Haley Barbour: 'There's No Question' The Obama Administration Is Trying To Infringe On Religious Rights (VIDEO)

The Huffington Post caught up on Thursday with former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour outside of New York's famed Loews Regency Hotel. In addition to discussing the presidential race, Barbour weighed in on the current debate about contraception coverage and the Catholic Church.

According to Barbour, "there's no question" that the Obama administration is trying to infringe on religious freedoms through its birth control coverage policy. After clarifying that "women should have a right to access contraception," he explained, "the issue is not the woman's right" but rather "the Catholic Church's right to follow its own doctrines and beliefs and not be forced by the federal government to pay for things that are in conflict with the Catholic Church's beliefs."

The GOP power broker, who flirted with a presidential bid earlier this cycle, accused the White House of using women's health care rights as "a ruse" to try and "obfuscate" and "change the issue from religious freedom and the fact that we have a limited government that cannot just say to the Catholic Church, you have to give insurance to your employees that violates your doctrines because the federal government tells you you have to."

WATCH VIDEO OF THE INTERVIEW ABOVE

Sam Stein contributed to this report and Hunter Stuart produced the video.

Comments

[Tony Richards]

02:29 PM on 04/09/2012

Meanwhile, he pardons a man who double-tapped a convenience store clerk so he wouldn't identify him. Haley Barbour deserves a long slow and painful death and has a special place reserved in Hell for his fat lying behind.

[ZeraLee]

06:42 PM on 03/27/2012

There is no question that the republican party is trying to revoke reproductive rights for women by abusing and overextending religious rights.

The employers are not paying for birth control, they are paying for labor. Putting arbitrary restrictions on how the health insurance is used goes beyond employer rights, including their religious rights.

[jmklock7462]

12:09 PM on 03/25/2012

get the facts these so called religious orginizations that employ people take federal funding from the govt. but when it comes to the govt trying to tell them what to do they hide behind god. dont want to provide birth control to your employees, stop taking govt. tax dollars, its that simple. nothing to do with obama telliong people what to do...... the insurance companies already have that covered.

[theogsters]

12:05 PM on 03/25/2012

Haley Barbour is a throw-back from the "old south", he is "toast", a has been, an intellectual dinosaur . Why are we listening to him?

[Laurin Angela Young]

07:59 PM on 03/24/2012

I like how the question was about Rush Limbaugh and he finds a way to blame President Obama. What a divisive moron. I wonder what God thinks about all those wealthy criminals you pardoned. A hypocrite/fake Christian is the bigger threat to the Christian faith than the government will ever be. Stay classy Haley Barbour.

[mmiller459]

07:57 PM on 03/24/2012

I think the governor misunderstands the difference between making something available to all who want it and prohibiting something from everyone. The only thing the Obama administration is doing is to ensure that all who want and have not problem with contraception can get it. The right wing, on the other hand, is attempting to deny access to contraception which is legitimate health care, and the reason behind their wanting to deny it is based on religious beliefs and not empirical rational fact.

Of course, we all know that this is true -- both sides do -- but yet the cynical political game continues to be played with all of us who are but the pawns of the people with the money and power. Never be of the opinion the right wing has the good interests of the country in mind. They are engaged in a zero-sum game with death to the enemy at all costs.

How very sad.

[Gayle Williams]

11:24 AM on 03/25/2012

What utter B.S.

[Tony Richards]

02:31 PM on 04/09/2012

What a well-thought out and reasoned reply Gayle - I'm sure your high school debate coach would be proud.

[D-V-H]

07:35 PM on 03/24/2012

Under Barbour's reasoning I imagine ALL employers will 'find religion' so they don't have to follow any law they have 'moral objections' to.

[Sunnyside37]

07:24 PM on 03/24/2012

It looks like him & Newt were twins seperated at birth!

[Michael Rowe]

01:53 PM on 03/24/2012

The GOP continues to pave the runway for Obama's reelection in November. Onward and upward, chaps.

[sskepticall]

11:51 AM on 03/24/2012

Hey Haley, I’m gonna SLAM you about your PARDONS for CRIMINALS as you went out the door in January 2012.

HALEY granted pardons, clemency, or early release to 203 people convicted of crimes, including murder, rape and armed robbery at the end of his term.

An article in the New York Times said that a disproportionate number of pardons were granted to applicants from wealthy families and those with personal or political connections, a situation also observed in the pardon systems of other states.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/us/many-pardon-applicants-stressed-connection-to-mississippi-governor.html?_r=1&hp

SO....if you have connections or wealth and you don't get exonerated for your crime....GET A CONNECTION TO YOUR GOVERNOR....OR THEIR POLITICAL PARTY. The Governor will help you out later. The victims of your behavior be damned.

Haley - God doesn't need your support for religious issues...you big fat trolling hypocrite...the people who are victims of crimes by the CONNECTED need to be protected from LEADERS who abuse their power and authority. God likely knows you very well….but likely it is not for GOOD Deeds. You are an unethical politician. But we knew that.

[BobbyNCorpus]

11:12 AM on 03/24/2012

Barbour was close to being run out of Mssisssippi on a rail. His closet is so full of skeletons the graves arlund Jackson are empt y.

[Hankfrank]

11:01 AM on 03/24/2012

Just another holy roller that should stay Mississippi with the rest of the backward holy rollers.

[stepoutofthenorm]

11:00 AM on 03/24/2012

Gordon Allport said there was healthy religion and sick religion. He was right.

All I see now is sick religion.

I was raised in church and I know the far right is completely wrong here! Your religious rights DOEST not mean you can infringe them upon me. YOu have pushed state laws that infringe on my privacy rights! How dare you! How dare the far right pull this stunt. It is NOT God. God is not standing with the far right. Religion is man made. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

[stepoutofthenorm]

10:56 AM on 03/24/2012

Freedom from religion is one of those rights too. What about my rights not to have you force your beliefs on me. My right to privacy? Last time I checked the Republican Party is taking my rights away and NOT the left! It is really politics hiding behind God too. Very sad. Very sad to see religion like this. God isn't there anymore. The Republican politicians have completely deceived the church goers. The people being sucked into this bull need to pull form within and see this is wrong.

[drj516]

07:21 PM on 03/24/2012

Those who propose letting religion into government always seem to suggest THEIR religion as THE ONE TRUE Religion.
These hypocrites say this is a Christian Country and cite the Founding Fathers, yet they seem to skip over the fact that it was the Founding Fathers who wrote the First Amendment to make this a secular government where all religions must be respected and tolerated.
Ignoring the history of the Pilgrims leaving the Theocracy of England that persecuted them doesn't dawn on those who loudly proclaim the Government is anti-religious. All Theocracies persecute non-believers, and have throughout history.

[lee4713]

08:16 PM on 03/24/2012

I was in PHiladelphia last week, and walked around the historic area. Pennsylvania was founded by Quakers to be a haven to ALL religions. Evidently Catholicism was not well-regarded, and the first legal public mass to be held in the Colonies was held there in 1733. Perhaps people like Santorum - a professed Catholic - need to learn about such things. Preferably not from historians like Gingrich and Beck.

Some of my own ancestors were Puritans who left England for religious reasons, and Puritanism was pretty hard on others in the Colonies who didn't share their believes (Roger Williams; the Scots-Irish Protestant immigrants . . .).

These are some of the reasons why the Founders acted as they did. Ignore history at your peril!

[mtnmanjames123]

10:00 AM on 03/24/2012

Way to go governor.