Willard In The Doldrums

Willard seems to be in a rut. Tonight, the memo reads he may not do well against Santorum in Minnesota, Missouri and perhaps even Colorado, where he is favored.

Out of the last 7 polls on an Obama-Romney contest, Obama wins five of them with an average of 6 its and only two are tied. Mitt's average ratings ow are 28.9% favorable and 46.6% unfavorable. And worse, compared to Obama with an average of 49.1% favorable to Romney averaged at 41.9%. Things are not looking up for the inevitable nominee and Mr.Electable.

This is the time for Steve Benen to weigh in but he defected from the Washingtonmonthly and is now a MSNBC contributor. This is a big loss for those of us who depended on Benen to keep monitoring all of Willard's lies and various "untruths". It is too much for sole bloggers to keep track of the various incarnations of Willard.

Today was a special day. Romney blasted the Prop 8 ruling since his "cult" bankrolled it, perhaps with his own money. He attacked Obama on his decision that health insurance companies should cover contraceptives. And he hailed the Komen foundation for withholding funding for Planned Parenthood. Since he has already backed a Personhood Amendment, Romney is not a moderate anymore but a social conservative.

But Today's bit to out-Frothy Mix Santorum reveals Romney's perpetual tin ear. 99% of American women have or are using contraceptives. 98% of Catholic women have practiced sex with contraceptives. 55% of all Americans support health insurance companies supporting contraceptives with no co-pays. The Obama Administration already follows the "conscience clauses" like the states. According to the Public Religion Research Institute 58% of Catholics support the new program, while 37% oppose. Only among evangelicals do you have 38% supporting and 56% opposed. Romney's attempt to embrace the Catholic Bishops denouncing Obama's war against religion is doubly hypocritical since Romney's own plan in Massachusetts paid for contraceptives and his whole faith was founded on nativist sentiments against Catholics.

I fear that if the economy recovers satisfactorily that we will be caught in a cultural war instead and that the whole Republican agenda will be wedge issues, which have no relevance to the future of the country. In 21st century America, there really is no room for a political debate over contraceptives.