Republicans continue to say they don’t have to change their core principles, they only have to change the language they use to get their message out. One perception they want to alter is the idea that they are running a “war on women”. Looking at the news over the past few years, I’d say the Republican Party has a long way to go on this subject.
- Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky): “Talk about a manufactured issue. There is no issue.”
- RNC Chairman Reince Priebus: “It’s a fiction.”
The Texas Front
the facts: Last Saturday, in my seventh article on the Republican War on Women, I wrote about the new Texas abortion bills and how Gov. Rick Perry called a special state legislative session and added these bills--bills that could not make it out of committee during Texas' regular legislative session--to the agenda. You can read the details here: http://whateyethynk-politics.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-republican-war-on-women-texas-front.html
The Texas Senate needed to pass the bill by midnight on Tuesday for it to become law. Democratic Senator Wendy Davis took to the floor on Tuesday morning. Senate filibuster rules called for her to stand, unaided, without leaning and without a bathroom break for the next 13 hours if her filibuster was to succeed.
She began speaking by saying that she was speaking for families whose "personal relationships with their doctor and their creator" would be violated by the bill.
"These voices have been silenced by a governor who made blind partisanship and personal political ambition the official business of our great state. And sadly, he's being abetted by legislative leaders who either share this blind partisanship or simply do not have the strength to oppose it."
For the most part, Senator Davis spent her time reading testimony from other women decrying the bill and recounting stories of women's struggles before the legalization of abortion.
"Women realize that these bills will not protect their health. They will only reduce their access to abortion providers and limit their ability to make their own family-planning decisions."
Senate rules say that the filibuster speaker is permitted three warnings before the Senate leader could stop her filibuster. She was ruled "off topic" early in the day and received her first warning. She received a second warning later in the evening when a fellow senator helped Davis don a back brace. Her third warning came at 10:00 PM when she spoke about the abortion pill RU486 and was again ruled "off topic".
The packed gallery erupted in chants of "Shame! Shame!", effectively drowning out any attempt to advance the proceedings. The final hours were filled with what CNN called "a confusing myriad of parliamentary maneuvers" including more debate on the bill. At 11:45 PM, Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D) stepped to the microphone to ask "At what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over the male colleagues in the room?"
The gallery once again erupted in cheers, chanting "Wendy, Wendy Wendy". The chanting lasted for a full 15 minutes, preventing the chamber from taking a vote before the midnight deadline. It took until 3:00 AM for Lt. Governor David Dewhurst to step onto the Senate floor and declare the bill dead.
Governor Rick Perry can call another special legislative session in an attempt to pass the bill. He has not indicated whether he will try again or not.
One woman, standing alone in front of her colleagues--many of them adversaries--people in the gallery shouting as the clock ticks down to midnight, a three hour wait for the Lt. Gov. to admit defeat... This is the stuff of which two hanky movies are made.
Senator Wendy Davis. I call her a hero.
The Republican War on Women is "fiction"?
WHAT YOU DO SPEAKS SO LOUDLY
THAT I CANNOT HEAR WHAT YOU SAY.
Wow! Now she's my hero in every sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteAnd in a different kind of way, so are you. You look at the facts, defend what is right regardless of Party.
It does seem , however, that even with an unbiased view, you seldom find anything worth defending in the GOP. It's sad that the GOP and the RNC are so hate filled.
Any logically thinking person can see the hatred. Hatred directed toward women and non white minorities that spews from their core issues. A hatred bought and paid for. The NEW RNC/GOP are only puppets. And a nasty rich old Puppeteer pulls their strings.
I can't help but think that a few really, really, really, rich white old men are dumping tons of money into the hands of self serving and easily controlled mindless Republicans.
It makes me think of the "Morlocks and the Eloi" from H.G. Wells 1895 Novel: "Time Machine".
Yes Ma'am, you keep doing what you and I'll keep reading it.