It's laughable when CNN's Erin Burnett claims to police "sandbox"
politics when she covers for Obama like she did Thursday. Like her
colleague Brooke Baldwin did earlier [1],
she stood by the Obama spin that he "compromised" with Catholics on the
birth control mandate and attacked a Mitt Romney ad accusing him of
waging "war on religion."
"[T]o say this President is waging
a war on religion, I mean, the man goes to church. That's ridiculous,"
Burnett complained. "That ad does not add up," she stated, adding it
"seems to be at best simplistic and at worst just wrong."
And Burnett continued sticking by the President's claim that he offered a legitimate "compromise" to the U.S. Catholic bishops. She emphasized that the President "backed off and changed it [the mandate]." Earlier, she said he "caved."
[Video below. Audio here [2].]
"Now not everybody loves that solution. That is a fair thing to say. But it does make Romney's ad about a war on religion off target," Burnett claimed. So even though a dozen lawsuits were issued by 43 institutions against the Obama administration, Burnett simply dismissed the Romney campaign's claim of a "war on religion" as "off target."
"It is sort of an insult to intelligence of the voter," she concluded. "So the candidates out of one side of their mouth are saying we want to elevate the dialogue. The other guy is picking on me, and then they're running things that say the guy killed somebody or the guy's having a war on religion."
A partial transcript of the segment, which aired on OutFront on August 9 at 7:01 p.m. EDT, is as follows:
ERIN BURNETT: "Personal attacks and not at all
on the issues of the day." Sadly that charge actually goes both ways.
Both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are guilty as sin.
(...)
BURNETT: Now we feel it's our duty to call out ads that we think are
out of bounds. So tonight we look at an ad Romney himself released
today, the same day, of course, that he mourned the loss of the
campaigns of hope and change.
(Video Clip)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, political ad: Who shares your values? President
Obama used his health care plan to declare war on religion, forcing
religious institutions to go against their faith.
(End Video Clip)
BURNETT: That ad does not add up. It refers, of course, to the debate
earlier this year about contraception and ObamaCare. The Obama
administration clarified the 2010 health care law. It said that
insurers must cover preventive health services. All right now they said
that contraceptives counted in that category and that that meant most
health insurance plans would have to provide birth control free of
charge.
Now, this angered many religious institutions who said they don't
believe in contraception. Now it's important to say that churches were
always excluded, but affiliated institutions say a Georgetown
University, which may employ workers of other faiths, were not
excluded. This upset a lot of people and after a firestorm, the Obama
administration caved, saying that church-affiliated universities,
hospitals and charities don't have to provide or pay for birth control,
but the employer's insurance companies would provide coverage directly.
Now not everybody loves that solution. That is a fair thing to say. But
it does make Romney's ad about a war on religion off target. Just for a
little context, off target though isn't even close to as bad as the one
this week targeting Mitt Romney that we found truly out of bounds.
(...)
BURNETT: So this week I will say, in terms of the truly nasty, what
we're going to call out of bounds for the rest of this season as we go
through every ad, goes to the Super PAC representing the president. But
Mitt Romney's "war on religion" also seems to be at best simplistic and
at worst just wrong.
(...)
BURNETT: Reihan, it does seem this whole you know war on religion, the
war on women, all of these charges are – I mean people have all sorts
of specific issues with candidates and their point of views, but to say
this President is waging a war on religion, I mean, the man goes to
church. That's ridiculous.
(...)
REIHAN SALAM, CNN contributor: War – look, I think that the idea that
the administration has been unduly hostile to religion and religious
employers, I think is a fair point to make because I think that these
institutions deserve wide autonomy –
BURNETT: But he backed off and changed it. He backed off after the three days of firestorm --
(Crosstalk)
BURNETT: – whether you think he backed off because of the firestorm or not, gave a waiver.
SALAM: There's a waiver – there's a waiver -- a temporary waiver giving
these institutions a year. And again when you look at it from the
perspective of people who believe these institutions should be given
wide berth and wide autonomy being given this brief respite, in case
you actually wind up agreeing with their policies, acting in accordance
with their views, that is, the views of HHS, that's not a very
attractive solution.
(...)
BURNETT: I mean, Reihan, what I find problematic about it is just –
it's the headlines. You know "War on Religion", when you can go through
some very serious and nuanced discussions about what you think the
President did or shouldn't have done, right? And you can have that
conversation. But the ad isn't about that. So the candidates out of one
side of their mouth are saying we want to elevate the dialogue. The
other guy is picking on me, and then they're running things that say
the guy killed somebody or the guy's having a war on religion. It is
sort of an insult to intelligence of the voter.