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If anyone didn't think the Obama administration's position on Plan B wasn't quite bad enough, where they've played politics with the issue, saying they'd lower the age on the emergency contraception to 15, in violation of a court order that the drug be made available with no age restriction -- behold what the viewers at Faux "News" were being treated to this Thursday.

Media Matters flagged this segment from Fox's The Five and their title pretty well sums up the arguments being made, not only by Bolling, but the other hosts as well: Fox's Bolling: Lowering Age For Plan B Access "May Be Covering Up Rapes That Girls Are Embarrassed To Talk About".

Yes, because it would be so much better to up the odds of them becoming pregnant as well. And someone needs to let them know that rape victims are already administered this drug if they go to the hospital.

For a group that claims to care about abortion, they sure as hell don't mind advocating for policies that will assure there are more of them.

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A writer at The Onion re-upped this to YouTube in light of the recent controversial statements by CNN's Candy Crowley after the Steubenville verdict.

via

I was a staff writer on the Onion's show "SportsDome" which aired on Comedy Central in 2011. This is one of the stories we did--full credit to David Iscoe (twitter.com/realhumanbeing) for the idea and script. It could have been produced by the CNN team covering the Steubenville rape verdict.

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The invitation of Ann Coulter to CPAC this year along with the rest of their guest list, continues to prove that they learned absolutely nothing from the last election. After making a weight joke about Gov. Chris Christie, who was shunned from the event, Coultergeist went on to explain that the reason Republicans lost the Senate is that some of their candidates, like Todd Akin, just failed to keep their mouths shut, and Democrats are supposedly the ones waging a war on women.

Ann Coulter CPAC: Pundit Tells Chris Christie Weight Joke, Calls Bill Clinton 'Forcible Rapist' :

Ann Coulter spoke at the 2013 Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, firing off an insult about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's snub from the annual conference.

"Even CPAC had to cut back on its speakers this year about 300 pounds," Coulter said.

Christie wasn't he only target of Coulter's insults. She also criticized President Barack Obama and made eyebrow-raising remarks about Sandra Fluke's haircut while addressing birth control and the war on women.

"That haircut is birth control enough," Coulter said of Fluke.

Perhaps her most extreme criticism was directed at President Bill Clinton.

"The keynote speaker at the Democrat National Convention this year was forcible rapist, Bill Clinton," Coulter said.

Keep keeing it klassy Annie. Here's more of some of her "greatest hits" from her speech this Saturday.

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Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Sunday insisted that "small brush fires" like former Gov. John Sununu's suggestion that former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed President Barack Obama because he's black were just distractions.

Speaking to CNN last week, Sununu wondered whether Powell's endorsement was "based on issues, or whether he’s got a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama."

"I think when you have somebody of your own race that you’re proud of being President of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him," the top Romney surrogate said.

But During a Sunday interview with CNN's Candy Crowley, Priebus dismissed Sununu's comment as a "distraction."

"You want people to be disciplined," the RNC chairman explained. "And obviously if people misspeak and they cause -- for no apparent reason -- small brush fires on their own, that's a distraction. But overall, this is still an election about the economy, about the president's failed broken promises and now we have this issue with Libya."

Crowley also asked Priebus if Republican Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's assertion that pregnancies from rape were "something that God intended to happen" hurt the GOP brand.

"I promise you, people out there are not talking about what Richard Mourdock said," Priebus replied.

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My reaction to this segment by MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry reminds me a whole lot of how I felt after initially listening to Rep. Jackie Speier's remarks on the House floor, after finally being fed up with listening to her colleagues demonize Planned Parenthood and abortion. It's every bit as brave, honest and powerful and something every one of these anti-woman, anti-abortion zealots ought to have to listen to, after Richard Mourdock's callous remarks about conception via rape being "God's will."

For rape survivors, Mourdock’s remark was an(other) attack on consent:

Dear Mr. Mourdock,

Sometimes I still flinch when I’m touched a certain way, even if it’s the loving embrace of my husband. I can’t stand to watch TV shows where rape is the central plot line. Even some seasons of the year are harder for me. Those of us who are sexual assault survivors call these triggers. We spend our lives — the lives we lead after the attack — avoiding and managing these triggers.

