Donate Shepherd Events Store Contact Us Careers Find a Magazine

facebook twitter youtube instagram

Home News News Features Republicans for Choice

Republicans for Choice

by Joel McNally

Apr. 17, 2012

midnight

<style> </style><span><span>It was only a matter of time before Republicans in Wisconsin and across the nation made some halfhearted attempt to cover up their incredibly nasty, organized campaign against women before the 2012 elections.</span></span><span><span><br /><br />After all, it's been quite a run for white, male, anti-women Republicans. You had Gov. Scott Walker merrily signing laws repealing the right of Wisconsin women to sue for pay discrimination in state courts, ending funding of Planned Parenthood breast cancer screenings, allowing abstinence-only sex education that fails to provide teenagers with accurate information about contraception and inventing new obstacles for women seeking abortions.</span></span><span><span><br /><br />Anyone fooled by Walker's bland rhetoric about such vicious, anti-woman legislation only had to tune in to Republican state Sen. Glenn Grothman, author of the law preventing women's lawsuits against pay discrimination, explaining that women were paid less than men because money wasn't as important to the ladies.</span></span><span><span><br /><br />Elsewhere, Republicans were attempting to stop insurance plans from paying for contraception and barbarically voting that any woman wanting an abortion be physically violated with invasive, vaginal ultrasound equipment.</span></span><span><span><br /><br />What in the world could Republicans find to counteract such a relentlessly ugly crusade against women and claim their party was the true friend of, you know, chicks who vote?</span></span><span><span><br /><br />Well, it wasn't much, but some female Democrat you never heard of said on television that Ann Romney, Mitt's spouse, wasn't a very reliable adviser on women's issues because she "never worked a day in her life."</span></span><span><span><br /><br />Whoa! Was that an attack on motherhood from the Democratic Party that Republicans heard? Now there's an issue Republicans can sink their teeth into. Republicans are definitely in favor of motherhood, at least for the wealthy.<br /><br /><span></span></span></span><span><span>Ann Romney's first awkward response was to throw her kids under the bus. Anybody who thought she didn't work "should have come to my house when those five boys were causing so much trouble. It wasn't so easy."</span></span><span><span><br /><br />Then in what Ann must have viewed as the clincher, she said: "My career choice was to be a mother."<br /><br /></span></span> <p class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><span><span> </span></span></p> <p align="center" style="text-align: center;" class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><span><strong><span>Motherhood as a Career?<br /><br /></span></strong></span></p> <p class="MsoBodyTextIndent"><span><span>Motherhood as a career choice is actually a debate worth having in this country. But it is surely not one Republicans really want their candidate or his wife to raise.<br /><br />That's because welfare reform, begun in Wisconsin under former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, who is now running for the U.S. Senate, outlawed the "career choice" of motherhood for millions of poor mothers across the country.<br /><br />No longer would poor mothers be able to lie around in hammocks eating bonbons while their children were growing. They were required under welfare laws to work, most often at minimum-wage jobs that did nothing to lift their families out of poverty.<br /><br />And after women used up their lifetime limit of welfare assistance—five years in Wisconsin, and only two in Arkansas—then so much for the career choice of motherhood.<br /><br />What if enormous tax cuts for the wealthy during two wars and unregulated double-dealing on Wall Street and in the housing industry resulted in the second-worst economic crisis in U.S. history? Tough.<br /><br />Lifetime limits were lifetime limits. Having five unemployed applicants for every job opening was no excuse for the government to help anybody.<br /><br />In the United States, only women married to wealthy husbands are permitted to choose motherhood as a career. Single women of color and modest means who want to be mothers to their children are leeches and parasites.<br /><br />That's pretty much what Hilary Rosen, that Democratic woman on TV, was trying to say—also, that most women today have to be extremely wealthy to choose not to work outside the home. For everyone else, it's a matter of survival.<br /><br />Having lots of homes helps. Nobody really knows how many homes Mitt and Ann own. They won't say. Double-digit figures have been tossed around.<br /><br />PolitiFact, which likes to pretend Republicans and Democrats are equally dishonest, published a column claiming the Romneys owned three homes, including that $12 million California mansion they want to tear down and rebuild even bigger. A short time later, PolitiFact added a fourth Romney home it discovered in Canada.<br /><br />When you have that many homes, you need staff, including child care professionals. But even rich parents invest a lot of time and emotional capital if they want to do it right. For the Romneys, an income of $20 million a year also helps.<span> </span><br /><br />People of privilege can't really imagine the endless struggle of single mothers transferring multiple children, in sickness and in health, on public bus routes between different schools and day care centers while also trying to hold down several minimum-wage jobs.<span> </span><br /><br />Still, it's refreshing to hear Republicans advocating choice for women even if they don't really have a very clear concept of what that means.<br /><br />Who knows? One day we may even see Republicans honestly pushing to end discrimination against women in pay and health coverage.<br /><br />Naaah.</span></span></p>

