Ann Romney missed her chance. Talking Points Memo on Wednesday reported
Democratic accusations that Republicans are engaged in a "War on Women" are "offensive" and "not gonna work," Ann Romney said in a Fox News interview that aired Tuesday.
"It's ridiculous," Romney said. "Honestly. I mean, I don't think they're getting very far with that by the way. It's not gonna work. I think women are a lot smarter than that. And that's kind of offensive to me to tell you the truth."
Romney's comment came after she was asked about previous remarks by Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz who said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) had "given women the back of his hand."
Queen Ann might have wrapped herself in the flag, a time-honored and effective tradition, and called Democrats out for trivializing war. Democrats could have responded that there has been a "war on" drugs, coal, the middle class, and virtually everything but war itself (a "war on war"- that one might be refreshing). But with a little preparation by Minister of Propaganda Frank Luntz, Romney's response might have carried the day.
Democrats, for their part, might have reacted to Ann Romney by agreeing that women are quite smart, as demonstrated by Mr. Romney capturing among women a mere 44% of the two-party vote in 2012, the largest gender gap found in Gallup's presidential polling (chart, below).
The "war on" jargon is grotesquely overused. Still, in another of the Repub assaults on women's rights, Laura Clawson of Daily Kos in March noted
North Carolina's Republican candidates for U.S. Senate believe that the state has the right to ban contraceptives. Candidates Ted Alexander, Greg Bannon, and Heather Grant think states should be able to ban contraceptives, but claim they don't think North Carolina should actually do so. Mark Harris thinks states should be able to do so, but doesn't think any ever would. And state House Speaker Thom Tillis, the likely frontrunner in the primary, thinks states should have the right to ban contraceptives and won't say whether he thinks North Carolina should...
Obviously, Republican candidates who are willing to talk about the right to ban contraceptives are uniformly in favor of a fetal personhood amendment, which—oh, look at that—might lead to a ban on certain forms of birth control. Funny how that circles back, isn't it?
So there is serious antipathy in the Repub Party to the rights of, oh, roughly 50% of the population, aside from minorities, the poor, the working class, and students. But, fortunately, Mrs. Romney is wrong in her other assertion.
"Honestly," she says, and leading off with "honestly" (are we to think she usually is not speaking honestly?), you question her sincerity. "I don't think they're getting very far with that by the way. It's not gonna work," the would-be First Lady maintained.
Guess again, wife of he who holds contempt for nearly half of Americans. We take you to the case of Martha McSally, Repub opponent of Arizona Representative Ron Barber, the latter representing the district of former Representative Gabby Giffords, noted gunshot victim.When McSally ran for the seat unsuccessfully in 2012, her ads included one (below) comparing herself to Democrat Giffords.
Gabby and her husband were not amused and recently the organization, Americans for Responsible Solutions, headed by Giffords ran an two ads criticizing McSally for opposition to closing the gun show loophole. One (below) features a woman named Carol who says her daughter was killed by a criminal who bought a firearm at a gun show and didn’t receive a background check — a check, she states, that McSally would oppose.
“To McSally, it’s just politics,” Carol says as she clutches a picture of her deceased daughter. “To me, it’s personal.”
McSally and The Arizona Republic vehemently complained about the ads (nothing more "vile," as the newspaper called it, than criticism based on issues). Two days ago, Politico observed
Former Rep. Gabby Giffords’ pro-gun-control group has taken down a harsh ad against Arizona House candidate Martha McSally after the Republican explained her position on allowing stalkers to buy guns.
The ad features a woman named Vicki who recounts how her 19-year-old daughter was hunted down and murdered by an enraged ex-boyfriend, while a narrator says McSally, who is running for Giffords’ old seat in Congress, “opposes making it harder for stalkers to get a gun.”
But the ad wasn't taken down because of pressure. Rather, Politico continues,
The decision to take down the ad 24 hours before it was scheduled to go off the air was made based what Pia Carusone, executive director for Americans for Responsible Solutions, described as a change in McSally’s position.
The group, which includes a super PAC and nonprofit arm, is supporting Democratic Rep. Ron Barber, a former aide to Giffords, against McSally.
Carusone said the group received a letter from McSally’s campaign laying out the Republican’s position on access to guns for stalkers convicted of felonies and misdemeanors.
McSally “supports the full enforcement of federal laws that are in place to keep guns out of the hands of prohibited persons, including convicted felons (including stalkers), domestic abusers, the mentally ill, and people in the country illegally,” the letter states. It goes on to stress that McSally also “supports adding misdemeanor stalking to the list of criminal offenses that would keep dangerous individuals from obtaining guns in other states where stalking can also be a misdemeanor.”
McSally has said nothing of her evidently continuing opposition to closing the gun-show loophole, apparently because- unlike stalking- that does not disproportionately affect women. A word to the wise to stalkers in Arizona: buy your firearms on line or at gun shows.
That brings us around to Ann Romney, who "honestly" believes the liberal Democratic charge that the GOP is waging a war on women will be unsuccessful. She says "I don't think they're getting very far with that by the way. It's not gonna work. " Welcome to Arizona, Ann, where the gun subculture is prevalent and a pro-gun candidate slides by when her only concession is that stalkers shouldn't buy firearms. At gun shops.
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