Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted this month to allow employers to refuse health care, such as contraception, to employees if it violated their personal moral beliefs. Republicans in state legislatures across the country voted to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood and women’s health care services.
Republicans in at least twenty states voted to require women to have sonograms, even transvaginal probes, in order to exercise their legal right to an abortion. Republicans, again in the U.S. Senate, oppose renewing the Violence Against Women Act, a law passing with broad bipartisan support in 1994, 2000, and 2005.
Republican leader and pundit Rush Limbaugh viciously attacked a law student for challenging the practice of many Catholic institutions of denying contraceptive coverage in employee health care plans. These are just a few examples of Republican activity which have led many, including me, to ask the question: Why does the Right hate women?
There are many possible answers to this question -- psychological, sociological, religious, gendered, etc. In 1991, in her book Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, Susan Faludi addressed this phenomenon, suggesting that backlashes arise intermittently throughout American history; and that they correspond to the fear that women are making breakthroughs and progress in gaining equality. Faludi suggests that this fear is not generated necessarily by actual attainment of equality (we can agree that this has not occurred), but is the fear that women might be able to attain equality. And one might point today to changes that suggest women’s position has improved; for example, a woman ran for the highest office in the country and came close to attaining it; a woman held the third highest office for four years and proved highly successful in it (contrast Pelosi’s successes and Boehner’s dismal failures); another woman was selected for the U.S. Supreme Court; the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was enacted in 2009. Of course there have been many defeats and set-backs as well -- but a few high profile examples might make it appear that women are “winning” the “gender war,” thereby provoking the onslaught of Republican attacks (just as Obama’s victory made many claim that we are a post-racial society, regardless of the ample evidence against that).
In 1928 Virginia Woolf wrote, in A Room of One’s Own, about the anger of what she called The Professors, i.e., men who held power but were fearful of losing their dominance over women.
Reminscent of the question many ask today, she asks, “How explain the anger of the professors? Why were they so angry?” She notes the absurdity of this anger of the powerful -- but then suggests that it lies with the fear of losing this superiority.
Women, she suggests, have acted as mirrors, reflecting the image of men but at twice their natural size. This has given men the confidence to go out into the world, to discover new territories, to use and enhance their power, to act on the political stage.
Women’s role as looking glass has depended on their inferiority. Woolf says, “For if she begins to tell the truth, the figure in the looking glass shrinks; his fitness for life is diminished. How is he to go on giving judgment ... making laws, dressing up and speechifying at banquets, unless he can see himself ... at least twice the size he really is?”
And, of course, part of Woolf’s point is that no one acts as the looking glass to bolster women for the roles they must undertake. Women’s jobs have had risks and dangers as well -- along with the same risks that men have faced, women also face possibilities of sexual harassment, humiliation, structural institutional obstacles, low pay, boredom, etc. However, these often have not been recognized as risks and dangers, and often have been invisible to society.
This would suggest that the position of men, insofar as it is defined in terms of superiority, is dependent on the position of women remaining inferior. Women have borne the burdens which have enabled men to do the things they have done. Limitations on women have freed and bolstered men for the activities meaningful to their lives. To the extent that women refuse or neglect to reflect men and raise their confidence, men will react. Of course, they will react differently. Some will be happy to share the world with women. Some will be willing to share the burdens of the human condition so long borne by women. However, some will be fearful of losing the protections that have guaranteed to them the benefits of society’s largess and power. Some will be vengeful against those they blame for stealing structural advantages that no one should expect to have at the expense of others. And some will unleash a backlash against women’s supposed progress, attempting to bring back the “good old days.” For the latter, someone must be blamed for their loss of confidence and security and opportunity.
But, rather than look to the global economic situation, errors made in national economic policy, and possible remedies for the future, it is easier to find a scapegoat. And that scapegoat, not surprisingly, too often has been women.
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After suffering through several un-presidential GOP debates, I'm struck by the amount of anti-woman rhetoric spewing from the candidates. Although none of them dares utter the W word - unless it's part of the phrase "our men and women in uniform" - it's pretty easy to see what their views are on issues concerning the sex that comprises a majority of voters.
