How The GOP Went Back To The 1950s In Just One Day

[Lakhota]

By Evan McMorris-Santoro

Very neatly, and on three separate fronts, conservatives in America turned the clock back to the 1950s with their rhetoric about women’s rights Thursday, according to women in politics on both sides of the aisle. This could be a big problem for the GOP when the calendar reaches November.

Let’s take a look at Thursday, February 16, 2012, the day Washington fell into a time-warp.

• On Capitol Hill, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) held hearings on contraception and religious freedom that produced the now-famous picture of a table full of men called to weigh in on access to contraceptives. Democrats wanted a woman — a Georgetown law student with a friend who lost an ovary because the university doesn’t cover birth control — to say her piece at the hearing, but Issa wouldn’t let her on the panel. He said she wasn’t “appropriate or qualified” to discuss the topic at hand.

Jaws dropped in the women’s rights community.

“She didn’t have the right credentials?” NOW President Terry O’Neill scoffed. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Buddy, you and your little panel over there don’t have the right anatomy to talk about birth control.’”

• Politico published a story about a right wing firestorm that had been burning for days: Did the young women who attended this year’s CPAC wear skirts that were too short? The days following the massive conservative conference, which closed Saturday, were filled with tweets and blog posts weighing in on what conservative pundit Melissa Clouthier called outfits that made the college-age women at CPAC look either “frumpish” or “like two-bit whores.” CPAC needs these women to survive — 55% of attendees at the 2011 conference were under 25 — but apparently conservatives want to make sure they don’t show too much of their legs lest they detract from the solemnity of the proceedings. The general agreement among conservatives after days of debate: a CPAC dress code would go too far — but ladies, please.

• Foster Friess, the billionaire backer of Rick Santorum’s campaign, became an instant celebrity when he went on Andrea Mitchell’s MSNBC show and said, “Back in my day, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.” Here’s what that looked like:

More: How The GOP Went Back To The 1950s In Just One Day | TPM2012

 

[CaughtInTheMid]

regardless if it's earned or not, the GOP has a major public relations issue on their hands.

 

[Rozman]

By Evan McMorris-Santoro

Very neatly, and on three separate fronts, conservatives in America turned the clock back to the 1950s with their rhetoric about women’s rights Thursday, according to women in politics on both sides of the aisle. This could be a big problem for the GOP when the calendar reaches November.

Let’s take a look at Thursday, February 16, 2012, the day Washington fell into a time-warp.

• On Capitol Hill, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) held hearings on contraception and religious freedom that produced the now-famous picture of a table full of men called to weigh in on access to contraceptives. Democrats wanted a woman —— to say her piece at the hearing, but Issa wouldn’t let her on the panel. He said she wasn’t “appropriate or qualified” to discuss the topic at hand.

Jaws dropped in the women’s rights community.

“She didn’t have the right credentials?” NOW President Terry O’Neill scoffed. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Buddy, you and your little panel over there don’t have the right anatomy to talk about birth control.’”

• Politico published a story about a right wing firestorm that had been burning for days: Did the young women who attended this year’s CPAC wear skirts that were too short? The days following the massive conservative conference, which closed Saturday, were filled with tweets and blog posts weighing in on what conservative pundit Melissa Clouthier called outfits that made the college-age women at CPAC look either “frumpish” or “like two-bit whores.” CPAC needs these women to survive — 55% of attendees at the 2011 conference were under 25 — but apparently conservatives want to make sure they don’t show too much of their legs lest they detract from the solemnity of the proceedings. The general agreement among conservatives after days of debate: a CPAC dress code would go too far — but ladies, please.

• Foster Friess, the billionaire backer of Rick Santorum’s campaign, became an instant celebrity when he went on Andrea Mitchell’s MSNBC show and said, “Back in my day, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.” Here’s what that looked like:

More: How The GOP Went Back To The 1950s In Just One Day | TPM2012

a Georgetown law student with a friend who lost an ovary because the university doesn’t cover birth control

Are you trying to tell us that this woman CHOSE to lose an ovary instead of paying out of pocket for her birth control?

It's like a commercial I heard one time where a guy was complaining about not being able to buy a life saving drug....

Are you kidding me.If I was faced with the choice of buying a life saving drug or paying rent even I would buy the life saving drug....

Are we to believe that this woman who "needed" birth control meds couldn't find a way to buy it herself.The insurance didn't cover it so she just said okie dokey and walked away...

C'mon people.

 

[rdean]

Could you believe that? Issa's panel with NO women and no women allowed to speak. "Back to the Future"? This should help Republicans get the "women's" vote. A time when women were "happy". When they "knew their place". When they happily sang when they cooked and cleaned. Ahh, the days of the "little women".

