Month: February 2012
Witness Panel for House Republicans’ Hearing on Contraceptives Is Men Only
“What I want to know is, where are the women?” asked Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) shortly before she walked out of House oversight committee hearing on insurance coverage for contraceptives. “I look at this panel [of witnesses], and I don’t see one single individual representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need insurance coverage for basic preventive health care services, including family planning.”
Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa called five witnesses who opposed a rule floated and then quickly rescinded by the Obama administration last week that would have required church-owned businesses to cover the cost of contraceptives for their employees. All five Republican witnesses were men.
Norquist Wants a Rubber-Stamp President
We just need a president to sign this stuff. We don’t need someone to think it up or design it. The leadership now for the modern conservative movement for the next 20 years will be coming out of the House and the Senate.
— Grover Norquist, quoted by David Frum, making the case that Mitt Romney would be an acceptable Republican nominee.
Santorum Confuses Sex with Contraception
It’s not okay because it’s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.
— Rick Santorum, quoted by Time, on why he wants to fight the “dangers of contraception.”
Santorum Says Obama Admin Wants Female Catholic Priests
Don’t you see how they see you? How they look down their nose at the average Americans. These elite snobs!
— Rick Santorum, quoted by the Idaho Statesman, arguing that the Obama administration thinks it can force the Catholic Church to hire women priests.
Based on Negative Ads, Romney Wins
If this race does come down to who can run the most negative ads… and beat them into submission with those negative ads, we can stop the campaign now. It’s Mitt Romney.
— John Brabender, media strategist for Rick Santorum, quoted by The Hill.
Big Government Republicans in Virginia Vote to Outlaw Contraceptives, Require Vaginal Probes for Abortion-Seekers
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A new personhood law has passed in the Republican-controlled lower house of the Virginia legislature and is expected to sail through the Republican-controlled state Senate. Virginia’s right-wing extremist governor, Bob McDonnell, has signaled he will sign it.
In addition, Virginia Republicans in both houses of the legislature passed a law earlier this month that requires women seeking abortions to submit to a trans-vaginal ultrasound probe before the procedure. Neither the woman nor her doctor can countermand the administration of the probe, which requires vaginal penetration and which serves no medical purpose.
Unlike the referenda that failed in Mississippi and Colorado, the bills in Virginia are going through the legislative process and, assuming the personhood law passes the state senate, both will become law upon signing by Gov. McDonnell.
McDonnell is said to be on the short list of prospective candidates for the GOP vice presidential slot, if Mitt Romney becomes the party’s nominee.