Take a look:
Social Security tops the list. Rick "Ponzi Scheme" Perry has declared the program unconstitutional, and the other candidates are struggling to characterize their various schemes to destroy Social Security as "saving" this vital program.
This is a women's issue: women live longer than men, earn less during their working lives, and have smaller private pensions and savings accounts. And unlike the private accounts pushed by Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, women don't have to fight over Social Security payments in a divorce, and widows can't outlive the benefit. Don't some of these candidates have mothers or grandmothers?
Then there's the pesky issue of jobs and the lack thereof. Some members of the media have tried to paint the Great Recession as a "mancession," because construction took the biggest hit early on. Not so anymore. In the last 12 months, the pain has shifted to the female-dominated public sector currently under attack by the GOP, in which women are 50 percent more likely to be employed than men. And despite the fact that the number of women working part-time because they can't find full-time employment has doubled since the recession began, the candidates are also opposed to any new stimulus money - unless you're talking about giveaways for big banks and big corporate tax breaks.
When it comes to abortion, there's plenty of agreement across the Republican field. All the contenders, including formerly pro-choice Mitt Romney, would deny women a choice when it comes to their own health or the size of their families. That's why the topic almost never comes up in the debates. From a party that claims it wants the government out of our lives, this makes them all candidates for a new reality show. Let's call it "The Biggest Liar."
And take health care, another area of agreement among Republican candidates. Every GOP hopeful favors repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which they all fondly and frequently refer to as "Obamacare." Poor women and their children are Medicaid's major recipients, but the candidates want to slash both state and federal funds for the program, sending states on a race to the bottom in terms of who is covered and what benefits they get. And private insurance? Adult women are the largest group in the U.S. working for minimum wage, and far less likely than men to have a company-paid plan. Before the GOP-hated Affordable Care Act passed with its curbs on rate increases, insurance companies were raising premiums for individual policies at a dizzying pace. Increases exceeded 40 percent in some cases. You do the math. And then think about the things they don't say.
Year after year, election after election, equal pay polls at or near the top of the list of women's concerns. The pay gap with men is even more stubborn than the unemployment rate. At 79 cents on the dollar, it has narrowed only about a dime in a generation. But don't hold your breath while waiting to hear anything about it from the candidates.
What about those revered military women? A little-knownstatistic is that female members of the military were disproportionately mustered out for violating the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. They comprise about one in five of the troops but close to half of those discharged for their sexual orientation. And tough luck if you get pregnant from a rape or sexual assault. Sex crimes are rampant at too many military installations two countries away from a civilian hospital. Service women can't get an abortion at the military hospital - even if they pay for it with their own money.
But enough facts. You decide. Does the GOP hate women?
Ted Nugent Considers Vice President Offer
Ted speaks to NRA audience.
Romney has Cornered the Market on endorsements from low talent has been musicians from Detroit.
First it was Kid Rock and now Ted Nugent. If Mitt can persuade the Insane Clown Possee to get on board he will control the whole Detroit show. Mitt worked closely with Ted to make sure the wording of the endorsement rang true to republican thought and conservative reality. Ted Nugent is rumored to be on the short list for Vice-President edging out Pat Boone.
Nugent is a hunter and gun fancier and now a Reality TV personality and recovering drug addict. He came out for Romney last month after what he tweeted was a “long heart & soul conversation” with the former Massachusetts governor. Romney is a one time critic of the NRA who flip-floped and joined up to get votes and improve his chance of winning. Nugent's memory only stretches back for a few weeks so Romney is just fine with Ted.
Nugent and Other Romney Supporters at Meeting
In his NRA speech, Nugent accused President Obama or running a “vile, evil, America-hating administration that is “wiping its ass with the Constitution.” The NRA Members were very taken with Nugent's words and many were seen weeping and openly crying. Those who could speak said it was the most beautiful speech they had ever heard and heaped praise on Nugent for his stirring oratory.
The NRA is selling special boxed sets of Nugent speeches for $50 and for an extra $20 Ted will scratch his X on the box. These hot sellers are first come, first served and with Nugent expecting to be dead or jailed in the near future the value should skyrocket. I'm predicting these will put collectable plates to shame.
