The Battle Over Women Voters
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-03-12/battle-over-women-voters
Women cast nearly ten million more votes than men in the last presidential race. Their traditional preference for Democrats helped put President Obama in the White House. but the female vote swung to the GOP in 2010, giving Republicans congrol of the House. Now there are signs of another shift. Recent polls show Republicans have been hurt by the current focus on contraception, abortion and women’s health issues. This week the President’s re-election campaign plans to launch an intensified effort to mobilize female voters. Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post, Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women and Phyllis Schlafly, founder and president of the eagle forum, join Diane to discuss the battle for and about women.
Guests
Terry O'Neill
president, National Organization for Women.
Phyllis Schlafly
founder and president, Eagle Forum
Karen Tumulty
national political reporter, The Washington Post.
Comments
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I thought the same thing.
Disappointed in Diane and her guests today.
To have someone like Phyllis Schlafly make nothing but outrageous claims and outright lies and have Diane and the other guests tiptoe around her nasty comments and let her continue spewing them uncontested is nothing short of jaw-dropping.
If I want to listen to people like Phyllis Schlafly recite lies and hatefulness uncontested I can just tune my radio into the AM dial at random at any time.
For shame Diane.
Diane,
Having Phylis on your show today was a poor choice.
Well that performance pretty much puts an end to Phyllis Schafley. Brilliant, Diane!
Right on! The consequences are at an incredibly high price that are currently serious issues in most countries, including this one still. Yet these ideas pose to inflate the problem based upon a 'moral' stand? It's nothing but extremist judgment.
Phyllis Schlafly, nice job! Thank you for decades of good service.
Good morning from Cape Cod,
I find it ironic that viagra is covered by health insurance to enable men to have sex with the end result quite possibly being a pregnant woman. The opposition's argument is that viagra is used for a medical condition...well pregnancy is a medical condition and sometimes a very dangerous medical condition. The opposition doesn't want to pay for birth control,
is against abortion, and does not want to help to support single mothers. Does this make any sense to you Diane. How can we not conclude that women are being slapped down at every turn?
Also, we all have to pay taxes for issues we do not believe in...for me...I do not believe in war...however, my taxes go to pay for war. Question: how do my taxes pay for the birth control of a privately insured woman??
I know...we can stop providing health insurance coverage for viagra then there will be less men on the planet able to impregnate women...
Thank you Diane...I love your show!
Teresa
I've been wondering for decades (and would have loved to ask Phyllis Schlafly),
Why is a non-feminist woman on the radio!?
If she is against feminism (which she is) oughtn't she be home supporting and building up her man!? Isn't it emasculating for her to take on the leadership role that belongs to men?
I am a feminist and a woman, and therefore I believe I have a right to be a leader, an opinion-maker, etc. But women who aren't feminists... well, they ought to live by what they stand for. Stay home, let their men speak in public.
Also - Phyllis is blurring the issue in regard to the choice of the religious organizations being required to provide birth control.
If indeed all the employees at a religious organization actually "share" the beliefs of their employers, then there would actually be NO requests for the insurance covered birth control.
Isn't this a matter for the individual to decide and NOT their employer - no matter who that employer might happen to be?????
For Ms. Rehm to allow Ms. Schlafly to refer to The Afforable Health Care Act as "Obama Care", 5 times sn less than a minute: let alone call Ms. Fluke a "wacko" without calling her on it, shows a low level of journalistic integrity not become of my donations to NPR. Maybe Ms. Rehm should consider hanging it up as she is no longer worthy of support.
Sad that Phylis Schlafly cannot bring herself what my mother taught me as a young child, "two wrongs don't make it right".
Guys and Gals,
In regards to all the comments directed at one of the show's guests...
You're doing the same thing Diane is doing. You don't understand how this works.
Controversial guests boost the ratings of shows.
When we focus a lot of attention on the controversial guest, and demonstrate that they have engaged us, thus increasing the chance we will still be watching or listening during the commercial break, we boost the career of that controversial guest.
The more you complain about the controversial guest, the better their career gets.
The media is a business which is built upon audience and advertising. Anything that gets us all stirred up boosts the audience and ad revenues.
