Further proof that cable news networks exist in entirely different information universes, Contraception Division
MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell Tuesday night:
With 266 days to go before the presidential election, the Republicans in Congress have come up with the 266th reason to vote for Pres. Obama in November: Birth Control.
It wasn’t on anyone’s list until last week, when the Republicans thought they’d found the perfect wedge issue, but then Pres. Obama masterfully sidestepped their attack with a deft and minor adjustment to the new regulation mandating contraception coverage in health insurance policies.
Sarah Palin on Fox Newshound Greta van Susteren’s show Tuesday Night:
Money quote from van Susteren:
I’m sort of stunned at how poorly this was thought out by the Obama administration – that they didn’t think that one step ahead.
So – deft and minor adjustment by the Obama administration? Or poorly thought out policy?
Depends on which universe you inhabit, apparently.
Campaign Outsider 
I have been telling people for years that the abortion debate is really about access to birth control. Now finally the Republicans have been forced to show that to be true.
MSNBC is on target on this one. If you want to play out social issues and the culture wars during an election in 2012, then focus on abortion or gay marriage, both of which have the country divided somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-50. But contraception? Not even people who self-identify as Roman Catholics are majority against contraception in the U.S. It isn’t a wedge issue with the general population.
The braindead part of this entire debate is that 28 states already have similar laws mandating contraception in health insurance policies. The federal requirement would only really only impact the other 22 states, and I’m betting that those 22 are mostly red states with relatively small populations.