It’s relatively mild talk for Nugent. On stage in 2008, he took out after the future 44th President, saying, “Obama, he’s a piece of shit. I told him to suck on my machine gun. “ He called Hillary Clinton a “worthless bitch.” Ann Romney swoons and gets weak legged when Nugent speaks. She said Ted and Kid Rock were her and her children's favorite musicians in the whole world. Mitt has replaced America the Beautiful with Nugent's Cat Scratch Fever as the song he serenades audiences with at campaign rallies.
Rocker Ted Nugent doubled down on his endorsement of Mitt Romney over the weekend with a profane, vote-Republican-or-they’ll-get-me speech to the annual convention of the National Rifle Association.
“If you can’t galvanize and promote and recruit people to vote for Mitt Romney, we’re dead,” Nugent declared.
“If Barack Obama becomes the president in November again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.” Either outcome will be fine with most people and some publicity could help Nugent get a hit song. It is estimated that Nugent's last hit occurred sometimes in the 1960's and was on a 33 and 1/3 rpm disc..
“We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November: Any questions?” Nugent said.
Romney spoke to the NRA on Friday and was not around to hear Nugent. He was in Florida meeting with six and seven-figure campaign donors.
MSNBC and the Wall Street Journal overheard remarks in which Romney talked of abolishing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and cutting back the Department of Education. Romney also indicated he would like to tour the White House soon to figure out where the car elevator for Ann's Caddalics should go.
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President Obama Has a Plan to Create Jobs.
Republicans have a campaign plan to oppose everything.
A Few More Months of NO to EVERYTHING and I'll be President
Soon after Labor Day, on September 8, President Obama will reveal his strategy to get America working again. I for one hope it's a plan that encompasses from 3 million to 3 1/2 million potential employees, at a cost of more than one trillion dollars. Of course hard working teaheads will go nuts. They'd rather see more employees lose their jobs with no assistance in retaining their dignity, as long as Richie Rich and Daddy Warbucks continue to prosper in this fragile economic environment. I seriously don't understand their thinking.
Republicans have let it be known they're prepared to balance our budget on the backs of the middle class, while the oober wealthy business owners and individuals stand beside them with chains and whips. Yet middle class teaheads not only listen with their eyes, they see with their ears.
If you read all of the legislation put forth and voted on in the House, You'll see the GOP agenda. Now, if you still go along with the GOP agenda after deciphering this information, I'd have to say you're either blind, crippled, or crazy (which would qualify you for disability, if you weren't against government programs). How else can you explain voting against one's own better interests? The emphasis right now should be on getting America back to work. Period. Exclamation point. I realize simply reducing unemployment may not be as sexy to Republicans in office as say ending Medi-Care as we know it, or redefining rape, but it's a top priority to every American regardless of race, gender, or political affiliation.
This game of denying the American people opportunities simply because you don't like our President is juvenile. And it's even more juvenile when the GOP denies the fastest growing group of voters, unemployed workers, so much as a chance to re-enter the job market. Knuckleheads like Eric Cantor is really feeling his oats when he makes a statement on national news markets that we can assist the victims of hurricane Irene as long as we cut this, that, and the other out of our budget. If this man isn't insane he sure plays the role well on the boob tube. This is the type of unvarnished power America gave to the extreme right when we allowed teaparty kooks an in.
As long as I can remember this country never held its citizens hostage to the dollar after a national catastrophe. Obviously Cantor has his priorities skewed. First and foremost we help our fellow Americans, then we tally the cost. The voters in Eric Cantor's congressional district who elected this moron have to be scratching their collective heads in disgust. Virginia, his home state, suffered enormously and this hypocrite who personally requested federal aid just a few years ago is imitating Ebeneezer Scrooge, before his transformation.
And this kind of mentality is what President Obama faces when he unveils his 2011 works program next week. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead is a great motto for the U.S. Navy, but terrible when it's applied to citizens struggling to regain their dignity.
