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House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) says that President Barack Obama is "diminishing the presidency" by fighting for low student loan rates, a fairer tax structure and regulations on oil speculators.

"The president and I have a very good relationship," Boehner told CNN's Candy Crowley on Sunday. "And as a result, I try to avoid personal attacks on the president."

"The president is getting some very bad advice from his campaign team because he's diminishing the presidency by picking fights, going after straw men every day. You know, we had the Buffet rule. You know, it went on for months. Even the president admitted it was a gimmick. And then we had the Rose Garden ceremony talking about manipulation in the oil markets without one shred of evidence. And he has an entire administration to go after speculation or manipulation in the oil markets. And then they pick this student loan fight where there is no fight."

He added: "The president is bigger than this. The presidency is important. America has big challenges."

While both Republicans and Democrats agree low student loan rates should be extended, the White House said last week that the president would veto a GOP plan to pay for the measure by cutting a health care fund that benefits women.

"Women, in particular, will benefit from this prevention fund, which would provide for hundreds of thousands of screenings for breast and cervical cancer," a White House statement insisted. "This is a politically motivated proposal and not the serious response that the problem facing America's college students deserves."

But on Sunday, Boehner said it was "nonsense" that cutting the fund would diminish breast and cervical cancer screenings.

"There's no women's health issue here," Boehner remarked. "I'll guarantee you that they've not spent a dime out of this fund dealing with anything to do with women's health. What we're trying to do here is to deal with this problem in a responsible way."

Asked about recent attacks where he said Obama had "checked out," made the presidency "smaller" and "lost his courage," Boehner said he was just trying to be helpful.

"The president is getting some bad advice," the Speaker explained. "Somebody needed to help him out. So, I thought I would."

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I guess John Boehner believes that whoever yells the loudest wins, because he decided to throw another temper tantrum on the floor of the House this Friday -- John Boeher On ‘War On Women’: ‘Give Me A Break’:

House Speaker John Boehner channelled his inner John Stossell Friday on the House floor when he sounded off on Democratic rhetoric pointing to the House GOP’s legislative agenda and finding a “war on women.”

“And now, now we are going to have a fight over women’s health,” Boehner said. “Give me a break. This is the latest plank in the so-called war on women. Entirely created, entirely created by my colleagues across the aisle for political gain.”

Steve Benen has more on what Boehner and the Republicans could do if they're really concerned about their problem with women voters -- Boehner can make this subject go away:

House Republicans this week said they would agree to keep student loan interest rates at their current level, but only if they're allowed to gut spending on preventive health care to finance the costs. The White House balked, but the GOP didn't care -- today, the Republican bill passed, 215 to 195, largely along party lines.

Several Democratic lawmakers noted the impact the GOP health care cuts would have on women's health, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who's apparently grown a little sensitive to talk about the Republican "war on women," threw a bit of a tantrum on the House floor during the legislative debate.

I can appreciate why Boehner doesn't want to talk about the negative impact Republican policies are having on women, but I'd remind the Speaker that the quickest way to change the conversation is for Republicans to stop pursuing policies that have a negative impact on women.

In this case, rather than simply helping students because it would be good for them and the economy, Boehner's caucus decided to play a cheap little game -- they'll keep interest rates low only if they take funding from the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which has nothing to do with student loans. [...]

Boehner can shout, point, and pound the podium to his heart's content, but if he doesn't want to be criticized for Republican measures that undermine women's health, he should change his party's agenda, not whine about Democrats shining a light on that agenda.

And as Steve noted, here's more from the White House on the real impact their demands would mean for women's health:

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Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's senior adviser insisted on Sunday that it was "not fair to say" that his boss wanted to defund Planned Parenthood just because he intends to strip the organization of all federal funding.

"Anyone who saw the controversy with the Komen Foundation knows that Planned Parenthood gets the lion's share of its money from private sector contributions," Romney aide Ed Gillespie told Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday. "We're talking about federal funding for Planned Parenthood."

"But they do a lot of things beyond abortion," Wallace pointed out.

"They do," Gillespie agreed. "And if people want to give to that charity for that purpose, that's a noble thing to do. Federal funding of abortion is not a noble thing to do. And so defunding -- from a federal budget perspective -- Planned Parenthood is not the same thing as defunding Planned Parenthood."

"You've got the Hyde Amendment, which says there's no federal funding of abortion," Wallace noted. "And the federal government has given money to Planned Parenthood for years with the money for abortion sequestered off. Why isn't that good enough? It's worked for years."

"Money is fungible as we all know," Gillespie argued. "People can disagree with that, but it's not fair to say that not having federal funding for Planned Parenthood is defunding Planned Parenthood."

