Appearing on Saturday's NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press host David
Gregory argued that the issue of contraception was a loser for the GOP:
"I think there are a lot of Republicans who are worried that this is...a
fight that the Republicans probably should not be having right
now, over contraception of all things, which is pretty much a settled
matter in terms of access for women..."
In addition, Gregory hit Rush Limbaugh for taking the debate over the
ObamaCare contraception mandate to "a much more offensive level," and
argued: "...he escalated it to a degree, there's a lot of female voters
who are energized on the Democratic side of all this."
Pushing that same theme on Sunday's NBC Today, Gregory announced that Limbaugh, "was feeling the heat of the fact that this was something of a gift to the Democrats, who are already making the case that Republicans are overreaching on social issues."
On Sunday's Meet the Press, Gregory proclaimed that Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney had missed a "Sister Souljah Moment" [1] to denounce to Limbaugh.
Here is a portion of Gregory's March 3 Nightly News comments:
6:40PM ET
LESTER HOLT: We want to turn now to some of the days other news.
Beginning with late word of an apology from Rush Limbaugh to the
Georgetown law student caught up in the middle of that birth control
battle in Washington. Limbaugh's disparaging remarks about Sandra Fluke
landed him in the middle of a firestorm, leading several of his
advertisers to pull their ads from his show. Part of the statement
posted on Limbaugh's website tonight reads: "My choice of words was not
the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I
sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices."
Also tonight, voters are having their say in the Washington caucuses
and the candidates are campaigning in Ohio just 72 hours from Super
Tuesday, when 11 states will be up for grabs. For the latest on all
this, we want to bring in Meet the Press moderator David Gregory. David,
let me first get your thoughts on the Limbaugh apology. Was it
beginning to affect the Republican race in some way?
DAVID GREGORY: I don't think the Republicans are happy to have this
fight when it came to Rush Limbaugh's comments. I think there's a lot of
conservatives, whether it's Rick Santorum or Gingrich or others,
although Romney has hedged on this, who are happy to energize this
debate by talk of religious freedom being infringed upon by President
Obama. That's their argument, that's their view, and it seems to be
resonating among some voters.
But what Limbaugh did in going after this young law student without a
basis of fact, in terms of what her testimony was, was to take it to a
much more offensive level, which is why, I think, he sort of apologized,
if you read the statement. And I think there are a lot of Republicans
who are worried that this is A, a fight that the Republicans probably
should not be having right now, over contraception of all things, which
is pretty much a settled matter in terms of access for women, not only
as birth control, but as a matter of women's health. But because he
escalated it to a degree, there's a lot of female voters who are
energized on the Democratic side of all this.
(...)
-- Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. Click here [2] to follow Kyle Drennen on Twitter.