Is the Republican Party is Cutting Its Own Throat on Birth Control?

I've noted a number of times how Virginia Governor Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell has likely severely damaged himself by participating in the war against women and earning a second nickname of "Governor Ultrasound." But the problem extends on a much broader basis across the GOP which while endearing itself to the child rapist enablers and protectors in the Catholic Church hierarchy seem to have royally pissed off and alienated women in general other than those belonging to the Kool-Aid drinking evangelical set. A great column in the New York Times by Maureen Dowd looks at this problem which is confirmed by new poll results that show that 77% of voters don't want contraception included in the issues involved in the presidential contest. First some highlights from Bloomberg.com on the new poll results that suggest that the GOP has lost its mind by jumping into the contraception debate even though the Christofascist GOP base wants no abortions, no birth control and, of course, no gays:

Americans overwhelmingly regard the debate over President Barack Obama’s policy on employer-provided contraceptive coverage as a matter of women’s health, not religious freedom, rejecting Republicans’ rationale for opposing the rule. More than three-quarters say the topic shouldn’t even be a part of the U.S. political debate.

More than six in 10 respondents to a Bloomberg National Poll -- including almost 70 percent of women -- say the issue involves health care and access to birth control, according to the survey taken March 8-11.

The results suggest the Republican candidates’ focus on contraception is out of sync with the U.S. public. Seventy-seven percent of poll respondents say birth control shouldn’t be a topic of the political debate, while 20 percent say it should.

“These candidates are talking to a relatively small subset even among Republicans,” said J. Ann Selzer, of Des Moines, Iowa-based Selzer & Co., who conducted the telephone poll of 1,002 respondents. “They may have the feeling, and their polls may be showing them, that this is a way in and this is a wedge issue within the party, but this does not dovetail with the views of the majority in the U.S.”

More than half of those interviewed also say radio host Rush Limbaugh, who called a female law student testifying publicly in favor of birth-control coverage a “slut” and “prostitute,” should be fired based solely on those comments.

Not exactly good news for the GOP, but sadly the result of staying inside the Christianist bubble and listening only to the echo chamber of voices such as Tony Perkins, James Dobson and a host of other extremists. Here are highlights from Maureen Dowd's column that underscores what many women are feeling:

Hillary Clinton has fought for women’s rights around the world. But who would have dreamed that she would have to fight for them at home?

“Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me,” she told an adoring crowd at the Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center on Saturday. “But they all seem to. It doesn’t matter what country they’re in or what religion they claim. They want to control women. They want to control how we dress. They want to control how we act. They even want to control the decisions we make about our own health and bodies.

The attempt by Republican men to wrestle American women back into chastity belts has not only breathed life into President Obama, it has roused and riled Hillary. And that could turn out to be the most dangerous thing the wildly self-destructive G.O.P. leaders have done.

In some kind of insane bout of mass misogyny, Republicans are hounding out the women voters — including Republicans and independents — who helped them gain control of the House in 2010.

Senator Olympia Snowe, who’s fed up and leaving Congress, told The Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty that “it feels as if we are going back to another era,” warning that Republicans could drive women into Democratic arms.

The Republican assault on women does, though, provide a glide path to the White House both for Obama in 2012 and Hillary in 2016.

Women have watched a chilling cascade of efforts in Congress and a succession of states to turn women into chattel, to shame them about sex and curb their reproductive rights. They’ve seen the craven response of G.O.P. candidates after Limbaugh branded a law student wanting insurance coverage for birth control pills, commonplace for almost five decades, as a “prostitute” and “slut.”

American women have suddenly realized that their emancipation in the 21st century is not as secure as they had assumed. On “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia, a Republican, had the gall to say this, justifying his support for a bill designed to humiliate women getting abortions by penetrating them with a wand to take a picture: “Every invasive procedure has an informed consent requirement.” What he really meant is that when abortion is an option, informed consent should require an invasive procedure.

Women who assumed that electing Obama would lift all minority boats are beginning to think: Maybe he’s not enough. If the desire of these conservative male leaders to yoke women is this close to the surface, if they are perversely driven to debase women even though it could lead to their own political demise, then women may require more than Obama. If women are so vulnerable, they may need one of their own. Is she inevitable?

There was a time when I never thought I'd like the prospect of Hillary Clinton as a presidential nominee. But the GOP extremists are certainly making a case for her candidacy. They are also making the case for any self-respecting woman who doesn't want middle aged Bubba's making their health care decisions to vote Democrat. The GOP and the child rapist enablers in the Catholic Church are racing head long back to the 11th century. Hopefully, many more Americans are pushing forward towards the future and will give GOP office holders their walking papers in November 2012 and in 2013 here in Virginia.