I find myself in the position of being required, by honest, to modify my prior froth...
...It...actually looks like Obama literally just tricked the Republicans into a box where they have to admit they just hate the idea of contraceptives as preventative care or else just shut the fuck up and get the fuck out of the way. If this is true, I provisionally suspend my froth, provided no further "compromise" materializes.
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/02/10/womens-health-as-political-football-the-game-goes-on-without-us/
Naturally, ex-Senator Rick "Man On Dog/Frothy Mixture/Will NEVER Fucking Be President As Long As I Draw Breath" Santorum immediately came out against it. And this is the dude that the Real True Conservatives™ are beginning to consider a viable Not-Romney. The USCCB has also come out against it. So has Senator Orrin Hatch, who graced us with this bit of wisdom:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/birth-control-may-now-be-wedge-issue-against-gop/2012/02/10/gIQAbzVO4Q_blog.html
The policy announced today would remove religious institutions from any role in providing coverage for birth control for female employees. The transaction would occur directly between women and insurers. Yet here’s how Senator Orrin Hatch, one of the first to oppose today’s announcement, explains his opposition:
“This is about religious freedom, and anything short of a full exemption is no compromise. ...The backlash surrounding the White House’s decision to force religious institutions to act against their beliefs lays that fundamental fact that the President’s health law is unconstitutional to its very core.”
By “full exemption,” is Hatch saying that employers at Catholic hospitals and universities should have the power to dictate to employees that they cannot have any access to contraception coverage? He doesn’t quite say it that way, but it’s unclear how else you would read his statement. And if Dems have their way, officials like Hatch will be pressed to clarify whether this is their position.
For me? I'm having trouble seeing how continuing their opposition to contraception, stripped of the "religious exemption" figleaf, is not an exotic form of electoral suicide for the Republican Party right now. People -- particularly female people, gay people, and people of color -- are sick to fucking death of their lives being used as political footballs, and have begun to realize the extent of their own power to effect social change and raise social awareness of the essential inequities inherent in, well, basically the entire Republican political platform. Once they've alienated everyone who isn't a Bitter Old White Douchebag™ or a Certifiably Bugfuck Regligious Fanatic™, who the fuck do they think is going to vote for them?
http://www.balloon-juice.com/2012/02/10/womens-health-as-political-football-the-game-goes-on-without-us/
Naturally, ex-Senator Rick "Man On Dog/Frothy Mixture/Will NEVER Fucking Be President As Long As I Draw Breath" Santorum immediately came out against it. And this is the dude that the Real True Conservatives™ are beginning to consider a viable Not-Romney. The USCCB has also come out against it. So has Senator Orrin Hatch, who graced us with this bit of wisdom:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/birth-control-may-now-be-wedge-issue-against-gop/2012/02/10/gIQAbzVO4Q_blog.html
The policy announced today would remove religious institutions from any role in providing coverage for birth control for female employees. The transaction would occur directly between women and insurers. Yet here’s how Senator Orrin Hatch, one of the first to oppose today’s announcement, explains his opposition:
“This is about religious freedom, and anything short of a full exemption is no compromise. ...The backlash surrounding the White House’s decision to force religious institutions to act against their beliefs lays that fundamental fact that the President’s health law is unconstitutional to its very core.”
By “full exemption,” is Hatch saying that employers at Catholic hospitals and universities should have the power to dictate to employees that they cannot have any access to contraception coverage? He doesn’t quite say it that way, but it’s unclear how else you would read his statement. And if Dems have their way, officials like Hatch will be pressed to clarify whether this is their position.
For me? I'm having trouble seeing how continuing their opposition to contraception, stripped of the "religious exemption" figleaf, is not an exotic form of electoral suicide for the Republican Party right now. People -- particularly female people, gay people, and people of color -- are sick to fucking death of their lives being used as political footballs, and have begun to realize the extent of their own power to effect social change and raise social awareness of the essential inequities inherent in, well, basically the entire Republican political platform. Once they've alienated everyone who isn't a Bitter Old White Douchebag™ or a Certifiably Bugfuck Regligious Fanatic™, who the fuck do they think is going to vote for them?