MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" hosted a good interview today with Stephanie Schriock, president of Emily's List, on Romney/Ryan, the Republican Party, women's health, and reproductive rights. It's well worth your time.
But The Political Carnival caught something interesting Andrea Mitchell said in the last 15 seconds of the segment that seemed especially noteworthy.
For those who can't watch clips online, the host told viewers, as the segment wrapped up, "We should point out that we have been trying to get the Romney campaign to join this debate today, and they have said that they don't have an appropriate spokesperson."
The Romney campaign has a small army of spokespersons and surrogates to discuss every issue under the sun -- or at a minimum, repeat talking points while slamming President Obama -- but when the subject is women's health and reproductive rights, all of a sudden, Team Romney doesn't have "an appropriate spokesperson" at all. They'd rather send no one then send a spokesperson to defend the ticket's positions on these hot-button, in-the-news issues.
It's almost as if the Republican presidential campaign is uncomfortable with the subject.
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They'll have an "appropriate spokesperson" on November 7th if they win: Todd Akin.
I thought Ralph Kramden was their spokesperson. Because bugged eyes and 'hummina hummina hummina' works for all occasions!
Sounds as if the Democrats have found an issue that they REALLY need to hammer.
Tapes of Akin and King should work out well.
This could not be more hysterical.
when your positions are so far out of the mainstream, and you have been exposed, there is nothing to do but hide.
Didn't Mitt mention that Ann was his go-to Women's policy explainer? I guess she was only good for the warm-body photo-op and not for actually articulating positions.
My guess is they tried to coach her up, but just couldn't get the phrase "you people" out of her vocabulary.
oy, could you imagine Ann Romney trying to excuse this nonsense? What a disaster. Everyone would think it came straight from the Onion.
She would probably fall back on that line about how the dog really liked being strapped to the roof of the car.
So long as she didn't mean it as some kind of kinky metaphor...
o.O
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
OK, women are AGAIN told no, there's not a war on women. Listen to me, dammit! I'm in control!
The women I talk to or Ann talks to (women that may like being CONTROLLED) and afraid to stand up to the men that tell them what is correct.
Come on!
How does Romney stop the Republicans from committing suicide when they have an abortion plank in their platform and various other Republicans are keeping this issue going? This issue is more fatal than the tax returns and possibly Medicare. And Romney is helpless to stop the bleeding. There is no way out for Romney on this issue. It is going to be a millstone around the Republicans neck and if they lose the elections, control of the House and Senate as well as the White House, this issue will be the cause. The only good thing to come out of this may be the end of the radicals controlling the party after the elections. Until November Romney is not going to say anything about the issue. But it will come up in the debates and then we will see Romney dance.
I visualized a comic strip (perhaps Doonesbury-but I haven't read comics in some time) with Reince Prebis and Michael Steele dressed in M.D. scrubs in E.R. wheeling in patients Rmoney, Ryan, Akin who were in a 2 bus collision in Missouri, trying to save 2 of the three and the blip on the monitor still bouncing, pronounce Akin DOA and go about frantically clamping and suturing Rmoney and Ryan.
Think possibly the problem is the fact that their platform committee just today voted up a plank demanding an anti-abortion amendment to the Constitution without making any exception for rape or incest or life of the mother and they somehow thought that inconvenient fact might just come up?
A few questions for the team ryan-romney ...
1) under yours, or the gop billl who pays for the pregnancy, birth, and hospital bills when the "legitamately" (or otherwise) raped woman becomes pregnant?
2) is the rapist required to provide child support? or is the victim (woman) required to marry him to get any financial assistance?
3) will the rapist be granted all the privilage of fatherhood?
4) why don't you take the tea party run gop to Korea, China, Russia where they agree with your viewpoints and stop trying to destroy America?
Thank You,
Ken McHenry
What about Ann Romney? Is she only allowed to talk about "no more tax returns" now? Of course. That's when she's at her best.
I'm sure Andrea would edit the tape anyway, why not just string together some old Romney footage she already has?
Oh please! She is not on FOX.
oh I would not want to be in Cathy McMorris Rodgers shoes - the congressional liaison with the Romney campaign, a woman, mother, young - seems like the spokesperson of the century - opps, she voted against the Lily Ledbetter Act, and for all the Akin/Ryan bills..... yep, i bet they are still searching.....
Obviously I missed something. I was listening to Andrea today, and was not happy at all. The last thing I heard was someone that she put on, at the last minute, who was defending the medicare voucher system, and Andrea didn't argue against it. My first thought was that Andrea is not helping our cause.
Who was that person, and why didn't Andrea speak out against the voucher system??
why didn't Andrea speak out against the voucher system?
It is not Andrea's job to speak out for or against an issue, but it is her job to try to correct factual errors and to challenge outright lies. She should not just let a spokes person's misinformation go unchallenged.
The entire Republican party doesn't have 'an appropriate spokesman' for anything! It's very difficult to have an appropriate spokesman when your ideas are fantasy or falsehood based.
