Would it surprise you if I pointed out that Chuck Schumer’s talk on the contraception mandate is exceedingly deceptive? The man’s a lawyer, and so I’m sure he could come up with some twister interpretation of his own words that would make them not utter lies, but there is no reasonable way to listen to his words without concluding that his aim is to mislead, and thus slander those who disagree.

While PolitiFact and the Washington Post Factchecker blog basically ignored the string of “they’re trying to ban contraception !!!11!!!” lies from Democrats for weeks, last Friday, the Post noted Schumer’s boatload of deception. Here’s one of his gems:

This whole debate is an anachronism. Our country progressed beyond the issue of whether or not to allow birth control a long time ago. Yet here we are in 2012, and the Republican Party suddenly wants to turn back the clock and take away contraception from women. Make no mistake: that’s what this debate is about.

“Whether or not to allow birth control…. Take away contraception from women.” That’s simply a pile of lies. There’s really no other reasonable interpretation. But this is, these days, standard fare from the Left and the Democratic Party, which seems determined to runthe 2012 election on the lie of a GOP war on contraception and women. But Schumer’s little tirade is worth calling out because of one telling little piece of falseness:

“There is no good answer about where the other side is going with this issue—except, perhaps, back to the 19^th Century”

Here’s the most incredible thing about this line: Schumer was objecting to the Blunt Amendment, which would have limited the scope of the mandates on employers created under ObamaCare. Those mandates, although issued by Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, have not yet gone into effect.

So under current law, an employer is still free to choose whether or not she will compensate his employees in contraception coverage. If Blunt’s amendment had passed, this would continue to be true. By Schumer’s rhetoric, we are currently living back in the 19^th Century.

This episode reveals the mendacity of Chuck Schumer, the dishonesty of the pro-mandate campaign, but also the insatiable appetite of liberalism.

Previous blatant lies about the contraception mandate:

• March 2: Daily Contraception Mandate Lie: NOW Edition [Catholic Church is "demanding that the government step in and use the force and power and police power of the state to prevent women from taking birth control"]
• March 1: Obama campaign lying about contraception mandates [Permission slip from your boss to use contraception.]
• February 17: What if I want to pay in cash instead of pills? [The lie that mandatory birth-control coverage means "free birth control."]
• February 13: Contraceiving the Truth: Catholics & the Pill [The lie that 98% of Catholic women use artificial birth control.]