The Republicans are losing the battle over contraception in a big way. They’ve lost their way on the optics. They seem incapable of anticipating our side’s tactics. And they’re making unforced errors.
This morning, Democrats tore into House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) for preventing women from testifying before a hearing examining the Obama administration’s new regulation requiring employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage to their employees.
Chairman Issa first denied a women the Democrats wanted to testify because the hearing was supposed to be confined to “religious liberty” and not contraception. Then Issa disallowed the testimony of a female college student because she didn’t “have the appropriate credentials” to testify before his committee. As a result, the Democrats walked out of the hearing in protest.
What do you think will lead on the nightly news? How is that going to look to most people? In denying the testimony of these two women, Issa lost the whole point of his hearing which was to score some political points against the president. He will score no points. All his effort will result in nothing more than an own-goal.
The GOP used to be good at this.
No more.
