Hasson: Five Lessons 2014's Conservative Women Taught MSM

The smashing victories of conservative women on election night "make this a teaching moment" for the mainstream media, argues Mary Hasson, who should adjust their stylebooks to these five lessons:

1. "Women" does not equate to "liberal women." Conservative women are women too. (Example: Don't say "women voters" when you really mean "liberal women voters.")
2. Delete "women's issues" from your lexicon. (Note: "women's issues" is a misnomer for the demeaning "lady parts" agenda of liberals who think women's priorities begin with birth control and end with abortion.)
3. Ditto the meaningless "war on women." (See the losing campaigns of "Mark Uterus" and John Foust.)
4. Do not say "women's rights" when you mean "abortion rights." (Iowas Senator-elect Joni Ernst and Virginia Representative-elect Barbara Comstock champion issues important to women — and passionately oppose abortion. Losing candidate Sandra Fluke champions abortion rights, not the rights of liberty-loving women.)
5. To take the pulse of women voters, try interviewing ordinary, hard-working women. (Hint: They don't loiter in pricey Manhattan gyms or at glitzy Democrat fundraisers in Los Angeles. Try the grocery store, in flyover country, at the end of a long workday.)

Read What 2014's Victories From GOP Taught Us for the lessons Hasson believes the GOP should have learned.

Lady-Parts Strategy Fail

Two women and one man who built their strategies almost exclusively around lady-parts failed to win public support yesterday in their bids for public office.

Sandra Fluke—the Georgetown University law student who became the face of the "free-contraception" movement—lost her bid for a California state senate seat, winning only 39 percent of the vote to her male opponent's 61 percent.

Wendy Davis—the face of War on Women messaging—garnered only 39 percent of the vote in the race for Texas governor.  Her opponent, Greg Abbott, even won the women's vote 52 percent to Davis's 47 percent.

U.S. Senator Mark Udall of Colorado—who was dubbed "Mark Uterus" during the election for his obsessive focus on lady-parts—won 44 percent of the vote to lose to his challenger, Cory Garner.

Another big loser was Planned Parenthood.  Writes Mollie Hemingway:

Planned Parenthood treated Mark Udall and Wendy Davis as their most important races, knocking on a million doors and making two million phone calls, they claimed, to drive votes to them.

'War on Women' Over: Women Won

Women aren't responding well to the oft-repeated liberal claim that conservatives are waging a 'war on women', according to Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, and Genevieve Wood cites these examples to explain why that may be:

• For every 100 higher ed degrees men got last year, women earned 140.
• The wage gap between men and women is now almost non-existent in apple-to-apple comparisons of males and females in similar jobs with similar education, experience, years in the work force and hours worked.
• Millennial women with no children who live in metro areas earned 8 percent more on average than men.
• Women control over 50% of private wealth in the US today and they make about 80% of all household spending decisions.
• Over 40% of the 3 million Americans making off $500,000 a year are women.

Lake says women find the term 'war on women' "divisive, political [and] they don't like it."  Wood suggests another reason: "more women now recognize that it's simply not true:"

In a recent Rasmussen poll, 52% of likely U.S. female voters said they believed the "war on women" slogan is primarily used for political purposes. And in Colorado, where one of the most closely watched Senate races is happening, a Magellan Strategies poll of female swing voters found 77% of respondents said they saw through the "war on women" messaging strategy.

Looks like the Left's "war on women" is over, and women won.

'War on Women' Not Polling Well With Women

A few days ago we asked if the 'War on Women' tactic was working for liberals. Now we learn from a National Journal report that it is not:

"[Saying] 'Republicans are waging a war on women' actually doesn't test very well," said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. "Women find it divisive, political -- they don't like it."

So Democratic candidates, who need to expand their margins among female voters and bring unmarried women to the polls in November, are shifting the language they use to pitch these issue to voters. Instead of the "war," Lake said, testing has shown more effective language casts Republicans' positions as "too extreme" or the GOP as "out of touch with women's lives."

Conservative Women Decry War on Women Tactic

"Some women are getting sick of the Democrats' war on women," writes Valerie Richardson @ Washington Times, and they are fighting back in unique ways.

Take Laura Carno, who became so fed up with the nonstop "war on women" political advertising campaign in Colorado that she put together a radio ad of her own. It's aimed at Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat who's pushing the theme in his re-election bid against Republican Rep. Cory Gardner.

"I have to ask, Sen. Udall, why do you get your underwear all in a bundle about women and birth control?" Ms. Carno, who heads the conservative group I Am Created Equal, says in the spot. "Do you honestly think we need the government to make these choices for us?"   [snip]

"The feedback I'm hearing from women, especially women who aren't involved in politics, is, 'Why do they think I only care about birth control? Don't they realize I'm more complicated than that?'" said Ms. Carno, who lives in Colorado Springs. "Women know how to get their own birth control. We're pretty damn smart."

Missy Shorey, executive director of the conservative women's group, Maggie's List, told Richardson "it's the Democrats who are waging the real war by moving to knock GOP women out of contested primaries."

