Womb Wars

Surely, surely, GOP-ers, it's past time to call all in free and stop the game. From the big ol' Johns, McCain and Boehner, and beyond, the silly sounding, somber looking, rostrum pounding old men of the party have pretended — with drama and vigor — that there is no Republican War on Women.

If we step away from the childish theater of these aged boys, we risk paying attention to Rachel Maddow. She has had a terrific time running fully contextual clips and analysis of the inanity of GOP Senators, Representatives, Governors and state legislatures. In a real sense, that's not even fair to mention. She has likely 30 to 50 IQ points on on the no-war-on-women officials.

So,  isn't it time to stop the game and come home?

The most recent wrist cutting by the Goofy Old Party was finally acquiescing to President Obama's winning position that student-loan costs should not double, particularly not now. That should have made sense and put Republicans back in the realm of sanity...until the funding details of the GOP House came to light. They'd pay for this, not with trimming tax loopholes for rich folk. Instead, they'd empty a preventative-health fund that pays for diagnostics and treatment for (wait for it) women.

That's right. They just can't help themselves.

Hearing and reading about their long, long list of attacks on women's rights, health and choices, one conclusion forces itself on me. As a group, GOP pols figure women are weak and that they can assault and abuse them with impunity.

Of course, with no real hyperbole, we can draw the analogies to historical attacks. There were the Chinese laborers, and the freed black slaves, and women before they could vote, and homosexuals. Time and again, wingers and unaffiliated bigots jump up and down on groups they figure they can attack without reprisal.

The other of course is that this time, they've utterly blown it. The majority of living humans are female. The majority of U.S. voters are women. It's also likely that the majority of those majorities are not so stupid as to miss what's happening.

Soothing lies from smarmy liars in suits and ties won't gloss this rust over. Forced invasive exams? Eliminating breast-cancer screening? Removing abortion choice for incest and rape victims?

Sorry, old, white men, women care and care a lot about their health, about cancer, about reproductive choices, about abortion options, about preventative care.

We can note there are a small minority of Congress members who are women or some other racial groups, but there's no denying that wealthy older white men are Congress, in both houses. They watch out for older white men in tax code as well as health care and other laws.

I predict again that the GOP'ers will lose it big on this one. They have totally misjudged the majority of American voters. There is not enough time, not enough lies, not enough subterfuge to repair the lost trust.

So the necessary corollary question is whether Republicans will learn the abundant lessons from this widespread, prolonged set of blunders in attacking women. I suspect only in small part.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski may have said it best after returning from a trip home. The guys back in D.C. were swearing there was no war on women, just coincidence that all those state legislatures took the lead of Congress in crushing their rights. Her constituents made it very clear to her that any man, elected official or otherwise, who does not think there is a Republican war on women underway need only ask his wife or daughter what they think.

In the end, this may make things marginally better for women After the GOP loses big this November, the party will huddle for strategy. Their old white guys in Congress will get the message that women as a group are not safe targets.

How are they so stupid that they don't understand this up front?