THIS WEEK IN POLITICAL NEWS -- 3/1/12

ROMNEY AVOIDS TOTAL HUMILIATION: On Tuesday, in addition to a big win in Arizona, Romney beat Santorum by 3 points in Michigan, a somewhat surprising victory after recent polls had put them neck and neck (and earlier polls showed Santorum with a huge lead). That the race was still so close, though -- both candidates netted 15 delegates from the state -- is still pretty embarrassing for Romney, who grew up in Michigan. Both candidates appeared to be competing for the prize of Who Can Win Despite Saying the Most Profoundly Distasteful/Idiotic Things In the Week of the Election, and I have to give them both kudos for the tremendous campaign they both ran for that prestigious award. Romney followed up his hilarious paean to the perfect trees of Michigan by reminding a Detroit audience that his wife drove “a couple of Cadillacs,” at an event that was (even if through no fault of the campaign’s) totally overshadowed by the entirely empty stadium at which it was held. (For comparison, at this stage in the ‘08 race, Obama was consistently attracting stadium-sized crowds to his events.) But nothing could possibly top Romney’s latest Mitt-ism, when he attended a Nascar event over the weekend and admitted that, while he may be not a super-fan like others, he has “some great friends who are Nascar team owners.” As strong a running Romney put up for the WCWDSMPD/ITIWE Award, Santorum was right there on his heels. Last year, Santorum had told a college group that, after reading JFK’s historic speech arguing for a separation of church and state and extolling the virtues of a political system that allows people of any faith to run for office, “I almost threw up.” Over the weekend, he repeated the line on national TV, twice -- before trying to walk it back the next day. (One reason Santo may have almost vomited over the speech was that he seems to have completely and utterly misunderstood it.) Then Santorum declared that President Obama was “a snob” for saying he wants every child in America to attend college -- and repeated that comment on national TV, too. This comes just a week after the contraception blow-up; apparently Santorum thought that alienating Catholics and all parents who hope their children achieve success in their lives was a winning political strategy.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR NEXT WEEK: Super Tuesday is fast approaching (March 6), and it could effectively end the Republican race for the nomination. Or not! Not a single state with an election in the next week is a winner-take-all primary, meaning that there is almost no way for Romney to land a knock-out punch next week. The closest he could come would be to win Ohio, which not only awards 15 delegates to the statewide winner but is seen as an incredible important measure of a candidate’s viability in the national election. A poll released Monday, before Romney’s wins in Arizona and Michigan, put Santorum ahead of Romney in Ohio by a 7 point margin.

OBAMA WILL IGNORE THE NDAA: Remember late last year, Congress passed the truly awful National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and President Obama signed it. I was pretty upset about it, calling it “indefensible.” But this week, the White House successfully dispelled a substantial amount of my previous despair by declaring that it will skirt the mandatory military detention requirement of the bill. Adam Serwer explains: “Essentially, the directive issues waivers that include broad categories of suspects, meaning that instead of taking each case individually, the military custody requirement is avoided in just about every possible circumstance.” The White House guidelines state that, each time the FBI takes a terrorism suspect into custody, a six-member national security team will meet to determine whether the suspect is covered by the NDAA, and whether he is part of the categories to which Obama’s waiver applies. “All six members of an interagency national security team must agree before a prisoner is transferred to military custody, effectively giving any of them veto power over complying with the mandate.” The White House has thus found a way to keep operating the way it wants, which is heartening. On the other hand, the NDAA is the law, and Obama’s waivers last only as he remains in office. The law still has the potential to inflict severe harm on national security policy in the future.

SENATE DEFEATS BLUNT AMENDMENT: Today, the Senate narrowly defeated an amendment by Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) that would have allowed any employer to refuse to include in his employer-provided health insurance any medical service he disagrees with on “religious or moral” grounds. The amendment was a response to the President’s new rule mandating contraception coverage in health insurance plans, but of course the Blunt amendment would go far, far beyond contraception. If an employer has a religious belief against blood transfusions, he can refuse to cover those in his employees’ health insurance plan. Or if he has a “moral objection” to drug use or unsafe sex, he could refuse to cover AIDS drugs or STI screenings. Or if he has a religious belief in the subjugation of women, he could refuse to cover yearly gynecologist exams because girly parts are icky. Every single Republicans senator, except Sen. Olympia Snow (R-ME) (who just announced her retirement this week), voted for the bill; every single Democratic senator, save Joe Manchin (VA), Ben Nelson (NE), and Bob Casey (PA), voted against it. In other words, even the remaining few somewhat moderate Republicans, like Sens. Susan Collins (ME) and Scott Brown (MA), voted for an extremely regressive bill that gives any employer, whether at a Catholic university or an auto repair-shop, full control over the bodies of his employees. Greg Sargent sums it up nicely: If there is no longer any ‘center’ in Washington, it’s because ‘centrist’ Republicans are not embracing solutions that are actually centrist. If bipartisan compromise is no longer possible in Washington, it’s because ‘centrist’ Republicans are embracing the uncompromising positions, rather than the ones that represent genuine compromise.”

MORE DEPRESSINGLY, IN THE HOUSE: While the Senate was busy defeating Blunt’s retrogade amendment, the House Energy and Commerce Committee was hosting a hearing with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, where Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) got himself into quite a tizzy about the Administration’s contraception mandate, revealing his confusion over what “contraception” means and what the rule actually covers. (Via ThinkProgress, which also has the video.)

SEBELIUS: There also is no abortification drug that is part of the FDA approved contraception. What the rule for preventive care…

MURPHY: Ma’m that is not true…Is the morning after pill or something like that an abortification drug?

SEBELIUS: It is a contraceptive drug, not an abortification… It does not interfere with a pregnancy. If the morning pill were taken, and a female were pregnant, the pregnancy is not interrupted. That’s the definition of abortifation.

MURPHY: Ma’m that is your interpretation, and I appreciate that’s your interpretation.

SEBELIUS: That’s what the scientists and doctors…

MURPHY: We’re not talking about scientists. Ma’m we’re not talking about scientists here, we’re talking about religious belief. Ma’m, I’m asking you about a religious belief. In a religious belief, that is a violation of a religious belief.

So here we have a sitting Congressman explaining to a Cabinet member that he does not care about whether “science” considers something an abortion-causing drug, only what his religious “beliefs” tell him. These are the people who make our health care policy! This might be a good time to throw in a link to EMILY’s List.

Must-Read of the Week: Dahlia Lithwick makes a convincing case that the new and “improved” abortion/ultrasound bill in Virginia is no better than the one that required vaginal probes.
Bonus Must-Read of the Week: One of my favorite political writers, Rick Perlstein, has an excellent column arguing that Obama’s brilliant political strategy may end up hurting liberal causes.
Fun Video of the Week: Obama addressed the UAW earlier this week, and brought back some of his 2008 mojo. Watch the best 4 minutes here. The full speech is here. So great to see him fired up!