Romney (and the Pope?) vs. Obama’s contraception mandate
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I guess it paid to go to Poland. This is a new Romney ad, aimed transparently at Catholics, that fully embraces the shameful line that the Obama administration “declared war on religion” by daring to require large religious employers (not churches, which were always exempt, but hospitals and the like) to provide women birth control under Obamacare.
Back when this fight was raging, the President altered an original rule to preserve religious institutions’ right to refuse to provide the coverage directly, while also protecting the ability of women to get it as part of their health insurance. Under the compromise, health plans will have to provide the benefit as part of the standard suite of preventive services they will be required to offer; the large religious employers themselves won’t pay.
The underlying issue is a legitimate policy dispute, though I side with Obama. The language in the ad is so sickeningly wrong, it’s hard to believe Romney believes it. But there he is, approving the message at the end. And there he is exploiting, er, using images of a beloved former Pope to make a most manipulative appeal to Catholic voters.
Reminder: When, as governor of Massachusetts, Romney was confronted with a similar law — which had been signed by his predecessor — he “didn’t raise objections on religious or moral grounds, say people who worked in his administration or in health care interest groups there. Rather, he viewed the contraception requirement more in economic terms.” (That’s according to the Wall Street Journal.)
Why didn’t he focus on religious freedom then? Because this is an overheated charge. But never mind that and convince yourself that our President is at war with Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, etc., because he wants employees to get full health benefits. It’s a vile and absurd charge. (If health plans offered by the Christian Science Monitor said no blood transfusions, and government said they had to offer them to employees as part of a package of care, would that be an assault on religion? I sure don’t think so.)
This is the game Romney will keep playing: make unsupportable and hypocritical claims, claims even he does not seem to believe, through his perfect teeth. And hope just enough people buy them.
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6 Comments
Thank you Jason!
Another four years of Obama and even the priests will not have to worry about where are they going to deliver the gospel and homily. You will be in the unemployment line right along with everyone else – or we will probably have ran out of paper to print money to pay the unemployed. Wake up Catholic church. He took away our day of prayer and has the nerve to take off his shoes and be kneeling down on his rug in front of the White House with 50,000 other muslims. Hope all of you liberals with your hands out waiting for another government handout – stay home in November and forget to vote!
Right on target, Linda. People better wake up and see what is happening to our country. Obama is THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN TO EVER BE PRESIDENT. Americans already have been stripped of some inalienable rights under his administration, and the loss of freedom will be even worse should he be voted back in. But, you know, if America votes him back in, Americans (corportately) deserve to get what they asked for. Unfortunately, if he is re-elected, it will adversely affect me and my family.
Right on, Jim. When Hitler took over Austria, the first right he took away was religious freedom. People fought him on that and many priest and laity were persecuted. The rest of the rights fell easily, as the most important one was already taken away.
We want to live as Americans as our founders were wise enough to realize, not like a third world country which is where he {Obama] is heading us.
Rosemary — thanks for your comment. But, even worse than becoming a third-world country is becoming a dictatorship that hates religion — and that is where we’re headed. I’d live in a developing country any day before I’d live in Hitler’s Germany. I don’t think most Americans get it. They are taken in by Obama’s charm — not realizing that psychopaths can be very charming. Did you know — and this is verifiable, because I myself have verified it — that the very first three-digit lottery drawing in IL after Obama was elected was 666? Coincidence? John Paul II said there are no coincidences, and that “coincidence”is too uncanny. We can see his hatred of the Church in full gear. Hitler, as you probably know, particularly hated the Catholic Church — anyone who is evil will hate God’s true, saving Church.
You people will always find something wrong with Romney..Vote for Obama and than do a lot of praying for liberal Bishops,Nuns and
the USA..I say Getthe catholic vote however he can .We can always vote him out..Not so with our Catholic Bishops ..er..
Great comments by all of you..I cannot
Handle this guy any longer.He lies
So much hard to believe this race is so
Close..Pray,Pray, Pray..We can not
Afford to give our hard earned
Money out to libs any longer !!!