Political Ruminations

Romney Attacks Obama on Contraception Issue–But Romneycare Included Similar Coverage of Contraception

Continuing the contraception brouhaha at the Mesa debate last night, Mitt Romney, attacked President Obama on that issue:

“I don't think we've seen in the history of this country the kind of attack on religious conscience, religious freedom, religious tolerance that we've seen under Barack Obama.”

Steve Benen responded this morning:

Think about that one for a moment. The Obama administration is including contraception coverage as part of preventive health care for Americans -- a decision a clear majority of the country heartily supports. The administration is exempting churches and other houses of worship, and has crafted a compromise so that religiously-affiliated employers will not have to pay for contraception coverage directly.

This is the biggest "attack" on religious freedom in the history of the United States? How is it, exactly, that a sane person could believe this?

Or more to the point, how is it that a Mormon, whose church faced actual attacks and discrimination, could see contraception access as a more serious assault on "religious tolerance"?

Of note, RomneyCare in Massachusetts vastly expanded contraception access, a fact which Romney defended last night. His characterization of the RomneyCare contraception coverage could apply just as easily to that provided by the Affordable Care Act which he had the gall to attack. Think Progress:

Under Romneycare, the state’s Commonwealth Care — which offers subsidized, low or no-cost insurance program for low-income residents without access to employer-sponsored health insurance — provides primary and preventive care that includes “family planning services” and prescription contraceptives. Massachusetts employers that are not “a church or qualified church-controlled organization” must also cover hormone replacement therapy and all FDA-approved contraceptive methods.

In 2005, Romney also “signed a bill that could expand the number of people who get family-planning services, including the morning-after pill.” Romney even pressured the state Department of Health and Human Services to issue regulations that required Catholic hospitals to issue the morning after pill to rape victims, despite initially vetoing the bill and claiming that the pill constituted an “abortifacient.” “My personal view in my heart of hearts is that people who are subject to rape should have the option of having emergency contraceptives or emergency contraceptive information,” he told the Boston Herald at the time.

Of one thing I have no doubt whatsoever. Mr. Romney is a most egregious liar.

Morning Quote: David Axelrod

“I know he walked away with the hard drives in Massachusetts. But the video from the primary campaign is going to be hard to erase.”

- David Axelrod, with an astute observation that it will be difficult for Mitt Romney to move toward the center for the general election.

Hell, Romney’s gone so far right, that he will find it difficult to tack to the center in time for the 2016 general election.

Morning Quote: Alan Grayson

“Mitt Romney has been exposed, like a character out of Orphan Annie, Daddy Warbucks, as an enormously wealthy person out of touch with ordinary Americans who simply wants to be president, as far as we can tell, because he wants to be President.”

- Former congressman, Alan Grayson (D-FL), to Talking Points Memo on Mitt Romney’s negatives.

Adding.......the character of “Daddy Warbucks” is a perfect characterization of the out of touch elitist, Mitt Romney.

Quote of the Day

“I think that when Newt Gingrich parades around the country saying Mitt Romney is a liar and Mitt Romney parades around country saying Newt Gingrich is a liar, the conclusion most people draw is they’re both liars.”

- Former congressman, Alan Grayson (D-FL), to Talking Points Memo earlier today. Grayson, I should note, is running to reclaim his old seat in 2012.

Morning Quote: Newt Gingrich

“I think that the election [in Florida] will be substantially closer than the two polls that came out this morning. When you add the two conservatives together we clearly beat Romney. I think Romney's got a very real challenge trying to get a majority at the convention.”

- Speaking to reporters in Lutz, Florida on Sunday, Newt Gingrich reasserted his intention to stay in the primary race all the way to the convention.

Morning Quote: Newt Gingrich

“We discovered last night that Mitt Romney has picked up Charlie Crist’s campaign manager. I thought that told you everything you need to know about this primary. As governor of Massachusetts [Romney] was pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, pro-tax increase and pro- gun control. Now that makes you a moderate in Massachusetts but it makes you pretty liberal in a Republican primary. That’s probably why he hired Charlie Crist’s staff.”

- In St. Petersburg, Florida, Newt Gingrich sought to tie Mitt Romney to Charlie Crist, the moderate former Florida governor who became persona-non-grata in the GOP as he became more liberal. Crist left the GOP in 2010.

Morning Quote: Newt Gingrich

David Gregory talks to Newt Gingrich on ‘Meet the Press” yesterday about Gingrich’s lobbying activities for mortgage giants, Fannie and Freddie:

“You are running against the establishment, you're trying to run as an outsider. You talk about housing in Florida. You were a consultant, or, depending on your point of view, a lobbyist for one of the mortgage giants. I'm wondering how you think you win that inside-outside game, given your history.”

