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Subscribe to RSS*** Thursday’s “Daily Rundown” line-up: Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on the birth control coverage fight… Latest on the violence in Syria and today’s Mississippi Supreme Court hearing on the controversial Barbour pardons… More 2012 news with TIME’s Michael Scherer, National Review/Bloomberg View’s Ramesh Ponnuru and Democratic strategist Tracy Sefl.
*** Thursday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up: MSNBC’S Thomas Roberts talks with Jackie Kucinich, Charles Blow, Ezra Klein, RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, & GLADD’s Corey Johnson.
*** Thursday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include MSNBC Contributor Mike Barnicle, the Huffington Post’s Janell Ross, MSNBC Contributor Robert Traynham, MSNBC Political Analyst Richard Wolffe, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, and “The Last Word’s” Lawrence O’Donnell
*** Thursday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up (guest hosted by NBC’s Luke Russert): NBC’s Luke Russert interviews DCCC Chair Steve Israel, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, Sen. John Barrasso, Hotline’s Reid Wilson, and the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart.
*** Thursday’s “News Nation with Tamron Hall” line-up: MSNBC’s Tamron Hall interviews commentator Michael Smerconish.
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Chuck,
Hope you give all this time to Senator Boxer that you are giving to Manchin and Rubio. I am so very very tired of MEN telling us woman what we should do with our bodies. Transferring ALL the responsibility of a child to us with laws, rules, etc. etc. GUESS WHAT! I have rights! More rights than an institution such as the Catholic Church. I am mentioned in the constitution. The Catholic Church is not. The Constitution was written for the individual, not an institution like the Catholic Church. Get the government and the Catholic Church, out of my bedroom and my vagina. Since men have shown great irresponsiblity when it comes to children regardless of wealth, think Joe Walsh, Arnold Schwarzenegger, you best keep providing services to us woman because we are the ones who will keep abortions to a minimum. Not MEN. P.S. We are the majority of voters also.
Just saw the interview with Manchin and Rubio. They made Chuck Todd look very stupid! Chuck seen to be oblivious to what the issue was. Sad! Rubio and Manchin looked like they felt sorry for him.
Republicans took control of Maine's state government in 2010 and today, they have changed our public policy so that taxpayer funds can go to support religious schools. If it is an attack on religious freedom to require Catholic organizations, that provide health insurance, to abide by the law that insurance must cover contraception, is it an attack on my religious rights to favor Catholic schools over public schools?
I am a Protestant. Why should my taxes go to schools that promote Catholicism?
John...funny, for I watched the same interview and saw nothing of what you described. Is it a blind hate for you?
If the Government wants to set up clinics to provide contraceptives for men and women I am ok with that. If they want pharmacies to distribute free of charge at grocery stores I am ok with that. What I am not ok with is having the federal government mandate to a religious organizations what they will provide certain services even if they are against their religious teachings and convictions. This should concern folks of all political persuasion.
Does it change your opinion to know that many Catholic organizations already have insurance policies that cover contraceptives?
Last night I watched Meredeth Vieria's gripping interview with the woman who had an affair with JFK, on Rock Center (now at its new time on Wednesday nights :)
I've always been immune to the JFK mystique, maybe because I was 4 when he died, and my parents were Republicans and not apt to glamourize him. But it's still difficult to reconcile the obviously intelligent and gifted President with the adulterous and emotionally wounding man who crossed so many boundaries he shouldn't have.
It made me think about how we view the Presidency and the all-too human people who take the job. Walking to work, I was thinking about George W. Bush and Dick Cheney and the charge against them that they were a) stupid and b) evil. It seems like, the language we use to describe a President whose policies we don't agree with falls into two camps: they are likeable but stupid (i.e. Reagan) or brilliant and evil (i.e. Nixon).
It's difficult to talk about policy without using the framework of good vs evil; it's hard to talk about leadership without using like or dislike. The "like/dislike" thing seems to be shorthand for approving or disapproving of the direction of an administration. I wonder if we will ever develop a framework for talking about policies and the presidency that is intellectual, or will we always go through these reject/accept processes.
If they already provide that then great. The point is the government should NOT be able to mandate or require it of them. Is that point so difficult to grasp?
John
The government policy is that employers who provide health insurance offer coverage for contraceptives. For the Catholic Church to say "we don't want to do that " is the same as a car dealership saying "we don't want to cover our older employees, because they are more apt to get sick." Or, a school saying "we don't want to cover young women because pregnancy is expensive." Organizations cannot discriminate among employees, deciding who can and who cannot be covered. Just because the Catholic Church is a religion doesn't mean it's organizations can be allowed to discriminate against those non-Catholics in their employ who will use contraceptives.
The constitution does not protect car dealers. Sorry! We really need to start teching more courses on the constitution in our school system. Maybe we should make that mandatory!
Amy,
I cannot believe that it is not clear to you what the issue is I am raising. There are certain explicit rights spelled out in the constitution. (Separation of Church and State) You are aware of that? Right?
The founding fathers came from European countries where people were burned at the stake for their beliefs, or tortured on the rack or forcibly converted.
Freedom of religion doesn't mean if you are an employer you can get out of adhering to insurance regulations. If you a rabbi performing circumsisions, you have to follow procedures that regulate medical practices. If you are a Christian Scientist parent, you cannot claim it's against your religion to provide your child with medical assistance, and allow the child to die while you attempt a cure through prayer.
Religious freedom is the freedom to believe whatever you want, to teach your children these beliefs, to congregate with others to promote these beliefs, but it doesn't mean you get to force your beliefs on your employees or others who are dependent on you, in conflict with laws that apply to everyone.
The GOP and church do not want women to take birth control pills. Do they believe it's OK for men to take Viagra? It's OK for a man to have an erection for four hours, but it's not OK for the worn-out woman to protect herself.
The government should not mandate that religious organizations provide viagra either. Its the mandate against one's belief thats the problem. I know you folks are not that dense. You guys are joking around. Right?