Peggy Noonan Schools Mika Brzezinski on Obama ‘Mischievously’ Misinforming Public About Contraceptives

◼ “When you take a serious political issue and put it forward, break it apart in a way that is not true but may excite people who you think deep in your heart are sort of uninformed,” correctly observed Noonan. - Newsbusters

For those preferring birth control pills, Planned Parenthood claims these can cost as little as $15 a month.

Heck, you've probably heard in the past few weeks cynical media members pointing out that 98 percent of Catholics use birth control.

If that's the case, it doesn't seem that anyone in our country is having a hard time finding it.

As such, the shifting of this debate away from the first amendment protection of freedom of religion to folks having their contraceptives taken away is indeed mischievous, and all those not only letting the White House get away with it but also aiding and abetting the misinformation are guilty of media malpractice.

◼ Contraception Tweet of the Day - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

◼ Obama’s epic blunder on birth-control mandate - Michael Gerson/Washington Post

“I’ve found by observing this president closely for years,” argues Daily Beast contributor Andrew Sullivan, “that what often seem like short-term tactical blunders turn out in the long run to be strategically shrewd. And if this was a trap, the religious right walked right into it.” Religious conservatives are now identified, he says, with “opposition to contraception.” Republicans have achieved “fusion with the Vatican.” Obama is evidently playing the very deep game.

Consider the implications of this praise. It means that Obama assaulted the core beliefs of some of his fellow citizens in order to lure them into politically self-destructive behavior. The president is willing to trifle with the constitutional rights of religious people to get a rise out of them....

But I don’t think Sullivan’s indictment is accurate. These events have all the hallmarks of an epic White House screw-up. The policy resulted from an internal debate in which the vice president and the chief of staff took the other side. Liberal true-believers won out. The announcement was fumbled. The White House was shocked by the breadth and intensity of opposition.

It is difficult to imagine that Obama desired criticism from Democratic officeholders and candidates, including a former head of the Democratic National Committee. Or a bridge-burning with Catholic bishops shortly before an election. Or a promise of civil disobedience from the most prominent evangelical pastor in America, Rick Warren.