Speaking to KDSK in March, Romney said that he would "get rid" of the family planning organization.

"The test is pretty simple: Is the program so critical, it's worth borrowing money from china to pay for it?" the candidate explained. "And on that basis of course you get rid of Obamacare, that's the easy one. Planned Parenthood, we're going to get rid of that."

In February, Romney said it was even "wrong" for private organizations like like Susan G. Komen for the Cure to fund Planned Parenthood’s breast cancer screenings for poor women.

“Look, the idea that we’re subsidizing an institution which is providing abortion, in my view, is wrong,” the former Massachusetts governor told conservative radio host Scott Hennen.

“I am a pro-life individual. I was a pro-life governor, served as a pro-life governor. I’m a pro-life candidate. I simply do not want to participate in anything that takes away the life of an unborn child,” he added.

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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says that it's "wrong" for organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure to fund Planned Parenthood's breast cancer screenings for poor women.

During an interview with conservative radio host Scott Hennen on Monday, Romney said he disagreed with the Komen Foundation reversing their earlier decision to cut off breast cancer screening funding for Planned Parenthood because they also provide abortions, even though he had promised to protect a woman's right to choose in 2002.

"Look, the idea that we're subsidizing an institution which is providing abortion, in my view, is wrong," the candidate said.

"I am a pro-life individual. I was a pro-life governor, served as a pro-life governor. I'm a pro-life candidate. I simply do not want to participate in anything that takes away the life of an unborn child," he added.

In a 2011 report (PDF), the American Cancer Society found that breast cancer survivors from low-income areas had a lower survival rate, possibly because they were less likely to receive screenings. Less than 50 percent of poor women between the ages of 40 and 49 had screenings in the two years prior to 2010, while over 67 percent of non-poor women were screened.

Last week, the former Massachusetts governor claimed he had misspoken when he said that he was “not concerned about the very poor.”

“We have a safety net there,” he had told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien. “If it needs repair, I’ll fix it.”

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Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Sunday suggested that Susan G. Komen for the Cure shouldn't provide grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings because abortions cause breast cancer, a false claim that has been repeatedly debunked.

The candidate told Fox News host Chris Wallace that he didn't agree with the Komen Foundation reversing itself last week and making Planned Parenthood eligible for future grants.

"I've taken the position as a presidential candidate and someone in Congress that Planned Parenthood funds and does abortions," Santorum explained. "They're a private organization they stand up and support what ever they want."

"I don't believe that breast cancer research is advanced by funding an organization where you've seen ties to cancer and abortion," he added. "So, I don't think it's a particularly healthy way of contributing money to further cause of breast cancer, but that's for a private organization like Susan B. Komen to make that decision."

According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the several small flawed studies that suggested a link between abortion and breast cancer have been disproven.

"Since then, better-designed studies have been conducted," the institute's website said. "These newer studies examined large numbers of women, collected data before breast cancer was found, and gathered medical history information from medical records rather than simply from self-reports, thereby generating more reliable findings. The newer studies consistently showed no association between induced and spontaneous abortions and breast cancer risk."

In 2002, the Bush administration temporarily altered NCI's website to say that scientific evidence supported a possible link between abortion and breast cancer. After an outcry from the scientific community, NCI corrected its website with an accurate fact sheet.

A study released by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) in 2006 found that the Bush administration also used pregnancy resource centers -- commonly known as “crisis pregnancy centers” -- to falsely inform pregnant teens that the risk of breast cancer increased by 80 percent after an abortion.

"This tactic may be effective in frightening pregnant teenagers and women and discouraging abortion," the study concluded (PDF). "But it denies the teenagers and women vital health information, prevents them from making an informed decision, and is not an accepted public health practice."

Ironically, there are several substantial studies that link breast cancer to BPA, which Komen has ignored in pursuit of corporate donations (and the merchandising income of their pink ribbon water bottles). However, neither Chris Wallace nor Rick Santorum appears to be concerned with actual science over debunked politically-driven pseudo-science.

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David Shuster filling in for Keith Olbermann on Countdown this Wednesday evening spoke to comedian and Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead about the dust up with the Susan G. Komen foundation's decision to pull their funding from Planned Parenthood. Lizz has been out there doing terrific work trying to raise money for Planned Parenthood for some time now and she didn't mince any words when it came to her feelings on the recent assault on the group from the right.

WINSTEAD: Well, I think she said it herself when she was running for governor when she said, "I don't support the mission of Planned Parenthood." And the mission of Planned Parenthood is to provide affordable heath care for low-income women. And, if you don't support that mission, I really don't know how you can call yourself pro-life in the least.

