Rachel Maddow Tears Into Mitt Romney, Does Epic Segment From 'Man Cave' (VIDEO)

Beer, birth control, baby-making - oh my! Rachel Maddow tore into Governor Mitt Romney last night and took her criticism of the GOP candidate (and, really, all men in politics who have debated issues relating to uteri) to new heights on her Thursday show.

Maddow took issue with what she saw as Romney's failure to accurately answer a young woman who questioned the Governor's stance on birth control at an Iowa town hall. Romney—a favorite target of Maddow's— assumed the woman was referring to his stance on abortion, which he said he was against. But the woman was actually referring to what Romney has previously said he supports: a so-called "personhood amendment" that codifies life as beginning at conception. Many fear that the language of such amendments, which are currently on the ballot in some states, could lead to a ban on birth control.

After she played the clip of the exchange, Maddow said, "Romney apparently does not understand that this is what he supports." She said that the exchange reminded her about the male domination of politics and the media, and of the fact that those men often find themselves talking about women's bodies. "Sometimes, I'm not sure they really get it!" she almost shouted.

She then had her producers change her usual blue background to a room with a bar, large TV screen and big leather sofa. Maddow turned what she called her "man cave" into a special Romney-themed cave, so her producers included a graphic of a Harvard flag and the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics logo. She popped open a beer and told the ladies to leave so she could talk "just to the fellas."

"It's very simple," Maddow said. "This-is-how-a-baby-is-made." She then launched into a full description of the baby-making process and even put up a diagram of the female reproductive system titled the "man cave's not-too-upsetting guide to down-there parts." She mockingly went through three beers in the process of explaining to men how babies were made, how birth control worked, and that sometimes people engaged in sexual acts that could lead to pregnancy even though they don't want it to. "This is how the birth control works that Mitt Romney told Mike Huckabee he would like to make illegal!" she cried, criticizing government involvement in "litigating the second-by-second legal status of what is happening in some guy's girlfriend's uterus on a Friday night."

"I know it's awkward to talk about these things sometimes," Maddow concluded. She also said that she knew this was "very upsetting" but felt it was warranted to talk sense into men. "Criticize away," she told her viewers.

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Comments

[SallyStrange]

02:42 AM on 10/27/2011

"Politics is mostly guys. And the media is mostly guys. And the way we talk about politics? Mostly guys."

So true--and it DOES make a difference.

[barbaritamn]

02:37 AM on 10/27/2011

The United States is 70th IN THE WORLD (yes, 70th!) for the number of women represented in politics! ! ! IRAQ has equal representation of women/men in its government. What is wrong with this picture? Why doesn't the US? We wouldn't even need Rachel to have this middle school sex education class on her show if we had equal representation. Would our country be in this downward spiral if we had equal representation in politics today?

[sjj734]

02:05 AM on 10/25/2011

Typical politician, answering the question he wants to instead of the question asked.

[OneLiberalLady]

11:44 PM on 10/24/2011

Rachel may have identified a real problem....many men don't understand basic biology.

[Dez3]

08:14 PM on 10/24/2011

Thank God for Rachel Maddow! None of this B.S. would be necessary if our school system could educate, instead we have right wing lunatics preferring ignorance (reproduction, biology, evolution, global warming, history). The further right this country becomes, the greater the ignorance.

[OneLiberalLady]

11:45 PM on 10/24/2011

X2

[babyjesussaysso]

02:04 PM on 10/24/2011

Could mitt be anymore clueless? The amusing/scary part is he might be the best the goptp has to offer. What a country when this is the best and brightest a major political party has to offer for the the most powerful job in the world. Wow, until the goptp is relegated to the fringe we are in serious trouble.

[BigmamainSC]

10:47 AM on 10/24/2011

HA! I think it is hilarious. I don't believe all men are that closed minded that they believe they have the right to govern a womans uteres, but she makes a couple of good points.

[Frickett]

10:15 AM on 10/24/2011

C'mon, HP, enough with the purple prose headlines. In the first place, Rachel doesn't "rant". Secondly, I dare say there are plenty of women out there who don't really understand how the pill works either, so think of it as a public service announcement. :o)

[Nelson Montana]

10:03 AM on 10/24/2011

Rachael, please. You're stretching.

