The Right is Never Satisfied

So while I was away the GOP completely imploded and we have Rick Santorum, the Christian solider who wants to outlaw contraception saying "One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country.... Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that's okay, contraception is okay. It's not okay. It's a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be."

So it wasn't a surprise that the right went nuts over a provision in the Health Care Reform bill that requires contraception coverage in health insurance.  While there were exceptions for houses of worship and those programs directly connected to the propagation of the faith, things like hospitals, charities, and other religiously affiliated programs were not.  The Catholic Church and the media went crazy.  They actually accused the President that he was trying to destroy the church.  The amazing thing is that the President was trying to do a lot and he did screw up on this one, but it seemed like there was a compromise in the works from the beginning.  The indigent church trotted out Arch-Bishops and self-described "good" Catholics who discussed the President's over-reach.  However 14% of the contraception medications prescribed are for important medical conditions that are not related to preventing pregnancy.  However the church didn't seem to care about that, they saw it as any compromise on this so-called value of theirs on this one issue.  The media loved the fight, but if they were doing their jobs they would have asked that the church also take a stand against insurance companies funding Viagra or penile implant surgery.  You see single men could get access to these medical enhancements along with the married ones.  Yet we don't see the Arch-Bishop on TV looking for and exemption for that.  Is the idea of encouraging sex outside of marriage okay, but contraception is a fight worth taking?  Sounds hypocritical to me, in part because a large percentage of American Catholics have used some form of artificial contraception.  

So now there is a compromise and of course there will be some who will still hate anything, but it also tells me that we cannot simply allow the right wing nuts to control the narrative.  We must continue to question the craziness that is driving the GOP and will be part of the Presidential race.  We cannot simply be complacent.