Everything our President suggests goes in one ear and out the other with these teaheads. Republicans are so caught up in their web of deceit they can't see the forest for the trees. It doesn't matter the President may have some great ideas to put America back to work, these people are slaves to their own ignorance. Well, get over it. We do have a Democratic President who happens to be African-American; and we also have astronomically high unemployment. Sure the perpetual racists and otherwise haters won't appreciate them treating the President of the United States as well, the President of the United States...but independent voters, and pragmatic Republicans for that matter will.
Teaheads in Congress and the Senate won in 2010 by asking where's the beef with regard to full employment, then sat on their thumbs working hard to legislate a social agenda. There's a time and place for everything. And the time, right now, is for a robust jobs agenda. Forget your personal and political agendas that benefit maybe ten percent of the population, and get started on the important legislative agenda.
Of course Republicans unveiled their new and improved ideas for stimulating job growth, the only problem, it consists of the same lame initiatives in somewhat different packaging. Stripping regulations by the EPA which are burdensome to polluters are at the top of their list. It's like the GOP is saying "we can add jobs, but only if big business can declare a scorched earth policy on our natural resources". I don't understand Republicans. It's as if they don't have kids, or grand-kids, or either don't give a damn about the earth they might inherit. It would be better to save Richie Rich and Daddy Warbucks a few dinero, than protect natural resources; and if my kids die, they just die, as long as I can earn a few brownie points from big business and oodles of dollars in their coiffures now.
Well, our President's hands are tied. Should he unveil a massive jobs program the teaheads will scream like banshees. But should he reveal a smaller jobs initiative, teaheads will scream like baby banshees. For mine, I hope Obama grows a nutsack and puts the biggest works program as possible on the table. And when Republicans react, like Republicans react, use the bully pulpit to highlight their impotence. It's worth a try.
$33 Million Of Romney’s Zillions Hidden In Offshore Tax Havens ?
Insipid rich dweeb Mitt Romney is facing even more impertinent questioning about his infinite investments, and the answers may surprise you — if you just landed on Earth and then decided to jump off a stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down. Seems ol’ Mitt is allegedly using every rich dude trick in the book (written by rich dudes) to pay as little in taxes as possible. Not really a problem, if you’re gainfully employed at the Arby’s in Duluth and just click on whatever TurboTax tells you to. Gainfully employed? Manual clicking? That doesn’t sound like our Mitt now, does it?
The poking about into Romney’s finances was as inevitable as his running for president for the next 200 years. So why could Mitt only speak in tongues when pressed by famed rhetorician Rick Perry at Monday’s debate to release his tax returns?
I think I’ve heard enough from folks saying, look, let’s see your tax records. I have nothing in them that suggests there’s any problem and I’m happy to do so. I sort of feel like we are showing a lot of exposure at this point. And if I become our nominee, and what’s happened in history is people have released them in about April of the coming year and that’s probably what I would do.
Friends, that is the jibber jabber of a man crossing his fingers behind his back. It is also the signal for news orgs to RELEASE THE ACCOUNTANTS!
As one of the wealthiest candidates to run for president in recent times, Romney has used a variety of techniques to help minimize the taxes on his estimated $250 million fortune. In addition to paying the lower tax rate on his investment income, Romney has as much as $8 million invested in at least 12 funds listed on a Cayman Islands registry. Another investment, which Romney reports as being worth between $5 million and $25 million, shows up on securities records as having been domiciled in the Caymans.
His campaign insists Romney’s tax bill would be the same even if he kept all his money in a Serta mattress somewhere on US soil. So the point of flying sacks of cash first-class to the Cayman Islands would be….?
[Tax experts] say the offshore accounts have provided him — and Bain — with other potential financial benefits, such as higher management fees and greater foreign interest, all at the expense of the U.S. Treasury.
Jack Blum, a Washington lawyer who is an authority on tax enforcement and offshore banking] said working through an offshore investment vehicle allows the investor to “avoid a whole series of small traps in the tax code that ordinary people would face if they paid tax on an onshore basis.”
Trillions of points to anyone who can get Mitt to release a tax return from any year not immediately preceding the last two presidential elections! No doubt republicans despise President Obama, how else could they support a scrode like Romney otherwise?
