Recently, there has been much discussion with regard to Mitt Romney and the Republican War on Women -- but more awareness needs to be raised with regard to the perception that is given instead of what is reality.
The reality is President Obama nominated the first Latina as a Supreme Court Justice. On the other hand, Mitt Romney stated he would not support Sonia Sotomayor as a justice of the Supreme Court even though in 1991, she was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by President George H.W. Bush.
According to the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Columbia University, Janine Balekdjian stated: "President Obama has made other concrete steps for the advancement of women, like signing the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay act and appointing Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court."
Indeed the Republican Party has a woman problem and it extends into the Latina community. Dr. Caroline Heldman, an Associate Professor of Politics at Occidental College and political commentator for Fox News identifies the problem further as she digs deeper into Conservative talking heads like Rush Limbaugh. According to Heldman, Limbaugh has spent two decades attacking feminists, female political leaders, professional women, women who speak out, and women's gains more generally. This formula makes his almost exclusively older, white, male audience feel more powerful in a world where changing gender roles have challenged non-meritorious power structures that benefit them.
Mitt Romney and Rush Limbaugh share the same philosophy because both have publicly stated their opposition toward a Latina justice that holds one of the highest positions in the land. Coincidentally enough, the last act of Mel Martinez as U.S. Senator was voting as one of only nine Republicans in support Sotomayor for SCOTUS. He resigned the next morning.
Will the Republican Party take us two steps backward as Latina leadership emerges?
We believe so.
Recently, the Republican Governor Dave Heineman has promised to veto the Nebraska bill (LB599). LB599 provides prenatal coverage to low-income women, many of them undocumented, who lost Medicaid coverage for prenatal care in 2010. Civil Rights and immigration attorney, Shirl Mora James, also Lead Co-President of the National Tequila Party Movement (a female-led Independent movement that motivates Latinos to vote for pro-immigrant politicians), recently exposed the Republican Governor of Nebraska with regard to his pro life hypocrisy. Shirl believes in helping ALL women who choose to keep their babies while ensuring appropriate prenatal care despite their immigration status.
Apparently the Governor of Nebraska thinks it is safe to pick on undocumented women who choose to keep their babies since he really does not have to worry about their votes in the immediate sense- and this seems to be the path Republicans are now willing to embrace.
According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University:
"... voter turnout rates for women have equaled or exceeded voter turnout rates for men. Women, who constitute more than half the population, have cast between four and seven million more votes than men in recent elections. In every presidential election since 1980, the proportion [of] female adults who voted has exceeded the proportion of made adults who voted ..."
There is a strong sense of matriarchy within the Mexican-American culture, and Latinas will 'wise up' during the 2012 elections when we evaluate how politicians treat women of Latin descent. One thing is for certain -- we cannot gamble our vote away on "multiple-choice" Mitt. Why should women support him if he would have opposed a 'wise Latina' like Sotomayor?
In conclusion, male chauvinism is a thing of the past and it is high time men take note in the political arena. Women can do much more than cook and clean ... we can politically educate ourselves, too, and base our voting behavior on the past history of those who want to be entrusted as our elected officials.
Follow DeeDee Garcia Blase on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thetequilaparty
mmhmmm. There is no such thing as spinning your way outta this one.
(cont)
For instance, did you know:
"Back in 2002, Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor wrote an opinion AGAINST a pro-choice group. It involved the controversial Mexico City policy. Read a summary of the case below from the the SCOTUS Blog.
The case was called, "Center for Reproductive Law and Policy vs. Bush.
Although Sotomayor has not had a case dealing directly with abortion rights, she wrote the opinion in Center for Reproductive Law and Policy v. Bush, 304 F.3d 183 (2d Cir. 2002), a challenge to the “Mexico City Policy,” which prohibited foreign organizations receiving U.S. funds from performing or supporting abortions. An abortion rights group (along with its attorneys) brought claimed that the policy violated its First Amendment, due process, and equal protection rights."
http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2009/05/26/sotomayors-abortion-ruling.aspx
(cont)
(cont)
Clearly the ethnicity issues are Sotomeyor's not Romney's.
Are you aware that the first and only Latina Governor in United States history is a Republican? Susanna Martinez of New Mexico used to be a Democrat, until she and her husband realized that Democratic economic policies were strangling the Latino community. In fact, many prominent Latino politicians are Republicans: Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada, Gov. Luis Fortuna of Puerto Rico, Senator Marco Rubio of course, and many others. These leaders all share something in common besides ethnicity: they all support Gov. Romney for the presidency, mainly because they know his economic policies are better for the Hispanic community than President Obama's.
Amazing.
Republicans can no longer point the finger at the Democratic Party, can they?
When are you all going to get the hint:Democrat or Republicans ,it doesnt matter which party because they are all freakin puppets who are elected only for power.Romney was the chosen one by the "establishment" from the start.The Establishment did everything they could to destroy Sarah Palin,Rick Santorum,Michelle Bachmann,Rick Perry,Newt Gingrich to pave the way for a guaranteed Romney nomination.Be prepared for another 4 years of Obama because Romney was the one they wanted in the first place to go up against Obama because they KNOW that Romneys MassCare is a huge liability and theres no way he will be able to be against ObamaCare,yet defend RomneyCare at the same time.I say to both parties:Get your heads out of your asses,youre BOTH dividing and destroying this country!!!Better luck next time in 2016,if there even is a United States left by then!!
I do know that Romney was the "establishment" guy. I have known it for quite some time. In fact, I was asked to submit my resume to the RNC....(I never did) when I was asking them to provide me with more details when it came to staffing and the monies that the GOP was going to spend. Rest assured.....Romney committed Latino political suicide with that Kris Kobach endorsement. Kris Kobach (known nativist and extremist) has become the face of the Republican Party.