Before the end of the Democratic primary process there was much speculation about Barack Obama’s support among women. The fact that Obama’s support amongst women was weak while he was running against a woman candidate gave many pundits all the excuse they needed to suggest that support would remain weak once the primaries ended. They were obviously wrong, as the current polls show.
Another premise put forward by some pundits is that women vote more with their emotions than on the issues. They are as wrong about this as they are about Obama’s weakness with female voters. All that is needed to disprove this claim is to look at women’s voting patterns over the years.
Women have always favored the Democratic Party over the GOP. The Democratic Party is also the party with the best record and issues platform when it comes to women’s issues. Put those two factors together and it becomes apparent that women have been voting on the issues all along.
I have often thought that it was somewhat sexist to call certain issues “women’s” issues as if those issues were unimportant to men and women alike. Men care about issues affecting children, families, fair pay, abortion, etc… Women also care about these issues. Women also care about the economy, national security, education, crime, and the like. Making some issues seem like they are specific to women could be considered to be putting a different value on some issues, just because they are “women’s” issues.
It seems, however, that I am in the minority in this view. While I am somewhat uncomfortable calling any issue a “women’s” issue, that seems to be a common practice on sites such as Votesmart.org. I have decided to take my lead from sites like that and sites that support women’s issues. It does seem to be a convenient way to group certain high-priority issues under one label.
When John McCain’s stance on those issues that are considered to be women’s issues is examined it quickly becomes apparent why women quickly shifted their support to Obama once Hillary Clinton bowed out of the race.
Rather than post single issues and detailed explanations of McCain’s stance on each issue I have included a list of links to groups that rate the candidates on various issues. This groups in this list have ranked McCain on women’s issues.
Even the most cursory examination of John McCain’s stance on women’s issues shows that McCain has a poor record on those issues. When you combine that with McCain’s obvious disdain for women – calling his wife a “c*nt” and “b*tch” in public, making misogynistic jokes about Chelsea Clinton and Janet Reno – it is difficult to understand why any woman would vote for McCain.
Spread the word.
John McCain on Women’s Issues:
2005-2006 Senator McCain supported the interests of the American Association of University Women 20 percent in 2005-2006
2005-2006 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Business and Professional Women USA 33 percent in 2005-2006.
2005-2006 Senator McCain supported the interests of the Federally Employed Women 30 percent in the 2005-2006.
2005-2006 Senator McCain supported the interests of the National Organization for Women 11 percent in 2005-2007.
2005 Senator McCain supported the interests of the American Association of University Women 17 percent in 2005.
2005 Senator McCain supported the interests of the National Organization for Women 0 percent in 2005.
More information can be found here – http://www.votesmart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=53270
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