Mitt Romney, a man of Falsehoods
By Richard Cohen,
Among the attributes I most envy in a public man (or woman) is the ability to lie. If that ability is coupled with no sense of humor, you have the sort of man who can be a successful football coach, a CEO or, when you come right down to it, a presidential candidate. Such a man is Mitt Romney.
Time and time again, Romney has been called a liar during this campaign. (The various fact-checking organizations have had to work overtime on him alone.) A significant moment, sure to surface in the general election campaign, came during a debate held in New Hampshire in January. David Gregory, the host of “Meet the Press,” turned to Newt Gingrich and said, “You have agreed with the characterization that Governor Romney is a liar. Look at him now. Do you stand by that claim?”
Gingrich did not flinch. “Sure, governor,” he started off, and then accused Romney of running ads that were not true and, moreover, pretending he knew nothing about them. “It is your millionaire friends giving to the PAC.
And you know some of the ads aren’t true. Just say that straightforward.”
Me, I would have confessed and begged for forgiveness. Not Romney, though — and herein is the reason he will be such a formidable general-election candidate. He concedes nothing. He had seen none of the ads, he said. They were done by others, he added. Of course, they are his supporters, but he had no control over them. All this time he was saying this rubbish, he seemed calm, sincere — matter of fact.
And then he brought up an ad he said he did see. It was about Gingrich’s heretical support for a climate-change bill. He dropped the name of the extremely evil Nancy Pelosi. He accused Gingrich of criticizing Paul Ryan’s first budget plan, an Ayn Randish document whose great virtue is a terrible honesty. (We are indeed going broke.) He added that Gingrich had been in ethics trouble in the House and ended with a promise to make sure his ads were as truthful as could be. Pow! Pow! Pow! Gingrich was on the canvas.
I watched, impressed. I admire a smooth liar, and Romney is among the best. His technique is to explain — that bit about not knowing what was in the ads — and then counterattack. He maintains the bulletproof demeanor of a man who is barely suffering fools, in this case Gingrich. His message is not so much what he says, but what he is: You cannot touch me. I have the organization and the money. Especially the money. (Even the hair.) You’re a loser.
There are those who maintain that President Obama, too, is a liar. The president’s recent attack on Ryan’s new budget proposal sent countless critics scurrying to their thesauruses for ways to say lie — “comprehensively misrepresenting” is the way George F. Will put it. (He also said Obama “is not nearly as well educated as many thought.”) Obama does indeed sometimes play politics with the truth, as when he declared that a Supreme Court reversal of his health care law would be unprecedented. He then backed down. Not what he meant, he said.
But where Romney is different is that he is not honest about himself. He could, as he did just recently, stand before the National Rifle Association as if he were, in spirit as well as membership, one of them. In body language, in the blinking of the eyes, in the nonexistent pounding pulse, there was not the tiniest suggestion that here was a man who just as confidently once embodied the anti-gun ethic of Massachusetts, the distant land he once governed. Instead, he tore into Obama for the (nonexistent) threat the president posed to Second Amendment rights — a false accusation from a false champion.
A marathon of debates and an eon of campaigning have toughened and honed Romney. He commands the heights of great assurance, and he knows, as some of us learn too late in life, that the truth is not always a moral obligation but sometimes merely what works. He often cites his business background as commending him for the presidency. That’s his forgivable absurdity. Instead, what his career has given him is the businessman’s concept of self — that what he does is not who he is. This is what enables the slumlord to be a charitable man.
This is what enables the corporate raider to endow his university. Business is business. It’s what you do. It is not who you are. Lying isn’t a sin. It’s a business plan.
cohenr@washpost.com
Rick Santorum Knows Mitt Romney
Now that Rick Santorum has dropped out of the presidential race, the big question is whether the runner-up with endorse presumed nominee Mitt Romney. A top aide told reporters that Santorum and Romney agreed to meet in the near future, and Romney sent out a press release praising his opponent as “an important voice in our party and in the nation.”
