Well, this should work. Since the entire country is busy throwing up in its collective mouth at Republican Party's pathological obsession with abortion, this seems like a perfect time for Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus to shift the conversation to something else. Like abortion:



The new obsession is the platform of the Republican Party on abortion, which is an obsession. What about the obsession about a guy who believes in partial-birth abortion. I mean, what about that obsession? Why aren't we talking about that very minority view of abortion in our country that this president holds dear to his heart. We're not talking about that.

Yes. Yes, the top spokesman for the Republican Party did just complain that everyone is obsessed with his party's obsession with abortion—for no reason at all whatsoever that he can understand. And he doesn't like it at all.

So let's help him out with something else he won't like: facts.

The current Congress has introduced 67 abortion bills. Fifty-four of them were introduced by Republicans. A sampling:

And we're not even talking about the 900 bills introduced at the state level last year.

If those bills seem ridiculous, not to mention redundant, that's because they are. None of them are based on facts of any kinds. There is no such thing as taxpayer-funded abortion. There is no such thing as fetal pain. There is no such thing as on-campus abortion providers for elementary schools. There is no such thing as sex-selective abortion. And there is no reason to require a woman to undergo and view an ultrasound before undergoing an abortion.

All of these bills had, at best, a 2 percent chance of being enacted. All of them are a waste of time. And all of them were introduced and co-sponsored by Republicans, many of them by, that's right, vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan. Paul Ryan, who believes that a woman should have to carry a pregnancy to term even if it kills her.

Gosh, it sure is hard to understand why people think Republicans are obsessed with abortion, isn't it? Even though, this week, the party once again included in its platform support for a constitutional amendment banning all abortions.

And Priebus wants to know why we aren't talking about President Obama's "obsession" with abortion?

Well, maybe it's because President Obama hasn't asked for, supported, or signed any abortion bills—except, of course, for his executive order banning non-existent taxpayer-funded abortions.

Still, Priebus would like us to focus on President Obama's "obsession" with "partial birth abortion"—something you won't find in any medical textbooks because it doesn't exist.

It's not exactly breaking news that the president supports women's reproductive rights. He hasn't taken any action to enshrine or expand those rights, but Republicans are so desperate right now to divert national focus from their anti-woman extremism that they actually think reminding voters that the president supports reproductive rights is a winning argument for them. As if voters who currently support the president will be turned off when they find out that he has consistently supported reproductive rights, instead of just pretending to be offended by extremism when he thinks it suits him. As the Republicans have done this week, while trying to distance themselves from Todd Akin, whose positions on abortion represent the Republican Party, its platform, and its presidential ticket this year.

It won't work. It's transparently stupid. But then, that's today's Republican Party for you.