 

[Lakhota]

The Testimony About Birth Control Republicans Did Not Want You To Hear | ThinkProgress

Pelosi To GOP: ‘Duh!,’ Women Should Be Included In A Hearing About Contraception

Democratic Women Boycott House Contraception Hearing After Republicans Prevent Women From Testifying | ThinkProgress

Darrell Issa Compares His All-Male Anti-Contraception Panel To Martin Luther King | ThinkProgress

Democratic Women Boycott House Contraception Hearing After Republicans Prevent Women From Testifying | ThinkProgress

Santorum Sugar Daddy Foster Friess Gives 'Gals' Contraception Advice: Put An Aspirin Between Your Knees | ThinkProgress

The Nation's Most Radical Abortion Bill? Iowa GOP Proposal Would Ban All Abortions, Sentence Doctors To Life In Prison | ThinkProgress

 

[Harry Dresden]

Could you believe that? Issa's panel with NO women and no women allowed to speak. "Back to the Future"? This should help Republicans get the "women's" vote. A time when women were "happy". When they "knew their place". When they happily sang when they cooked and cleaned. Ahh, the days of the "little women".

thats because Issa is a far Right asshole.....kinda like you only on the other end....

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

regardless if it's earned or not, the GOP has a major public relations issue on their hands.

True.

The stress of the primaries, exacerbated by Santorum, is revealing the true reactionary nature of the social right.

Could you believe that? Issa's panel with NO women and no women allowed to speak.

He would the right kind of women, those who toe the party line.

 

[Lakhota]

by Zachary Pleat, Leslie Rosenberg, & Kevin Zieber

During a five-day period when the controversy reached a boiling point, cable news channels hosted a total of 301 guest appearances, but only one of those guests was a public health expert. The rest were political figures or religious leaders.

While ovarian cancer remains hard to detect despite being one of the "deadliest of cancers that affect the female reproductive system," contraception use is correlated with reduced risk of the disease. The American Cancer Society has estimated that "30,000 cases of ovarian cancer worldwide could be prevented each year" through contraception use alone.

As noted by Huffington Post:

The Guttmacher Institute estimates that roughly 14 percent of birth control prescriptions are written for non-contraceptive purposes, helping some 1.5 million women with issues like ovarian cancer, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, and endometrial cancer. Their stories, filled with difficult details of medical trauma and personal sacrifice, aren't usually the fodder for piqued political conversation, at least not until this week.​

Public health studies have demonstrated that contraception coverage leads to "a substantial decrease in unintended pregnancies, and by extension, abortions:" In January 12, 2011, testimony to the IOM, the Guttmacher Institute noted, "the scientific evidence" all pointed to the same conclusion, that insurance "must include coverage for the full range" of contraception. A February 7, 2012, Newark, N.J., Star-Ledger editorial called contraception coverage "a matter of public health" and noted: "Spacing pregnancies improves birth outcomes. And if all women had equal access to affordable contraceptives, there would be far fewer abortions and unprepared mothers."

Doctors and reproductive health experts agree that contraception coverage is a health issue. Six hundred physicians -- including 70 Catholics -- recently signed a letter supporting the administration's requirement that employers provide contraception coverage in their health plans, calling it a health care requirement:

"As a doctor or medical student, I support the decision by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to ensure that women have access to cost-free contraception regardless of who their employers are (with exceptions for houses of worship). The religious beliefs of an employer should not be a barrier to women receiving the care they need."​

More: 300 Reasons Why Contraception Is Not Being Discussed As A Women's Health Issue | Media Matters for America

NOTE: The above link contains several live source links.

 

[Lakhota]

A Christian Conservative in Every Bedroom? Rick Santorum's Nightmare Vision for America | Sex & Relationships | AlterNet

 

[Big Black Dog]

I like Ike.

 

[Ravi]

Quit being a two bit whore and put an asprin between your legs, bitch.

Great and awesome GOP slogan.

Best primary, EVAH!

 

[NYcarbineer]

By Evan McMorris-Santoro

Very neatly, and on three separate fronts, conservatives in America turned the clock back to the 1950s with their rhetoric about women’s rights Thursday, according to women in politics on both sides of the aisle. This could be a big problem for the GOP when the calendar reaches November.

Let’s take a look at Thursday, February 16, 2012, the day Washington fell into a time-warp.

