What War On Women?

April 9th, 2012

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That's the official GOP line; there is no "war on women."

Today, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called it a "manufactured issue".

He went so far as to presume that high ranking Republican women agree with him:

"There is no issue. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe from Maine, I think, would be the first to say — and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska — ‘We don’t see any evidence of this.' "

Really?

Steve Benen calls bullshit:

"Hutchison reiterated her support for Planned Parenthood two weeks ago; Snowe said her party's fight over contraception feels like "a retro-debate that took place in the 1950s"; and Murkowski went so far as to say, "It makes no sense to make this attack on women. If you don't feel this is an attack, you need to go home and talk to your wife and your daughters."

All three "don't see any evidence" of a GOP campaign targeting women's health?

McConnell seems comfortable speaking for all of these women, and ascribing beliefs to them. But if McConnell stopped telling us what these senators think and started listening to what they actually think, he might learn something important." EMPHASES MINE

Let's review some of the last week's developments in this "manufactured issue:"

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin signed into law a GOP bill repealing that state's fair wage laws. That effort's champion, state Sen. Glenn Grothman explained why such protections aren't necessary as follows:

"Take a hypothetical husband and wife who are both lawyers, but the husband is working 50 or 60 hours a week, going all out, making 200 grand a year. The woman takes time off, raises kids, is not go go go. Now they’re 50 years old. The husband is making 200 grand a year, the woman is making 40 grand a year. It wasn’t discrimination. There was a different sense of urgency in each person." EMPHASES MINE

Got it? A woman's destiny is inherently driven by her lady-parts. And, naturally, the GOP should legislate accordingly.

But, the "war on women" is a "manufactured issue."

In other Walker news, he also signed bills last week restricting abortion rights in health care exchanges and requiring doctors to investigate women seeking the procedure to ensure they aren't being 'coerced.' What's more, Walker was kind enough not to announce these bill signings until late in the day on Friday.

Why distract the ladies right before they had so much holiday cooking, baking and cleaning to do. Right?

Elsewhere, RNC chair Reince Preibus also argued there is no "war on women" using quite the metaphor.

Via Bloomberg:

"If the Democrats said we had a war on caterpillars and every mainstream media outlet talked about the fact that Republicans have a war on caterpillars, then we’d have problems with caterpillars," Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt" airing this weekend. "It's a fiction."

Ladies? You are imagining the whole thing. Sure, the head of the RNC found it appropriate to use an insect metaphor when discussing your basic rights but that means nothing.

It certainly isn't an indicator of a "war on women."

More from last week:

Arguments raged in New Hampshire over a bill prohibiting the state from doing business with 24 of its 26 acute care hospitals unless those hospitals end on-site abortive procedures. This could effectively end Medicaid coverage of abortion at these facilities even in cases of rape, incest or the life of the mother.

It was noticed that Arizona's latest choice-restriction legislation would actually declare that conception begins 2 weeks before conception (further limiting the potential window for an abortion).

We also actually argued, again, over whether the Augusta National Golf Club should continue to refuse memberships to women.

Rest assured, plenty of "conservatives" put you ladies in your place on that one.

All this said, there is still no "war on women."

It's "phony." It's manufactured. It's not happening no matter what you think, ladies.

Shouldn't this be the end of the conversation?

After all, the men have spoken.