On CNN’s State of the Union today, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz continued to argue that the Republican party is waging a war on women with hardline policies on important social and health issues. Going down a whole laundry list of positions the GOP has taken on issues concerning women, Schultz concluded that the Republicans are being “callous and insensitive” towards women.

On Tuesday, the Morning Joe crew took a moment to discuss comments Karen Santorum made about her husband’s stance on social issues — particularly contraception — on last night’s edition of Piers Morgan Tonight. You’ll recall that, yesterday, host Mika Brzezinski had asked Rick Santorum whether his campaign had gotten “sidetracked” by focusing on contraception. [...]

On Monday’s edition of Morning Joe, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum vented some of his frustration at the media’s propensity to focus on certain issues — like contraception — after being asked about that very topic by host Mika Brzezinski.

Republican Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown took a shot at Rick Santorum and his opinions on birth control during Boston’s annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast. Brown observed that both Newt Gingrich and Santorum were getting Secret Service — which he found notable for the former Pennsylvania Senator. “I think it’s the first time he’s actually ever used protection!” The crowd erupted in guffaws.

Georgetown University law student and reproductive health advocate Sandra Fluke appeared on CNN’s Starting Point Tuesday to discuss an opinion piece she wrote for CNN.com entitled “Slurs won’t silence women.” CNN political contributor Will Cain held Fluke’s feet to the fire over her claim that opponents were trying to limit health access for women.

Some people wake up with music, or a good, strong cup of whiskey coffee, some do it to Fox & Friends guests talking about shoving items into certain parts of the anatomy. On Monday morning, host Gretchen Carlson invited Talk Radio News White House correspondent Victoria Jones and Federal News Radio host Lurita Doan onto [...]

Given all the controversies surrounding women’s health care in the past month or so, Chris Matthews said on his show today that Republicans are “ignor[ing] the simple fact that women vote, and are the majority voters.” Matthews dragged viewers down into a time warp of sorts, playing footage of speeches from Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin four years ago, and then marveling at how contraception became such a big issue in this election cycle.

On Meet the Press today, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasseman-Schultz said that Rush Limbaugh‘s apology for calling Sandra Fluke a “slut” was too little, too late, and there was still some language in his apology that Schultz had a problem with. She expressed incredulity that Limbaugh would think that calling a woman that word in any context would be a joke, and said the candidates running for president need to come out strongly against the remarks.

This week saw the symbolic culmination of a weeks-long shift in the political conversation in this country, from a referendum on the economy to an assault on women’s health care, in the persons of Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke and conservative media Kraken Rush Limbaugh. While many liberals have greeted Limbaugh’s apology for calling Fluke a “slut” and a “prostitute” with skepticism about the quality of the apology, they ought to be doing a jubilant, shoot-yourself-in-the-leg end zone dance over the fact that the normally untouchable Limbaugh was forced to apologize at all.

During the panel discussion on Fox News Sunday today, Chris Wallace brought the discussion around to birth control. He said that while Democrats, including President Obama, initially stumbled on the contraception question and gave Republicans the advantage to shift the conversation to religious liberty, the right has lost its foothold in the debate as well in the follow-up of Rush Limbaugh‘s controversial remarks and the failed conscience clause amendment the GOP pushed in the Senate last week. Wallace asked the panel which side now has the “upper hand” in the debate.

On Fox News Sunday today, Chris Wallace brought up Rick Santorum‘s strong opposition to birth control, including his past comments that taking birth control gives people a license to engage in a sexual lifestyle that is not “how things are supposed to be,” and asked the Republican candidate how why he is so passionately against something that is used by a significant number of women in the United States.

Sandra Fluke has evolved overnight from the woman who testified on the issue of contraception to the face of women’s health care, especially in the wake of Rush Limbaugh‘s controversial statement where he called the Georgetown law student a “slut.” Bill O’Reilly took issue with the notion of the government paying for her “activities,” and said if the activities of women are paid for, what about men’s activities like football or going to public gymnasiums?

