(The cartoon image above is by David Horsey in the Los Angeles Times.)The election of 2012 proved to be a disaster for the Republican Party -- a disaster of their own making. They lost several races because they had nominated candidates that turned out to be an embarrassment, and alienated female voters (such as Todd Akin in Missouri, who felt the need to discuss "legitimate rape" on the campaign trail). And that propensity for anti-woman gaffes doesn't seem to have gone away. As Politico says:
Individual Republicans have continued to give Democrats plenty of ammunition about being insensitive to women’s issues. From Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) talking about rape and pregnancy at a Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this year, to House Republicans passing a 20-week abortion ban in June, to Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) blaming military sexual assault on “hormones,” there have been repeated instances where GOP lawmakers have come off as tone-deaf to female voters.
Now one would think that the answer to this would be to nominate better candidates -- candidates that respected women and understood their problems and issues. After all, that has worked well for Democrats. But the Republicans have a problem. Their party is controlled by teabaggers in far too many states, and the likelihood that those teabaggers will support more candidates that will alienate women is strong. So the Republican National Committee is trying another solution. They are attempting to train Republican officials on how to talk about and to American women.
They have already started this effort by training the aides of members of Congress, and will undoubtably continue it with candidates nominated next Spring in the primaries. Personally I find it ridiculous that the nominees or elected officials of any political party would need to be trained in how to talk to or about women. Shouldn't a proper upbringing and common decency have taken care of that? Did their parents not teach them decency and respect for women?
I doubt this "training" will have much effect though. Putting lipstick on a pig doesn't hide the fact that it's still a pig, and painting stripes on an alley cat doesn't make it a tiger. It's just sad that this once great party (remember Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Eisenhower) has deteriorated to such a level.
