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Politics

With Paul Ryan VP Pick, Romney Finally Gives Up On Women Voters


From Rush Limbaugh and Slut-gate to the Affordable Care Act and its contraceptive coverage goodness, this election cycle has focused intensely on women. And, so far at least, the numbers show women favor Obama. In fact, the latest Quinnipiac poll shows Obama leads Romney among women voters by a staggering 14-point margin.

Yes, Mitt Romney has a problem with women. We all know that. And with Romney’s running mate selection, one can only assume the presumptive GOP candidate has given up any pretense that he gives a crap about the woman vote.

To be clear, I’m not saying Paul Ryan lacks any running mate chops at all, objectively speaking. In an election that (also) focuses heavily on U.S. spending, he’s the Republican budget architect nonpareil. He’s youthful but not inexperienced. He’s conservative but independent enough to buck the party line when he sees fit (he is, dare I say, a Maverick?). He’s anything but boring — and he has name recognition.

He is also completely, unapologetically at odds with many initiatives that help women.

Where do we start? He’s among the most vehement anti-reproductive rights politicians in the country. He believes women should be denied access to abortions, even in cases of rape and incest (despite credible statistics that show roughly 40 percent of American women have had abortions). He wants to overturn the Affordable Care Act, which provides preventive healthcare to 45 million previously uninsured women. He’s backed legislation to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, a move that would deny U.S. women roughly 750,000 breast cancer screenings annually. He also voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Ryan often cites his Catholic faith as a motivating factor in his social politics. And yet the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops distanced itself from Ryan this past spring, citing what it believed were unfair cuts to family aid in his budget plan. The famous Nuns on a Bus also denounced Ryan’s budget agenda. He’s borderline Libertarian — except when he doesn’t really feel like it, which is usually in instances where social politics come into play.

I’m not saying that all women support abortion access, birth control coverage, mammograms for women who can’t afford them, access to all forms of in vitro fertilization, laws that would help women advocate for equal pay, being able to get an abortion after someone rapes you and not having your doctor face criminal charges for it, federal aid for poor families and things of that nature. But when you pick a running mate that’s against all those things you’re boxing out a lot of women.

Am I a little salty that Romney didn’t pick a female running mate? Sure. After all, there are plenty of competent, recognizable women (who have not had reality T.V. shows) who would have been great picks. But Romney’s inability to install someone at all moderate on women’s issues — someone whose pro-women claim to fame extends beyond his choice to vote in favor of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act — is disturbing. Has Romney thrown in the towel on women voters? It certainly seems that way.

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  • Anonymous

    Amy, I wish you liberal women would stop speaking for all of us.  There are many of us who don’t buy into your war on women.  It failed, get over it. 

  • Anonymous

    Shill for DNC much?

  • Benny

    I didn’t really check the numbers,but common sense says that Mitt can’t really afford to lose more of the Women Vote.I mean it’s just basic math.

    If he loses more women,he’ll lose the election.

    Which would be,let’s face it,awesome.

    Cause seriously,Mitt is definitely a Terminator(no,seriously),which means if Mitt wins,Skynet wins.We can’t let Skynet win!Haven’t you seen the movie?Come on!

    Just look at him,seriously!..LOOK AT HIM!!!..If Mitt wins,it all goes BOOM!

    *sigh*

    I’m just sayin.Think about it.Don’t let skynet win.

    If you’re reading this, you are the resistance.

    *drink*

  • Adam R. Charpentier

    Right, that’s what your husbands are for. Liberal women speak for themselves, conservatives let men do the talking.

  • Anonymous

    Hardly.  I can speak for myself. 

  • Anonymous

    You sir, are insulting.

  • Adam R. Charpentier

    Then I should get a prize for attempting to be exactly that and succeeding. I don’t have faith in either party and party-line people are fanatical, stupid, and frustrating, and since there is no cure, I make due with satisfying myself.

  • Adam R. Charpentier

    I’m only worried that Obama will continue along this lazy river path he’s taken and I’m bored with it. I’d almost rather that terrible things happen rather than nothing at all.

  • http://www.facebook.com/RTSVUnited Susan Emry

    Great article Amy.  The truth is, selecting Paul Ryan was pretty much a slap in the face to women who care about women’s issues and rights.  Period.  Romney just doubled down and bet everything on the extreme conservative right.  It will be an interesting three months.  Meanwhile, the Dems are free to concentrate on the state elections.  Boehner has reason to worry!

  • Anonymous

    How dare Romney select a non-liberal as his running mate?!?!   Within 24 hours of anyone being selected by Romney, the Democrats would have declared that person to be “on the extreme conservative right.”  Anybody.  Romney could have picked Michelle Obama, and you’d still complain.  Tsk, tsk.  Me thinks we’ve found Jane Dough’s version of a concern troll.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHOQFSH7MF4DKNMEX3OGKZ5U2M Brembelia2004

    You conservative women are brainless. You make me ashamed of being female with your stupid drivel. Only conservative women vote for their own worst interests and want to go back to Victorian ownership of women. If you had your way, you’d drag all the rest of us with you. Conservative women are jackasses.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHOQFSH7MF4DKNMEX3OGKZ5U2M Brembelia2004

    Then start saying something intelligent for a change and stop trying to hobble the rest of us while you roll on the ground with your belly up seeking male approval.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHOQFSH7MF4DKNMEX3OGKZ5U2M Brembelia2004

    There’s nothing insulting about the truth. If the shoe fits, wear it!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHOQFSH7MF4DKNMEX3OGKZ5U2M Brembelia2004

    What does this mean? And YOU don’t shill for the RNC??? Grow up!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHOQFSH7MF4DKNMEX3OGKZ5U2M Brembelia2004

    Now here is some genuine stupidity. Sorry, Sunset, but liberal women are thinkers and are better educated than conservative women who only want men to dominate and abuse everything in sight. Your thinking is so convoluted, you don’t even make sense to yourself.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHOQFSH7MF4DKNMEX3OGKZ5U2M Brembelia2004

    My guess is, the Right already knows it has lost this election cycle and what they are doing is using it to test for future elections. I believe they are trying to decide the outer limits that this country will stand before it goes into full revolt.
    Both the Right and Left parties are corporately anchored, this we know. So, while we are wrangling about wedge issues, they are busy pulling the strings of a Totalitarian government tighter and tighter as they create their master plan for global domination/fascism.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OHOQFSH7MF4DKNMEX3OGKZ5U2M Brembelia2004

    Good grief! Be careful what you wish for. The liberals stayed home during the last Mid-term election and we got 78 Tea-baggers in the House for it.
    Giving up before you begin is a cowardly route; don’t go there. If you want to do something constructive, get involved in campaigning in your local area. If you are not sure who to vote for, contact the PCCC; they are a clearing house for Progressives. Obama may not be all that we had hoped he would be, but he’s a darn sight better than Muttonhead Robme and Paul Rand!

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