(The image above is from electablog.com.)The Republican Party knows that while they have some safe congressional districts, they are in real trouble on the national level. In the 2012 election, they lost huge majorities of all minority groups, the LGBT community, young voters, and women voters -- and unless they can change that, they will have no chance of winning back a majority of the national population. This will keep them out of the White House, and with the huge anti-incumbent feeling right now, could even cause them to lose control of the House of Representatives. How can they change that?
The obvious answer, of course, is to moderate their policies on immigration, minorities, and the LGBT community -- insuring fairness and equal rights for all segments of society. That would not only encourage minority groups to consider voting Republican, but would be a good way to appeal to women and young voters. But their teabagger/evangelical base wants no part of that, and they are currently in control of the party. Moderating those policies would destroy their bigoted dream of a white, fundamentalist-christian theocracy to replace our constitutional democracy.
They originally thought they could keep large amounts of minorities from voting, but that doesn't seem to be working out for them. So the GOP representatives have come up with another plan. They don't want to appeal to minorities, and they can't keep them from voting, so they have decided to try and appeal to the largest group in this country -- women.
They have decided to fight their widely-acknowledged "war on women" by trying to convince women that they have their best interest at heart. And to do that, they have introduced a package of legislation in the House that they claim will help women "succeed at home and at work". Here is how Time magazine describes what they are proposing:
The package consists of several bills the House has already passed that increase job training, incentivize flexible work schedules, tax breaks for children and families, and strengthens charter schools. Most of the bills have been DOA in the Senate in an election year, though in a less polarized time they might have drawn some support. Democrats have introduced several similar workplace flexibility bills. The package also includes some new legislation to prevent retaliation when women ask about equal pay, a bill that restores cuts to home Medicare health care services and Child Care and Development Block Grant legislation, a bipartisan bill that has already passed the Senate and would become law if passed by the House.
Some of that is needed (and would be accepted by Democrats) -- but it falls far short of a cease-fire in their war against women. If everything proposed was passed, it would still leave women in a second-class status in this country. Note that they still don't give women the right to control their own bodies. And they don't guarantee them easy and free access to contraception, or make sure they have the right to sue for equal pay when they do equal work. And they don't support raising the minimum wage to a livable level (which would help millions of single mothers living in poverty, even though they work).
This is nothing more than a rather feeble attempt at propaganda aimed at women just before the election. And it shows they still have no respect for women -- that they believe women are not as smart as men, and can easily be fooled into voting against their best interests. They are wrong! They currently have at least a 12 point deficit among women voters -- and this pathetic attempt to fool women voters is destined to fail.
(This cartoon image is by Nick Anderson in the Houston Chronicle.)
