I am insulted that Sarah Palin plans on using her speech to talk about being a working mother. What we want to know is what on Earth qualifies her to be president. What does being a working mother have to do with the price of gas, or the situation in Georgia, Iraq, or Afghanistan? What does Sarah Palin know about how the Treasury Department works? How about the Intelligence Community? How about Fannie Mae?
By using her time to talk about being a working mother she is setting up the argument that the Democrats are opposed to working mothers. See how mean the Democrats are to me just because I decided to have a family? The Democratic Party is responsible for what little support working mothers have. You want to know who was responsible for the Family and Medical Leave Act? Sen. Chris Dodd wrote it and President Bill Clinton signed it. Twenty-five Republicans and two southern DINOs voted against it. Here they are:
Bennett (R-UT), Brown (R-CO), Cochran (R-MS), Coverdell (R-GA), Craig (R-ID), Dole (R-KS), Domenici (R-NM), Faircloth (R-NC), Gorton (R-WA), Gramm (R-TX), Grassley (R-IA), Gregg (R-NH), Hatch (R-UT), Heflin (D-AL), Helms (R-NC)
Hollings (D-SC), Kassebaum (R-KS), Kempthorne (R-ID), Lott (R-MS), Lugar (R-IN), Mack (R-FL)
McConnell (R-KY), Nickles (R-OK), Pressler (R-SD)
Simpson (R-WY), Smith (R-NH), Warner (R-VA)
Do you recognize any of those idiots? Most Republicans in the House voted against it, too. Just like they always vote against raising the minimum wage. Most working mothers don’t own three homes and lead the nation in securing earmarks for their home state. Do you know what the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 provides for? It provides for twelve weeks of leave from work for anyone (man or woman) who has a new child (even if adopted) or an illness in their family. Please note: twelve weeks is longer than three days. Three days is how long Sarah Palin took off from work after she gave birth to Trig this past spring. I don’t care about her decision to go back to work. It’s none of my business. But I would note that it was the Democratic Party that passed a law enabling her to take off for twelve weeks if she wanted to.
Let me remind you of something else. From the April 24, 2008 edition of the New York Times:
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Wednesday blocked a measure intended to overturn a Supreme Court decision limiting pay discrimination suits in a politically charged vote certain to be replayed in the presidential and Congressional campaigns.
By a vote of 56 to 42, the Senate fell four votes short of the 60 required to begin consideration of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, named for an Alabama woman who lost a case against the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company when the court found she not did file her complaint in time. Ms. Ledbetter had been paid as much as 40 percent less than her male counterparts doing the same job, according to her allies.
That’s right. The Republicans filibustered equal pay for equal work this year. And what did John McCain have to say about it?
Mr. McCain, who was campaigning in Louisiana, skipped the vote but told reporters he would have opposed the bill since it could contribute to frivolous lawsuits harmful to businesses.
It’s always, always, always about protecting businesses from frivolous lawsuits and never, never, never about sticking up for working mothers. That’s what the Republican Party stands for and always has stood for. I don’t want to hear a lecture from Sarah Palin and her surrogates about how the Democrats are disrespecting working mothers. There can be no greater disrespect than refusing to raise the minimum wage, refusing the pay them equally to men, and refusing to grant them time off to care for their newborn babies. God…I really hate the Republican Party.