The solution to guests we don't like is to ignore them. If this comment section was dead empty, the guest you don't care for probably won't be invited back.
If you're serious about undermining the career of a guest you find objectionable, you'll stop talking about them.
But you aren't serious, are you?
if there is a problem with religiously-affiliated hospitals providing comprehensive health coverage for their female employees, then they should follow their conscience UNLESS they receive federal money. if they receive federal money then religious-based objections are off the table. they cannot have it both ways.
I so agree with you. Ms. Schafly should be ashamed of herself. The woman is as hateful and divisive as ever. The more she talks the more our newer generation of women will reject what she says. She lives firmly in a 1950's culture that has no relevancy in today's world.
Diane closed her show today by saying essentially (as I heard it) let's get beyond these private women's issues and get on to the more important stuff in this campaign and in our times.... i.e. the economy and healthcare costs I suppose? But her closing statement reveals her agenda and and faulty thinking. These are not "private" issues. They are social issues and they affect ALL of us. Women do not bear children in isolation. Our decisions affect the entire society, the one we live in today and the one we are forming for the future.
What if a womans life is at risk if she becomes pregnant again? The religious beliefs of another shouldnt deprive her of insurance coverage to pay for a life saving tubal ligation or hysterectomy. What if a Jehovahs Witness employer refused to allow blood transfusions to be included in his health insurance plan because it violates HIS religious beliefs? How about a Christian Scientist employer who refuses to provide ANY insurance to his employees because he doesnt believe in medical doctors? NO EMPLOYER SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO IMPOSE HIS RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ON HIS EMPLOYEES! Regardless of whether its birth control, tubal ligations, transfusions, anything.
Viagra is a medication for a physical ailment, erectile dysfunction. Birth control pills except in rare occasions are not for a physical ailment. It's a dumb argument to compare the two as the same.
Great discussion. I hope folks don't think women's rights are just supported by women. As a 72 year old grandfather of two granddaughters, I am a rabid feminist! I am also a FORMER Republican. The attempts by the Republican party to do away with the hearth care law by attacking the birth control provisions, will fail. They have touched another political third rail that they probably didn't think of.
I've never been on unemployment or welfare (though I do not judge folks who are, these safety nets are necessary and barely enough to live on comfortably) and I have worked since I was privileged enough to graduate from college thanks to my parents who gave everything for me to get there. My current health plan covered my IUD for a mere copay. Something I could have never afforded at my current job which pays a living wage. I've suffered pregnancy scares from condom breakages (condoms ain't cheap either) and avoid birth control pills because of high rates of breast cancer in my family. How is this not a health issue? Phyllis makes it seem like a sex life should be a luxury. Either you have to be prepared to have a baby or be abstinent. I'm 35 years old, don't intend to have a baby (I think if I have child, I'll adopt as we have plenty of children in need in our foster care system) and resent the fact that I should scrimp and save every last penny for insurance companies looking to profit from my sex life.
I thought that the discussion on this subject (the attack of women's reproductive rights) would have been more interesting if there had been a stronger representative for the attack on women's rights.
Phyllis Schlafley was an ineffective voice. She spoke over the other two ladies and could only express herself with pre-packaged bits of anti-Naral talking points. She was not responsive to the questions. She felt that any time she was challenged she had been mistreated.
There has to be someone who's a little better at representing "conservative" (yes, I'm a progressive) interests than this lady. She talked a lot, but she really wasn't up to the other two participants.
Just my view!
I was driving when I heard Phyllis Schlafly's comment about single mothers turning to the government for money when they don't have a husband to support their children...oh, my. I almost wrecked my car. What an idiot, still. The ways her statement could be torn apart by a critical thinker, which she is obviously not, are too numerous to count. I know she once represented a group of women who promoted a very conservative, narrow-minded agenda for women. It sounds as though she may have slipped into senility. I don't think she should be considered as someone who speaks for any group of women in 2012, and I do not think she should be considered as a guest on a serious program where issues of the day are discussed in a rational and relavent manner.
