Mitt Romney is nothing if not predictable. One day after narrowly winning Michigan's primary by veering severely to the right, he's apparently decided it's time to flip-flop his way back to the middle, because he's now decided to come out against the Blunt Amendment which would repeal President Obama's birth control coverage mandate:
(ONN is the Ohio News Network.)
Earlier this month, Romney described the birth control coverage mandate as an affront to religious liberty.
On January 20, 2012, the Obama administration affirmed a rule that would force Roman Catholic hospitals, charities, and universities to purchase health insurance for their employees that includes coverage for contraception, abortifacients, and sterilization, in violation of their religious principles. This is wrong.
In last week's debate,
he said:
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. Most recently, of course, most recently requiring the Catholic Church to provide for its employees and its various enterprises health care insurance that would include birth control, sterilization and the morning-after pill. Unbelievable.
That was batshit crazy nonsense, particularly given the fact that religious groups and organizations are exempt from the rule. But given his position then, it's remarkable that he's now flip-flopped so dramatically. And not only did he flip-flop, he's now saying presidential candidates shouldn't even talk about birth control at all!
So he goes from saying the birth control requirement is a fundamental threat to religious liberty that forces churches to fund "abortifacients" to now saying he opposes the Senate legislation that would repeal it and doesn't think it's an issue he should be talking about? It's simply amazing that anybody takes anything he says seriously.
2:23 PM PT: Romney's campaign is denying that Romney opposes the Blunt Amendment. They say his views were "incorrectly reported." But you can watch for yourself. He clearly says: "I'm against the bill."
2:25 PM PT: Greg Sargent tries to sort through what Romney could have meant, raising the question of whether Romney might have thought he was talking about a separate measure pushed by Marco Rubio. But the question put to Romney was clearly about the mandatory coverage issue.