The Republican Party is once again set to enshrine into its official platform support for "a human life amendment" to the Constitution that would outlaw abortion without making explicit exemptions for rape or incest, according to draft language of the platform obtained exclusively by CNN late Monday.As pragmatic progressives, we know that its not good enough to rant and rave about these kinds of things. Its up to us to DO something about it.
Other than re-electing President Obama, we need to ensure that he has a Congress that will fight for women's rights. And one of the best ways to do that is to elect more progressive and Democratic women to Congress.
On November 6th, I will have the distinct pleasure of voting - not only for President Obama - but for two outstanding women...Senator Amy Klobuchar and Rep. Betty McCollum. They are likely to both win handily - which is great.
But that means I can afford to do more. Regardless of the fact that I don't always agree with her, Mr. Akin has given us all reason to support Senator Claire McCaskill.
In addition, I'll be supporting two women who will be "firsts" if they are elected. Tammy Baldwin would not only be the first openly lesbian woman elected to the Senate, she would be the first woman to represent Wisconsin there. Right now she's trailing Tommy Thompson - who was able to beat the tea party candidates challenging him in the primary.
I've talked before about the other woman who would represent a first - Wenona Benally Baldenegro. She would be the first Navajo woman in Congress. Wenona faces a tough primary a week from today against the much more corporate-friendly Ann Kirkpatrick. So any support we can send her right now would be a huge boost.
That's where I'm going to channel my anger at the likes of Mr. Akin and the Republicans. Care to join me?
I'm on board with you Smartypants, and I'm linking to this post as part of the one I put up on my blog on this subject.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shaw!
DeleteAdd to your list: http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2012/03/meet-suzan-delbene.html Suzan DelBene who won a tough primary to square off against RWNJ Koster. WA-01 is listed as the 5th most competitive races in the country.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I lived a protected life and didn't know about reality, but I am shocked and disappointed in my American society that we still have people like Akin continuing to win election, based on rhetoric like his incredibly anti-female, anti-science, anti-fact driven christian fundamentalism. He doubles down on his earlier comments by claiming some women make up being raped to get an abortion, and then uses his comments to raise funds!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I am embarrassed to be a white American man.