RNC Women

In a deeply flawed article on Politico yesterday, Meredith Shiner and Glenn Thrush tried to use Dede Scozzaffava’s loss in New York as evidence that the GOP has a “women problem.”  They tried to make the connection that because conservatives worked against a female candidate’s campaign, then conservatives must necessarily be against women. 

Washington is famous for being filled with bad logic, but that might take the cake. 

To try to build their case, they highlighted quotes from Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) who described the GOP as: “…a party that doesn’t respect women, a party that doesn’t believe women are equal to men.  I don’t think they attract women to their party.  I think they repulse women.”

Using arguments as poisonous as Wasserman-Schultz’ to bolster a thesis as wrong as the one Shiner and Thrush came up with amounts to journalistic malpractice. 

The GOP is filled with vibrant, conservative women.  Indeed, it was a conservative woman – Sarah Palin – who helped kick start the campaign against Dede Scozzaffava in New York.  The authors must have missed that. 

Unfortunately, it’s not surprising that they skipped over facts like that.  They also missed the fact that Republican candidates in New Jersey and Virginia made substantial gains among women this year over 2008, or the polling data that shows the fundamental concerns women voters have about the direction our country is headed under Democratic control. 

What people like Wasserman-Schultz don’t want to believe is that women can be conservative, too.  This is ironic from someone who the authors described as an “outspoken feminist.”  Wasserman-Schultz and the Politico authors apparently believe women can be anything – just not conservative and Republican. 

In 2010, we will prove them wrong again.