Ms. Shorey said one way to disarm the Democratic "war on women" claims is to elect more female conservatives.

"Our main focus is let's get women elected to Congress," said Ms. Shorey. "You can't claim 'war on women' when you have outstanding women elected to the House and Senate who are conservative and Republican in nature. You just can't do it. Especially when it's angry males on the left saying this kind of thing."

Is the War on Women Tactic Working?

"From the Lipstick on the Pig Department, CNN reports that its latest polling shows “no Katrina moment” for Barack Obama," writes Ed Morrissey @ hotair.com. "That, however, is rather cold comfort, as even CNN allows, because the steady level of the President’s job approval rating puts him underwater by double digits."

As late as May 2013, Obama’s approval rating was 53/45 — in a survey taken right before the exposure of both the IRS and NSA scandals. One month later, it flipped to 45/54 and has been underwater outside of the MOE [margin of error] since, with majority disapproval every poll. The trend on leadership has much fewer data points, but exhibits a similar trend. Independents have his job approval at 34/62, and he’s even estranged women at 45/52 and young voters (18-34) narrowly at 45/49.  [snip]

On the question of whether Obama “generally agrees with you on issues you care about,” Obama dropped to 43/56, narrowly the worst rating ever (was 44/56 in the wake of the ObamaCare rollout debacle). In May of last year, it was 51/47. The relentless focus on issue non-sequiturs over the last several months seems to have taken its toll on Obama, and other Democrats still talking about a “war on women” and income inequality should take notice of that trend in particular. For women, that’s now 45/53, and among independents it’s an abysmal 35/63.

Fiorina: No More Lectures from NYTimes on Treatment of Women Please

"Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina eviscerated New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. over the firing of executive editor Jill Abramson," writes Tim Cavanaugh @ NRO.

“Here is a woman who [has] been told she has an abrasive style — how many times have women heard that?” Fiorina said Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “She has been a distinguished reporter for the New York Times, an editor for three years. There is not a single word in her departure announcement about her contributions, about her record, about her time at the New York Times. She is  excised from history. No more lectures, please, from The New York Times about the treatment of women.”

NRO added this update to the post:

New York Times head of communications Eileen Murphy on Twitter objects that the original press release announcing Abramson’s termination did in fact contain standard thanks-for-your-service boilerplate...

Harzani: 'War on Women' Schtick

Colorado proves the 'War on Women' schtick is coming for conservatives "whether you deserve it or not," writes David Harzani @ federalist.com. His post about the Colorado U.S. Senate race between challenger Cory Gardner and incumbent Mark Udall notes that the two are in a virtual tie, and 'War on Women' charges are flying.

As soon as Gardner cleared the GOP field, Udall ran an indictment against the Republican for imaginary crimes against women. The wonky Gardner, claimed Udall, has "championed a crusade" — a crusade — to "outlaw" birth control.

Now, I couldn’t find a single vote or speech or gaffe in which Gardner advocates for restrictions on birth control. Not during his time in congress or in the Colorado legislature or anywhere else, for that matter. Perhaps I missed something. Perhaps someone will soon unearth explosive video to share. Nothing in his record, though, indicates he’s a zealous culture warrior.  

Harzani has his own ideas on "meeting these sorts of attacks head on."

...it’ll be worth reminding Coloradans (often) that Udall, who allegedly believes the brave women of America have an enduring right to make their own health-care decisions, is a cheerleader of coerced participation in a state-run program that has separated thousands of Colorado women from their doctors. This not only highlights his hypocrisy, but makes him defend Obamacare.

And since this is a war, Gardner can do better. Instead of running from the debate, it would also be worth pointing out that as Udall is himself an extremist on the issue of abortion; a supporter of late-term abortions — a position that most Americans find repugnant. In fact, some polls show that the 20-week abortion ban is more popular among women than men. A Quinnipiac poll found that 60 percent of women support unrestricted abortions for only the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Only 50 percent of men support the 20-week limit.  Other polls found similar results. [snip]

The War on Women shtick will be branching out to include the minimum wage and immigration, as well as income equality – and everything  else, really. And Colorado proves that it’s coming for you whether you deserve it or or not. Because even if you’re not Todd Akin, they know you really are.

Pollster Kellyanne Conway on Cuccinelli, Christie & Women

Conservatives should take 3 key lessons from November's gubernatorial races, pollster (and Institute board member) Kellyanne Conway told NRO's Kathryn Lopez in an interview.

1. Obamacare is poison.  Despite no money, Virginia candidate Ken Cuccinelli closed a double-digit negative gap against Obamacare advocate Terry McAuliffe to a mere -2.5% on Election Day. Given another week [or, we could add, RINO donor support], Cuccinelli would likely have won.
2. The "War on Women" has run its course. NJ candidate Chris Christie's opponent, Barbara Buono, used the same "abortion, anyone, anytime, anywhere" playbook as McAuliffe in Virginia and lost to Christie by 34 points.
3. Don't play your opponent's game. Both sides [in the Virginia race] went negative early and stayed negative. Women prefer positive solutions to negative slights.

