Republicans on Dawn Johnsen: “Raging Ideologue Who Can’t See Straight”?

Watch Dahlia Lithwick and Rachel Maddow crush the logic behind Republican opposition to Dawn Johnsen, President Obama's pick for Assistant Attorney General. Slick.

Last night, Rachel Maddow and Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate.com, slickly break down Republican opposition to Dawn Johnsen, President Obama’s pick for Assistant Attorney General for the now famous Office of Legal Counsel (OLC – where the "torture memos" came from).

Questioning whether Republicans’ intense anger towards Johnsen is a result of her support for reproductive health and rights access for women (however far back in her career Republicans needed to reach) or her stance on Bush’s torture policies, Lithwick nails it when she says Republicans are looking to frame her as a "raging ideologue who can’t see straight."  

What does Johnsen’s fearsome support for reproductive rights look like? Well, in an effort to tarnish Johnsen’s qualifications, Sen. John Cornyn points to a footnote in an amicus brief Johnsen wrote twenty years ago: "Abortion restrictions reduce pregnant women to fetal containers."

You can watch these two amazing women lay it out here: