David : There is more than one way to skin a cat. Take the contraception issue. Why it is an issue at all completely escapes me. The cost of birth control pills per month is maybe $ 10. If a woman wants them it is zero problem to get them and pay for them. There should be no problem for Republicans to make this point and re-frame the issue in terms of individual choice. There simply is no hardship in this case, anyone can afford $ 10 a month. Instead, as usual, Republicans frame the issue in terms of religious principles that most women don't want to hear. That is, they may well be willing to hear out religious viewpoints, but in this case they think it is irrelevant and beside the point. About abortion, sure, I hear you, and generally I am opposed to abortion. OTOH, exceptions are warranted --not only my opinion but those of I think the clear majority nationally-- in cases of rape, incest, medical danger to the life of the mother. Age may be another factor in cases where a girl has reached puberty really young and is still a child herself. But many ( most ? ) Republican social conservatives take a hard line and refuse, on principle , to allow for any such exceptions. Quayle was a prime example. Granted, for those who have "hard line" convictions, OK, that is their choice. But for the party to take a hard line position is crazy --if getting elected is supposed to mean anything. For starters. Women also care a lot about health issues and child care. Billy ====================================== 4/8/2012 9:32:08 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
If the priority of women is abortion and contraception, then the former precludes Republicans. And the election of 2010 shows that being pro-life precludes Democrats. The contraception non-issue has been energized by the MSM and the Democratic party (but I repeat myself) as being anti-woman, when it is really about not forcing religious institutions to do things against long standing principles. REAL separation of church and state in the direction the founders intended. I would hope that women would be intelligent enough to see through that, but I must have a higher opinion of their intelligence than is warranted. Evidently there's a lot of Sheeple there. Yes, I know how that sounds, but with years of disappointment one gets that way. David _ "Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection."—Neal Boortz On 4/8/2012 11:12 PM, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) wrote: 4/8/2012 8:44:55 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) I kinda think it will take more than the wives of registered Republicans to do what needs to be done. This is a perennial problem for the GOP. The party would win every election if women didn't vote. But they do, and they trend Democratic, typically, by 10 points or more. Can't someone in the RNC employ a sociologist who makes women's issue his or her # 1 priority to consult on political positions and women's feelings ? Its like the GOP has almost no interest in women's views of issues. You can't win elections with only the votes of men. By now the Republicans should have gotten the message. Except that they still are mostly clueless. Billy ------------------------------ My wife is more for Mitt Romney than I am. David _ "Free speech is meant to protect unpopular speech. Popular speech, by definition, needs no protection."—Neal Boortz On 4/8/2012 8:56 AM, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) wrote: Salon Republicans just don’t get it As the GOP continues to repel women voters, can you blame President Obama for opening his arms to greet them? Joan Walsh Just as Mitt Romney was making _the case to Newsmax_ (http://thinkprogress.org/special/2012/04/05/459182/mitt-romney-addresses-women-problem/?tw_p=twt&; mobile=nc) , that paragon of journalistic integrity, that the so-called Republican war on women is entirely concocted by Democrats, Republican Scott Walker was quietly _signing a law_ (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/06/scott-walker-wisconsin-equal-pay-law_n_1407329.html?1333728572) that repealed Wisconsin’s Equal Pay Enforcement law, which made it easier for women to seek damages in discrimination cases. Driven by state business lobbies, the repeal passed the GOP-dominated Legislature on a strict party line vote, and Walker signed it, with no comment, Thursday afternoon. President Obama, meanwhile, was hosting a White House summit on women and the economy Thursday. Predictably, Republicans howled that the president is merely courting another “interest group” and playing politics. There was no doubt some politics at play during the summit; at one point participants chanted, “Four more years!” But really, when Republicans are repealing equal pay laws and proposing federal budgets that disproportionately hurt women, as well as restricting funding for contraception, who’s playing politics with women’s issues? When GOP poster boy Scott Walker is repealing equal-pay protections for women, why shouldn’t Obama remind us that he signed the Lily Ledbetter Equal Pay Act? Since the Ryan budget repeals “Obamacare” and slashes Medicaid and Medicare – both of which disproportionately serve women — is it unfair to talk about how the Affordable Care Act provides cost-free contraception, preventive care like mammograms and Pap smears, and outlaws charging women more for insurance? Yes, it’s an election year, so everything the president does will be scrutinized for its political agenda. That’s fine. But I continue to find it hilarious that Republicans insist that their troubles with women are the fault of nasty Democrats. Contraception aside, they’re the ones cutting programs for women and repealing equal pay protection. To Newsmax, Mitt Romney again complained that Democrats are distorting the GOP position on contraception. And again I say: Democrats didn’t crusade to defund Planned Parenthood. Democrats didn’t introduce personhood legislation that would outlaw certain types of contraception. They didn’t propose the Blunt amendment that would have allowed employers to deny insurance coverage for contraception as well as any health care treatment they don’t approve of. I wrote the other day that concern about contraception isn’t the only issue driving the _GOP’s widening gender gap_ (http://www.salon.com/2012/04/04/mitt_romneys_fooling_himself_about_women/singleton/) . But a recent USA Today poll found that women in swing states say their _number one issue_ (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/04/this-election-will-be-all-about-women/255355/) is women’s health care (men say deficits and the economy), and that makes an interesting point: Women see contraception as an integral part of their overall health care – as it is. We know that most women who use the pill, for instance, use it for a health reason other than contraception only. Republicans are the ones fetishizing birth control and putting it outside the boundaries of women’s health care. Mitt Romney and the GOP just don’t get it. Everything about the way they’ re approaching these issues is backfiring. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
