Rachel Maddow at Most Delusional, Claims 'Government Doesn't Have a Role' in HHS Mandate

March 5th, 2012 3:45 PM

Republicans avoid her show, a self-inflated Rachel Maddow tells Entertainment Weekly, because she strives to be "unimpeachable in the facts."

Followed quickly by an impeachable offense from Maddow. (video after page break)

On her MSNBC show Friday, Maddow railed against Rush Limbaugh for his criticism of damsel-in-distress/perpetual student Sandra Fluke, with Maddow alleging that Limbaugh is ignorant about the workings of contraception. Maddow added this --

Now does President Obama understand what contraception is and how it works? I don't know. I kind of assume that he does. But the point is that there is a difference between the two parties on this issue right now. And it maybe doesn't matter if he gets it. Because he's not and the Democrats aren't playing doctor on this issue. They're not saying that the government should be the ones who make the decisions about contraception and how your lady parts work. You should make that decision with your doctor, privately. Government doesn't have a role there.

Which helps explain why we've been arguing since January about the government mandating that employers' insurance plans cover contraception, sterilization and abortifacients.

Awkwardly for Maddow, her laughable claim about the HHS mandate not being a mandate is refuted by ... President Obama himself.  Here's how Obama described it in a Feb. 10 White House Blog post  --

Under the rule, women will still have access to free preventive care that includes contraceptive services -- no matter where they work. So that core principle remains. But if a women's employer is a charity or a hospital that has a religious objection to providing contraceptive services as part of their health plan, the insurance company -- not the hospital, not the charity -- will be required (emphasis added) to reach out and offer the woman contraceptive care free of charge, without co-pays and without hassles.

Not that government will have any role in enforcing this requirement, at least according to Maoist libertarian Rachel Maddow.

Awkwardly again for Maddow, her premise is undercut by that heretofore liberal, suddenly conservative pundit Joe Klein, who condemned the HHS mandate -- not that government has anything to do with it -- as "a major overstepping of the state's role."