In case you missed it, Mitt Romney yesterday said he opposed a controversial Senate amendment that would allow employers to block health insurance coverage that the boss considered objectionable on moral or religious grounds. 
The proposal took the issue of contraceptive coverage and cracked it wide open.
Less than two hours later, Romney emphatically switched his position and said he was for the amendment, authored by Missouri Republican Sen. Roy Blunt.
(Reuters/Brian Snyder)
The result is a story that seems to “have legs,” as we say in the business, and could create a substantial distraction for the former governor heading into Super Tuesday.
In a TV interview with an Ohio news outlet Romney said:“I’m not for the bill, but look, the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a women, husband and wife, I’m not going there.”
A little more than an hour later, he told a New England radio station: “I didn’t understand his question. “Of course I support the Blunt amendment. I thought he was talking about some state law that prevented people from getting contraception. I simply misunderstood the question and of course I support the Blunt amendment.”
It’s one thing to flip-flop so blatantly — and to make it look like your a puppet for your consultants — but to change positions on such a highly charged issue could spell trouble.The amendment failed by a 51-48 vote earlier today, largely along partisan lines, putting the GOP in a precarious situation with women voters.
Despite Romney’s spirited attempts at defending himself, the Democrats are having a field day with this one.
Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer, who loves to tweak Romney, said: “Mitt Romney may have set the world record for fastest flip-flop.”
The Obama campaign chose this little poke in the eye: “In one hour, Mitt Romney showed why women don’t trust him for one minute.”