Warning to Women: McCain-Palin are Dangerous to Your Well-Being

Women -- Stop, Look and Listen! Especially now that women and women's votes are front and center in this Presidential election, you need to have some facts at your fingertips. John McCain and Sarah Palin want to convince you that they offer something new. But on the issues that really matter in our lives, they offer more of the same old Bush policies, and in some cases, worse than the same.

I'm supporting Barack Obama, my long-time friend and colleague, and Joe Biden because I know their strong record on behalf of women's economic and individual rights, a record you should check out at www.barackobama.com. Yet, I'm aware that some women have the wrong idea about John McCain and think, because at one time years ago he was considered a "maverick", that he might have positions that are different from those of George Bush on issues that most heavily impact them. Even though he's desperately trying to resurrect that "maverick" label, it couldn't be further from the truth. This is just a sampling of the many reasons that McCain-Palin should be rejected by the women of America.

* Two words are enough for me. John McCain pledged to appoint conservative judges to the Supreme Court. Supreme Court - two words that should say to you - Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid!

* John McCain has always been for reversing Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision giving each woman the right to decide for herself whether or not she must carry an unintended pregnancy to term. He called it a "flawed decision" that "must be overturned." He has bragged about the consistent "zero" score he has received from NARAL Pro-Choice America. Believe him! He wants to take away your rights.

* Don't look to the woman, VP nominee Sarah Palin to bail us out. She is an extremist on the subject of reproductive choice - against abortion even in the case of rape or incest.

* Speaking of rape, when Palin was Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, her police department charged victims of rape for the rape kits that are needed for investigating this devastating crime. These kits cost between $300 and $1200. It took a state law passed in 2000 to stop the practice in Wasilla. Alaska Governor Tony Knowles said at the time, "We would never bill the victim of a burglary for fingerprinting and photographing the crime scene, or for the cost of gathering other evidence. Nor should we bill rape victims just because the crime scene happens to be their bodies."

* It's bad enough to be anti-choice, but those two are really anti-birth control too. McCain voted that even insurance companies that cover Viagra don't have to cover prescription birth control.

* They are against teaching about sex, despite the problems of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, as well as the challenge of teen pregnancies. Both McCain and Palin are for abstinence-only sex education and against comprehensive, age-appropriate health education.

* You might think he would be for helping moms and their babies, both healthy and sick, but NO. John McCain voted against extending insurance coverage to pregnant women and infants and opposed $214 million for breast cancer research.

* John McCain says he wants to fight terror. How about the terror that many American woman experience in their own homes from their abusers? McCain repeatedly voted against funding to fight and prevent domestic violence, including a $9 million increase for the Office of Violence Against Women. He even opposed authorizing grants to aid children who have witnessed domestic violence. Joe Biden was the original author and champion of the Violence Against Women Act which has provided relief to millions of abused women.

* Women, it's not just your body, but it's your wallet that is at stake. Both McCain and Palin oppose equal pay for women who do the same work as men. McCain voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act that would have reversed a bad Supreme Court ruling that made it harder for women like Lilly to challenge pay discrimination. As an excuse, he even suggested that women get paid less because they need more education and training.

* John McCain has repeatedly voted against increased funding for child care. He even voted against a proposal to expand tax credits for businesses that provide quality child care centers.

* John McCain voted against expanding the State Child Health Insurance Program that would have guaranteed health care to an additional10 million middle class American children.

* If you are worried now about inadequate or too costly health insurance, wait until you see what John McCain's plan has in store for you. His plan is actually worse than the same. McCain's plan would--for the first time--tax your employer-provided health benefits as income--providing an incentive to eliminate employer-based coverage. The Tax Policy Center said this plan would cause 20 million people to lose job-based health care over the next 10 years. Instead, you would get $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families to go out and buy insurance. This amount wouldn't even pay for half of year's worth of a decent benefit package comparable to the one available to members of Congress. McCain would allow insurance companies to sell policies that don't meet state consumer protection requirements - like having to cover maternity care and cervical cancer screenings and contraceptive equity.

* More women than men work at minimum wage jobs. John McCain voted against raising the minimum wage 19 times during his career. This from a man who can't keep track of how many homes he owns. I hope he leaves a really big tip for the waitress.