Keep the Shepherd Free

Support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly magazine.

Comments (13)

I don't know what the number of homes the Romney f...

I don't know what the number of homes the Romney family has to do with irresponsible welfare moms. We need to pass laws requiring mandatory paternal custody. If father must by law take custody of their children and provide for them, this allows the mothers more flexibility. Jobs are always and everywhere. There is never a shortage of them. There is no sense in importing agricultural labor when people on welfare should be busting their ass picking crops. You don't have to be wealthy to be a stay-a-home mom. When I was married my wife stayed home the entire time and we never made more than $60,000 a year back in the 80s and 90s. I would not call that wealthy. We lived in a small 3 bedroom home and drove small cars. We were so poor we had to send our kids to public school.
Fathers that refuse to take custody must be castrated. Geldings can still make good workers and typically have a much lower re-incarceration rate if they have been in prison. While that might sound brutal to the "unwashed" its actually the most humane thing we can do for them.

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

I can see why you post under the name "anonymous",...

I can see why you post under the name "anonymous", only an Idiot would put his name to such a load of Crap as this, and as far as living on a mere $60,000 a year??? Poor!! Poor is a family of three kids, a mother and a father who made less than $24,000 a year, had a Mortage, and put food on the table every day, You don't know the meaning of POOR, probably because you just couldn't afford to buy that Lexus you had your eye on. I swear, if another of you two digit IQ's posts something this inane again, I Will Hunt you down, and make you work at Walmart! That, or send you to the Fields to Bust your ASS picking crops....You are Truly an Idiot!

Anonymous more than 13 years ago

Here's Ann Romney being a stay-at-home mother: "Ma...

Here's Ann Romney being a stay-at-home mother: "Maria, fix breakfast for the boys - eggs benedict, I think. Consuela, Joshua's diaper needs changing."

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

(Cleveland) - The budget ax will swing further i...

(Cleveland) - The budget ax will swing further in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. The school board Tuesday night approved a plan that will eliminate more than 500 K-through-8 teachers jobs. (Ohio voted down Gov. Walker type reforms. Sadly, WI. teachers have no clue this could have been them.)

Read more: http://www.wtam.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=122520&article=10058802#ixzz1sPhydAMR

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

The real War on Women was started in 2008 against ...

The real War on Women was started in 2008 against Sarah Palin and other coonservatives. Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Michelle Bachmann, Laura Ingraham, Michelle Malkin and many, many more.

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

I love female conservatives.  Not whiners and...

I love female conservatives.  Not whiners and complainers, but do-ers and achievers.  Joel likes to stick up for the lazy types that sit around in the coffee shops of gentrified neighborhoods, or the make-work non profit type that don't produce anything.  The people who contribute nothing to society and complain about all those gosh darn rich people who keep working too hard.  There are always going to be people like Joel who just don't want to keep up with the pack.  They want others to be their crutch.