And I think it's very suspect that, within the last year, this woman who was running for governor — who got Sarah Palin's endorsement, she was so conservative that she got the endorsement of Palin, — ran for Governor of Georgia the same year this legislation comes to be in Congress. And Susan Komen's new edict is "we can't support any organization that has legislation before Congress that's investigative."

Where are those dots? How do those connect? It does seem like — conservative person needed to put a piece of legislation in place so that Susan Komen could conveniently withhold their funding. It might sound tinfoil-hat-y. But I would like to, at least, know that there is not connection, or, if there is, I'd like to know that too.

Lizz has a new article in The Guardian with more you can read here -- By defunding Planned Parenthood, the Susan G Komen Foundation betrays women.

Full transcript below the fold.

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Very sad news on Elizabeth Edwards. Elizabeth Edwards stops cancer treatment, releases statement:

Elizabeth Edwards is surrounded by family and friends in her North Carolina home after being informed by her doctors that further cancer treatment would be unproductive.

"Elizabeth has been advised by her doctors that further treatment of her cancer would be unproductive," the Edwards family said Monday in a statement. "She is resting at home with family and friends and has posted this message to friends on her Facebook page."

The message from Edwards, the wife of two-time presidential candidate John Edwards, reads:

"You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces – my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined. The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And, yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human.

"But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful. It isn't possible to put into words the love and gratitude I feel to everyone who has and continues to support and inspire me every day. To you I simply say: you know."

Edwards was told by her doctors last week that additional cancer treatments were futile, said a source close to the family. Her prognosis was described in terms of weeks, not months, the source said.

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Sen. Tom Coburn, after first claiming that the Republicans aren't just looking out for the insurance industry goes on to say this about why the Senate passed the Mikulski breast screening amendment.

Coburn: Because we know a larger percentage of the emotional attraction has to do with those things associated with women. So we pounded our chest and passed the Mikulski bill for preventative care for women and we ignored the preventative requirements of everybody else in this country.

Fail. They passed the Mikulski amendment because the media and the GOP decided to make an issue out of the findings from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force that said women didn't need to get screened for breast cancer in their forties, not because anyone's "more emotional" about issues relating to women.

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From Good Morning America: Fla. Congresswoman Pushes Cancer Legislation After Surviving Own Battle.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., introduces new federal legislation today that calls for a national breast-cancer education campaign that targets women between the ages of 15 and 39. The bill holds special significance for the 42-year-old because she quietly and successfully battled breast cancer in the past year.

Schultz's Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Act focuses specifically on young women.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz reveals cancer battle.

In the past year, she underwent seven major surgeries, including a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, while balancing motherhood, Congress and her roles as a chief fundraiser for House Democrats and a political surrogate, first for Hillary Clinton and then for Barack Obama.

''I had a lot going on last year,'' she said with a laugh, sitting in the living room of the Capitol Hill town house she shares with two other members of Congress when she's in Washington. ``I'm a very focused, methodical person, and I wasn't going to let this beat me. I wasn't going to let it interfere with my life.''

.....

''It just pains me to know that younger women, because they don't know and because they're blown off by physicians many times, and because they squeeze their eyes shut and hope that it's nothing, that their death rate is much higher,'' she said.

Her bill calls for a national education campaign, aimed at informing young women about the risks and encouraging them to conduct routine self-exams.

Wasserman Schultz discovered a breast lump through a self-exam, two months after her first mammogram at 40. Although the cancer was detected at an early stage, she also learned that as an Ashkenazi Jew of Eastern European descent, she was at greater risk of carrying a gene mutation that makes Ashkenazi Jews predisposed to breast cancer and recurrance. She tested positive for this BRCA2 gene mutation, prompting her to have both breasts removed.

She was also at higher risk of ovarian cancer and had her ovaries removed -- the day after Election Day. Her final surgery was in December, almost a year after her diagnosis.

Because the cancer was caught so early, she didn't need chemotherapy or radiation but will take the cancer drug tamoxifen for five years.

She said she decided to keep her cancer private, concerned mostly that her young children (then 8-year-old twins and a 4-year-old daughter) would worry, particularly with a mother who was also constantly on the go. They knew she was undergoing surgery, but she didn't tell them the cause.

'I knew from my doctors that if I went through their recommended course of treatment that I would get through it and I'd be fine, that I could come out the other side and confidently tell my children, `Mommy's fine,' '' she said. She planned to tell them Saturday night.

She scheduled her treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., during congressional recesses so she wouldn't miss votes in Congress.