Abigail Wagner is a dunce and she makes her readers stupid. If anyone believes what she writes, they’ll wind up being misinformed. For starters, she uses the old trick of cherry picking one poll to prove what other polls refute. Gallup Polls, for example, have shown consistent improvement over the last month in Obama’s job approval ratings among women. And, today, his overall job approval stands at fifty-two percent. Moreover, Gallup also shows a persistent gender gap, with women approving of Obama at a higher clip than men.
But Wagner could do some investigation to see what’s really happening out there. For example, Barack Obama wouldn’t be leading in New Hampshire if not for women giving him a 16% advantage. So, how does Ms. Wagner explain this big advantage Obama has among women?
She denies it exists and then she explains:
Feminine voters don’t want to be part of a condescending party that sees them as one big stereotypical bloc motivated by fringe social issues…
…Democrats like to instruct women that they can be anything they want as long as it isn’t a stay-at-home mother or wife. Liberals want this choice to be seen as unsuccessful, though nothing could be further from the truth.
The women in my life don’t want be part of a condescending party that wants to boss them around and humiliate them with waiting periods and compulsory vaginal ultrasounds. And I don’t know any liberals who look down on stay-at-home moms.
Ms. Wagner just gets more delusional as she goes along:
Mrs. Romney was in good company speaking for the Republican ticket, with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez all taking the podium in prime time. With backgrounds running the gamut of professional and personal experience, the GOP’s female stars can’t be pigeonholed. What they share in common is a belief in the American dream — that success is open to anyone willing to work hard to get ahead. These women don’t accept that their sex means they should care more about taxpayer-funded abortion than deficits, monetary policy or the conflict between Israel and Iran. As the election nears, women are showing they need the Democratic Party as much as a fish needs a bicycle.
Now, I don’t want to suggest for a moment that stay-at-home moms do not work hard. But the kind of work they do isn’t the type of work that pays very well. If they work from home, that’s different. But if they are basically restricting themselves to being homemakers, like Ann Romney, then their work isn’t going to turn them into a financial success and they aren’t going to “get ahead” on their own. So, I think Ms. Wagner may be stepping on her message here a little bit. More importantly, I have probably met no more than two people in my life who were actually active advocates of taxpayer-funded abortion. The only taxpayer-funded abortion that ever occurs is to save the life of the mother, or in cases of rape or incest. That’s the law, and almost no one is trying to change it to include all cases of unwanted pregnancy. It’s the Republicans who are trying the change the law by redefining rape and eliminating the life and health exceptions. And it’s Republicans who keep taking their money-is-fungible theories to absurd lengths to insist that a tax subsidy to help you buy a health insurance plan is direct funding of abortion services. In any case, they won that argument.
As for women needing the Democratic Party about as much as a fish needs a bicycle, that’s just wishful thinking. Mitt Romney is going to lose badly. And he’s going to lose badly because women are going to vote in greater numbers than men, and they are going to choose the Democratic Party over the Republican Party by a very wide margin.
So are you not an advocate of single-payer? How do you propose we pay for abortion if we institute a single-payer system?
But I’m not sure why you responded to this. Is it making the rounds and being widespread?
Actually, I am an advocate for single-payer and the total elimination of the heath insurance market, except (maybe) for supplemental plans.
I do not oppose taxpayer-funded abortions, but I do not believe that it is an issue right now that most women are concerned about. They’re more concerned about the restrictions on their right to make the choice and on the new attacks on contraception. They’re concerned about all these humiliating obstacles being put in their way. But tax-payer funding doesn’t exist except under the exceptions, and who is really talking seriously right now about single-payer?
You stated that, “I have probably met no more than two people in my life who were actually active advocates of taxpayer-funded abortion.” This implies that you’re not one of them, and would require people to pay for their own abortion coverage if we ever did get a single-payer system.
I suppose I’m being pedantic, but you coulda just left it at “the law doesn’t allow for this, period.” I am an advocate of taxpayer funded abortion. No more carve outs.
Did you notice the word “active”?
It’s there for a reason.
I read the article, and while the whole thing is ridiculous, the funny thing for me is that as both a proud democrat and liberal, my wife’s amazing job is, drum roll, a stay at home Mom. She has both a master’s degree and is a newly licenced clinical social worker, meaning she can earn way more than my meager paycheck. While it was ultimately her choice, I highly encouraged her to do so for our young daughter’s well being. Best choice we have made in our marriage.
While I’m on the subject, the normally non-poitical (although reliably Dem) Mrs. K got really fired up by the Dem convention, and is now actively excited to see Mitt Romney soundly defeated in November. We’re in Connecticut, so it’s not swing state territory, but it is nice to hear from her anyways.
