Yesterday’s Women for Obama rally, while decidedly light on attacks on the McCain campaign, contained the single most important message the Dems can deliver about McCain and women: that McCain failed to show up for the vote on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and that he later said he would have voted against it.
If ever there was an opportunity for McCain to stand up for women, this was it, and he blew it big time. You want to stand up for women? You vote for equal pay for equal work. You don’t recruit an embarrassingly unqualified, anti-choice, intellectually incurious, Trojan horse whackjob to curry favor with the ladies. As I jotted in my notebook while I listened to pay discrimination victim Lilly Ledbetter yesterday: "Palin seems like an absolute disgrace compared to this woman." And Ledbetter isn’t even running for office.
Michelle Obama noted that many people present may not had heard Ledbetter’s story. I believe it, and I wonder why that is. Kudos to the Obama campaign for having her speak on the trail; however, her story — and the fact of McCain’s opposition to equal pay — needs to be put forth much more forcefully. Honestly, McCain’s rejection of the Ledbetter law should be a running joke by now.
Amazingly, many followers of Trojan Horse candidates like Palin do not understand that they are a tactic — a tactic towards greater inequality. Party operatives who put up Trojan Horse candidates know exactly what they’re doing. Palin is a living contradiction in that she would never be in the position she’s in had it not been for progressives who fought for decades for women’s rights. They fought against the conservative ideologies Palin espouses and promises to put into practice. She’s a cynical ploy, folks. Hence my cartoon for this week. You might also want to read my cartoon about Lilly Ledbetter.
If you missed my pictures from the rally, check ’em out here.