McCain Flatlines With Women

Watching last week's debate on CNN, which had real-time tracking of how women and men were reacting to the candidates, I couldn't help but remember Ann Richards at the 1988 Democratic convention saying "Poor George [H.W. Bush]. He can't help it. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth." Well, it's poor John McCain's turn. He's got a silver foot in the works of his whole disorganized campaign. And it's kicking him in the tush daily. Not only did the women's tracking line on the screen take a nosedive when McCain talked about "Joe the Plumber," he rarely made it above flatter than flat on any other topic, particularly his VP's credibility and credentials.

Wait a minute -- weren't we all supposed to rush to McCain/Palin when Hillary folded her tent? After all, Palin wears a skirt (oh yeah, and high heels and lipstick), and McCain obviously figured we girl voters were too dumb to know the difference. But like so much else in his ill-fated campaign, the Palin ploy backfired. Even so, up to now it's been a few WASP (Women Against Sarah Palin) t-shirts, homemade signs, and street corner demonstrations.

Now a major new website and online organizing tool has gone up on the web (FeministsForObama.org), courtesy of the Feminist Majority, whose President is veteran feminist Eleanor Smeal. "We don't want a lingering doubt for any Hillary Clinton supporter or any independent woman about where McCain and Palin stand on women's issues," Smeal asserted.

The group knows Obama is ahead in the polls, but the site was launched to help drive up the margin of victory even higher for Obama/Biden, and just incidentally take out a little insurance against a repeat of Florida in 2000 or Ohio in 2004, when thousands of votes disappeared or weren't counted correctly. "Yes Obama is leading. But we can take nothing for granted. Too much is at stake for women. We must make sure the margin is so large it cannot be stolen this time," Smeal continued.

FeministsForObama.org, offers a side-by-side comparison of the Democratic and Republican nominees on four major women's issues: Violence Against Women, Abortion and Contraception, Women and Work, Breast Cancer, and Health Care. Because words aren't always enough, the Feminist Majority created three striking online videos that illuminate some of the grave truths about the McCain/Palin record on women's issues.

One in Six

"John McCain voted against funding to fight domestic violence."

Unholy Trinity

"McCain voted against a program funding breast cancer research."

Violation

"John McCain and Sarah Palin are running on a platform that seeks to outlaw a woman's right to an abortion even in cases of rape and incest."

The site is particularly aimed at younger voters who may still be wavering or think going to the polls is less important now that Obama is surging. "Forty years of women's progress is at stake. I wish I was exaggerating," remarked Smeal. "But more anti-woman appointments to the Supreme Court, such as Alito and Roberts, as John McCain promises, will do it."

Hooray for the Feminist Majority -- and that's what it is. Polls show that clear majorities of women and men identify with the feminist philosophy -- and now they have a place to go to prove it. Poor John. He never got the difference between a woman and a skirt, and that silver foot just keeps on kicking him.

Comments

[maxthecashier]

I wish I remembered where to find it so I could post a link, but I'm at work and can't YouTube it (huffpost, I've found, is much more acceptable at work than facebook and youtube and the like). But a great ad was released under the title "John McCain hates breasts." The title and the first few seconds are obviously very jokey in an attempt to gain attention, then the rest deals with the serious issues John McCain has not supported - women's healthcare (specifically breast cancer testing and research), violence against women, etc. It was released by a breast cancer foundation and i think the humorous tone it starts out with and the sensationalist title are good ways to get attention for issues which should already be highly visible but unfortunately are ignored.

I think that sometimes "women's issues" (quotes because many people use this term condscendingly) are ignored because they do not affect ALL Americans, just like campaigns tend to stay away from issues concerning specific minorities. I mean, as is becoming increasingly clear, all "people" are created equal, but rich white men are more equal than most. (I admit, I am wealthy, heteorosexual, and caucasian. however, I don't believe that my skin or my genitals or my orientation should affect my opportunities in life and neither should anyone else's).

[LeBeau59741]

I am one of those "One in Six" women.
When I was 19, I was abducted and raped at knifepoint.
It was a terrifying, humiliating and infuriating experience.
I was very lucky in that I suffered minimal physical injury and even luckier to have been raised knowing that rape is never the victim's fault- I was spared much of the guilt and shame so many victims face, but 21 years later, I still have nightmares every once in a while.