* Older women and people with disabilities, BEWARE: John McCain supports privatizing Social Security. That's right; he likes the discredited Bush plan to turn the most successful social program in history from a guarantee to a gamble. After watching the recent dramatic downs and ups of the stock market, the notion of allowing one's retirement or survivor income to depend on Wall Street should give you heartburn and encourage you to vote Obama-Biden.

* Women who are concerned about the environment (and who isn't?) should know that John McCain was THE deciding vote in the Senate against the development of alternative energy; in fact he voted 8 times against clean, renewable fuels. Sarah Palin doesn't believe that humans contribute to global warming, and actually sued the EPA to prevent putting polar bears on the endangered species list!

* Ha, ha, ha. MSNBC reported on July 18, 2008 that John McCain did not deny that he told a "joke" about a woman who "enjoyed being raped by a gorilla." McCain's spokesman Brian Rogers offered this lame response saying "this kind of stuff is a good example of McCain being McCain." Enough said.

Women, I rest my case. Pass it on.

Comments

[glitz]

All of your points are well taken..the most frightening thing about Palin's responses was the "you can't blink" reply to Charlie's question.."Did you have to think about it?" After 7 years of books on the incompetence of the Bush Administration and their inability to accumulate truthful information from competent sources, discuss and argue tactics, and analyze long term consequences; the fact that this woman, in considering accepting the second most important job in this Country, did not take the time to question her levels of experience, consider the skeletons in her closet, or think about the affects on her family, only reflects how she would perform her duty. On 9/11, as some remaining American Airlines were still in the air would she have taken the time to "blink"?

[Cmoore]

Glitz, I couldn't agree more......I immediately thought of all the times in our history when she may have reacted without blinking, and a chill ran up my spine. Now just imagine all the possibilities of that happening in the future; three in the morning the red phone rings and “you can’t blink”.

Very Scary!

[AlphaDoc]

Thank you for this article, Representative Schakowsky. I will be passing it along to everyone I know and asking them to pass it on, too. Women and the men who care about them should know that voting for McCain/Palin is the dead-wrong choice.

[athenasword]

Thank you for the clear list of views, positions and voting history. This ticket is just plain scary. Clearly there is alot at stake if you are a woman. Or if your children are female. Or if you have friends and family that is female. Defeat them we must!!!!!

[luckyrico1]

The pick of Sarah Palin is one of the sickest and sexist one could ever imagine. Do you really think she was chosen for her amazing intellect and negotiating powers? Or her savvy on international relations and the economy? I've heard numerous comments (all from men) about how "easy on the eyes" she is. She was chosen for her sex appeal pure and simple. She would not have had a snow ball's chance in hell if she were ugly. This is pandering to the religious right (haven't they duped you enough already for their own agenda?), to women (she ain't Hillary) who are too stupid to ask the hard questions, and to white men who don't like McCain, but are "afraid" of Obama (thank you FOX News for your fairly unbalanced coverage). This is same savvy Rove politics that scared people into voting for Bush not once, but TWICE! I thought that that Americans had wised up to the nasty, divisive Rove politics that has caused our government to grind into a partisan gridlock. This, however, is a new low even for Republicans. Turning women against women. Small town gun folks against elite cosmopolitan chardonnay drinking intellectuals. I used to think John McCain was an honorable man, but now I think he and Palin are both Rove's bitches. A sad day in politics and women who have worked hard without the benefits of being a beauty queen.

[Miket53]

Wow. You just set back women's rights a century. I think Palin is a great candidate and never -ever-ever once thought aboutlooks or anything else. How can you possibly say that it was fore "looks"? And the only person I've heard mention her looks is Joe Biden.

