Democrats are poised to send a large number of new women to the Senate in 2016.
Among the 12 most competitive Republican-held seats, Democrats have strong female challengers in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. California’s retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer will certainly be replaced by a Democratic woman, and the party’s nominee for the Nevada seat of retiring Sen. Harry Reid is a formidable woman. Depending on the outcome of the Maryland Democratic primary in a few weeks, Rep. Donna Edwards could be headed to the Senate as well.
{mosads}Meanwhile, Republicans are doing their darnedest to double down on their destructive war on women.
In the last couple of weeks, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump has vowed to “punish” women who have abortions if they are made illegal, has defended his campaign manager after he was accused of manhandling a female reporter — a friendly one from conservative Breitbart, at that — and recirculated an offensive tweet comparing his wife with an unflattering picture of Heidi Cruz. “The images are worth a thousand words,” read the caption.
This is the same Trump who called Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly a “bimbo” and said she had “blood coming out of her wherever” after she challenged him during a debate. He’s the same Trump who retweeted, “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband what makes her think she can satisfy America?” He insulted fellow White House contender Carly Fiorina by saying, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?”
Of course, none of this should be surprising from a man who once said “it doesn’t matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”
With conservatives, these aren’t gaffes; they’re the building blocks of the real estate mogul’s political success.
But of course it’s not just Trump. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, hoping to be last man standing at a brokered convention, has based his generally unsuccessful campaign on being the “serious” candidate. Yet when telling the story of his first political campaign, in February, he said, “And how did I get elected? … We just got an army of people who, um, and many women, who left their kitchens to go out and go door to door and to put yard signs up for me.”
Given Kasich’s Neanderthal views on women, it’s no surprise he has signed 16 anti-abortion measures since being elected governor, including a ban on rape crisis counselors providing information about abortions.
Ted Cruz may be the most regressive, anti-woman candidate of the lot, and that’s saying something. The Texas senator has vehemently opposed the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Care Act, even claiming incorrectly that it covers “abortion-inducing drugs,” voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, and opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest.
“Once upon a time, I protested the Democratic trope that the GOP was waging war on women,” wrote conservative columnist Kathleen Parker. “[A]mid absurd and offensive comments by a handful of GOP males whose tongues and brains have never met, I rejected the notion as little more than a political strategy. Sue me if you must, but I’ve changed my mind.”
Trump and every other GOP male whose tongue and brain never met exist for a reason: They reflect the conservative antipathy toward women. It’s just become impossible for them to hide it anymore.
Moulitsas is the founder and publisher of Daily Kos.