Had I become pregnant from the assault, I know the searing anger that I felt towards my attacker would have certainly been projected onto the child.
I'm grateful that I did not have to face that situation but in my gratitude, I'm keenly aware that others, not so lucky, could soon be forced to deal with their attacker literally 24/7 for 9 months.... and I can't imagine anything more certain to intensify the trauma and make recovery from an assault more difficult.

Please elect leaders who won't put a rape victim through 9 months of nurturing her assailant's offspring.

[LeBeau59741]

Clarification: I am not in any way,shape or form dismissing the courage it takes to make a different choice and bear the child despite the circumstances of such a conception, I merely want women to remain free to make that decision for themselves.

[DennyCrane]

While I don't think women are dumb enough to vote for a candidate just because she's a woman, I do think too many voted for Hillary during the primaries in large part because of her gender. When asked why they were voting for her, the answer that appeared quite often was "because it's time we had a woman in charge." Add to that all the talk in the media about how Obama supposedly had a problem with the female vote. McCain bought into it, thinking that Hillary supporters wanted a woman and were angry at Obama. But McCain showed himself to be the true sexist. He assumed that women were so desperate to elect one of their own that the issues no longer mattered. As we've seen with Palin, any woman isn't acceptable. Maybe if Palin wasn't so extreme right-wing and showed more command of the facts, women might've been inclined to vote for her. But the bottom line is McCain is at the top and even a more qualified running mate wouldn't have changed the fact that McCain is all wrong for women.

[maxthecashier]

yes, many women wanted hillary as their leader because she is a woman. (i'm a woman who voted for edwards, but we'll let that slide). BUT the difference between her and sarah palin is that hillary is a STRONG woman with admirable ideals, so many women wanted a female president, yes, but one that could be an actual role model. maybe the deciding factor between hillary and obama in the primaries for many women was hillary's gender, but let's not forget how similarly she and obama stand on the issues. Palin is just an insult.

[llisa]

Powerful stuff!

[neem]

It's interesting whom John McCain picked when he wanted a female candidate. An elder stateswoman like Kay Bailey Hutchinson? No, he picked a lady with a gun collection who likes to shoot defenseless animals, and is almost 30 years younger than he is. A "trophy candidate" indeed. This is the "Fox News" view of women: young and hot.

[CanadianBeef]

It's the same old conservative trick: promote the woman who's against abortion (Palin) as VP, the black man who's against affirmative action to the Supreme Court (Clarence Thomas), or the war-hungry black woman (Condoleeza Rice) to Secretary of State. These appointees misrepresent the people they represent. or as Sarah Palin might say, the lipstick on the pit bull. If there were only one conservative woman in America, McCain would have found her and nominated her for VP.
This is not progress, this is tokenism of the most cynical sort.

[springsm]

WOW 4 OBAMA.

That would be white old woman for Obama. Don't feel old, don't act old, don't look all that old, I am...and I am white and I am for Barack H. Obama.

[quiltinglady]

I love it! I am also a WOW and proud of it!

[WolfLady]

If the anti-GOP tsunami is huge enough to sweep away all the vermin, might the Equal Rights Amendment come back to life?

~WolfLady~

[MadOzbo]

"Yes Obama is leading. But we can take nothing for granted. Too much is at stake for women. We must make sure the margin is so large it cannot be stolen this time..."

Truer words have NEVER been spoken.
I expect voting machines to "malfunction," paper votes to mysteriously "disappear," and all kinds of ugly similar to the Obama aide at the nursing home who had the residents voting for HIS choice...

It will be a circus all the way around, but only by the sheer tide of human beings voting for Obama and saying so, will the Dirty Tricks dept be defeated. Richard Nixon must be SO proud...

[senseandnonsense]

Who could not be moved and persuaded by these ads? Where's the compassion?

[CaptainStormfield]

I think it says a lot of the Republican party that the first time they picked a woman for a VP candidate they picked a women from a church whose primary tenet is the obedience of the wife to the husband.

[sertelt]

This post is a bunch of bunk.

First, McCain has a BETTER record than Obama on actually supporting equal pay for women.

