Ladies & Gentlemen, Meet John Mccain

by DarkSyde

Tue Jun 17, 2008 at 06:34:53 PM PDT

As progressives, we don't want to judge a possible President solely by their personal marital history. All's fair in love and war, right? But the McCain campaign has made a big issue out of McCain's past in the military, in contrast and independent from George Bush, and GOP 'family values.' On the latter, it's therefore fair to point out that McCain in his mid-forties dumped his first wife -- after she was crippled in a disfiguring car wreck -- for a 26 year-old blond beauty queen 18 years younger and former college cheerleader who just happened to be an heiress to a vast family fortune.

But the real metric for any candidate is their public record. So, what does McCain's voting record and public statements suggest about his views on women and children? Here's just a few recent instances:

• John McCain has a long, long record of supporting abstinence only as opposed to modern family planning methods. He reportedly even opposed making abstinence only programs medically accurate and scientifically based.
• John McCain voted against requiring healthcare insurance providers to cover birth control and hormone replacement therapy.
• In August of 2007, John McCain voted against reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program for five years and called Bush's subsequent veto of the measure the 'right call.'
• While we're on that one, John McCain repeatedly voted to cut or end various childrens' healthcare programs, and in 2005 in a truly depraved act he chose tax cuts for billionaires over the healthcare of children.
• Just this year John McCain said he opposed a Senate bill that would secure equal pay for women and didn't even bother to cast a vote on it. The bill was killed by Senate Republicans.

Out of fairness it should be noted, as unimpressive as McCain is on these issues, powerful elements in the party he represents are straight out of the Dark Ages. McCain fundraiser Clayton Williams joked that women should just sit back and enjoy being raped if it was inevitable. Right-wing pundit Rush Limbaugh remarked that advocates for women's rights were motivated 'to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society.' Conservative dominionist Pat Robertsion has reportedly stated that groups working for womens' rights "encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."

With all the wing-nuttery, it's no surprise that McCain trails his democratic rival by double digits among women voters. But given the GOP's absymal track record and McCain's good old boy, caviliar attitude to the majority of the electorate, one has to wonder why any woman would consider voting for a Republican for any office, let alone President. Maybe it's because a lot of ladies just haven't met the real John McCain, at least not yet.

Oh, and gentlemen? Lest you think I forget you swing'n bachelors and roaming married men: the last time the only way to prevent unwanted pregancies really was abstinence only, there was no such thing as court mandated child support based on reliable genetic paternity testing. Capiche, daddios?