You know, I’ve seen some pretty stupid politicians in my time, and I know I’m not alone. Politics is an all inclusive profession, you can be bone stupid and still not only survive, but thrive. A certain look, a certain charisma, some well oiled populist lines, and you can get people to vote for you. But never in my life have I seen a flock of dodo birds so completely out of touch with what their constituents want to hear and have happen, as the current GOP.
Right now, the GOP, both House and Senate, are so all encompassed with maintaining their own macho image, and maintaining solidarity as they get their asses kicked by President Biden, are so obsessed with their internal machinations that they’re not paying attention to what they’re actually doing, or how it looks to voters. And it’s about to bite them in the ass. Bigly!
In a bipartisan vote today, the US House voted to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. Twenty nine Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with every Democrat, agreeing that women should be able to be protected from having their spouse or boyfriend rape, physically abuse, or murder them. But a stunning 172 GOP rock heads voted Fuck ’em! Let ’em fend for themselves! You can’t teach this kind of stupid, it’s a genetic abnormality.
And now it’s headed for the Senate. And this one bill, more than any other, will show me whether or not Moscow Mitch McConnell still has any political savvy left, or if he has become totally obsessed with the processes of power and obstruction. Because if ever there were a bill that was poised to go off like a neutron bomb against the Republican party, this bill is it.
Here’s why. If the last two cycles, 2018 and 2020 have shown us anything, it’s that the GOP must, must, must have the support of white suburban GOP women voters. In 2017, GOP white women suburban voters were outraged to find that they had a President who wandered around on two cloven hooves under their political banner. Since they couldn’t properly express their outrage against Trump personally in 2018, instead they crossed over and helped to fuel a Democratic tsunami and flipped the House over to the forces of light. And in 2020, when they had a chance to spank Trump personally, they did, and in the process almost wiped out the Democratic majority in the House by voting GOP in the down ballots.
This is the land mine that McConnell and the Senate GOP are about to step on, and I don’t think that McConnell even sees it, much less understands it. And that’s how you lose a leg. White suburban GOP has shown that they will bolt the party to spank their incumbents when they vote against things that are important to these women. And they are likely to drag their husbands right along with them.
And this is an issue that will resonate with white suburban GOP women. Because violence against women is not something that is restricted to the poor, or lower middle class. It is a plague that crosses every social strata of American life. I believe it would be hard to find an American woman of any class or background in her mid 40’s that didn’t know at least one friend or acquaintance who had been tuned up by a lover, or who had ended up in a shelter with her children, seeking protection from a violent spouse. When it comes to abuse, women share a bond, simply because so many of them have experienced it. My dear mother was a cancer survivor, and she shared a bond with other survivors that no family member could touch. This will matter to white suburban GOP women. And God help the GOP Senate if they cross them.
Mitch McConnell is alleged to be the ultimate political creature in Washington. Let’s see if he still has his A Game. If he does, then he’ll have John Cornyn whip the votes to get cloture and get the bill to the floor, and then a bipartisan passage. But if McConnell chooses instead to filibuster and sink the bill, then it will be an anchor around the neck of every incumbent running for reelection in 2022. The House GOP has already made their bed, and now they can lie in it. Let’s see if McConnell is smart enough to drive past that Vacancy sign at the No Tell Motel. Don’t touch that dial.
Follow me on Twitter at @RealMurfster35
Thank you. I am a retired female lawyer and in my time dealt with many women dealing with violence, from all walks of life. For Repugs to oppose VAWA is incredible. I am an ordinary woman, in a blessedly ordinary relationship with my beloved spouse, but I can’t unsee what I have seen over the years when I was more active.
Murf, I have to agree, McConnell is running on one cylinder and the oil just ran out of the crank case … his method has always utilized his booming voice and his stiff neck posture to appear as the god of evil he really is …
The GOP has a huge problem, they absolutely suck, when it comes to the current wave of young people and the technology of the times … they work at slowing things down so we can all marvel at their ability to draw paychecks without actually doing anything, while we, as the average American citizens, struggle with getting our virus shots, keeping food on the table, paying our bills and understanding what the hell the GOP actually does for us …
Do the men of the 172 not have wives, girlfriends, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, female doctors, female friends, female colleagues, etc.? Humanity? Decency? Souls? I am out of words.
The GQP only cares about women when it’s election time. The rest of the year, they don’t care.
Oh they’ll lie in it alright, all the lies they can tell.
What about the partisan Democrats striking down a bill to make illegal immigrants to get covid testing before releasing them in bordertowns the Democrats are just as hard ass party line as a Republicans they’re all screwed up
I sense a trap set by Speaker Pelosi. I mean…I’m not that prescient…but the fact that it’s called “Thr Obvious Speaker Pelosi Trap For Mitch Act” is kinda a clue.
The landmine in this is the gun provisions. Keeping guns away from gun nuts who abuse women is the hill that the gop wants to die on. unfortunately to get this passed, it might require leaving that provision out of the final bill. creepy guys keep guns is part of the foundation of our country I guess.
Moscow Mitch cannot escape what he is: an old, white, Southern male politician. His misogyny and racism are so inherent that he’s totally unaware of them, hence can’t confront them, even if he wanted to. He’s his own norm and has surrounded himself with men of similar flaws, because they’re all quite comfy together. Their stuffy gentleman’s club doesn’t allow “girls” and certainly not any “colored folks”. The fact that those “girls” make up half the population of the planet, and the “colored folks” heavily outnumber their own pale selves, is an unpleasant truth which they’ve managed to ignore for so long that they can’t undo the habit. They’re dinosaurs, dumbly watching an asteroid grow ever larger in the sky.
I’d like to say all this s%$t is unbelievable, but after 4 yrs of Hair Furor, nothing surprises me.
These ” white” guys are trying to blast us back to the stone age. Unfortunately for them, they will fail!