The Democrats are hoping to use the impact of the Hobby Lobby decision at the ballot box in the November election to reap the votes of women and men who are supportive of women's issues. The Republicans are casting about for a means of countering that leverage and they have come up with a spokes person in Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, the forth ranking Republican in the house.
McMorris Rodgers tests GOP response to ‘war on women’ charge
As Democrats fired up the “war on women” campaign again this week, a top ranking woman in the Republican-majority House tested the GOP message to battle the allegation in the midterm election campaign.
“We are starting to hear this drumbeat again from the Democrats suggesting that the Republicans are waging a war on women,” Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) said in a speech Friday afternoon to the Republican National Committee “Taking Back the Future” conference at a Washington, D.C. hotel. “As you all know, there’s no truth to it.”
McMorris Rogers, the fourth ranking Republican in the House, said in order to fight the Democratic message, GOP women must emphasize the message of “empowerment” and individual freedom instead of expanding government.
“We need to make sure everyone in this country understands, the Republican vision is one that is about is about empowering you, the belief that you will make better decisions for yourself…than the federal government ever will,” she said.
The message seems to be that government funding or regulatory intervention would be demeaning to women's self respect. Clearly that is something that most people on Daily Kos are going to laugh at. However, the votes are not yet cast, much less counted. It seems worth while to take a step back and look at some of the complexities of women and politics. In the 2012 election Todd Aiken's foot in mouth debacle about legitimate rape gave women's issues added visibility in the national campaign. The upshot of it all in the Presidential vote was that Obama got a majority of women's votes by 12%, but there was split between single and married women with Romney getting a majority of married women.
Just what could the Republicans hope to accomplish in this situation? Political campaigns present two pronged objectives. There is a bloc of independent centrist who can potentially be persuaded to move to either side. Then both parties have their own bases who are not going to vote for the opposition, but may not bother to vote.
McMorris Rodgers is clearly a product of the Republican base. While she worked her way up in the house leadership by allying with the establishment centrists, rather than the Tea Party, she comes from an evangelical Christian background and represents the more conservative and rural part of eastern Washington. She is using libertarian themes to speak to the base.
This is an appropriate place to take a look at the situation of women in congress. Of the women in the senate 80% are Democrats. Of the women in the house 75% are Democrats. There's no disputing that advantage. However, when you look at the numbers, what really stands out is regardless of party affiliation, how few women there are there, 20% in the senate and 18% in the house. That is not a glass that is half full.
We have seen women such as Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorino who have acheived visibility in the corporate world attempt to break into politics without success. There are various interest groups of women with firm connections to the Republican party. Trying to find leadership roles for them that would give the party a more women friendly image presents a formidable challenge.