A congressional debate shouldn’t have to come with a trigger warning. But apparently, Richard, yours should. Because in Tuesday’s debate for Indiana’s U.S. Senate seat, you said this Tuesday night during a debate in New Albany, Indiana.

Continue reading »

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Actress Tiny Fey was seething on Wednesday as she try to express her outrage at recent comments by several Republican politicians about rape.

"I wish we could have an honest and respectful dialogue about these complicated issues," the comedienne told the Center for Reproductive Rights Inaugural Gala. "But it seems like we can’t right now. And if I have to listen to one more gray-faced man with a two-dollar haircut explain to me what rape is, I’m gonna lose my mind!"

Last month, Republican Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin had asserted that women could not get pregnant through “legitimate rape.” And then Republican Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock claimed on Tuesday that pregnancy from rape “is something that God intended to happen.”

"I watch these guys and I'm like, what is happening? Am I secretary on Mad Men?" Fey said on Wednesday. "What is happening?"

"Todd Akin. Oof. This guy," she continued. "Todd Akin claims that women can’t really get pregnant from a legitimate rape because the body secretes hormones. Now I can’t even finish this sentence without getting dumber; it’s making me dumber when I say it—but it’s something about the body not being able to get pregnant when it’s under physical stress."

"Mr. Akin, I think you are confusing the phrase ‘legitimate rape’ with the phrase ‘competitive gymnastics.’”

(h/t: BuzzFeed)

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In the day after Republican Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said that pregnancy from rape “is something that God intended to happen," the Fox News Channel only covered the scandal for about 2 minutes, even though Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney refused to rescind his endorsement of Mourdock.

“I believe life begins at conception,” Mourdock explained during a debate Tuesday night. “The only exception I have for to have an abortion is in the case of the life of the mother. I struggled with myself for a long time but I came to realize life is that gift from God, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape. It is something that God intended to happen.”

The liberal watch dog group Media Matters reviewed coverage on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel and found that Mourdock's comments were almost completely ignored by the conservative network.

"Fox News mentioned the comment twice, devoting just over two minutes of coverage to it," Media Matters' Todd Gregory wrote. "Meanwhile, CNN gave the topic an hour and 20 minutes of coverage and MSNBC covered the topic for 2 hours and 7 minutes."

On the Fox News marquee "straight-news" program Special Report, anchor Bret Baier briefly mentioned Mourdock in a 37-second segment about the presidential race in general. The Fox Report later devoted one minute and 37 seconds to the subject.

By contrast, Raw Story calculated that Special Report alone spent about 23 minutes on the Obama administration's response to September attacks in Libya.

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From this Wednesday evening's The Tonight Show, President Obama went after Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock and his comments about conception from rape being "God's will."

Obama tells Leno: 'Rape is rape':

Asked by host Jay Leno about Mourdock's comments, in which the Indiana state treasurer said during a debate Tuesday evening that "even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape that it is something God intended to happen," the president said "rape is rape."

"I don't know how these, come up with these ideas ... rape is rape. It is a crime," the president said. "These various distinctions about rape ... don't make any sense to me."

Mourdock, an Evangelical Christian, says abortion should only be legal when necessary to prevent the death of the mother. He argues it should be illegal in cases of rape and incest. Many who share his faith believe God chooses when conception occurs and that abortion is equivalent to murder.

In a press conference Wednesday, Mourdock accused Democrats of twisting the meaning of his comments.

"I would be less than faithful to my faith if I said anything other than life is precious. I think it is a gift from God. I don't think God would ever want anyone harmed, sexually abused, or raped. I think it's wrong when someone wants to take what I said and twist it," Mourdock said.

The Obama campaign aggressively criticized Mourdock's comments throughout the day Wednesday, and sent an email to female supporters in the evening linking Mourdock to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

"Not surprisingly, Romney is still standing by his endorsement and is refusing to ask that [an ad featuring Mourdock and Romney] be pulled down," deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter wrote in the email. "It's a grim reminder of something he's trying desperately to hide in the final weeks of this election: Romney has campaigned as a severe conservative, supports severely conservative candidates, and would be a severely conservative president -- especially on issues important to women."

The Romney campaign on Wednesday said that the presidential nominee disagreed with Mourdock's comments, but would not ask the Senate candidate to take down an ad featuring Romney.

