Posted on 03/23/2012 5:00:11 AM PDT by IbJensen
March 22, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Former GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain has criticized his party for waging a “war on women” based on their reaction to the Obama administration’s mandate that will force religious institutions to pay for contraception, abortifacient drugs and sterilization.
In response to a question from Meet the Press moderator David Gregory , who asked if there was “something of a war on women among Republicans” during an interview Sunday, the Arizona senator said “we have to fix that.”
“I think that there is a perception out there because of how this whole contraception issue played out — ah, we need to get off of that issue, in my view,” said McCain. “I think we ought to respect the right of women to make choices in their lives and make that clear, and get back onto what the American people really care about.”
McCain gave the remarks weeks after backing an amendment offered by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) that would have restored to employers the right to opt out of paying for employees’ birth control, a measure that was voted down.
However, McCain has welcomed the fact that a measure in his home state to allow employers to decline to cover contraceptive pills not used for medical reasons will likely be voted down. The bill stalled in the state Senate this week, but supporters say they will try to address the medical privacy concerns that have been voiced by McCain and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.
GOP leaders in both the U.S. Senate and the House have vowed to fight the mandate that has sparked a firestorm of grassroots opposition in Catholic and Christian churches across the U.S. Protests in at least 129 U.S. cities are planned for Friday against the mandate, which has also earned condemnation from every bishop heading a Catholic diocese in the U.S.
“If the state is allowed to violate the religious rights of one religion, then surely it can violate those of others,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell last month of the mandate. “If the rights of some are not protected, the rights of all are in danger.”
McCain is in his preferred political mode: as Little Sir Echo for the news media’s current bash conservatives line of attack.
:-)
Join us today on Wall Street at Noon protesting Obama and McCain’s mandate.Watch the nrws blackout.It will not have happened.Thank God for Free Republic.
Dear Sen. McCain, we will get off this issue when the government gets its ugly choke hold off of my religion. This “mandate” literally is a violation of my First Amendment Right. “Birth Control” coverage should be optional for everyone in their insurance plans, but forcing everyone to pay for it is illegal and a violation of the First Amendment. You Mr. McCain forcing me to pay for something that my religion has consistently taught since I was a young girl in Catholic School is asking me to commit a grave and mortal sin. This really is not a battle of just Catholic institutions being forced to pay for coverage, it is about forcing every believing Catholic to pay for what we know is murder. Other women may choose as they desire, but mandating the rest of us to pay for her choices is wrong under the Constitution, wrong under the First Amendment, and morally wrong according to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
So Sen. McCain the gauntlet has been thrown down and slapped across your face. You either honor your oath of office or you don’t. You can let them choose and that is the same thing I ask for myself.
LET ME CHOOSE, not you and not the government.
What is it about the UNPRECEDENTED attack on freedom of religion that McCain doesn’t get?
LLS
No... he IS a republican... THAT is the truth and the problem.
LLS
How do I hate thee, Juan. Let me count the ways.
Like most conservatives, I’m opposed to women making choices in their lives.
McCain is an idiot.
I perceive a fallacy in your argument.
The law says no establishment if religion.
If the law is struck solely to comply with religious based belief and view, then the government is in effect establishing religion.
To be successful, the argument must be made on other grounds.
Guys like McCain are no longer slowing the slide into socialism, they’re greasing the slide.
I refuse to use the false term “Separation of church and state”
Today I use the far more accurate term “Protection of church from state”.
No. The best we can hope for is to slow some of the implementation down, get rid of the worst parts.
If only he would “pull a Specter” then we could dispense with the charade that he is a Republican. He is the very definition of RINO.
ObamCare will not be repealed, the GOP establshment won’t stand for that. Romney would never sign it anyway.
This is a prime example of his instincts. He will not fight the necessary fight. It makes it too hard to “reach across the aisle” to his “good friends”.
That’s why he got his ass handed to him in `08.
???
Telling McCain to get the choke hold off of my religion is a fallacy? Telling McCain that can’t demand Catholics pay for ‘birth control’ is a fallacy?
The government can demand that the option for birth control coverage be offered, but it cannot force anyone to purchase it as part of their coverage.
So I don’t get what you are saying at all..
I held my nose and voted for this puke and know why people are against voting for mittens.
On the other hand, I'd vote mcpain again and will vote for mittens, although not with any great passion.
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