It is a fact that Republicans, in their attempts to severely restrict women's reproductive rights on a national and state level, have proposed and enacted the most anti-choice legislation/executive policy since Roe. Their contempt for women has been underscored by comments, from male GOP candidates, about how rape is no big deal and if you happen to get pregnant after being raped you should thank God for this "gift." Yet, the GOP claims that there is no "war on women." And as the mouthpiece for the GOP, Fox News has actively promoted this meme and in so doing has utilized the services of loyal GOP handmaidens to dismiss any claims of misogyny on the part of the GOP. Last Friday, Greta Van Susteren interviewed the GOP woman who is running to replace Arizona Congresswoman Gabbie Giffords and who, like her GOP soul sistahs, says that there's no war on women. And rather than challenge her, Greta just gushed over Ret. Air Force colonel Martha McSally in what was basically a campaign commercial and love fest.
Greta introduced her guest in glowing terms as the first female pilot to fly combat missions and congressional candidate. She noted that she invited Martha McSally's opponent to appear but he was unable to due to scheduling conflicts. Greta asked McSally what she thought about the "war on women." Not suprisingly, McSally said it was a "distraction" - the exact word articulated by GOP Utah mayor, Mia Love, on a video played by Gretchen Carlson during her interview of NY Senate candidate Wendy Long and GOP SC Governor Nikki Haley during an interview with Megyn Kelly. (Wonder if that's a Frank Luntz word?) She claimed that her opponent was trying to scare women with "sexist attacks" that accuse her of being part of the "war on women.
Fact Check - McSally opposes abortion with no exceptions except for the life of the mother. She supports the overturn of the Affordable Health Care Act because it requires that employers provide coverage for birth control and has stated that employers should not be required to provide birth control coverage. She supports defunding of Planned Parenthood. So being "part of the war on women?" Ya Think!
McSally said that she is a "woman warrier" (Zena?) and that she has been "fighting for women's rights, women's equality my whole life." ( LOL, See above Fact Check) She snarked that her opponent should "walk a mile in my shoes if you want to see a war on women down the streets of Kabul and Riyadh where women are honor killed if they are raped and a 14 year old girl is nearly assassinated for standing up for girl's education..." (And if McSally's GOP gets their way, 14 year old American girls who get pregnant from rape, will be forced to bear their rapists child). She did the perfunctory no war on women spiel about how women are looking for jobs and health care. (And if McSally's GOP gets their way and gets rid of the ACA, women will lose health care). She repeated that it was a distraction and added that "it's a way to get votes."
Greta talked about how the "war on women" seems petty when compared to women's situations around the world and yet McSally gets "smeared." McSally talked about how she sued the military over the requirement that female member of the Armed Forces wear Muslim garb off base in Saudi Arabia and credited herself for "leadership" in getting a law passed to outlaw the policy. Greta then encouraged her to talk about her military experience which McSally was more than happy to do.
If Greta really wanted to get into the "war on women," she could have asked McSally, as a military vet, what she thought of the problem of rape in the military and the policy that that forbids a woman member of the military to access abortion at military hospitals because the military health care system denies coverage for abortion EVEN IN CASES OF RAPE. Just because McSally wore the uniform doesn't make her a champion for women's rights. While as a conservative she advocates "small government" except for what a woman is allowed to do with her body. Greta didn't mention that. The ACA helps women; but McSally wants to do away with it. Greta didn't mention that. As Pamela Powers Hannley says on Huffpo, McSally's comment about Muslim women "is a slap in the face because it discounts dismisses our struggles here at home." In other words, don't complain bitches because it could be worse. But obviously Greta hearts Sally so it's all good...
Note: Pamela Powers Hannley has a really interesting piece about McSally's possible marriage of convenience, done during the "don't ask, don't tell" days, which was quietly and amicably "annulled" with very little paper trail.
Truth is, Martha McSally was a political appointee to Sen. John Kyl, liked politics and now wants the seat as the first stop on the ladder of a political career, nothing more.
Martha McSally is a Teabagger, a Carpetbagger and doesn’t give a damned about the people or the state of Arizona.
Vote Barber.
They’re so insanely blind to the fact that their very (in)actions towards the regimes and peoples who turn a blind eye towards “honor killings” are a major part of the problem they’re so eager to capitalize on back home. Even more insane is the idea that any of these foreign regimes will pay the slightest attention to their violations of women’s rights when the USA itself becomes the biggest violator of women’s rights by insisting that “Big Brother” has some legitimate reason to decide the outcome of a woman’s pregnancy or that poor women have no legal right to affordable care that might detect ovarian or breast cancers at local clinics that were shut down because they offered birth control at little-to-no cost or that a woman who needs birth control pills for other medical reasons shouldn’t have it covered as part of her health insurance while men can get their prescriptions for Viagra and Cialis filled with the insurance company picking up the majority of the cost.
And what’s really weird is how Ann Coulter recommends that women not be allowed to vote because they’re “too emotional” while not criticizing GOP women who insist on running for political office while not seeming to hold an idea in their head that a GOP man hadn’t first approved. (Of course, “weird” and “Ann Coulter” just go together like peanut butter and jelly or chicken and rice or flip flops and Mitt Romney.)
Meaning, if elected, she’ll quit midway thru her term.
@patrick tolle: Glad you mentioned Duckworth, whom Deadbeat Dad Joe Walsh mocked as “not a true hero.” Wonder why Grets didn’t invite her on her show to gush over . . .
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Look over there! Those people are really, really mean to women. Now be thankful, hush up and let us decide what your rights are!
