A new Mitt Romney ad is accusing President Obama of endangering the religious freedom in the nation. The video invokes Pope John Paul II and criticizes that Obama is forcing religious institutions to act against their beliefs because of his contraception coverage rule.

Romney’s ad is not the first or the last time Barack Obama will be accused of threatening religious freedom in the United States, many have already expressed their rejection for Obama’s health-care reform claiming it violates freedom of conscience.

Kathleen Parker, Washington Post opinion columnist, explained that Obama’s health-care reform was forcing the Catholic institutions to pay for an insurance that would cover abortive drugs, which is clearly against the Catholic Church fundamental beliefs.

In this new reform Catholic churches and their direct employees are exempt from the rule, but other Catholic-sponsored entities, among which we can find schools and hospitals that employ non-Catholics are non-exempt from the rule. So they are forced to complain or to pay fines in order to avoid the rule that is against their faith.

Timothy Dolan, Wall Street Journal Opinion columnist, said “Religious freedom is the lifeblood of the American people, the cornerstone of American government.” Dolan quotes many of the nation’s founding fathers defending freedom of conscience; he wrote that George Washington declared: “The conscientious scruples of all men should be treated with great delicacy and tenderness; and it is my wish and desire, that the laws may always be extensively accommodated to them,” and added that James Madison also said that “conscience is the most sacred of all property.”

What Dolan criticizes more is the fact that Obama’s administration proposed a religious employer exemption, but this is very narrow because it only applies to religious organizations that mostly serve people of their own religion. Dolan says the Obama administrations has refused to exempt other religious institutions like schools, charities or hospitals, from this rule, which mandates the employers to purchase contraception methods.

Some critics also think the Catholic Church is exaggerating, the L.A. Times editorial states: “Is religious freedom suddenly under attack in America? That’s what the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops and some non-Catholic allies would have you believe. But reports of the demise of this fundamental liberty are greatly exaggerated.”

But the Romney ad has taken advantage of all the criticism Obama has received, a narrator in the video says, “Who shares your values? President Obama used his healthcare plan to declare war on religion,” and adds that “Mitt Romney believes that’s wrong.”

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David and Charles Koch, better known as the “Koch brothers,” are important figures among the Republicans and one of Mitt Romney’s most important campaign donators. Because of their support to the Republicans, they have received a lot of criticism; one of the latest comes from Hollywood. The comedy ‘The Campaign’ features two wealthy donors called the “Motch brothers,” which is a clear reference to the co-owners of the energy giant Koch industries, who try to manipulate political campaigns.

‘The Campaign’ protagonists are Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, who is well known for playing Alan in ‘The Hangover’ movies. Galifiankis told the New York Daily News that it was obvious that the “Motch brothers” were made after David and Charles Koch. ‘The Hangover’ actor added that he disagrees with everything the Koch brothers do. He even called the Koch brother “creepy” and said “it is not freedom what they are doing.” 

In the movie the “Motch brothers” are played by Dan Aykroyd and John Lithgow. They are financially backing the ridiculous candidate Marty Huggins, who is played by Galifianakis.

David and Charles Koch have an estimated combined fortune of $50 billion. They are the owners of Koch Industries, the second largest privately owned company in the United States. They have donated an estimated amount of $100 million to Romney’s campaign. They recently hosted a fundraiser for Mitt Romney in Southampton, New York, in which the suggested contribution was $75,000 per couple. This caused a protest lead by Kean University professor Stuart Leonard Led, in which banners with phrases like “Your $50,000 ticket equals my child’s education,” were shown.

Galifianakis, whose uncle was a Democratic congressman for North Carolina from 1967 to 1973, thinks that, as a comedian, he has the right to criticize the political system. He stated: ”everyone can agree that there are a lot of outside influences in American politics that are not good for the system. There’s just too much money,” Galifianakis also added that ”the comedians are the first to rebel against a corrupt system, like the one that is preventing me from watching the Olympics right now.”

The Koch brothers reaction was quickly heard. One of their spokesmen released a statement to remove importance from Galifianakis’ declarations, ridiculing him:

“Last we checked, the movie is a comedy. Maybe more to the point is that it’s laughable to take political guidance or moral instruction from a guy who makes obscene gestures with a monkey on a bus in Bangkok,” said the Koch brother’s spokesman, Phillip Ellender.

A recent post on Obama’s official website also makes reference to the Koch brothers. It quotes Obama’s campaign donor, Daryl, who is a salesman from Pennsylvania, stating: “I donated in 2008, and now I’m back at it. I certainly can’t compete with the Koch Brothers or the other billionaires on Mitt Romney’s side, but I can do a little bit.”

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While campaigning in Colorado, Barack Obama warned the voters that Mitt Romney was planning to kill his health reform and get rid of Planned Parenthood.

Obama criticized that Romney’s policies were more suitable for the 1950s than the 21st century. To defend his position Obama stated that woman’s health decisions are “not up to politicians, they’re not up to insurance companies, they’re up to you.” The President is making a big effort to insure the female voters support in swing states like Colorado.

President Obama made a direct reference to his wife and his late mother; he said that women issues resonate in him because of them. Obama argued that he wanted his wife to be able to have control over her health care choices, that’s why he is insisting so much in this health-care reform. He defends that it will bring many benefits to women.

