Every time I hear one of these pundits on cable television use the word "spin" I try to remind myself that it's just a polite term for the word they ought to be using, which is "lie." Which is exactly what Will Cain was doing here on CNN's The
April 7, 2012

Every time I hear one of these pundits on cable television use the word "spin" I try to remind myself that it's just a polite term for the word they ought to be using, which is "lie." Which is exactly what Will Cain was doing here on CNN's "The Situation Room." Republicans like Cain are desperate to try to downplay the huge gender gap they have right now, where as Dave already noted here, they're looking at a 2-1 deficit among female voters in swing states.

We can add Cain to the list of Republicans such as Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers who recently tried to claim that it's really the Democrats who are behind all of this "war on women" stuff. His arguments here were just as unconvincing.

And before I go any further, just a little reminder that Will Cain is a contributor to Glenn Beck's site, The Blaze, a site run by someone who was thrown off of Fox News for their over-the-top rhetoric and being too extreme for that network. Why he, or his fellow Blaze contributor, Amy Holmes, who is also a CNN regular on Howard Kurtz's show, or Dana Loesch and Erick Erickson for that matter, should be regularly polluting the airways at CNN is beyond me, but having any of them on is just another example of how that network has decided the best way to get ratings is to become Fox-lite.

We're fair and balanced don't ya' know. We've got your right wing flame throwers up against Democratic establishment types like Carville who could be considered center-left in their views at best. Actual liberals, or progressives are shut out of these "debates" too often because god knows we wouldn't want to allow any of them to embarrass the likes of Will Cain. That might be considered "uncivil" and we can't have that.

If Will Cain actually believes, and isn't just trying to "spin" the audience at CNN, that there is no "war on women" then I've got some reading for him to do.

Caperton at Feministe posted last month about the race to the bottom between the states on women's reproductive health here: There’s actually a lot of competition for “worst state” for women’s health.

Miriam Zoila Pérez at Color Lines wrote this about the right's attack on reproductive rights last year: Anti-Abortion Bills Surging Through Capitol Hill—and States, Too.

AlterNet has this piece by Amanda Marcotte from last year as well with more on the anti-choice brigade and their attempt to destroy Roe v. Wade by death by a thousand cuts: 10 States With the Most Shocking Anti-Woman Legislation.

And as we posted here, Republicans are even opposed to renewing the Violence Against Women Act: Gwen Moore and the Violence Against Women Act .

And that's without even touching on all the ugliness with Rush Limbaugh and his attacks on Sandra Fluke. Or the fact that the Catholic bishops are completely out of touch with their own membership when it comes to their complete hypocrisy with their feigned outrage over allowing people who work at their institutions to have their insurance cover contraception.

I hate to break it to Cain, but this assault on women's reproductive health is not imagined and the negative poll numbers are deserved. And Mitt Romney trying to bring out his wife for damage control after all of the things he's said during this primary race is not going to help him in the general election any more than your "spin" during this interview on CNN is.

Here's the transcript for anyone who can't watch the video:

JOHNS: I want to take you to a piece we saw from Dan Lothian just a little while ago. This issue of the gender gap. The administration certainly, James, appears to be instigating, if you will, pushing women's issues at a time when it's pretty clear that Republicans are running a big gender gap with the president. The question, though, from the campaign trail, you hear people saying the biggest issue, the biggest women's issue is the economy at least that comes from Republicans.

CARVILLE: Right.

JOHNS: Do you think Republicans can make that case?

CARVILLE: Well, look, they can make the case. It doesn't mean the president can't make his case either. The Democrats, the last time we lost the women's vote was probably 1988. So the president won it by 13, I think in 2008.

He's obviously going to win it this time. But he has to win it because they don't do that well with men. This is an election year, and by the way, this is the third year in a row they've done it.

But I don't think there's anything wrong with the president drawing a contrast, nor do I think there's anything wrong with Romney talking about it either. It's the necessary part of the election-year politics.

JOHNS: Will Cain, do you think the president is instigating?

CAIN: Yes, I do. I think James is right. It's been a 30-year trend for women to skew Democratic, but that doesn't mean the president hasn't tried to enhance it.

I think we had the last month that was rich, where the president was saying women weren't an interest group. Over the last month, we've redefined the access to mean free in terms of birth control.

We've redefined religious liberties debate over contraception into a war on women. I think it has created some kind of a gap, typical for history even though women are skewing Democrat for some time.

For Republicans, they'll have to somehow spin that back to the truth, which is there is no war on women in any form or fashion.

JOHNS: Well, the other question, James, go ahead.

CARVILLE: He'll have to tell Senator Murkowski, and the Democrats think the contraception is the good thing and the Republicans don't like contraception. Women that don't like contraception should vote Republican. The women that do should vote Democratic.

It's simply that, but there's nothing wrong with the president again, trying to draw some blood on this issue and there's nothing wrong with the Republicans fighting back and it's a good part of election-year politics.

JOHNS: The Romney campaign has been -- go ahead.

CAIN: I was going to say, we can pull it down into simplicities like that, if you like contraception vote for Democrat, and if you don't like contraception, vote for Republicans. I guess, I can in turn say, if you like liberty vote for Republicans and if you don't like liberty, vote for Democrats.

JOHNS: Well, the other thing very quickly, I just want to get you both on the record on this. Ann Romney has been out there trying to sort of help Mitt Romney on the campaign trail with this gender gap problem. Do you think that works and I'll ask you, James Carville, do you think it works?

CARVILLE: No. They're going to try something. Get a guy's wife to say that he's good, that's not very --

JOHNS: All right.

CARVILLE: -- very persuasive argument to people.

JOHNS: OK, all right, I'm going to cut you guys off because they're telling me I got to go. Thanks so much to you both, Will Cain and you, James Carville.

CARVILLE: Thank you.

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