Good luck following the contortionism required of a Republican senator not 100 percent committed to the war on women: Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted for the Blunt Amendment, which would have allowed employers to deny workers coverage for contraception or any other health care they decided to find morally problematic. Then she
said she regretted her vote. Six months later, Murkowski still regrets the vote—but her regret isn't stopping her from
campaigning for Blunt Amendment supporter Linda McMahon as she runs for Senate from Connecticut.
Ever since her vote for the Blunt Amendment, Murkowski's been crystal clear on why it was a terrible idea, saying in Connecticut, via Amanda Terkel, that:
I believe very strongly women should have that right to access [to contraceptives]. In fact, I think most of us believe that we fought that fight decades ago and it's done, it's over with.
Well, it would be, except that your party keeps trying to revive it, Sen. Murkowski.
McMahon, for her part, claims her support for giving employers the power to deny coverage for specific conditions and medications according to their whim is "reluctant." Oh, and she actually isn't sure of exactly what the Blunt Amendment would have done. All she's really sure of on the issue is that the Republican talking points are "government overreach" and "trying to force religious institutions to to be engaged in something that went against their beliefs."
Murkowski's arguing that women view the Blunt Amendment as "a direct attack on women's reproductive rights." McMahon's spouting Republican talking points while admitting she doesn't actually understand the issue. Murkowski's conclusion about McMahon as a candidate? Look beyond party politics! All the way to "the character of the individual." The character that leads someone to take a party-line view of an issue she knows virtually nothing about, apparently.
Murkowski's loyalty to her party is basically forcing her to do a full split while in the middle of a back flip. Too bad her loyalty to the women whose reproductive rights her party is attacking doesn't come first.
Giving $3 to Chris Murphy will help elect a senator who supports contraceptive access for all women.