Conway has one piece of advice looking forward to 2016: 

What must be resisted is allowing a bunch of donors and consultants to proclaim “who can win” and “who can’t win” three years before the election. It is silly, unprovable, designed to pad the pockets of consultants and dissuade conservative candidates, and is never followed by the Left. They nominate non-household names (Carter, Clinton, Obama) and Republicans nominate people known best for having lost previously (Dole, Romney, McCain).

Obamacare, Common Core, and economic growth will be among the important questions to GOP primary voters. The ability to connect with and convince working-class voters and others who remain elusive to the GOP will also matter.

Read the full interview.

Abortionist Gosnell Means Libs Lose their 'War Against Women'

Remember the 'war against women' ... and the 'women's health' mantra? Both were blown to bits, argues Noemie Emery, by the Grand Jury's report on abortionist Kermit Gosnell: "one patient 'was left lying in place after Gosnell tore her cervix and colon,' another 'was held for several hours after Gosnell punctured her uterus' ... a third 'went into convulsions ... fell off the procedure table, and hit her head on the floor.'

All this was covered up or ignored by pro-choice supporters, by the state, and by a representative of the National Abortion Federation who inspected the clinic, was disgusted.

Other clinics knew Gosnell's reputation and referred clients to him, the health of women being less important than the unfettered right to abort past delivery. Any "choice" advocate who uses the word "health" in this context after these horrors deserves to be stoned off the stage.

Obamacare's War on Women

"An unintended consequence of the abomination that is called ObamaCare is the dropping of wives from husbands' employer-provided health care insurance," write editors at Investor's Business Daily. "It is a de facto war on women."

Mandating coverage for children up to age 26 is costly, so savings have to be found elsewhere. One of the ways employers can save is by dropping spouses from health insurance offerings, and the spouses that get dropped tend to be women, according to health care experts.

That's if the employer continues the health insurance coverage at all:

Many employees will lose their coverage when employers figure out that it's more cost-effective for them to stop insuring their workers and just let them fall into the exchanges.

How many? More than a few. The business journal McKinsey Quarterly surveyed 1,300 employers and found that "Overall, 30% of employers will definitely or probably stop offering ESI (Employer Sponsored Insurance) in the years after 2014."

But it's likely that a larger portion will actually make that choice as companies learn more about ObamaCare.

"Among employers with a high awareness of reform, this proportion increases to more than 50%, and upward of 60% will pursue some alternative to traditional ESI," the McKinsey Quarterly says.

Not all spouses will be jettisoned from employer coverage due to the dependent coverage mandate. Some companies will simply require their employees to pay a spousal surcharge rather than drop them from the insurance rolls. Expect those surcharges to be $500 to $1,000 a year, says Forbes.

Sure, the spouses will be able to keep their plans. But the higher-cost insurance will be a much worse deal than in the days before ObamaCare.

Are Liberal Women Selling Out Too Cheaply?

Not a woman in sight in this recent White House photo of Obama’s inner circle! Now comes a report that Obama paid his female White House staffers 18% less than his male staffers in 2011, and his 2012 reelection campaign paid female employees an “average of $6872 … compared with the average of $7235 for male employees.”

It appears the "old patriarchy" is new again in the Liberal establishment. Instead of paying women equitably for their work, Obama offered them “free” birth control which, "should have insulted liberated ladies who for years have tried to separate sex from significance.”

Are liberal women setting their worth too low?

"Painful Pandering to Women"

"It’s the year of the woman — or at least the year of the painful political pander to women," writes Karol Markowicz. "Both political parties are bending over backward to cater to this underrepresented minority group, which made up just 54 percent of voters in 2008."

...why, exactly, are women being treated as some sort of mass unit? All this catering to “women’s issues” assumes that all women feel the same way about all issues — and that those issues are almost all tied to sex or reproduction. That women may worry about taxation, terrorism, government spending, jobs or other “men’s” issues is apparently inconceivable.

It’s not a step forward for women that we are the focus of all this; it’s condescension, pure and simple.

If the goal is still equality between the sexes, then the pats on the head women have been receiving from politicians in the last year show we’re just not there yet.

Women Waging War on Big Government

The Tea Party isn't waging a war on women, argues Amy Kremer, chairman of the Tea Party Express; but its women are certainly waging a war against Big Government, big spending, and big debt policies. 

One of the most recent attempted diversions is the invention of a "Tea Party-led war on women." Ironically, much of the Tea Party leadership is made up of a new generation of powerful conservative women.

The truth is that Tea Party women are leading the charge to tackle the fundamental problems brought on by the ever-expanding Big Government agenda. Women are not only the most protective of loved ones. They are also the most familiar with how policies will affect their family on a micro level.

Common-sense conservative women are now driving the movement to shrink the size of government and rein in the out-of-control spending. We are going to get this country back on track, and thanks to the millions of conservative mothers, sisters, wives and daughters across this nation, we are going to restore the American dream for our children's generation and all future generations to come.