Defeating the GOP Senate candidate in Connecticut would be a worthy effort.
This piece of crap deserves its own take down. Diary, anyone?
I think deserves might be a little bit strong in this context.
Meh. Media outlets, particularly ones in the Center of the Universe (i.e, DC), have a vested interest in the nobody-can-tell-who’s-going-to-win and all-arguments-are-facts-and-all-facts-are-equal memes. We’ll see lots more like this in the next month. Even if the race opens up in nationwide polling – not likely, given the small number of undecideds, which is why we’ll keep hearing about it even though it’s not how the candidates are elected – Villagers will be pretty strongly predisposed to pretending it’s not happening.
That’s fine with me. With an unprecedented TV saturation likely coming in the last 2-3 weeks, the last thing Obama needs is his supporters taking the foot off the pedal.
It’s factually wrong in numerous places. In what world is Florida safely in Obama’s column? And, if it were safely in Obama’s column, we could call off the debates and just let everyone save their money, cuz there’s no need for a vote.
When you can’t even report what the polls say accurately, you are really lame.
But then to go and editorialize about there being something lacking or missing or wrong with the Obama campaign when you are supposed to be doing straight analysis? That’s wrong, and it’s compounded by their analysis being off about 180 degrees.
It’s the Post. What were you expecting? The Wall Street Jour …. ummmmmm…. Never Mind.
Besides, more real people read the OshKosh Penny Saver than WP. It’s strictly a rag for the beltway.
Wagner’s not a dunce, just a stenographer. This is standard (albeit delusional) GOP boilerplate; except for cherry-picking the Gallup poll, they’ve been putting these arguments out for a number of months now as part of their denial that there’s such a thing as the Republicans’ War on Women. And Haley, Rice, and Martinez are almost always included as evidence that the ladies luvz da conservatives. (They’re useful to counter the photos of 99% white rallies and convention floors, too.)
Funny how such arguments are about the only time the GOP mouthpieces usually neglect to include the word “freedom.” Methinks they don’t want the ladies getting any untoward ideas.
I didn’t actually laugh out loud on the Wagner piece until I got to the phrase “left of center commentator Juan Williams.” That right there tells you how Wagner views the world.
My favorite Williams story was the day, while he was hosting NPR’s national talk show “Talk of the Nation,” when he spent an hour lobbing fawning, softball questions to two think tank guys arguing that, sure, the US is an empire, and we should be proud of that, because the whole world adores us for it. The day: September 10, 2001.
Williams’ main talent is being a useful tool. I imagine that’s how Wagner got and keeps her job, too.
Williams’ main talent is being a useful tool. I imagine that’s how Wagner got and keeps her job, too.
Look who Wagner writes for. Useful tool is being kind.
jesus, the intellectual dishonesty is simply awe inspiring—please name one elected Dem whose speech in any way “instructed” the lib’rul ladies that they can’t be a stay at home mom or that this choice is somehow “unsuccessful”? (whatever the hell that is supposed to mean–sounds like projection). Straw lady much?
Then, as for cherry picking, the Repubs latest war on women is hardly limited to “taxpayer-funded abortion”. They are indeed very obsessed with limiting ALL abortion rights (including especially non-taxpayer-funded ones), that’s for sure. But did this rightwing turd happen to miss that Repubs hatred of abortion rights has now been extended into a new religious “right” (for Christianist employers) to exclude coverage for birth control on employee health plans? That they’d like to increase the costs of obtaining birth control and basically make it unavailable to poor ladies? Did Abigail miss their new bug-eyed hatred for Planned Parenthood, another national institution advancing birth control, not abortion? Not to mention their continuing hatred for equal pay rules for women? Like opposing the Lily Ledbetter Act? But the (fake!) war is just about “taxpayer-funded abortions”, righto!
And as though any Dem argues that women should be “prioritizing” any of the these anti-women issues “above” any others, such as debt, the economy and the (obvious) “conservative” plan to attack Iran. I guess simply pointing out these women-hatin’ issues is too much for “conservative” ladies like Abigail.
Do ordinary “conservatives” ever meet/read anyone who can think honestly and analytically? Is everything they consume monumentally intellectually dishonest? No wonder Rmoney is at 46% and climbing. People can’t think.
“Do ordinary “conservatives” ever meet/read anyone who can think honestly and analytically?” In a word, NO.
I don’t where in the US you live, but believe me in Red America they are these people are real, they truly believe what they say, and they listen only to Faux News and Hate Radio.
In fact, I’d go so far as to say that It’s a miracle straight from Karmic Heaven that there is a functioning Blue America. I’ve seen what and how and why the change occured in the Red States, and I’m absolutely flabergasted at the essential goodness of the average American that there is still a Blue America.
It is inspiring.