According to the watchdog group LegiStorm, for October 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008, Obama's 28 male staffers divided among themselves total payroll expenditures of $1,523,120. Thus, Obama's average male employee earned $54,397. Obama's 30 female employees split $1,354,580 among themselves, or $45,152, on average.

On average Obama's female staffers earn just 83 cents for every dollar his male staffers make.

McCain's 17 male staffers split $916,914, thus averaging $53,936. His 25 female employees divided $1,396,958 and averaged $55,878. On average, according to these data, women in John McCain's office make $1.04 for every dollar a man makes.

(more at http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/36234)

Second, the St. Petersburg Times, a Florida newspaper, has shown that the ads against McCain on the Violence Against Women Act are bogus.

The paper explains that McCain supported the original bill including the Violence Against Women Act. McCain has also supported the VAWA on reauthorization votes and even introduced his own measure in 2005 to provide protections for Indian women.

(more at http://www.lifenews.com/nat4398.html)

McCain's pro-woman credentials are sterling. In fact, it is Obama who voted against more funding for poor pregnant women and opposes bills to charge criminals with two crimes when the kill or injure a mother and her unborn child, like Laci and Connor Peterson.

[CaptainStormfield]

Hey sure.. McCain is very pro woman. He likes women so much he keeps trading up. Dumped his first wife who stuck by him while he was in that prison camp for a new model.

[rich misty]

Now he runs with some moose chick named Sarah

[ElBruce]

It may be beneficial to be a woman working directly for McCain - Palin comes to mind - but the fact is he votes against equal pay measures consistently. One might as well oppose the abolition of slavery on the grounds that they treat their own slaves very well.

In the Senate there are always "other versions" of bills circulating. McCain may have voted for a version of VAWA that was completely toothless and underfunded, as well as having no chance of passing, but the fact is that he voted against the real one.

He has clearly signaled that he intends to appoint Supremes who would overturn Roe vs. Wade, never mind how much he tap danced around that in the debates. He's said it elsewhere, repeatedly.

He not only opposes abortion in cases of rape and incest, but also when a woman's health is at stake. Remember when he put finger quotes around "womens' health" in the third debate? Yeah, that's what he thinks of it.

Of course Obama opposes charging two crimes against those who harm a pregnant woman. That would create legal precedent that all fetuses are citizens, thereby removing all rights to reproductive choice in all situations. That doesn't help women, it enslaves them to their uteruses.

[scooperss]

Bull moose.

The issue is not "education and training." When denied equal pay by her supervisor, Lilly Ledbetter was doing the exact same job as her male counterparts and received numerous performance-based awards. McCain has a long record of failure on women"s issues, earning him a 0 percent rating from NARAL ProChoice America six years in a row, from 2001-2007. (HT: TortDeform)

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/23/mccain-dismisses-equal-pay-legislation-says-women-need-more-training-and-education/

[cassandrascurse]

"According to the watchdog group LegiStorm..."

_____________________________________________

Ummm...no. Here's what LegiStorm had to say on the subject:

"Over the last few days, a tempest has been brewing over an allegation made by Scripps Howard columnist Deroy Murdock that Sen. Barrack Obama pays less to women than he does to men in his Senate office...[and] we wanted to clear that up. We carry the data and are happy to be the source for anyone, liberal or conservative, who wants to do analysis of that data...We were not, however, the source for the analysis that led to conclusion about equal pay. That analysis was solely done by Murdock...We will simply note that there has been some debate about the validity of his claims because he did not include consideration of whether the men and women were doing equal work."

To review, Murdock manipulated the data for his analysis...not LegiStorm. He is a conservative columnist who has, eg, said elsewhere "[w]aterboarding is something of which every American should be proud." (Whatever one's views on waterboarding, "pride" doesn't normally enter into it.) That statement does, however, allow some insight into Murdock's mindset. And his article, which you referenced, provides an excellent example of why right-wingers shouldn't be allowed to play with sharp objects...or statistics.

[maxthecashier]

also, don't forget biden. as far as any of the presidential/vice presidential candidates are concerned, Biden has the most pro-woman record of any of them -- including the actual woman.

[skippy20008]

Since Republicans are so adamantly against sexism, seems like it's time to resurrect the campaign for women in Augusta!