5 states where GOP extremists still rage against women

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The 2012 election was meant to be a referendum on, among other things, the tide of Republican extremism that swept reproductive rights to the edge of existence in many states between 2010 and 2012. Although the Tea Party was allegedly given votes in the midterms to address financial issues, abortion restriction and defunding Planned Parenthood immediately rose to the top of the new Republican priority list.

That was all supposed to end with this election–but did it?

This absurd period of legislative history that became dubbed the “war on women” (though it affected people of all genders) culminated in the notorious spate of comments from Tea Party-approved candidates about rape — legitimate, god-willed or otherwise — and resulted in the biggest anti-misogynist backlash at the ballot box we’ve seen in a long time.



Women handily voted for Obama, vetoed extreme anti-choicers and listed abortion as an important issue in exit polls. But in several states, GOPers seemed not to get the message. At all. Some of them are continuing to fight the same battles, in some cases putting women’s access at risk.

Could it be because they have no ideas besides digging back into the “dump on women’s rights” bag of tricks?

Those states are

1. Ohio
2. Arizona
3. Arkansas
4. Wisconson
5. Mississippi

-more-

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/30/5_states_where_gop_extremists_still_rage_against_women/

[ismnotwasm]

1. This needs a kick

[HereSince1628]

2. Re the misogyny in WisconsIn

Living here I find it appalling. I've spent a lot of time pondering from where did this arise.

My conclusion is its a consequence of the republicans needing a base and playing to a susceptible audience. Which they've found in a willing cohort of middle aged white men who blame their circumstance on various progressive efforts to establish equality and level the historic privilege enjoyed by white men. In their minds they didn't create the unfairness and they shouldn't be the ones to be stripped of the privileges of their predecessors.

Teaching at universities in the upper midwest across the 1980's and into this century I sometimes overheard these conversations and thought it was an odd crank or two feeling anxious about stepping up to competitive employment. It was usually something ridiculous sounding like...I love hunting and fishing and I've gotten C's in all my coursework but only disabled native American women with Hispanic surnames can get a job in this state (MN or WI) in natural resource fields. I shrugged these things off as anomalies knowing these guys weren't committing to the volunteer projects and internships that would build their resumes and make them competitive. I had no idea they were the seeds that would come to fruition as the teahadist movement which is now a significant loud, angry, barely minority in this state.

At this point we have outrageous things being said by politicians, like our star misogynist Glenn Grossman, in an attempt to seduce members of this disgruntled horde to get behind the republican party. The vortex created by republican obstructionism and white men's disenchantment with loss of privilege is substantial. It's very painful to be in the middle of this. Wisconsin has a disease that is disfiguring us.

Unfortunately only a revitalized economy will fix this and everything that Walker has done under the guise of job creation has been a stupendous failure.