President Obama also reminded the viewers just what's at stake this election with a couple of Supreme Court nominations potentially in the balance and that keeping organizations like Planned Parenthood funded and allowing women to control their own reproductive rights are not just health issues, but economic and family issues as well.

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As TPM noted, it seems John McCain decided to do his part to keep the Richard Mourdock debacle in the news cycle. After the Romney campaign said they still support Mourdock, McCain threw him under the bus on CNN this Wednesday.

McCain Helps Push Romney’s Mourdock Headaches Into Day Two:

If Mitt Romney was hoping the Richard Mourdock story he’s deeply entwined in would go away fast, he apparently didn’t get the memo to one of his top surrogates.

Just as Democrats and the Obama campaign began amping up their effort to highlight Romney’s ties to Mourdock after the Indiana Senate candidate uttered his claim that pregnancies caused by rape are “something that God intended to happen” — and Romney and the Republicans worked to put the moment behind them — John McCain sat down with CNN to throw a wrench in the Republican effort.

Last week, McCain was in Indiana campaigning for Mourdock, who won the Republican nomination by beating the man McCain backed, veteran Sen. Richard Lugar.

Asked if he’s still backing Mourdock following his rape comments Wednesday, McCain instead backed far away from him.

“It depends on what he does. I think it depends on what he does,” McCain said. McCain said that “if he apologizes and says he misspoke and he was wrong and he asks the people to forgive him,” the Arizona Senator would get behind him again. Read on...

What's so disingenuous about this is, as Blue Texan noted here, Mourdock and his ilk were just saying what they -- and the clear majority of Republicans -- believe. This was more than just some "stupid" remark. It's their policy and part of their party's platform.

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Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign said on Wednesday that they disagreed with Indiana GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's statement that pregnancy from rape "is something that God intended to happen," but the former Massachusetts governor still supports him.

During a debate on Tuesday night, Mourdock had said that he did not support abortion in cases of rape or incest.

“I believe life begins at conception,” he explained. “The only exception I have for to have an abortion is in the case of the life of the mother. I struggled with myself for a long time but I came to realize life is that gift from God, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape. It is something that God intended to happen.”

Romney has endorsed Mourdock and recorded an advertisement personally encouraging voters to support him. Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan's super PAC also donated $5,000 to the tea party-backed candidate in June.

In August, Romney appeared at a campaign event with Mourdock in Evansville, Indiana.

"This is a man that I want to see in Washington to make sure that we cannot just talk about changing things, but actually have the votes to get things changed," Romney said.

Democrats have called on Romney to rescind his endorsement of Mourdock and immediately pull the advertisement.

But Romney campaign spokesperson Andrea Saul insisted on Wednesday that the former governor still backed Mourdock.

"Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock, and Mr. Mourdock’s comments do not reflect Gov. Romney’s views," Saul said in a statement. "We disagree on the policy regarding exceptions for rape and incest but still support him."

For his part, Mourdock held a press conference on Wednesday and said his comments had been taken out of context.

"I made a comment that I made, quite honestly, from the deepest roots and the greatest base of my faith," the Senate candidate told reporters. "I'm a much more humble person this morning because so many people mistook, twisted, came to misunderstand the points that I was trying to make."

"I spoke from my heart, I spoke with my principle, I spoke from my faith, and if others wish to turn those words and somehow use them against me, again, that's what's wrong with Washington today," he added. "Anyone who goes to the video tape and views [it] understands fully what I meant."

"I don't think God wants rape, I don't think he wants that at all because rape is evil. I abhor evil. I want to assure every woman who sees this and reads the story that I abhor it and I'm confident God abhors it."

In a conference call with reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Democratic National Committee Chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz connected Mourdock's comments to Republican Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin's claim that women could not get pregnant through "legitimate rape."

"Unfortunately, these types of comments have become part and parcel of the modern Republican Party's platform towards women's health," she said. "Congressional Republicans like Mitt Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, have worked to outlaw all abortions and even narrow the definition of rape."

"Try as he may to distance himself, Mitt Romney has demonstrated time and time again that he is a part of the extreme right wing of the GOP with the likes of Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin, especially when it comes to issues effecting women and their bodies. Just this weekend, Romney endorsee Steve King questioned whether birth control is even legal. There is definitely a pattern here."