What's Wrong With This Picture?

That's right: where are the women at the table?

Yesterday, House Rethuglicans ran a silly political hearing for the purpose of fanning their transparently phony "war on religion" campaign against the Obama Administration. They failed miserably. It became clear that the hearing was a PR disaster for the Rethugs when they didn't have a single woman appear on the panel to discuss women's reproductive rights. In fact, they denied Georgetown University law student Sandra Fluke an opportunity to testify.

The public is overwhelmingly in favor of women's access to contraceptives, and the more the Rethugs fight this particular battle in their Culture War, the bigger the losers they'll be, even with the women in their own party.

Bedroom Politics At Their Worst

As we noted yesterday, right wing Bishops in the Catholic Church are doubling down on their opposition to employee access to contraceptives, even if the costs are fully covered by the insurers. It's a losing issue with the public at large, and with Catholics in specific. Contraceptives have been an accepted part of American life for 50 years, and women don't want to go back in time.

That's why we were happy to see Rethuglican leaders push the extreme view that Catholic owned business should have the right to deny their employees contraceptive care regardless of the employee's religion under company-provided health benefits. Senate Minority Leader and turtle impersonator Mitch "Missy" McConnell came out in support of legislation that would ban access to birth control in those circumstances. Of course, the Rethugs falsely portray this as a "religious freedom" issue, knowing that it's an absolute loser politically if it's seen as anti-birth control. We hope they go all in, and drive away those independent and moderate voters who want to keep Rethuglican politicians out of their bedrooms.