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

In reply to the previous "aonymous" Idiot, my frie...

In reply to the previous "aonymous" Idiot, my friend Andy was a PFC stationed in Afganistan, and he had a great wife, and 3 children, when he caught a bullet to the brain, she was left with the responsibility of raising her 3 children by herself. Now, I'm a Nam vet, so I know that, try as they might, the VA just doesn't have the wherewithall to provide adequite compensation for most veterans, and Jean received a monthly check for a little over $1,000.00...I ask you, could you raise 3 children, pay your mortgage, put gas in your car, let alone, make payments on your car on $1,000.00 a month?????? She didn't spread her legs, as you obviously believe all woman below the poverty level do, what are you some 12 year old trying to impress people on this websight with your obvious lack of knowledge about how the Real World operates? You are definitely one of the most ignorant (boy's) I've ever encountered on the net! 

Anonymous more than 13 years ago

Poor mothers are poor from making poor family plan...

Poor mothers are poor from making poor family planning choices. Making women work instead of getting welfare has nothing to do with getting them out of poverty. No one is going to get out of poverty laying around with their legs spread inviting neighborhood bucks in rut to come and go while they pump out child after child. Making them work is to discourage them from making more stupid choices. I suggest permanent birth control on any welfare mom and mandatory paternal custody. Fathers who fail to take custody of their children should be castrated. Being poor is a personal lifestyle choice, just like being rich is. We should encourage people to choose to be rich, not poor. Tax cuts will encourage people to choose to be rich. Cutting out welfare, castration, and work programs will discourage people from choosing to be poor.

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

Permanent birth control? People CHOOSE to be poor?...

Permanent birth control? People CHOOSE to be poor? You sir, are a facist and an idiot. Dangerous combination.

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

people don't choose to be poor.. they choose to be...

people don't choose to be poor.. they choose to be lazy, which in turn makes them poor.  I think it's obvious by now that many people would rather NOT work, and collect enough free money to get by, than actually have a job, and do better.

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

Lazy or poor, same thing.  I am not advocatin...

Lazy or poor, same thing.  I am not advocating that we sterilize welfare moms.  Just make it an option.  If they want to their check, they must get fix.  Otherwise they can opt to have more kids, it just the government won't be giving them a check.  Fathers the same,  all they have to do is opt into the workforce, pay support, and take custody of the children, and then they will be allow to keep their testicles.
Hell, I used to be poor as piss growing up.  Then I scammed my way through college, got a job, and realized just how stupid and lazy people are.  Making money is no big deal.  You just have to outwork and outsmart other people.  I talk to other wealthy people and they formula is pretty simple.  Don't be a dunce that gets tats and piercings, get good grades, keep the weight off, brush your teeth, be nice to people, outwork others, and outsmart others.  Oh yea, wear a rubber too.

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

I might not agree with Mitt Romney but I have to a...

I might not agree with Mitt Romney but I have to admire him for all his hard work.  Its takes brains and gumption to accomplish what he as done.  You don't see him running around with tats and piercings, his pant down around his knees and a jack-o-lanturn smile.  He takes pride in his appearance and has provided a good home(s) for his wife and family.  Not like some wandering inner city buck that goes around fathering children with any slut that spreads her legs.  Romney married his him while these mush-mouthed gangbangers will run from fatherhood.  Giving money to welfare moms only encourages them to produce more bastard children.  We should be taxing them for their mistakes not rewarding them.

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

Joel,
Actually many poor mothers continued to cho...

Joel,
Actually many poor mothers continued to choose motherhood as a career choice by opening up daycare centers under the WI Shares program. Until recently only poor mothers were actually paid to take care of their own kids. You could argue they were paid TWICE to take care of their own children.

Anonymous more than 14 years ago

© 2026 Shepherd Express. All Rights Reserved.

Built with Metro Publisher™

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.