A reminder: This is what Romney really believes
Let's not beat around the bush. We could call it a gaffe or a flip-flop or invoke some other euphemistic excuse from Very Serious Journalism dictionary, but let's not. The truth is, Mitt Romney is a liar.
In the second presidential debate on Tuesday night, Romney said:
I’d just note that I don't believe that bureaucrats in Washington should tell someone whether they can use contraceptives or not, and I don't believe employers should tell someone whether they could have contraceptive care or not. Every woman in America should have access to contraceptives. And the President’s statement of my policy is completely and totally wrong.
None of that is true. Romney
does believe bureaucrats in Washington should decide who has access to contraceptives, and he
does believe employers should also make that decision. We know this is true, because Romney supported the Blunt Amendment to allow employers to decide whether their employees should have access to contraceptives. That's what the Blunt Amendment did, and Romney
said at the time, "Of course I support the Blunt Amendment."
And Romney didn't just support the amendment; he joined his fellow Republicans in attacking the president for his policy to make birth control affordable and accessible to all American women—a policy Romney claimed, last night, to support when he said he too thinks all women should have access to contraceptives. In January, when the policy was first introduced, the Romney campaign said, "This is a direct attack on religious liberty and will not stand in a Romney presidency." To further appeal to the rabid Republican base, Romney also pledged to end Title X, which funds family planning programs. You know, contraception.
When the policy was enacted in August and Republicans were hyperventilating that women having access to affordable birth control was just like 9/11 and Pearl Harbor Day, Romney released an ad accusing the president of declaring a war on religion.
And let's not forget that Romney promised when it comes to Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of health care for women and specifically, the nation's largest and best resource for affordable birth control for women:
Planned Parenthood, we're going to get rid of that.
Romney
does believe bureaucrats and employers should be making birth control decisions for women. He does
not believe all American women deserve access to affordable birth control. And when the president said, during the debate, that Romney "suggested that in fact employers should be able to make the decision as to whether or not a woman gets contraception through her insurance coverage," he was absolutely accurate. Except that Romney didn't merely suggest it; he said, in no uncertain terms, that's the policy he supported. And then, like the rest of his despicable party, he accused the president of waging a war on religion for implementing a policy that all of a sudden, Romney supports. And then he has the audacity to say the president is "completely and totally wrong" about Romney's policy?
The only question is, which policy, Mitt? The one where you want to defund our health care, support Washington bureaucrats vote on our access to birth control, and let our employers make our decisions for us? Or the policy where you'll say anything, even if it's a lie, to try to win the presidency?
