The GOP got hammered among single women in the last election. It isn't surprising given the GOP opposition to equal pay legislation, raising the minimum wage, and their support for the plethora of anti-choice laws. The right wing slut shaming, (especially on Fox News) of those who support the contraception mandate in the ACA and the attempt to shred the social safety net were part of what the Democrats characterized as the GOP "war on women." But Fox News has steadfastly denied that such a war exists and that the GOP is really the party for us silly gals. On this morning's Fox & Friends, Anna Kooiman continued this Fox meme with former Hewlitt Packard CEO and failed GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina whose newest endeavor is a project to make us gals wake the f**k up and vote GOP!
The opening chyron framed the Fox message: "Dem's Divisive Politics, Is the War on Women Just a Smokescreen?" Anna Kooiman began with some "sobering statistics" on poverty rates and employment data on women which are all "on Obama's watch, but the left wants to blame the GOP for a so-called war on women." In introducing her guest whose last name she mispronounced, she said that Fiorina "wants to set the record straight." An almost frantic Kooiman wanted to know "why many Democrats, many voters still buying this phony war on women."
Fiorina began the propaganda by accusing the Democrats of propagandizing: "We know that propaganda works and the war on women is shameless, baseless, propaganda, Put in another way, it's a bunch of lies." She said that "the problem is that people don't know the facts" and "they may be afraid, they may be fearful of that propaganda." She explained that the function of her "Unlocking Potential Project" is to "galvanize women on the ground" because the Democrats have "out hustled" the GOP on women's issues. Without identifying any specifics, she claimed that "liberal policies are hurting this nation and they're hurting women."
Kooiman cited Fiorina's claim that the bulk of the ACA premium hikes will go to women ages 55 to 64 and then, indignantly, did a little slut shaming: "Yet somehow, if you give women free birth control, all of a sudden they're gonna vote Democrat according to, uh, uh some. It just seems silly." She played video of "an attack ad" against Colorado GOP Senate Candidate Cory Gardner in which Mark Udall accurately states that Gardiner was a former proponent of "personhood" (gives full civil rights to zygotes) and a bill to criminalize abortion.
The question marked chyron framed the Fox message with some rich irony: "Political Propaganda Attack Ad Focusing on Wrong Issue?" Fiorina solemnly asked the audience to "think about all that's going on in the world...and this is the ad that Democrats are running?" Fiorina claimed that "everything in the ad is untrue" which is a great, big lie because Gardner did support personhood, although now he has changed his position on the issue. He also sponsored a "life begins at conception act" which would have outlawed abortion. Fiorina continued to lie with her comment that "women don't lack access to abortion or birth control." (Thanks to Texas draconian anti-choice law, the entire Rio Grande Valley is without an abortion provider.) She claimed that under the ACA women lack access to proper health care and access to economic opportunity. Fiorina then spoke about the awesomeness of her group which will "expose" Demcratic "lies."
So there's no war on women because Fox says so? Yeah, right. But seriously, Carly, you're accusing the Democrats of using propaganda on a "news" network that has perfected propaganda into an art form? Seriously?
Also, I find this rather rich in irony: Fiorina solemnly asked the audience to “think about all that’s going on in the world…and this is the ad that Democrats are running?” Meanwhile, a few posts up at this same website, Fox is making a big issue of some girl who allegedly was thrown out of a classroom for saying “bless you” to someone who sneezed.
If only Republicans would listen to Fiorina and start passing a few bills that AREN’T about abortion and birth control, the Dems might have another topic in their political ads.