Categories: Featured News

Rachel Maddow Busts David Gregory’s Rape Dodge for Romney

Last updated on February 7th, 2013 at 06:08 pm

On Meet The Press today, David Gregory was caught red handed trying to distance Mitt Romney from Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock by Rachel Maddow.

Video:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Transcript:

GREGORY: Fair– fair point, Rachel, one of the things you’re seeing it was Tina Fey speaking this week in New York who– who seem to me sort of strike that cord about be– going beyond abortion, about do you trust women enough to let them make decisions about their own lives, this is how– how she talked about it?

(Videotape, Center for Reproductive Rights Inaugural Gala, Wednesday)

TINA FEY: If I have to listen to one more grave-faced man with a two dollar haircut explain to me what rape is, I’m going to lose my mind.
(End videotape)

GREGORY: And frankly to be– to be fair, I mean, the Romney campaign is probably singing the same thing. I’m going to lose my mind if we had to keep talking about rape in this election, because it– its association with the Republican Party that he does want to be associated with.

MS. MADDOW: Right. But then, he picked Paul Ryan. They have the fight over forced ultrasounds, the government telling you that you need to have a medically unnecessary procedure at the order of the state regardless of what you want and regardless of what your doctor says. And then he picked a guy, who picked a forced ultrasound bill for the country, Paul Ryan was onboard with that. Paul Ryan was a cosponsor with Todd Akin with bill to redefine rape. Paul Ryan was a cosponsor with bill to have personhood federally, which would not only ban all abortion it would ban in vitro fertilization. It would ban most hormonal forms of birth control. If you wanted to avoid this fight, don’t put Paul Ryan on the ticket. There’s a reason that Paul Ryan has been in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina…

David Gregory was trying to, “be fair” to Romney by claiming that he shouldn’t be lumped in with the legitimate rape and rape is God’s will zanies who populate the Republican Party, but Maddow busted him on it. Gregory was trying to sell the myth of moderate Mitt while ignoring the fact that both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan share Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock’s beliefs.

There is a reason why Romney won’t pull his endorsement of Mourdock. Romney may disagree with what Mourdock said, but he shares many of the underlying beliefs of his party. Rachel Maddow rightly stopped Gregory in his tracks when he started floating talking points that sounded like they came directly from the Romney campaign.

Gregory’s implication that Mitt Romney doesn’t want the association with that part of the Republican Party was completely false. If Romney didn’t want to be associated with it, why did he choose Paul Ryan as his running mate? If Romney wanted nothing to do with it, he would have told Mourdock to take down the ad, and pulled his endorsement.

The truth is that Romney wants the association with the far right, but he doesn’t want the broader electorate to know that he holds those views. Usually, GOP talking point machine Gregory would be able to get away with his flawed questions based on conservative positions, but Rachel Maddow was there to offer up the truth.

David Gregory’s biases are well known, so it was a treat to see his “fairness” (code for Republican talking points) offset by a strong dose of truth and reality delivered by Rachel Maddow.

Follow Me
Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements. Awards and  Professional Memberships Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

Recent Posts

Trump And House GOP’s Promise To Not Cut Social Security Is Total Nonsense

Trump got House Republicans to not use reconciliation to cut Social Security. The problem is…

1 day ago

Trump And Mike Johnson Agree To Apparently Cut Americans’ Healthcare To Pay For Tax Cuts For The Rich

President-elect Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson have agreed to a deal that would fund the…

1 day ago

Dozens Of Republicans Humiliate Trump/Musk By Voting Down CR

Donald Trump demanded that the debt limit be raised as part of the government funding…

2 days ago

Trump And Vance Blame Biden For Elon Musk Caused Chaos

Donald Trump and JD Vance are blaming President Biden for the havoc caused by Elon…

3 days ago

House Republicans Are Falling Apart And Now Mike Johnson Could Be Toast

The first little bit of pressure involving passing a bill to keep the government open…

3 days ago

Elon Musk Melts Down As House Republicans Show Him That He Has No Power

X boss Elon Musk is throwing a tantrum on his social media platform as House…

3 days ago