So while we fight about whether Hillary has played the race card again or not, John McCain is airing an ad featuring his mom on ABC Family, A&E, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, Oxygen and TLC.
Yeah, it's a cute, feel good ad. But we need to know why John McCain is doing this. He is trying to take advantage of disappointment female voters may have with Hillary's likely loss and ingratiate himself to this group.
We can't ignore what McCain is doing. A lot of voters' impressions of the candidates are forming right now.
A lot of Hillary supporters are understandibly feeling disappointed and John McCain is making a power play for these voters.
I think it is important that we remind the public about why John McCain is not good for women.
1) John McCain opposed equal pay for women
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who skipped a Senate vote seeking equal pay for women last night in order to campaign for president, said he opposed the measure because it would prompt a flood of lawsuits.
Senate Republicans defeated the bill yesterday on a vote of 56 to 42, by blocking a full debate and vote on the bill. Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) both returned to Washington in order to support the measure, which is aimed at responding to a recent Supreme Court decision that sets a deadline on how quickly workers must sue over pay discrimination. The presumptive GOP nominee is visiting poor communities throughout the nation, including towns in Alabama and Appalachia; today he toured New Orleans' Ninth Ward.
2) A vote for John McCain is a vote to overturn Roe v Wade. Is Justice Stevens, age 88, going to make it 4 more years to keep Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts from getting a 5th vote to take away women's reproductive rights?
3) John McCain has supported privatizing social security, which many older women depend on.
McCain STILL Proposes Privatizing Social Security—Despite What His Website Says. McCain told the Wall Street Journal he still backs a system of private retirement accounts that he supported in 2000 and President Bush pushed unsuccessfully. The Journal reported he "disowned" details of a proposal on his 2008 campaign website that says he would "supplement" the existing Social Security system with personally managed accounts. But when asked about the position change he denied it and promised to change the website to reflect his true position. "I’m totally in favor of personal savings accounts... As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it—along the lines that President Bush proposed," McCain told the Journal.[Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08; Campaign Website, accessed 3/3/08]
McCain Might Raise the Retirement Age and Reduce Cost-of-Living Adjustments. "[T]he McCain campaign says the candidate intends to keep Social Security solvent by reducing the growth in benefits over the coming decades to match projected growth in payroll tax revenues. Among the options are extending the retirement age to 68 and reducing cost-of-living adjustments, but the campaign hasn’t made any final decisions. ‘You can’t keep promises made to retirees,’ said Mr. Holtz-Eakin, McCain’s chief economic aide." [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08]
4) Since the media seem to be so focused on every personal behavior and association of Obama, it should be pointed out that John McCain cheated on and then left his first wife to marry a 20 years younger, rich beer heiress who he then called a "c*nt" and a "trollop" in front of several journalists.
5) At a GOP Fundariser, John McCain made this joke: "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."
How many voters know these things about John McCain?
The traditional media paint a (fictional) narrative of McCain as moderate maverick while hushing up his many examples of reactionary policy and behavior.
Right now, there are a lot of disappointed Hillary supporters who are thinking about voting for McCain. I am not talking about people in the blogosphere, but voters out there who rely on the traditional media for their primary source of information.
So as tempting as it is to keep kicking Hillary over race baiting, let's not get so distracted by this broken record argument to ignore that John McCain is trying to take advantage of the situtation and poach on voters that should be ours in the fall.
The media ain't going to tell the voters about the real John McCain. The BBQ tastes too good and the corporate media profits are too important.
It's up to us.
I think it's time to get over Hillary and race.
We have bigger fish to fry now.