And they wonder why…..

February 4, 2010 in Uncategorized
Tags: campaigns, Republicans, RNC, Sarah Palin, women in politics, Women's History

An article on the Hotline crossed my inbox the other day – a lamenting blog post on how the Grand Old Patriarchy Party is short on recruiting women into their candidate bench.  (Pardon me while I dissolve into a giggle fit.)  Women are still vastly underrepresented in Congress – in fact in the 111th Congress, only 17% are women, regardless of party identification.  But the idea that Republican Party is LAMENTING the lack of women among their ranks makes about as much sense as a vegetarian large-game hunter sad about not taking down Bambi.

Let’s consider the facts:

– Of the NRCC’s “Young Guns” Program, their first listing of 13 candidates included only 1 woman.   Recently, Time Magazine also posted a list of “10 more Scott Browns”, featuring only 2 women.

– While the GOP is desperate to rebrand themselves as the party of more than just old White dudes, slapping a picture of Clara Barton on their homepage is not only too little, too late, it harkens back to a time when the Republican Party was, attitude-wise, a whole other ball of wax.

– The very recent Dailly Kos/Research 2000 poll of Republican voters revealed that, of the poll participants, a majority of men and women DO NOT think contraceptives should be outlawed, a majority of men and women DO NOT think birth control pills are a form of abortion, and a stunning 86% of respondents think women should work outside of the home.

– When interviewed about the potential of meeting Sarah Palin – Chris Wallace implied he hopes Palin will SIT IN HIS LAP.

So here’s some unsolicited advice to the RNC – though I’m not a Republican, the data would indicate that you might be further along in your recruitment goals if you would:

1) feature your current women candidates (besides Sarah Palin) a little more prominently when you do send out press releases,

2) promote policies that are reflective of the values of your own party – while Democrats point heavily to those in your party that are staunch pro-lifers, quite a few self-indentifying Republicans are ok with family planning and with women being an active part of the workforce.

3) get your news commentators to not make harassing statements on record.  Chris Wallace is a repeat offender.

Now pardon me while I laugh until I cry.