Also Obama made a very sentimental statement referring to his late mother to defend the Obama care benefits, he said she would have been 70 this year, if she had not died from cancer almost 20 years ago. He stated: “I often think about what might have happened if a doctor had caught her cancer sooner.”

Obama made a harsh criticism directed to Romney, saying that the next president “could tip the balance in a way that turns back the clock for women in the next decade to come.” It seems the Democrats are making a big effort to confront the Republicans with the female voters, arguing that if Romney wins, women will lose many of the rights they have conquered in recent years.

Sandra Fluke, the famous Georgetown student who has become one of the leading voices supporting Obama’s health reform, was the one that introduced Obama in Colorado to a crowd formed mostly of women. Fluke became popular after being called a slut by talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh said during his radio talk show that Fluke went before a “Congressional Committee and essentially said that she must be paid to have sex.” Limbaugh added that her comments made Fluke a whore because she wanted to be paid to have sex. Fluke demanded before the Congressional Committee that insurance coverage should cover contraception methods. Limbaugh said that Fluke is “having so much sex that she can’t afford the contraception, and she wants you and me, and the tax payers to pay her to have sex.”

During Obama’s introduction, Fluke said that when she was “verbally attacked”, Barack Obama was one of us. She added that Obama defended her right to speak without being verbally insulted, and condemned the criticism she had received. Fluke also had some words saved for Mitt Romney, she said that “if Mr. Romney can’t stand up to extreme voices in his own party, then he will never stand up for us.”

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Both presidential candidates are doing a tremendous effort to gain female and working-class voters support. Both of them know how crucial these votes will be in key states and are already doing all they can to gain their sympathy.

Mitt Romney on August 11 is making a trip to some of the swing states that could decide this election: Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio. During these visits he will be accompanied by three of his possible vice-presidential picks: Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Ohio Senator Rob Portman. There is a possibility that during these visits he will announce who will be his running mate.

It is not a coincidence that five out of eleven speakers announced for the Republican National Convention are women. Romney has also been accusing Obama of planning to double out taxpayer dollars, even for people who are not trying to find work. This accusation has the clear goal to gain working-class voters favor.

President Obama on the other hand had an appearance scheduled for August 8 with Sandra Fluke, the famous Georgetown University student who became a leader for pro-choice women. Fluke became known nationwide after being called a slut by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh for her support of Obama’s health care that requires insurance companies to cover contraception.

The President wants to take advantage of Fluke’s popularity to gain female voters support. Democrats have been accusing the Republicans of starting a war against women because of their opposition of the Affordable Care Act, which according to the Democrats will give the women many benefits and crucial protections. Obama is currently leading in female voters’ intentions in key states like Florida and Ohio.

President Obama has been insisting during his entire campaign that Romney wants to cut taxes for the rich and increase taxes for the middle class, and Obama on the other hand wants the rich to pay a little bit more, so in that way taxes for the middle class don’t have to increase. But Romney is intending to show that Obama plans would affect the middle class. Romney has warned that Obama is intending to undo Clinton’s welfare reforms by offering waivers to the states, in other words he is trying to convince the voters that Obama is a liberal, who wants to give the poor a free pass in expense of the middle class, which is the one he is supposedly defending.

The Democrats have not ignored these accusations, White House spokesman Jay Carney told Romney’s accusations were “categorically false and blatantly dishonest.”

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An action committee that supports President Obama is launching a new television spot, in which they continue to criticize Romney’s business record at Bain capital. Romney on the other hand has released an advertisement criticizing Obama of “gutting the welfare reform.”

The ad that criticizes Romney is sponsored by Priorities USA Action; it’s a very sentimental ad, in which a former employee of GST Steel tells us the story of how he lost his job and insurance when Bain closed the Kansas plant in 2001 and because he couldn’t afford the insurance his wife died of cancer.

This ad is not the first of its kind. Priorities have already launched five ads criticizing Romney’s business record. This new ad is now running in five key battleground states:  Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Romney’s campaign also launched an ad criticizing Obama; it accuses Obama of simply wanting to pass welfare checks without the work requirements that were adopted during President Bill Clinton’s welfare overhaul. The ad clearly says that in 1996 Clinton’s Welfare Reform required work for welfare and that in 2012 Obama is dropping work requirements from the reform. The ad finishes saying, “Mitt Romney would restart the work requirement because it works.”

The Obama campaign has criticized this ad; they accuse Romney of twisting the facts. President Obama said he is just giving the states the flexibility they asked to make the program more efficient. An interesting fact is that back in 1995 some Republican governors signed a letter asking for more “waiver authority,” and Mitt Romney was among those governors.

The Romney campaign accuses the President of thinking that a big government can solve every problem, They also accuse him of wanting to give the poor a free pass, and charging it to the middle class. Lanhee Chen, Romney’s policy director, said that Obama’s policies “will take America backward — back to the discredited liberalism of a bygone era where bigger government programs and bigger government checks were the answer to every problem, and accountability was not on the agenda.”

Also, the welfare ad is trying to create a gap between Obama and  Bill Clinton, who is still a very popular politician. Clinton has recently taken a serious role in Obama’s reelection campaign. Obama is trying to take advantage of Clinton’s strong economic record while he was in office.  Bill Clinton will have an important participation in the Democratic Convention in Charlotte in September.

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