Nancy Pelosi ‘Misspoke’ About Five Guys On The SCOTUS And Hobby Lobby

“Misspoke” appears to be the political equivalent of the Southern “Bless Your Heart,” giving some politicians the cover to make inflammatory, and false, statements to the public with impunity. Nancy Pelosi recently “misspoke,” bless her heart.

Much of the world interprets the phrase used by Southerners, “Bless Your Heart,” to mean that one can say anything, no matter how mean or rude, as long as it is followed by the expression, spoken sincerely. In reality, it often simply conveys compassion or sympathy, but it can also be used as a socially acceptable way to say ugly things: “That dress she’s wearing is hideous, bless her heart.”

In the same way, sometimes politicians truly do “misspeak,” stumbling all over their words, where something comes out of their mouth very differently from the way they heard it in their head.

However, in Nancy Pelosi’s case recently over the Hobby Lobby SCOTUS decision, the term actually appears to be a euphemism for: “I intentionally made inflammatory statements that are misrepresentations of the facts, but the public and even the media called me on it, so my handlers are cleaning this up for me by saying I misspoke.”

During her weekly press conference on July 10, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi made some impassioned comments about the “scary” Supreme Court:

“[W]e should be afraid of this court. The five guys who start determining what contraceptions are legal… that court decision was a frightening one. That five men could get down to specifics of whether a woman should use a diaphragm and she should pay for it herself or her boss. It’s not her boss’s business.”

Megyn Kelly of The Kelly Files was quick to point out a number of problems with Pelosi’s remarks, as reported in The Inquisitr: “Nancy Pelosi either doesn’t know what she is talking about, or is intentionally misleading you.”

One specific point that Nancy Pelosi made was so blatantly false that it has actually been edited out of the press conference transcript. The word “legal” no longer appears, replaced by the term “[accessible].”

The fact checker PolitiFact has long been accused by conservatives of giving political cover to liberals and to the current administration, but as Twitchy points out, “Not even Left-leaning PolitiFact can cover for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi this time.” They ruled her claim “false.”

The truth is that nothing in the Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision makes any form of contraception illegal. What it does is specify that Hobby Lobby is not required to pay for four forms out of the twenty specified in Obamacare, because of their religious opposition to abortifacient forms of birth control. They will still cover 16 forms of contraception, including the diaphragm, which was never in question, despite Pelosi’s odd reference.

Nancy Pelosi’s assertion that “five guys” on the Supreme Court are determining what forms are legal may lead less politically savvy citizens to take her words at face value and actually believe she is telling the truth, thus adding fuel to an already explosive fire.

Indeed, creative editing can make Pelosi’s words appear even more controversial than they actually are. A recent Politico article incites reader passions with this edited version of her statement:

“‘We should be afraid about this court… five men can decide if a woman can use a diaphragm,’ Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday during her weekly news conference at the Capitol.”

The truth of the matter is that diaphragms are still legal, as are the rest of the twenty forms of birth control. If patients want the four forms that Hobby Lobby is not required to pay for, they can still purchase them for themselves. Or they can choose to work for an employer that will cover them.

It is interesting to note that many Americans choose alternative forms of health care, such as chiropractic care, herbs, homeopathics, essential oils, and countless other modalities of heath care — none of which are required by any health care laws to be covered by employers. Yet, somehow, millions of people still manage to find access to them themselves.

Politicians like Nancy Pelosi seem to forget that, just because the boss doesn’t pay for something, their employees can still obtain it. Could that be the true meaning of the expression, “It’s not her boss’s business”?

Despite Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s misrepresentation of the facts, nobody on the Supreme Court, not even the men, have made contraception illegal. Bless her heart, Nancy Pelosi “misspoke.”

[images via screenshot from FOX, PolitiFact]