But as Romney pivots to the general election with Santorum’s help, it’s important to remember that the former rival leveled some serious charges against the presumed nominee that should not be forgotten. Here are Santorum’s top 10 hits on Romney:
1. LIAR: “If [Romney's health care] policy is bad, the policy is bad. And a bad policy is one thing. But lying to the American people is something else.” [National Journal]
2. “ULTIMATE FLIP-FLOPPER”: “He glosses over and doesn’t even tell the truth. … Here is a guy who is the ultimate flip-flopper running for president, and he’s attacking me for not being principled? That doesn’t wash.” [Examiner]
3. ETCH A SKETCH CANDIDATE: “One of Governor Romney’s aides today on television said that Governor Romney, after he wins the primaries, will be like an [Etch A Sketch] — you take whatever he said and you can shake it up and it will be gone, and he’s going to draw a whole new picture for the general election.” [Washington Post]
4. MIGHT AS WELL RE-ELECT OBAMA: “You win by giving people the opportunity to see a different vision for our country, not someone who’s just going to be a little different than the person in there. If they’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk of what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate for the future.” [AP]
5. OBAMACARE: “He created the blueprint for Obamacare and advocated for exactly what Obamacare is, which is a mandated health insurance program…it is exactly the Massachusetts health care plan. …He is uniquely disqualified.” [MSNBC]
6. “WORST REPUBLICAN IN THE COUNTRY”: “Pick any other Republican in the country. He is the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama.” [NBC]
7. “WEAK CANDIDATE”: “We can’t nominate such a weak candidate. I’d love to be able to get one-on-one with Gov. Romney and expose the record that would be the weakest record we could possibly put up against Barack Obama.” [Huffington Post]
8. “WALL STREET FINANCIER”: “I heard Governor Romney here called me an economic lightweight because I wasn’t a
Wall Street financier like he was. Do you really believe this country wants to elect a Wall Street financier as the president of the United States? Do you think that’s the experience that we need? Someone who’s going to take and look after as he did his friends on Wall Street and bail them out at the expense of Main Street
America.” [ABC]
9. BUSINESS EXPERIENCE DOESN’T MATTER: “Running a business is not the same as being president of the United States.” [CNN]
10. BAILOUT HYPOCRISY: “Governor Romney supported the bailout of Wall Street and decided not to support the bailout of Detroit. [AP]
Santorum spokesperson Hogan Gidley confirmed to reporters this afternoon that Romney called to “discuss an endorsement.” “We will see how that goes in the next couple days.” "Rick Santorum can only do himself harm by endorsing Mitt Romney. The last thing America needs during this recovery is a fool like Mitt Romney to have to deal with. Most republicans know this and would rather give Obama a second term than throw the dignity of the party away." We'll see what happens next Gidley said.
Here's the Bottom Line, There is nothing sicker than a republican who hates America.
Republicans shown enjoying a tea party get together
Hello to the right-wing fanatics, Bible-thumpers and racists that dominate the party of the elephant. Why do you hate America?
There are no normal moderate republicans left in the leadership of the GOP and that is why nothing gets done in Congress and in Washington. Democrats have no one to work with. Paul Ryan is a follower of atheist Ann Rand who teaches that you only need to care about and look out for yourself, to hell with everyone else. Ryan's budget he wrote for the GOP reflects this selfishness.
The mom and pop republicans on the local level are just fools and sheep being taken for a ride and most don't know it is a different republican party today than the one their fathers belonged to. It is their fault that they are uninformed and stupid. No one else is to blame for their failure to recognize that things have changed around them. These republicans are responsible for their actions.
Today's republican leader's are political troglodytes who thinks women belong in the kitchen, abortions should return to back-alley butchers, gays should be given therapy and electrical-shock treatments, only the rich should be allowed to get a higher education and the poor should pay higher taxes so that Big Business and the Wealthy can pay no taxes at all. Local Amherst County republicans gave up on thinking at all and now vote GOP by tradition.
The Republican base belief is that anyone and they do mean anyone or anything is preferable to that black bogeyman called Obama in the White House. The GOP is a magnet for racisism. It gives bigots a place to hide. Have a good day Amherst County republicans. How does it feel to get a little sunshine under that hood?
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