Media interviewers, right or left, NEVER challenge Reps, like when they trot out the 'rich pay X% of total taxes' meme and NOBODY (even Cenk missed it last week) has ever asked 'on what % of total income', or at least I've never seen it.
As far as the rights of women are concerned, the alliance of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of the Latter Day Saints is an unholy one. These two churches waged the campaign against Prop 8 in California and now they are taking on a campaign against the rights of women to control their own bodies. Neither church affords equal status to women within their tenets. Perhaps it's no surprise that they are trying to suppress women's rights in the legislative arena. Unholy alliance indeed!
I agree with you on a level of the heirarchy being super involved in convincing their members to donate and vote FOR prop 8.
I do think there is a distinction between what heirachy do from a place of authority and people that will make up their own minds.
I am very careful not to slap potential allies in the face, but heartily agree that the church leaders should stop using authority to persuade their members to vote and donate money to political causes.
Not all religious people are against women's rights and LGBTQ rights. I encourage those people not to allow religious authorities to command their voting and to what causes they should donate money.
those people who are religious, who claim that the bible has any truth to it, and who are for women's rights and LGBTQ rights are making up their own religion, just like those idiots who don't support such rights. Why cling to such nonsense when it's more then obvious that religion doesn't make good people nor does it reflect reality?
Because it's a fact that people are religious and they have religious freedom, but that religious freedom does not result in their beliefs being our laws, contrary to what they "think". That's why there is anger at courts for saying that is unconstitutional. It is becoming more common for many people of God, so to speak to support women's rights and LGBTQ. I would not want to lose that support.
I thought Romney sent out Queen Ann to be his eyes and ears with women in America. Wasn't that his statement?
I'm glad Steve, or someone at TRMS, caught this. I head this in the car this afternoon and was shocked. Anyone should be able to speak to this. I suppose they weren't prepare to face the question of defining forcible rape. Although, Mitchell would've been less likely to put forth that question. Tamaron Hall, however, had no problem with it.
Also, I'm pretty sure Mitt has said he would get rid of Planned Parenthood. I guess someone told him it's not a good idea to go around saying he's going to get rid of a private company.
Surrogates and spokepersons are not available, because they are spending most of their time cleaning the @!$%# from their shoes, as much as they step in it.
Um, don't they have an actual candidate or two? Who might be capable of speaking for themselves?
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
Aiken's comments regarding "legitimate rape" are not only offensive but so uninformed and wrong headed. I was personally offended because a few years ago I was raped and became pregnant as a result. The shame and horror of that experience was brought home to me as I heard out of his mouth that in his world of 'make-believe' my body should have been able to prevent that pregnancy. Does this mean I'm broken, or that maybe I really did want sex? I'm no child... I was in my late thirties, and a recent widow when I was raped. My husband died from cancer six months before the rape occurred and it was an acquaintance rape. So maybe I was giving mixed signals? Or maybe I wasn't forceful enough when I said no, or begged him to stop? Or maybe I just should not have trusted someone so blindly. But that said in the end I was pregnant. I was lucky. I had a lot of people around me who supported me and loved me and made it possible for me to open my heart to this baby. My sister offered to take the child and raise it in an open adoption scenario. By the end of the pregnancy I felt strong enough to keep the child, but there was the beginning of that whole horrific time, when all I could think of was how in Gods name am I going to do this? I vascilated for a while between abortion and adoption and any number of options that women are supposed to have in this country, options that our mothers struggled to get for us. It was not an easy choice. But this was a 'private' struggle that was between god and my own conscience and my doctor. No one else could make that decision for me. In the end it all was for nothing. The child died during child birth. Maybe it was all the stress I was under, and the grief and the pain that made it so difficult. But Aiken has no clue what women in these circumstances go through. Abortion is never an "Easy" choice, but in this country at least, is supposed to be a protected one. We women, should never ever ever let go of the freedoms and rights and we have earned in the country. And shame on the GOP for making what is a horrible awful circumstance so much harder for women. Where is the compassion and the mercy?
First my sympathy to you for the loss of your husband. The sad thing is if I'm not mistaken in some states there has been precedence established by perpetrators of rapes to then sue for joint custody as a parental right, and I have no doubt the the first case was probably heard by a male judge, granted the rapist HIS parental rights go figure!
I still hold firm to my belief in the issues of genes and DNA re: Gerald Gallego, Jr. and his father ref: http://www.executedtoday.com/2010/03/03/1955-gerald-albert-gallego-like-father-like-son/
I'm so sorry for your ordeal.
I'm am interested in why they didn't have the new mouth piece Paul Ryan give his input to this after all he's a good little catholic boy isn't he? Oh wait he's been married since 2000 and only has 3 kids, I'm sorry but my parents had 3 and as they said were all the result of "rhythm method" so unless Ryan or Janna has had some medical issues then I'd venture to they are going against the church and are using birth control! The reason the church wants the rhythm method used is because it fails to work and they know it!