Cross Posted from Finance.Townhall.com
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/ginaloudon/2012/03/22/sex_lies_and_stupidity
Sex, Lies, and Stupidity
by Gina Loudon PhD
American women are watching as pundits and politicians struggle to manipulate what women really want in terms of politics today. Politicians on the right have long been accused of being “anti-woman.” But recent events are exposing a dirty little secret about who really believes in the intelligence, discernment, and needs of today’s American woman.
The story began to unfold when Obama mandated that contraception would be covered for women by taxpayers under Obamacare. This raw political ploy by a government that is broke, was just another example of this administration’s foolery. Yet, any murmur of protest was met with caustic reactions from establishment republicans and the mainstream media. T
hey pontificate about how social issues no longer matter, and would alienate women. They attempted to smear Rick Santorum. It didn’t work. The more the media chided Santorum for his “anti-woman” views, the more women saw the campaign of Rick Santorum as the one they wanted. Women realized that so called social issues, such as “choice” actually have left women with no choice but to foot the $1 million dollar/day current cost to taxpayers to fund Planned Parenthood. It gets worse.
Enter Sandra Fluke. She capitalized on her 15 minutes of fame when she testified before Congress that women needed contraception, to the tune of $3,000 for three years of law school. Rush Limbaugh pointed out the obvious—that $3000 dollars worth of contraception during law school for one woman seemed somewhat promiscuous. But he called her a “slut.” This set off a firestorm that ultimately only benefitted the talk titan. He apologized, and got much wealthier for all the hassle.
Obama trotted out his daughters for this one (a new low, even by Obama standards). First, he apologized to Ms. Fluke, for the comments Rush Limbaugh made. Then, he defended himself against those left aghast by his audacity referring to his daughters, and their ability to fight for a cause they believe in, one day.
Next up on the national radar came Bill Maher, the liberal liaison in misogyny. He was invited to be the guest of honor at a Democratic event in Alabama, and women of both parties cried foul. Maher is best known for spewing his brand of no-hold-barred vulgar comedy exclusively reserved for with a favorite target being conservative women and their children. How many women had he called worse names? America gasped to see the unapologetic hypocrisy of Obama, Maher, and the Democrats in a way they had never seen so clearly before. And to crystallize his opinion of Maher, Obama gladly accepted a $1 million donation to his campaign for re-election. Led by the largest women’s political organization, Concerned Women for America, women collectively raised an eyebrow.
This week, the Tea Party Patriots will host an event in Washington, DC called “Road to Repeal”Obamacare. From its inception, the Tea Party has protested the very concept that the Federal Government should take over American healthcare. Healthcare is 20% of the American economy. No matter how you slice it, Tea Partiers say this is one giant step toward socialism. But women across America are waking up to a much more sinister, and utilitarian angle on this series of events.
While this president will defend liberal women, he does not defend conservative women, or their children. While he talks about the safety for women of Obamacare, he ignores the obvious reality that less freedom for women in their healthcare choices, is less freedom for women period. He defiantly asserts that religious organizations should have to provide contraception regardless of their views, ignoring the majority of women, women of faith, who disagree.
Add the cost of gas, groceries, and other essentials, and he has sparked a national backlash of women, despite all the lip service his administration gives in an effort to secure the votes of women. Women drive car pools, and plan family vacations, so we feel the pain at the pump that Obama promised. Women buy groceries, and moms with families are hit hard, right where it counts. Every time a mom feels like she can’t afford healthy meals for her children, she gets angrier. Women are business owners, budgeters, and family bread winners. You won’t find a woman out there who doesn’t feel the grip of the highest unemployment in decades, the lower discretionary income, and the impact of a President who ignores the needs of families.
This President, his policies, and his ignorance of what women really need, are on a fatal collision course. His placation of women over issues that are emergent in their lives, and his persistent refusal to address things women really care about have become offensive.
Women are hearing a different message from the President than the one he imagined. They realize that his persistent focus on ancillary issues is a slight of womens’ intelligence and their rights. Women realize that his rubberstamp of Maher’s misogyny is exposure of what the President really believes about women. We see his veto of the Keystone pipeline as a direct assault on what matters to our children, and families. We realize that this President thinks he can continue to say one thing, and do another. This leaves women of both parties scratching their heads with only two ways to view the position of this President: 1) He is so out of touch with real American women that he cannot preside, or 2) He believes women are stupid, and that giving them lip service will lull them into believing he cares.
Our grandmothers told us that if you gave a thief enough rope to hang himself, he would. Grandma also knew the cost of freedom, and she knew when someone was trying to rob her children of their futures. Our grandmothers would not be made for fools. She would be taking her gloves off right about now, and this President would be learning a lesson he would never forget.
Here’s to the strong women who raised us. Gloves off, girls!