Of the 21 committees in the US House there is only one female chairperson and she was only appointed after the overabundance of testosterone was pointed out to the GOP. But, as Mike Huckabee told us, the GOP loves wimmin, and to prove it, the House GOP guys appointed Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers to be the chair of the House GOP Conference committee which is responsible for hosting meetings and "communicating the party's message to members." (We gals are so good at gracious entertaining!). And just to make sure that everybody knows that the GOP values women, McMorris-Rodgers gets to stand next to the orange hued John Boehner whenever he makes a public statement. And because she is a very special woman, she had the honor of presenting the official GOP response to the President's State of the Union Address - a response panned by Ann Coulter. But Fox News loved it, as evidenced by alleged Fox News host Martha MacCallum who gushed over McMorris-Rodgers who gushed about how the GOP affords women, more "choice."
After playing part of GOP Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers' response to the SOTU speech, Martha MacCallum, her eyes glowing with GOP pride, enthusiastically introduced the congresswoman. McMorris Rodgers said that she thought her speech went well. She asserted that it represented a "hopeful Republican vision for America" and that GOP policies are awesome "no matter what your walk of life." Not unexpectedly, she chided the president for his promise to use executive orders to get things done. Not unexpectedly alleged news host MacCallum didn't mention GOP obstructionism in the House. In fact, alleged news host MacCallum didn't say much at all; but, basically, gave McMorris-Rodgers another public platform for GOP talking points. And just to make sure that the audience knew that McMorris-Rodgers is fullfilling her duty to God and country, the chyron informed us that she is "the only congresswoman to give birth three times while serving."
MacCallum did ask McMorris Rodgers about "this whole war on women issue." Before McMorris-Rodgers could respond MacCallum noted that McMorris Rodgers gave birth eight weeks ago. McMorris-Rodgers spoke about how the GOP is focusing on policies to ensure that you have a better life. (If you're poor, fahgetabout it!) In a true spit out whatever is in your mouth moment, McMorris Rodgers said she is "convinced that our [the GOP] policies are ones that improve your life" based on her own experience. She spoke about how women are "concerned about jobs" and because they make most of the health care decisions, "they're seeing that their choices are being taken away to make the best decisions for themselves, their families..."
Oh, the irony!!!!!! Since 2010, GOP state legislatures have enacted an unprecedented number of laws meant to take away women's reproductive choices such as the "TRAP" laws which require doctors to have unnecessary admitting privileges at local hospitals and require abortion clinics to comply with unnecessary building requirements not mandated for other outpatient surgical centers. As a result, a number of clinics have closed and, in those cases, choice is limited. While this congress is the most unproductive ever, they have managed to pass a bill which would have defunded Planned Parenthood, in the hopes that it would force closures of clinics. And yesterday, the women loving House passed HR 7, a bill that denies Medicaid funding of abortion and ban abortion coverage in health care plans sold on the exchanges.
So remind me which party is taking away choice?
Same discredited Teabagger talking points, but with a little less venom. She even has a special needs child just like Princess Sarah.
It does appear that she didn’t get married until she was in her mid 30s and, according to Wiki, her first-born child also happens to suffer from Down’s Syndrome. But do you think that she (or her party) would be quite as supportive of OTHER women who choose to wait until their mid 30s to get married or provide them the same kind of health care she gets as a Congressperson?
Another note of interest: The woman’s been living off the government’s teat since 1994—a decade as a member of the Washington House of Representatives and a decade as a member of the US House)—and even before getting into the Washington House, she served as a legislative assistant to the State legislator whom she replaced and she got that job basically right out of college, so the woman’s had almost NO real-world experience. (Funny. She’s EXACTLY the kind of person that the far right always claims is “the enemy” during elections and yet, seems to be EXACTLY the kind of person who keeps getting elected by right-wingers.)