Just a couple of weeks ago, Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke was rejected from the House hearing on contraception because Rep. Darrell Issa decided that she wasn’t “qualified” enough (unlike, y’know, the massive batch of all dudes who spoke instead). Well, Fluke is certainly not getting ignored now, particularly in light of the controversial comments Rush Limbaugh made in which he called her a “slut” and a “prostitute.” Those comments have created a absolutely massive political firestorm with everyone from Speaker Boehner to President Obama putting in their two cents. Today, on The Five, Eric Bolling shared his thoughts, suggesting that Fluke may actually be “a plant.”

The entire galaxy seems to be up in arms about the contraception mandate, and Rush Limbaugh’s subsequent remarks to Sandra Fluke. Meanwhile, Ron Paul told Piers Morgan that the whole debate is “silly” As an obstetrician-gynecologist, Paul has a degree of expertise on the subject, but rather than address the moral implications, or health impact his take on the issue was altogether different.

Last night, MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell credited one particular Republican with sounding an alarm regarding the Blunt Amendment. The GOP must handle with issue with caution, he had warned, because soon “it stops being about freedom of religion and starts being about contraception, then Republicans will get routed in swing areas.” That Republican? O’Donnell’s network colleague Joe Scarborough, whom he’d invited onto the show in order to discuss the matter further.

On Thursday, Daily Show host Jon Stewart tore into the Blunt Amendment (so named, he joked, because of how high one must be to think it’ll pass) (You’ll see later on in the video that this joke is particularly appropriate for Stewart’s audience) (Triple parentheses!), particularly Mitt Romney‘s… complicated stance on it, as well as the GOP’s insistence that it has nothing to do with contraception.

In the immediate aftermath of Rick Santorum‘s election night defeat in both Arizona and Michigan, Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer said the candidate, for the most part, had no one to blame but himself, calling Santorum’s failure “self-inflicted.”

In the short space of time this past week when we weren’t talking about contraception, people were going on about higher gas prices. Many Republicans are trying to put the blame squarely on President Obama, but on This Week today, George Will shut this down as “preposterous” and “economic nonsense” because the president has little control over gas prices in the first place.

In its ongoing coverage of “The Punanny State,” The Daily Show tackled all sorts of icky things, like ovarian cysts and neverending boners and insurance providers. Yup! We’re talkin’ the Catholic Church’s issue with the birth control mandate and the ensuing House Contraceptive Hearing, which somehow managed to exclude users of the contraceptive in question from participating.

Ron Paul appeared on CNN’s State of the Union today, and in addition to boosting his own candidacy, Candy Crowley asked him about latest frontrunner Rick Santorum and whether or not a candidate like him, so focused on social issues, can successfully run against President Obama. Paul honestly answered, “I don’t see how that’s possible,” before explaining why making social issues the focus of a presidential campaign is probably not a good idea for Republicans.

Rick Santorum backer Foster Friess‘ sexist, Abe Simpson-esque joke about the merits of Bayer Aspirin as birth control, during an interview with a stunned Andrea Mitchell, has caused an odd cable news firestorm. The fact that people are shocked by an old man saying something piggish is strange enough, but even stranger is the hilarity, and not-hilarity, that ensues when people don’t get the joke.

Rick Santorum backer Foster Friess raised more than a few eyebrows yesterday when he told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that, back in his day, “they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptions. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.” RELATED: Santorum Supporter Stuns Andrea Mitchell With Memories Of How ‘The Gals’ Used Bayer [...]

Rick Santorum responded to supporter Foster Freiss’s controversial birth control comments, telling BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray, “I’m not responsible for every bad joke one of my supporters makes.”

Hardball‘s Chris Matthews took Rick Santorum to task for supporter Foster Freiss‘ controversial comments on Thursday that “They used Bayer aspirin for contraceptions. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.” “If any woman votes for Rick Santorum after that comment today by his number one spokesman, I will be surprised,” Matthews if he doesn’t fix this within a few hours, you can kiss off all the women voters in this country, and a lot of men.”

Foster Freiss, the very wealthy business man backing Rick Santorum‘s campaign efforts, appeared on Andrea Mitchell Reports Thursday afternoon, where host Andrea Mitchell asked him whether he thought Santorum’s recent comments concerning social issues — such as those regarding, say, contraception and women in combat — would end up hurting his efforts at seeking the nomination.