• On Capitol Hill, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) held hearings on contraception and religious freedom that produced the now-famous picture of a table full of men called to weigh in on access to contraceptives. Democrats wanted a woman — a Georgetown law student with a friend who lost an ovary because the university doesn’t cover birth control — to say her piece at the hearing, but Issa wouldn’t let her on the panel. He said she wasn’t “appropriate or qualified” to discuss the topic at hand.

Jaws dropped in the women’s rights community.

“She didn’t have the right credentials?” NOW President Terry O’Neill scoffed. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Buddy, you and your little panel over there don’t have the right anatomy to talk about birth control.’”

• Politico published a story about a right wing firestorm that had been burning for days: Did the young women who attended this year’s CPAC wear skirts that were too short? The days following the massive conservative conference, which closed Saturday, were filled with tweets and blog posts weighing in on what conservative pundit Melissa Clouthier called outfits that made the college-age women at CPAC look either “frumpish” or “like two-bit whores.” CPAC needs these women to survive — 55% of attendees at the 2011 conference were under 25 — but apparently conservatives want to make sure they don’t show too much of their legs lest they detract from the solemnity of the proceedings. The general agreement among conservatives after days of debate: a CPAC dress code would go too far — but ladies, please.

• Foster Friess, the billionaire backer of Rick Santorum’s campaign, became an instant celebrity when he went on Andrea Mitchell’s MSNBC show and said, “Back in my day, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.” Here’s what that looked like:

More: How The GOP Went Back To The 1950s In Just One Day | TPM2012

I hear that Ann Coulter went to CPAC in a skirt so short you could tell whether or not she was circumcised.

 

[daveman]

Y'know, they sell contraceptives at Wal-Mart every day.

 

[daveman]

I hear that Ann Coulter went to CPAC in a skirt so short you could tell whether or not she was circumcised.

Uh oh. NOW's going to publicly condemn you for making a malicious gender-identity comment about a woman.

Oh, wait -- no, they're not. They don't give a damn when the woman in question is a conservative.

Kerry on.

 

[rightwinger]

Can anyone point out when the GOP actually left the 50s?

 

[NYcarbineer]

Can anyone point out when the GOP actually left the 50s?

Ironically, if you go and read for example the 1956 Republican party platform you'll be mildly shocked to discover how far to the right of that the 2012 Republican party is, all things considered.

 

[daveman]

It's funny -- progressives, who want the US to "progress" to the condition of the USSR circa 1958, are bitching that the GOP wants to take the US to the US in the Fifties.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Calling Obama a scumbag means we must be against contraception....right

 

[Lakhota]

 

[bigrebnc1775]

By Evan McMorris-Santoro

Very neatly, and on three separate fronts, conservatives in America turned the clock back to the 1950s with their rhetoric about women’s rights Thursday, according to women in politics on both sides of the aisle. This could be a big problem for the GOP when the calendar reaches November.

Let’s take a look at Thursday, February 16, 2012, the day Washington fell into a time-warp.

• On Capitol Hill, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) held hearings on contraception and religious freedom that produced the now-famous picture of a table full of men called to weigh in on access to contraceptives. Democrats wanted a woman — a Georgetown law student with a friend who lost an ovary because the university doesn’t cover birth control — to say her piece at the hearing, but Issa wouldn’t let her on the panel. He said she wasn’t “appropriate or qualified” to discuss the topic at hand.

Jaws dropped in the women’s rights community.

“She didn’t have the right credentials?” NOW President Terry O’Neill scoffed. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Buddy, you and your little panel over there don’t have the right anatomy to talk about birth control.’”

• Politico published a story about a right wing firestorm that had been burning for days: Did the young women who attended this year’s CPAC wear skirts that were too short? The days following the massive conservative conference, which closed Saturday, were filled with tweets and blog posts weighing in on what conservative pundit Melissa Clouthier called outfits that made the college-age women at CPAC look either “frumpish” or “like two-bit whores.” CPAC needs these women to survive — 55% of attendees at the 2011 conference were under 25 — but apparently conservatives want to make sure they don’t show too much of their legs lest they detract from the solemnity of the proceedings. The general agreement among conservatives after days of debate: a CPAC dress code would go too far — but ladies, please.

• Foster Friess, the billionaire backer of Rick Santorum’s campaign, became an instant celebrity when he went on Andrea Mitchell’s MSNBC show and said, “Back in my day, they used Bayer aspirin for contraceptives. The gals put it between their knees and it wasn’t that costly.” Here’s what that looked like:

More: How The GOP Went Back To The 1950s In Just One Day | TPM2012

Are you fucking kidding? You left wing jack offs tore Sarah Palin apart, she could fart the wrong way and we heard about it from the asshat left. The day you went after a strong minded woman that's the day the democrats moved America back to the 50's.