Rep. Schakowsky On McCain’s Women’s Rights Record: ‘He’s Not With Us’
Rep. Schakowsky On McCain’s Women’s Rights Record: ‘He’s Not With Us’
Today at the Democratic National Convention, Women’s eNews hosted a panel on pushing a “pro-women agenda” in Congress, as part of the SeaChange Ideas Forum. One of the speakers at the event was Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Democratic Vice Chair of the bipartisan Women’s Caucus.
Schakowsky blasted the Bush administration’s record on women’s issues, calling his tenure “anti-women” from day one. In particular, she criticized a recent Bush administration memo that “defines several widely used contraception methods as abortion and protects the right of medical providers to refuse to offer them.” From her remarks:
This administration is not just anti-abortion. When it comes down to it, they’re really anti-sex, anti-women, in every possible way. Imagine not being able tell someone about contraception. That is a rule that in the United States of America that the president has proposed. We need a change, my sisters, we really do. They are after us, they are after our bodies, they are after controlling our lives.
ThinkProgress spoke with Schakowsky afterward about the record of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on women’s rights, especially in light of his comments in July that he is committed to “equal opportunity in every aspect of our society.” Schakowsky told ThinkProgress that McCain would “absolutely” continue the “anti-women” policies of President Bush:
He’s always been against reproductive rights for women. He’s not for equal pay, he did not support Lilly Ledbetter and the work that we’re trying to do to get equal pay. He never supported the Family and Medical Leave Act in Congress. So there’s no evidence. … He’s not with us.
McCain actually skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in April, which would have made it easier for “women and other workers to pursue pay discrimination claims.” He said that if he had been there, he would have voted against it because he believes women simply need more “education and training.” In the past, he has also made a joke about how much women love to be raped.
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F uckin’ A, Schakowsky.
Well done.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:22 pmHe said that if he had been there, he would have voted against it because he believes women simply need more “education and training.”
And a penis.
Otherwise, better education and training at servicing penii.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:26 pmI wonder what republicans hate facts thinks about this…
August 27th, 2008 at 9:43 pmThere should be no woman in our country willing to vote for McStain. What is this, 1950?
These old, white men are fondly remembering June Cleaver, in the kitchen, in pearls and high heels, whose only purpose was to please her man and her family.
We are NOT going to step back into the shadows! We are NOT going to become submissive and obey (as the Fundies expect of their women) and we are NOT going to return to stressed out “please don’t let me get pregnant this time” sex and back-alley abortions!
American rights have been devistated over the last eight years, and no one in this country is being targeted more than our women! It is time to defeat this attempt to “enslave” us to our men, and we will NOT sit back and allow it to happen!
PEACE
August 27th, 2008 at 9:47 pmThe Taliban and the so-called Islamo-Fascists have nothing on the Cheney-Bush-McCopy cabal.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:52 pmBravo, spencer’s mom! Bravo!
**standing ovation**
August 27th, 2008 at 9:56 pmThese Dems are kicking butt and taking names. Way to go.
August 27th, 2008 at 9:57 pmThanks Zooey! I’m sick to my stomach thinking of what could happen to the women in this country if we don’t elect Obama on November 4th.
We may just be c*nts and b*tches in their eyes, but I can promise that we won’t be their c*nts and b*tches!
PEACE
August 27th, 2008 at 10:00 pmFor anyone who isn’t able to stomach the coverage on CNN/MSNBC/FAUX should turn on PBS – much more relaxed and you can see the speakers too!
August 27th, 2008 at 10:11 pmDavid Brooks is on PBS, no thank you.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:17 pmImagine if Obama had made a joke about “women loving rape.” We would be seeing ads about a woman being stalked and hearing about how Obama was PRO-RAPE.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:41 pmMcCain actually skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in April, which would have made it easier for “women and other workers to pursue pay discrimination claims.” He said that if he had been there, he would have voted against it because he believes women simply need more “education and training.”
Women need more education and training?!!! WTF!!! With regards to what? How to tell tasteless jokes? How to cheat on your spouse for politcal and monetary benefit? How to lie and make people believe you’re telling the truth? How to tell people we have to move backward to move forward? I could go on and on.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:42 pmThis from a man who finished 5th from the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy. Now I ask you, who is it that really needs more “education and training?”
“They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households. [snip] And it’s hard for them to leave their families when they don’t have somebody to take care of them.”
This of course begs the question of just exactly what kind of education & training is he frigging talking about? Plumbing, electrical wiring, roofing, window replacement and other assorted household chores? Keep ‘em at home, barefoot and pregnant and roofing the garage? Is that what he means?
Does McSenile realize that behind every CEO there’s a female executive and/or private secretary and they are completely lost without one? Nah. Guess you wouldn’t know that if your millionaire wife takes care of the finances and only allows you a $50,000 bank account. She may not know how many houses she owns but I guarantee you she knows about every transaction that occurs on that particular bank account.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:53 pmMcCain must loathe being indebted to his wife for his current career. She must dearly want to be First Lady. Otherwise I expect she’d have kicked him to the curb long ago.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:39 amRep Shakowsky also attended a health care rally and talked nurses about health care reform. I was very impressed with this woman.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:57 amMcIIIrd’s stance on women’s issues boils down to his support for ‘home correction’. Oh, and don’t forget the verbal abuse thingy as well.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:36 amI’ve been saying for a long time, this guy is a moron! He doesn’t care about women AT ALL! Forget about the abysmal voting record..let’s just look at how he treats the women in his life…Let’s see…Dumped his first wife, kid, as they waited for him to return home from Vietnam, to go on to have an affair with a MUCH younger beer heiress, calls the beer heiress the “C” word..parades his wife, AND daughter in front of the Sturgis bikers and offers her up for the wet tshirt, screw the banana event…thinks that women don’t need equal pay for equal work…WOMEN OF AMERICA AND THE MEN WHO LOVE THEM, ARE YOU MAD YET???? I truly wish that all of you would go out and physically do something to help Obama get elected. Talking here is nice, and we get to communicate our thoughts, but it’s NOT enough…go do something to defeat this slime that would send us back to the dark ages!
August 28th, 2008 at 9:19 am