A Gingrich now on the offensive, responds to Gregory, denying any lobbying activity ever. So there.

“David, wait a second, David. David, you know better than that. I was not a lobbyist, I was never a lobbyist, I never did any lobbying. Don't try to mix these things up. The fact is I was an adviser strategically and if you look at the only thing ever published by Freddie Mac, I said you need more regulations. If you look at the only article ever written about my talking to the Congress, it was in the New York Times in July of 2008, and I said do not give them any money.

Now I opposed giving money to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I think they should both be broken up into four or five much smaller companies and I've long felt that. And so I think that to jump from one to the other is simply wrong. In Florida, my case is going to be very simple. You have a clear establishment candidate in Mitt Romney. Look where his money comes from, look at his background, look what he did in Massachusetts. And you have somebody whose entire career has been a Reagan populist conservative going all the way back to the 1970s.

I think that's a pretty clear contrast, and I think Floridians would like somebody who speaks for them to Washington, not somebody who speaks to the establishment to them.”

Watch the video of Gingrich denying the lobbyist claim:

Media Matters weighs in on Gingrich’s "I was not a lobbyist" claim:

The holes in Gingrich's "I was not a lobbyist" argument have been demonstrated several times over. Politifact gave the claim a "Half-True" rating, noting that it's depressingly easy and common for "consultants" who provide "strategic advice" (which is how Gingrich's campaign explained his relationship with Freddie Mac) to essentially function as lobbyists without having to register as such. The Washington Post called Gingrich's denials of being a lobbyist "clearly misleading," laying out all the known details of Gingrich's dealings with the mortgage giant.

Morning Quote: Paul Krugman

“I was deeply radicalized by the 2000 election. At first I couldn’t believe that then-candidate George W. Bush was saying so many clearly, provably false things; then I couldn’t believe that nobody in the news media was willing to point out the lies. (At the time, the Times actually told me that I couldn’t use the l-word either). That was when I formulated my “views differ on shape of planet” motto.

Now, however, Mitt Romney seems determined to rehabilitate Bush’s reputation, by running a campaign so dishonest that it makes Bush look like a model of truth-telling.

I mean, is there anything at all in Romney’s stump speech that’s true? It’s all based on attacking Obama for apologizing for America, which he didn’t, on making deep cuts in defense, which he also didn’t, and on being a radical redistributionist who wants equality of outcomes, which he isn’t. When the issue turns to jobs, Romney makes false assertions both about Obama’s record and about his own. I can’t find a single true assertion anywhere.”

- Paul Krugman on Mitt Romney’s lies about President Obama, as well as Romney’s lies about his own record.

Adding.......this quote came from a piece (which I missed) posted by Krugman on January 13.

Morning Quote: Andrew Sullivan on Obama’s Foreign Policy Accomplishments

“On foreign policy, the right-wing critiques have been the most unhinged. Romney accuses the president of apologizing for America, and others all but accuse him of treason and appeasement. Instead, Obama reversed Bush’s policy of ignoring Osama bin Laden, immediately setting a course that eventually led to his capture and death. And when the moment for decision came, the president overruled both his secretary of state and vice president in ordering the riskiest—but most ambitious—plan on the table. He even personally ordered the extra helicopters that saved the mission. It was a triumph, not only in killing America’s primary global enemy, but in getting a massive trove of intelligence to undermine al Qaeda even further. If George Bush had taken out bin Laden, wiped out al Qaeda’s leadership, and gathered a treasure trove of real intelligence by a daring raid, he’d be on Mount Rushmore by now. But where Bush talked tough and acted counterproductively, Obama has simply, quietly, relentlessly decimated our real enemies, while winning the broader propaganda war. Since he took office, al Qaeda’s popularity in the Muslim world has plummeted.

Obama’s foreign policy, like Dwight Eisenhower’s or George H.W. Bush’s, eschews short-term political hits for long-term strategic advantage. It is forged by someone interested in advancing American interests—not asserting an ideology and enforcing it regardless of the consequences by force of arms. By hanging back a little, by “leading from behind” in Libya and elsewhere, Obama has made other countries actively seek America’s help and reappreciate our role. As an antidote to the bad feelings of the Iraq War, it has worked close to perfectly.”

- Conservative-Independent, Andrew Sullivan, on Obama’s foreign policy accomplishments, from a really excellent cover story for Newsweek.

