But for all the talk of Romney's trouble among women voters, no Democrat has put it in the terms that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright did in an interview with The Huffington Post on Monday.
"I'm not sure I'm going to state this exactly right," she said, sitting amidst a sea of convention-related activity and daytime wine drinkers in the Westin hotel lobby in downtown Charlotte. "But I think there are some who believe they are actually protecting women, you know, and that it is better for women to be taken care of. I think women want to take care of themselves, and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important. And frankly, I don’t understand -- I mean, I'm obviously a card-carrying Democrat -- but I can't understand why any woman would want to vote for Mitt Romney, except maybe Mrs. Romney."
Albright then revised her pool of rationally thinking female Romney supporters to include his five daughters-in-law, an obvious but hardly generous expansion. Even with the rhetorical flair, however, Albright's comments reflect a genuine disturbance that many Democrats -- women and men -- feel about the tone of the discussion of women's issues during the course of the campaign.
The former secretary of State, who has been an outspoken advocate for women in the workplace, said she found the assertion by Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) that a rape victim can shut down her body to avoid pregnancy to be "one of the more outrageous" comments she's witnessed in her 75 years.
"It was appalling and disgusting," she said. "But if I may say so, the things that he said in one form or another are in the Republican platform. So [while Republicans are] saying he is a nutcase and they have to move away from him, they did not move away from their platform."
Her reference was to language in the GOP platform that outlaws abortion even in cases of rape or incest. It's a policy that Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), has embraced throughout his career, before distancing himself in the wake of Akin's remarks. Romney has always supported such exceptions. Even so, Albright argued, he had "become captive to a party that does in fact think that women should not have voices."
This is about as harsh an indictment as has been leveled by a major Democratic figure at the Republican Party and its nominee. And in conjuring up images of women being pushed into figurative (if not literal) silence, Albright invited some obvious pushback. The current state of the economy hasn't exactly allowed women to warm up their vocal cords.
Yeah I think THAT about sums it up.
I also cannot imagine why women would support the Romney/Ryan ticket. Unless they really like having men tell them what they can do with their own bodies of course.
Off topic.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/04/us-newscorp-hacking-idUSBRE8830XV20120904
More than 1000 "likely" phone hacking victims!
Let us not forget that many women who came of age in the 60's are now baby boomers. These women are still underpaid and underappreciated we should all be able to agree. Who holds them back as in the woman's movement that crashed and burned re:ERA? Now I ask the question, are you a learner or the learned?
ReplyDeleteMany of us also remember when safe effective birth control was not available.
Delete"...women who came of age in the 60's are now baby boomers."
DeleteA baby boomer was born in the years 1946-1964 (usual designation). They were "boomers" the day they were born.
Good for Madeleine. Say it like it is. A woman's body is hers and hers alone.
ReplyDeleteOT But have you heard about this??
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/03/california-dem-compares-gop-tactics-to-nazi-strategies/
It just pisses me off when all the repugs do is LIE LIE LIE and when a dem says something about it they have to apologize!! I'm sick of these dems back tracking the minute the repugs start whining.
I would not apologize for such a statement. For four years GOP pundits have been making allusions to President Obama as a communist, a socialist, a fascist. They don't seem to understand the subtleties of totalitarianism even vaguely. The modern GOP/Teabagger party sure seems fascist to me. And add in the billionaire sponsors, especially the Koch brothers, and it becomes even more clear. So yes, the GOP does indulge in Nazi strategies - most notably the "big lie" - you tell the same lie often enough and people start to believe it. Especially not very bright people, like those who get their news from the GOP news arm, Fox News.
DeleteI love her she is such a great role model
ReplyDeleteI can't see how a women or a man could vote for what has become the republican party.
ReplyDeleteWith the Christian Reich taking over the party they plan on making birth control illegal. I think most sane people want to limit the chances of pregnancy unless they are trying to get pregnant. Not many people, except for those freaks on TV really want 19 kids.
If a person thinks I'm not entitled to an abortion if raped, they PROBABLY think the WRONG way about all my other rights, like the right to use my intelligence, talents and abilities regardless of the existence of a uterus in my body.
ReplyDeleteAlbright's comments have a logical extension. No woman should ever vote for a Republican. And, excuse me, Albright, Ann Romney is no exception. Ann has granddaughters!!! And they are rape-able.
It is a similar mystery as to why any women would put up with their role in the Mormon religion.
ReplyDeleteIts easy to see why a horny male would seek out a "faith" that involves his soul being taken to a far away planet, to have a "god" set him up with a dozen babes as wives, for eternity.
How they can con a woman into being part of this misogynist cult, is the wonder.
This kind of thinking, has bled over into the Republican vision of how society should be run...women as property.
A Mormon friend (female) once told me she found it easier to just not ask questions, in response to my question about the chemical reasons for no coffee but cocoa was OK.
DeleteAt the time she was in an extended medical crisis. She needed and received extensive support from other Mormons. The advantages of her religion were overwhelming at that time.
At best, I can say that my occasional outspoken episodes might eventually have some affect on the fate of her baby daughter.
Ten True Facts Guaranteed to Short-Circuit Republican Brains
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/04/1127663/-Ten-True-Facts-Guaranteed-to-Short-Circuit-Republican-Brains
let's al say a great,AMEN TO THAT
ReplyDeleteThe Republican platform "plank" is below. The simple translation is "when your 12 year old daughter gets raped and pregnant, make lemonade."
ReplyDelete--------
“...the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.”
“Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed,”
But yet any women above childbearing age doesn't have that right.
DeleteObama for America puts out a new ad hitting at Mitt Romney’s tax loopholes, using Paul Ryan to do it — proving that this Republican ticket is its own worst enemy.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.politicususa.com/obama-ad-paul-ryan-hit-mitt-romneys-tax-loopholes.html
Madeline is one of my role models. Ann's empty platitude of loving women was patently offensive because Romney/Ryan clearly don't support women at all. The first night of the DNC shows who respects Women, equal rights, marriage equality, health care, the middle class and every single issue affecting women's rights.
ReplyDeletei cannot respect a religion that claims god only speaks through men. sorry. that is all she wrote.
ReplyDelete