Mitt Romney can count his lady supporters
on one hand (Tim Shaffer/Reuters)
It sure does suck to be Mitt Romney.
This morning, his campaign wasn't sure whether he supports the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and promised to get back to us on that. After an hour of head scratching, his campaign took the bold position that Mitt "supports pay equity and is not looking to change current law." Which doesn't exactly answer the question because it's one thing to say you won't try to change existing law—like, back when he was Mr. Moderate of Massachusetts and said he wouldn't try to change the existing law of Roe v. Wade—and it's quite another to say you support the law.
No surprise, of course, since hating women and trying not to look like you hate women is a tough needle to thread, and all the polls show the Republican Party is so far doing a piss poor job of it, what with that big gender gap that just keeps getting bigger.
But while Mitt's braintrust was furiously trying to decide whether Mitt supports pay equity, apparently they didn't have time to check the Republican Party's official position on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: a resounding nuh uh.
In fact, in the House, only three Republicans—Ed Whitfield, Don Young and Chris Smith—voted for it. Meanwhile, in the Senate, only five Republicans voted for it. And I use that term "Republican" loosely. Why? Because those "Republicans" include Arlen Specter, who was chased out of the party and became a Democrat; Lisa Murkowski, who was teabagged by her own party in 2010; and Olympia Snowe, who last month decided to call it quits and has been very vocal about her party's "retro" attack on women.
Plus, plenty of lady Republican all stars, like fauxminist Sarah Palin, blasted the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as nothing more than "a boon for trial lawyers."
But that hasn't stopped the Romney campaign from trotting out its lady supporters, Reps. Mary Bono Mack and Cathy McMorris, to insist that Mitt totally loves chicks and fair pay and stuff.
Too bad for Mitt they both voted against the Ledbetter Act too. Care to shake shake the Etch A Sketch and give it another try, Mitt?