Adding........you should read the entire piece. It’s not only brilliant, but it tells the truth about the Obama presidency in a way that hasn’t been done before.  While I disagree with Sullivan on several points (the most egregious point being that Obama signed indefinite detention of American citizens into law. Indefinite detention of American citizens was not “signed into law” by President Obama, it was already law, a fact which Sullivan does not point out.)

Full Video: When Mitt Romney Came to Town

This is the full 28 minute video created by a pro-Gingrich PAC, and it does a pretty good job of highlighting Romney’s career as a corporate raider with Bain Capital.

Watch:

RELATED POSTS:

. Mitt Romney in His Own Words - 10 Important Mitt Romney Quotes
. The Character of Presidents and Potential Presidents Conveyed in Images
. 6 Quotes About Mitt Romney
. Mitt Romney - Champion of the Middle Class

6 Quotes About Mitt Romney

1. Newt Gingrich derides Romney for his work as a corporate raider for Bain Capital.

“Those of us who believe in free markets and those of us who believe that, in fact, the whole goals of investment is entrepreneurship and job creation, would find it pretty hard to justify rich people figuring out clever, legal ways to loot out a company.”

2. Marc B. Wolpow, a former managing director at Bain Capital, on Romney’s career as a corporate raider.

“They're whitewashing his career now. We had a scheme where the rich got richer. I did it, and I feel good about it. But I'm not planning to run for office.”

3. Northeastern University economist Andrew Sum, researched Romney's record and said that Massachusetts remained behind the U.S. average during Romney’s tenure as the governor in job creation, economic growth and wage increases¹.

“As a strict labor market economist looking at the record, Massachusetts did very poorly during the Romney years. On every measure you’ve got, the state  was a substantial under-performer.”

4. The Perry Campaign’s response after Romney’s famous gaffe “I like being able to fire people.”.

“Voters are just now meeting the Real Romney — the buyout tycoon who executed takeovers, bankrupted businesses, and sent jobs overseas while killing American jobs.”

5. Newt Gingrich to Mitt Romney, (who pretended that he didn’t run for reelection in Mass. because he wasn’t interested in being a career politician) during the Republican primary debate leading up to the New Hampshire primary election:

“Can we drop a little bit of the pious baloney? The fact is, you ran in '94 (for the Senate) and lost. That's why you weren't serving in the Senate with Rick Santorum. The fact is, you had a very bad re-election rating (as governor in 2006), you dropped out of office, you had been out of state for something like 200 days preparing to run for president. You have been running consistently for years and years and years. So this idea that suddenly citizenship showed up in your mind, just level with the American people. You've been running for -- at least since the 1990s.”

6. Rick Perry campaigning in South Carolina:

“Mitt Romney has never worried about pink slip. He might have worried about not having enough of them to hand out. But he’s not worried about losing his job.”

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¹ During Romney’s time as governor, Massachusetts ranked 47th among the 50 states in job creation, and Massachusetts rate of job growth was only 0.9%, lagging  far behind the national average of +5%.

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RELATED POSTS:
. Mitt Romney in His Own Words - 10 Important Mitt Romney Quotes
. The Character of Presidents and Potential Presidents Conveyed in Images
. Full Video: When Mitt Romney Came to Town
. Mitt Romney - Champion of the Middle Class

Morning Quote: David Axelrod

“Frankly I don’t think bringing a Bain mentality to this economy — to running this economy — makes him a strong candidate. I don’t think shifting and moving around on positions – fundamental positions – is one that people are going to embrace. Trust is a big issue in the presidency. I think there’s a big trust issue here.”

- David Axelrod talking about GOP frontrunner,  Mitt Romney, on ABC’s “This Week” yesterday.

Adding......Harder, Mr. Axelrod. You need to hit him harder.

Morning Quote: Newt Gingrich on Romney

“This is a man whose staff created the PAC, his millionaire friends fund the PAC, he pretends he has nothing to do with the PAC -- it's baloney. He's not telling the American people the truth.”

- Newt Gingrich to CBS (The Early Show this morning) on Mitt Romney’s denials re his knowledge of the Super PAC that’s been running negative ads attacking Gingrich.

Adding.....neither of them can claim to be truthful.

Morning Quote: Christine O’Donnell

“That’s one of the things that I like about him — because he’s been consistent since he changed his mind.”

- Christine  O’Donnell (“I’m not a witch” fame) on her endorsement of Mitt Romney.

Morning Quote: Newt Gingrich

“I would just say that if Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he’s earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain that I would be glad to then listen to him. I’ll bet you $10, not $10,000, that he won’t take the offer.”

- Newt Gingrich on Mitt Romney’s business experience as the owner of Bain Capital.

HT Bob Cesca