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In discussion of McCain's painful fumbling over why health insurance covers Viagra but not birth control, The Situation Room panel of Wolf Blitzer, Gloria Borger, Stephen Hayes and Jack Cafferty debate the position between a rock and a hard place that McCain finds himself, eager to win over those feminist Clinton supporters but hesitant to speak out against that mainstay of the Republican platform: restricting women's reproductive freedom.
Ignoring for the moment that CNN cannot bother to have a single pundit on for "balance" from the left against The Weekly Standard's Hayes and US News' Gloria Borger, it's Jack Cafferty who issues the befuddling "answer" to McCain's predictament:
CAFFERTY: Well, you know, the answer is Viagra is used to treat a medical condition, erectile dysfunction. Birth control is a lifestyle choice. And that's why insurance companies don't reimburse for it unless pregnancy represents a danger for the woman. And then there's a gray area where you can do a negotiation.
Excuse me? I know that most men don't have a huge well of knowledge on the workings of a woman's body (any more than I completely understand all of your equipment), but I think that in absence of knowledge, it might be smarter to avoid definite declarations like that. Oral contraceptives are absolutely used to treat medical conditions:
Although they are most commonly prescribed to prevent pregnancy, birth control pills are also used to treat a variety of menstrual disorders including amenorrhea (absence of menstruation), dysmenorrhea (abnormally painful menstruation) and hypermenorrhea (abnormally Menstruation is the periodic shedding of the lining of the uterus, causing bloody vaginal discharge.heavy menstrual bleeding). They may also be prescribed to treat a number of other conditions, including polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), hirsutism (abnormal hair growth) and endometriosis. In addition, birth control pills may be taken to regulate irregular menstrual cycles and to help in the transitional period prior to menopause.
In addition to preventing pregnancy and treating various medical conditions, birth control pills also offer women a number of significant health benefits, including a decreased risk of colorectal, ovarian and endometrial cancers.
And since when is the life of a woman to be considered a "gray area" for negotiation? But there's no gray area about a man's desire to get it up, nor any consideration to the consequences of what happens when he can? Jack, you disappoint me.
Transcripts below the fold:
BLITZER: Planned Parenthood is seizing on a stumble by John McCain when he was asked about insurance coverage for birth control and Viagra.
Let's talk about that with once again, our senior political analyst, Gloria Borger, Jack Cafferty and Stephen Hayes of "The Weekly Standard".
Here's the ad that Planned Parenthood is now running, guys.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, PLANNED PARENTHOOD AD)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ever use birth control?
Then you'll want to hear this.
QUESTION: It's unfair. Health insurance companies cover Viagra, but not birth control.
Do you have an opinion on that?
MCCAIN: I don't know enough about it to give you an informed answer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Planned Parenthood Action Fund is responsible for the content of this ad.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: All right, so, Gloria, let me start with you.
What do you think? Is this going to be an effective ad, because Planned Parenthood is running it in several of these so-called swing states?
BORGER: I think what was clearly on John McCain's mind is that he didn't want to talk about Viagra and that's why you saw him in such agony during this. But, you know, McCain is trying to get those women voters that say that they're alienated from Obama, they were supporting Hillary Clinton. And, you know, this is not the way for him to get young women voters. He may have a lot of the Viagra voters, but he needs those young women if he's going to try and win the election (INAUDIBLE).
BLITZER: Steve, what do you think?
HAYES: Well, you know, you could see McCain just struggling to come up with any kind of an answer.
(LAUGHTER)
HAYES: I think he was probably thinking, jeez, on the one hand, I really need women voters. I don't want to say anything that will offend them. On the other hand, I'm essentially a conservative. I might make the point that maybe the federal government shouldn't be in the business of funding, you know, things for erectile dysfunction or birth control.
BORGER: Or -- right.
BLITZER: Jack?
CAFFERTY: Well, you know, the answer is Viagra is used to treat a medical condition, erectile dysfunction. Birth control is a lifestyle choice. And that's why insurance companies don't reimburse for it unless pregnancy represents a danger for the woman. And then there's a gray area where you can do a negotiation.
But this is not going to help John McCain. It brings to mind his opposition to freedom of choice. He's a pro-life guy. You take a look at the Justices on the Supreme Court, you put McCain in office, you replay this ad from Planned Parenthood, you can figure out what kind of justices are going to be appointed if he's the next president.
BORGER: And, by the way, this whole thing was started by one of McCain's surrogates, Carly Fiorina, who pointed out this imbalance between insurance companies paying for Viagra and not paying for birth control. So I'm sure John McCain was kind of scratching his head.
BLITZER: All right. Let's have a -- let's have a laugh.