If a women is not "Liberal" then she is mind dead and a freak? Is it possible that a woman can be conservative and have different beliefs? Shouldn't you celebrate the fact that a woman has been tapped for VP? When Geraldine Ferraro was tapped there was no outrage....no accusations that she was picked because she was a "babe"....no questions of experience. Big time double standard here.
Mike

[beingrepubwontmakeurich]

Please don't try to use GOP rhetoric to defend women's rights when the GOP has done nothing to amend its platform to reflect it except put up a female as a potential vice-presidential candidate; a female who is finding herself launched into uncharted territory for which she can only thank the women's movement, and most recently Hillary Clinton, while she prepares to set a course to potentially roll back everything the movement stands for. Talk about biting the hand that feeds her.
THIS is why liberals are outraged.
The Republican party and Palin's own particularly extreme socially conservative platforms are what is setting women's rights back.
If Republicans had put qualifications before politics in this election, and they actually wanted to send a message that they are reversing their archaic platforms relative to women's rights, they would have fully vetted and chosen Christine Todd Whitman, or Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, or Sen. Elizabeth Dole - any of whom are women I would have understood as far more qualified for the position, and probably been far less nervous about the future of women's rights.

[latituded520]

Mike, I can't believe that you never-ever-ever once thought about looks. I can, however, believe that you have never-ever-ever thought about anything else. luckyrico1, was correct. Palin was picked BECAUSE she was a pretty woman with conservative values. Let me put this in another way. If Todd Palin was the Gov, with the experience that Sarah has, he would have NEVER BEEN TAPPED. There are plenty of Rep women and men that could have handled the vp ticket and bring the experience necessary. This is the first decision JM is making as the candidate for the POTUS and he chose to go with the pandering selection instead of the best one that would be good for the whole country. He is putting us all at risk and completely going against his own slogan "Country First". As a side note, you may not be old enough to remember when Geraldine Ferraro was tapped, but her experience was a big factor because she had only been in congress for 5+ years. However, Ferraro was an attorney with a law degree. Sarah couldn't even finish an undergrad degree in journalism in 4 years - took her 6 years and 5 colleges. You may also be interested to know that in that race, Mondale was 15 points behind Reagan before he tapped Ferraro. After Ferraro was tapped, the polls jumped up to a dead even and in some polls Mondale pulled ahead. Sound familiar? Oh - btw - Reagan, won in a landslide.

[doodlefarbe]

Two things to consider and tone down the hysteria just a bit.

One is, repubs have been dangling the demise of Roe v. Wade, like sugar plum fairies, before the eyes of the religious pro-lifers for decades.

They do it every 4 years when seeking the votes of said religious pro-lifers.

In between every 4 years, NOTHING much happens.

Yes, if MacDaddySeamish is elected, he will be able to nominate a Supreme Court justice, should a vacancy occur. The key word here is nominate. With ever more solid a majority in the Senate, no way will the Dems allow him to place any other than a clear moderate. So stop worrying about Roe v. Wade.

And, worse case, let's pretend that somehow instead of Dems taking even more Senate seats this time around, somehow the repubs get a majority. Ignoring filibustering for the moment, let us get really absurd and pretend that somehow MacDaddyMacBushTwin gets a genuine, fire-breathin' Roe v. Wade hatin' Justice placed, and Roe v. Wade is seriously trimmed back or even outright reversed.

Guess what happens? Other than Mississippi, pretty much nothing. What state other than MS has the public will to outlaw abortions? None.

So stop sweating this issue.

[mzelaine1]

No she didn't ...

https://secure.defenders.org/site/Donation2?idb=0&df_id=1547&1547.donation=form1&autologin=true&s_src=6JY08WDC4F&s_subsrc=6JY08WDC4F_EJI08D2a&JServSessionIdr012=ummblo3pl1.app20a

[thebluecrayon]

Thank you for putting all these issues women care about in one succint article. We need to see these points in an Obama ad now.

[wildishka]

if we are blind and deaf, it would be total of 12 yrs of disaster..­..continuo­us regression of every ideology. Palin has stirred up the republican race for all the wrong reasons. and finally it should not be about Palin/McCain/Joe or Barack...or the white and black issue, nor should we be casting our votes for a gender. It should be for our country....please.

[JungleRoses]

McCain's V.P. choice Sarah Palin is selfish and doesn't care about Americans. For anyone voting for this ticket; women's rights will be diminished.

[Mildmannered]

Jan:

You are preaching to the choir here at HuffPo. Please have your article published in a number of MSM papers.

[athenasword]

Yes! Please.

[boomer1949]

McBush...More of the Same...Same Old Bush-$hit...and all of it Smells Extremely Rovian!