I'm very concerned with the idea that because one doesn't agree with something, like birth control, that insurance shouldn't even cover it. Where would such an idea end? For instance, I don't agree that people should allow themselves to become obese and unhealthy and get preventable illnesses or smoke and get diseases related to that life style choice. One could take on the idea of "Why should I pay for someone else's poor life style choices?". Should insurance, therefore, not even cover type II diabetes treatments and COPD, for instance? Those preventable diseases have a direct cause and effect to our rising healthcare costs far greater than birth control. We would be well within rights to not want to pay for those life style choice related diseases if we took on this idea of "I don't like it or agree with it so insurance shouldn't even cover it". I think it's a very dangerous viewpoint to our country's health and well being.
I just wanted to let you know something that I didn't. I talked with a person who is in the rental mgmt business. She told me the other day that she has instances over and over where the government is paying over and above for people dependant on the state. Case in point..
Single mom living in a nice house rental $1200/month. She has 4 children. Last year she was only paying $350 a month. Because of the government program, Section 8 that she has filed for, as of the new year $1175 is being paid of the rent by this program. 2012 and new laws are now paying $1175 a month for her to live in a nice 1800 sq foot home on a lake. Do you know what Section 8 is? Are you ok with this? I would just suggest that people start getting educated about the FACTS.
I am glad I heard only the last 20 minutes of Diane's program. Any more and I would have tossed shoes at my radio. Phyllis Schlafly...really? I shutter to think there is anyone out there who thinks she has an opinion worth hearing. Diane, you can and have done much better than this.
Phyllis Schlafley? Of course. Dianne, I think you're intrepid. The inclusion of such representatives of her particular school of thought is exactly why your show is valuable. Having said that, perhaps an earlier comment on this net discussion is well taken--that a more informed person for her point of view, as wacko as I consider it to be, should have been invited either in place of her or with her, but that's a detail. I love that you hosted her.
One other point: The Pill has a medical use beyond contraception for many, many women with extreme or no menses, as well as other conditions. Has that been part of the discussion?
Diane is wrong. This is an extremely important issue and its essential that women be aware of it now BEFORE the elections. We cannot allow the Republicans to push these women issues off the board. They would love to get the issues back to the economy or gas prices. But women need to know exactly where these MEN stand on women's health rights. The Republicans go on and on about Obamacare, but national health care was one of th major issues he ran on in 2008. If it hadnt passed the Republicans would be railing that he hadnt fulfilled his campaign promises. National health care starts next year. We need to have these issues settled now. Do not allow the MEN in Congress, or the State Legislatures to keep women from having coverage we deserve.
Ms. Schlafly, after all these years, is still the mouth that roared.
This is a typically male response. You want to cover what you consider a "medical condition" but deny women the protection offered by birth control (which by the way can also help prevent ovarian cancer later in life by giving the ovaries a rest). I guess only men should receive health coverage under this assumption.
Diane,
I'm very pleased to learn for my Republicon "friends" that the nation's economy is as strong as it is, because the 'wedge" social issues are back again....abortion, welfare, woman's rights, minority rights and now birth control!
And Diane, thank you very much for inviting Phyllis Schlafly to this morning's broadcast. She has eloquently drawn a brighter line for voters to distinguish the conservative platform than Santorum or Gingrich could ever hope to do. Please have her back on often to insure the President's reelection. Hopefully, she will learn not to interrupt your other guests and not to vilify callers.
However, it is very sad that America's Taliban is off on it's agenda to denigrate woman and as Ms. Schlafly noted during the broadcast, to return them to the home front as homemakers.
It's interesting that the states of Virginia and Texas are leading the movement to require medical rape of woman seeking medical assistance. Especially since Virginia's economy is a overwhelmingly a sole product of Federal Government spending by both civilian agencies and the military.
Absolutely I'm willing to pay for "women on the streets" using contraceptives! Better for them not to have unwanted children that become unwanted adults we all end up paying for! Try adding up the cost to society a wasted adult life costs compared to contraceptives. The fact is, birth control should be included in insurance coverage and it's outrageous the insurance companies have gotten away without covering this long. Explain to me why a man should have Viagra covered and birth control not covered? I believe they are equal on all fronts.