[babyjesussaysso]

02:05 PM on 10/24/2011

Because you say so right?

[DC Liberal]

02:05 PM on 10/24/2011

I disagree.

Conservative claims several years ago that the ERA would require all public bathrooms to be co-ed ... THAT was stretching.

If the constitution defines life beginning at conception, anything that by design endangers the product of that conception would necessarily be proscribed, including any form of birth control that works at least in part by preventing implantation (or attaching to the uterine wall) after conception.

[Jared Jentzsch]

11:09 PM on 10/24/2011

So, wouldn't that then be construed as attempted murder?

[mrbarolo]

12:48 AM on 10/24/2011

The O'Douls really undermines the whole "man cave" ethos. Just sayin'.

[Steve Faria]

09:35 PM on 10/23/2011

Mitt isn't even opposed to birth control, not at all. Get the facts. Less than 2% of the voting public are concerned with this issue anyway. It is something she should consider an ineffective use of her broadcast time; to attack someone that isn't against reproductive rights.

I'm excluding abortion, of course, which isn't a form of birth control. Taking of a life is an issue for Mitt and the remaining 98% of US population. Funny how morals will always sneak into discussions like this, ain't it?

[Changeling]

09:40 AM on 10/24/2011

And you miss the entire point of the article.

Let me paste the bit you missed:

Romney—a favorite target of Maddow's— assumed the woman was referring to his stance on abortion, which he said he was against .******* But the woman was actually referring to what Romney has previously said he supports: a so-called "personhood amendment" that codifies life as beginning at conception. Many fear that the language of such amendments, which are currently on the ballot in some states, could lead to a ban on birth control.**********

"Taking of a life is an issue for Mitt and the remaining 98% of US population­"

Especially when the state does it, even if they do it to an innocent man.

[Steve Faria]

07:40 PM on 10/24/2011

Chemical means of preempting the sperm's visit would survive any personhood legislation. I would simply suggest the other forms Rachel was speaking of would need replacement, would become obsolescent. The likely result is they to fall under the axe of legislation that adds protected living beings to the 14th amendment umbrella.

The entire point isn't really missed & is OK with me. Not being a statistics wonk, I spray numbers in an unwarranted way. I just don't believe Maddow's fight is with Mitt. Too many people believe in the sanctity of life for all forms of limiting childhood to last. Birth control, in as far as it works as a contraceptive, should be the answer.

[Frickett]

10:10 AM on 10/24/2011

Project much? You obviously pulled your "statistics" out of your rear. Women are more than 2% of the population and they are concerned -- you should be too. And what makes you think 98% of the US population is anti-choice? You seem to have no problem sneaking your morals into the discussion.

I remember the pre- Roe v Wade days. It was ugly and often deadly.

[Steve Faria]

07:53 PM on 10/24/2011

That number of women willing to use extraneous means to preclude having a baby is extremely low. My guesses are indeed pulled outta you know where. I just believe many more than you believe to be abject to squeamish about taking a life.

The methods of birth control that keep the meeting of egg and sperm from occurring would seem safe even for moralists. I had the chance to take convenience in a serious way when a youth. It seemed a decent way to keep my high school SO from embarrassment. Her parents would have nothing to do with it, and I'm grateful they prevailed.

Targets other than Mitt Romney may be Maddow's best objective, though. He isn't so fundamentalist a believer, and the record shows this (NYT), to place womens' rights in jeopardy if he became president.

[fredpa]

07:51 PM on 10/23/2011

As much as I'd like to see Mitt get ripped a new one, this was a bit tiresome.

[Assumed Name]

07:02 PM on 10/23/2011

...we need to start a Maddow fan club. :o)

[Stephen G Ford]

06:54 PM on 10/24/2011

I'M IN! Just show me where to sign up! *GRIN*

[PunKinPai]

04:51 PM on 10/23/2011

Ya know, HP, the inappropriate overuse of SHOCKING words like RANT and HORRIFIC and TERROR will eventually backfire. Then how will the articles get clicks?

[mrbarolo]

12:43 AM on 10/24/2011

Totally agree. The Weekly World News-style sensationalizing of headlines is (or ought to be) beneath HP. And it just goes on and on. It's ridiculous.

[Mike Clark II]

04:48 PM on 10/23/2011

romney the idiot!