[Mildmannered]

and nothing smells worse than a Rovian.

[BandH08]

NEWSFLASH JAN:

37% of Democratic women are PRO-LIFE,

40% of independent women are pro-life

and

43% of women overall are PRO-LIFE

The abortion issue is simply not a women vs. men issue

http://www.gallup.com/poll/110002/Will-Abortion-Issue-Help-Hurt-McCain.aspx

[Rashnak]

"Supreme Court - two words that should say to you - Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid!


Wait a minute- I thought the politics of fear was the domain of the right. Why are you using fear to justify your position?

Can you say hyprocrisy?

[doodlefarbe]

"It's only hypocrisy when THEY do it".

;-)

[athenasword]

Spare me.

[knighthowl]

Can you say idiocy? Anyone looking objectively at the record would see numerous reasons for women to fear Palin/McCain. For that matter, an objective observer would see great reason to fear for the entire world.

The politics of fear practiced by the right relies on irrationality, not fact.

[jn123]

Hell right, I'm scared of more of the same. Where have you been the last 8 years? It's been downright shameful what the Bush years have done to my family and myself, much less America's standing in the world. If you're better off with these policies in place, I guess you have nothing to be scared about.

[nian]

amazing post. please, everyone pass this one out like hotcakes. Beautiful post, really.

[JerryS]

I hope this message and these facts get out to the many as yet undecided women, because women have so much at stake in this election (we all do, but, two words again SUPREME COURT).

It's no surprise to me that Sarah Palin is adored by the religious right, and that her selection as VP for McCain has tremendoulsy energized the otherwise anemic Republican campaign.

However, that the independents that have "judged" her and find her so likeable and "experienced" simply CONFOUNDS me beyond belief.

I believe that once the people find out more about her, they will realize it is really very risky to vote for McCain just because Palin is soooooooooooo "wonderful".

Her views seem to be even more to the right of Bush, and I don't know anyone personally (i.e. I'm middle class and don't have any super rich friends) who will declare that this admistration has actually been good for this country. That includes the many Rebublican (though I simply cannot understand why, because again, they are middle to lower class financially) supporters I know and work with.

My place of employment will soon be having a worforce reduction (it's business, and we don't have enough coming in because of this economy), and STILL I hear from these shop workers how McCain is the guy to vote for.

I don't get it.

I'm starting to think that racism is just a little bit more of a factor than I would like to believe.

Peace.

[LibertarianAnCap]

Why does it confound you that not everyone thinks like you?

The middle class understands that hard work should be rewarded and more taxation to pay for welfare does not make them excited to vote Democrat. The rich cannot pay for everything that the welfare queens and liberals want to have without actually paying for them their selves. So the Democrats must tax the middle class and blue collar Americans. MOST people want to earn their keep through hard work and saving, not government handouts through taxation.

I will point out that the Republicans are not much better when it comes to welfare and expanding government. But they have at least paid lip service to lower taxes and this will win over the middle class most of the time.

The best part is the arrogance shown on this site by the bloggers and the readers. This is perfectly demonstrated by the racism comment. So if Barack does not win it is because of racism? That is a nice cop-out to take. The reason he is going to lose is the fact that he and the liberals in general spend more time worrying about Palin that McCain and he has become a war-monger towards Afghanistan and Pakistan.

John McCain has done what he wanted to do all along. He has diverted the attention away from him and every insult and attack is directed at Sarah Palin. You don't see the Republicans worrying about Joe Biden do you?

[KathleenA]

We are not "confounded" because not everyone thinks like us, we are confounded because people like you are so determined NOT to see the truth.

Obama's tax plan will actually reduce taxes for most middle class and blue collar workers. There is no plan increase funding to "welfare queens" whatever that is supposed to mean.

Paying lip service to lower taxes is actually very detrimental to the country. The insistance of the republicans to simply increase the national debt is fiscally irresponsible. Just stop and think for a minute about the interest expense on a debt of nine trillion dollars!!

Just review the economic progression of our country over the last sven years. Do you really need any more evidence that the republican policies are bad for the country?

[jn123]

I've been knocking on doors in my neighborhood for the Obama campaign. Believe me, the racism is there and I've seen it first hand. I hate to tell you the names I've been called.