematically Destroying America:

Back in 2008, Rick Santorum traveled to Ave Maria University in Florida to deliver an address to students attending the Catholic university founded by Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan which he moved from Michigan as part of his effort to build his own personal theocracy in Naples.

Santorum told the students at Ave Maria how lucky they were to be living in a time when God's Army is more needed than ever because all of the major institutions in society were under attack by Satan.

The audio of Santorum's remarks is still posted on the Ave Maria website and the bulk of his speech was dedicated to explaining how God had used him, his political career, and even the death of his son Gabriel in the fight to outlaw abortion in America.

But Santorum began his remarks by explaining to the students in attendance how every institution in America has been destroyed by Satan; from academia to politics with even the church having fallen under His sway - not the Catholic church, of course, but "mainline Protestantism" which is in such "shambles" that it is not even Christian any longer:

You can read the full transcript in their post. Here's more from Think Progress -- Santorum Excommunicates 45 Million Christians: Mainline Protestants Are ‘Gone From The World Of Christianity’:

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (336)

PLAYS: (2505)

Embed

I'm still just flabbergasted that the Republicans are doubling down on the idea that running on an anti-contraception platform and basically calling women who want to use birth control sluts, as Santorum Super PAC funder Foster Friess more or less did this Thursday during his interview with Andrea Mitchell, and that somehow is a good idea for them to make some electoral gains in the upcoming election.

Chris Matthews has been pretty terrible with a lot of his coverage on the issue and carrying a lot of water for the Catholic bishops, between his interview with Melinda Henneberger, or having the gay Tory Andrew Sullivan on as some expert on women's reproductive issues later in the week.

He made up for it a bit today with the inclusion of Rep. Jackie Speier and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton on his panel to discuss Darrell Issa and his Congressional hearing on "the intrusion of government into religion" and got some of their feedback on how women are being used as a political punching bag by the right.

All I can say is that when someone has finally over reached to the point where you've even lost Chis Matthews on the issue of abortion and contraceptive rights for women in America, you've lost that battle.

Matthews warned that candidate Rick Santorum had better do something quick to fix the mess that his funder Friess made on Mitchell's show, or he's going to lose every woman voter out there. I would apply that same logic to anyone who wants to vote for any Republican period that supports taking us back to the 1950's with these battles that should have long been over with women having a right to use contraception, or to anyone that actually ever considered voting for Rick Santorum before this dust up.

Jackie Speier made a really good point that is not included in the video above, and that was asking if the Catholic church has any objection to vasectomies for men being covered in health care plans, since that's a form of contraception as well. I'm guessing the answer is no, since they only seem to be concerned about the right for someone to control their own reproduction and bodies if it means keeping those uppity women in line who haven't learned their place yet.

Lawrence O'Donnell had on Santorum's Super PAC funder Friess that same night and I don't think he really did his candidate a whole lot of favors here. His response to O'Donnell asking what he meant with his statement to Mitchell was basically, it was a joke and Rick Santorum really does believe in providing contraception to women, even though he couldn't explain his statements contrary to that.

Video below the fold from O'Donnell's show.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (232)

PLAYS: (1606)

Embed

And the war on women's reproductive rights continues over at Fox. As our friends at News Hounds noted-- apparently undeterred by being made a mockery of by Jon Stewart-- Fox News brought back Father Jonathan Morris to double down on his suggestion that clergy should be “ready to die” to fight President Obama’s mandate that health insurers cover birth control.

Father Jonathan Morris Doubles Down On His Pledge To Die In Pro-Life Opposition To Contraception Coverage:

Despite being ridiculed by Jon Stewart for making the jaw-dropping suggestion that clergy should be “ready to die” to fight President Obama’s mandate that health insurers cover birth control, Father Jonathan Morris doubled down on his “pledge” last night on Hannity. “Of course I’m willing to die, of course I’m willing to go to jail, of course I’m willing to pay a fine. That is the most normal, non-radical thing I can think of,” Morris said fervently. I don’t know how the other guest, a rabbi in support of the mandate, didn’t burst out laughing at such ridiculous theatrics. A priest threatening to die in the name of pro-life opposition to contraception coverage in health insurance? Come on! In reality, the mandate wouldn’t even affect Morris’ own church. [...]

But Morris wasn’t done with his over-the-top rhetoric. He compared President Obama’s accommodation - having health insurers pay for the coverage - to murder. “We recognize it goes against my conscience to kill. The president is saying, 'You know what? Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to kill that person any more. We’re going to just make sure you pay somebody else to do the bidding for you, to kill that person for you.' That’s an analogy but that’s exactly what it is.”

Full transcript below the fold.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (198)

PLAYS: (1903)

Embed

Jon Stewart took a whack the previous night at the hypocritical Catholic bishops and the Republicans who are running straight off a cliff with their opposition to the HHS mandate that will require contraceptives to be covered at no cost by insurance companies, and this Tuesday, it was Stephen Colbert's turn.

COLBERT: Folks, I have often warned you that President Obama is an anti-religious zealot, which is surprising, since he is also a devout secret Muslim. Now he is launching a vengeful crusade against the Catholic Church, which is especially hurtful, since vengeful crusades... kind of our thing. […]

I say if Jesus wanted everyone to have insurance, he'd have been crucified on a Blue Cross Blue Shield. […]

The Catholic bishops are especially angry, because paying for contraception contradicts a belief those bishops hold dear; that Catholics don't use birth control. Which isn't easy because 98 percent of Catholic women use birth control. The other 2 percent, are nuns. […]

Now, some in the liberal complain-o-sphere are saying if you take tax payer money, you have to follow taxpayer rules. And yes, the church accepts a little federal money here and there. In 2010 Catholic charities received $2.9 billion. But that's only 62 percent of their total revenue. After taxes, that's still 62 percent because they don't pay taxes.

And while that money came from all of the taxpayers, most of whom aren't Catholic, once the bishops lay their hands upon that secular cash, it is transubstantiated into bishop bucks, the cash flow of Christ. Which means the money now holds the beliefs of the Catholic hierarchy and can be spent only on items approved at the highest levels, like massive legal settlements.

The Republicans and Rick Santorum got their turn in the box next.

Once again, it's the comedians putting the Villagers in the media to shame with making a mockery of the blatant hypocrisy they'd rather carry water for than call out.

DOWNLOADS: (692)

PLAYS: (9622)

Embed

After being away last week, Jon Stewart got a chance to go after these hypocritical Catholic bishops for their opposition to the new health care mandate to cover contraception as only he can:

STEWART: Yes! We are men of god! That money must not be used for contraception! That money has been set aside for out of court alter boy settlements and of course, some priest relocation. Respect our authority! Seriously? A firestorm among "many Catholics" or the old dudes who run it? [...]

Old dudes who run it. Check.

Stewart got some good knocks in on Santorum, Gingrich and now the GOP for going off the cliff with their proposition for any employer to be able to deny health care coverage for "moral" reasons as well. Once again here, we've got the comedian pointing out how far off the Republicans have gone off the rails, while the media fails to do their job.

And speaking of media failures, more with Stewart nailing Hannity for his panel full of more crusty old white dudes as supposed "experts" on women's reproductive rights and the wingnuts out there pulling the Hitler card when claiming to be persecuted over this matter below the fold.

Continue reading »