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Politics | 08/19/2008 10:03 am

McCain Not a Ladies' Man?

By The Staff at wowOwow.com
© AP

Barack Obama’s campaign is trying to convince Americans that John McCain won’t be successful in wooing women voters.

Dana Singiser, who oversees Barack Obama’s women’s outreach efforts, issued a memo Monday, arguing that the Republican presidential hopeful made a major effort to reach women voters in June because he’s so far behind his Democratic opponent in garnering the female vote.

"Despite his campaign’s outreach efforts, McCain’s attempt to bridge the gender gap has fallen flat," wrote Singiser. "He fares worse among women than any presidential candidate since Bob Dole in 1996."

Singiser, who is a former Hillary Clinton aide, noted that women have outvoted men in every election since 1964, and that during this year’s Democratic primaries, the women’s vote reached at least 59 percent in 14 states.

"During the Democratic National Convention next week we will mark Women’s Equality Day, the anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States,” she said. “Eighty-eight years after the right of American women to vote was written into our Constitution, the women’s vote will make the difference in this election."

CBS News and CNN note that McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds did not respond directly to the Singiser memo, but said: "Barack Obama is spinning this issue to disguise his support for higher taxes, and refusing to acknowledge that the legislation he’s promoting has more to do with paychecks for trial lawyers than the struggles of working women."

Bounds said the Equal Pay Legislation, which Obama supports, would benefit trial lawyers in part because it could lead to frivolous lawsuits.

Here are five reasons, according to the Obama campaign, that McCain can’t get the women vote:

1.) Women voters don’t trust McCain because of his extreme positions on the key issues important to them. Obama leads McCain by 10 points (42% vs. 32%) when it comes to which candidate women trust more. (The August 5 poll also found that 14% said they trust neither, and 5% trust both.)

2.) Women want change from the last eight years of neglect for America’s middle-class families and women’s economic security.

3.) Equal Pay: 77% of women believe the next president should address the issue of providing women with equal pay for equal work. McCain has opposed legislation to provide more effective remedies to victims of pay discrimination, and legislation to overturn the Ledbetter decision — a pay discrimination case filed by Lilly Ledbetter against Goodyear. The case was thrown out last year by the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision delivered by conservative Justice Samuel Alito.

4.) Health Care Costs: McCain’s health-care plan "isn’t expected to make a major dent in the number of uninsured Americans," and he would – for the first time in our nation’s history – tax health-care benefits. Only 27% of women are very confident that they will be able to afford health care for themselves and their families. There is a disproportionate number of women who are uninsured or in danger of losing their coverage.

5.) Women’s Reproductive Rights: 62% of women believe that Roe v. Wade established a constitutional right, but McCain has bragged about consistently receiving a zero rating from pro-choice group NARAL during his 25-year voting career. McCain has repeatedly voted against federal funding for family planning, and accessibility of contraceptives for women. McCain’s support among Republican pro-choice women dropped by 9% after hearing his positions.

188 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

JamestheGame
Not to mention McCain’s foul-mouthed descriptions of women, like his wife. Can’t believe his P.R. flak opposes Obama’s Equal Pay proposal because it’ll lead to “frivolous lawsuits”. In other words, McCain feels it’s just fine that women continue to receive lower wages than men for the same work. By the way, I saw Liz Smith & Lesley Stahl on CNN this morning discussing with John Roberts the recent WowOwow.com polls on who readers think McCain & Obama should select as runningmates. It was a good little segment, and good publicity for Wow.
By JamestheGame on 08/19/2008 11:06 am
MarjorieC
James: “… good publicity for Wow.” That’s about it. Nothing intelligent came out of the McCain V.P. discussion, and you’re leading off this string with more bashing.
By MarjorieC on 08/19/2008 11:35 am
JamestheGame
The facts speak for themselves.
By JamestheGame on 08/19/2008 12:03 pm
MarjorieC
James: “The facts speak for themselves.” No they don’t. This is a BHO site and you and yours are in the majority. A bully is a bully is a bully. Those are the facts. You don’t want serious discussion because you have nothing intelligent to say.
By MarjorieC on 08/19/2008 12:30 pm
JamestheGame
Let me ask you a simple question. Why can’t you simply direct your statements to the issues at hand, and stop trying to pick fights with people of opposing views? When you say I have “nothing intelligent to say”, that is a mean-spirited comment. That is bullying to the third-degree, directed at other participants on this site. If you don’t like what somebody says, why not counter it with a statement that we can have a decent discussion about, without resorting to personal insults? Something like, “I disagree, James. McCain’s remark to his wife was taken out of context”…or, “I feel you misconstrued one of McCain’s statements,” something like that. Criticism of candidates and what-not is expected in a forum like this, but the readers shouldn’t be throwing verbal jabs at one another.
By JamestheGame on 08/19/2008 12:58 pm
JamestheGame
My comment above was directed to Marjorie.
By JamestheGame on 08/19/2008 12:59 pm
MarjorieC
James, you can have the last word on this because I don’t want to see this string go up in flames, but do you really expect someone to reply to this kind of stuff: “Not to mention McCain’s foul-mouthed descriptions of women, like his wife. Can’t believe his P.R. flak opposes Obama’s Equal Pay proposal because it’ll lead to “frivolous lawsuits”. In other words, McCain feels it’s just fine that women continue to receive lower wages than men for the same work.” It is baiting, and I rose to the bait. Shame on me.
By MarjorieC on 08/19/2008 1:09 pm
StarLawrence
McCain pays women more than men on his staff. Obama the opposite.
By StarLawrence on 08/21/2008 12:55 pm
sibelledaubigne
Star,very interesting! i am getting fonder of him all the time!
By sibelledaubigne on 08/21/2008 1:38 pm
DeBrcaobj
Excellent point James.
By DeBrcaobj on 08/19/2008 9:22 pm
DianaT
DeB, Look at what just came onto Huffington…can it be?? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/20/biden-is-democratic-favor_n_120…
By DianaT on 08/21/2008 12:48 am
DeBrcaobj
Biden huh? I keep hearing he is a favorite. What do you think? I’ve heard good things about him but I’ll admit I don’t know much about him except that he is supposed to be brilliant in regards to foreign policy.
By DeBrcaobj on 08/21/2008 1:07 am
DianaT
He was my numero uno choice for prez; has been for at least two elections. He is very verbose, but has learned that he does not have to talk so much, and in fact, I’ve heard him tease about it. Back when he was first elected, his wife and child were killed in a horrible car crash; it was so tragic, and then he had a brain aneurysm, and the doctors were able to do surgery and get it fixed. He re-married, and to this day, commutes by train from his home in Wilmington, DE to work. Mother is still alive, and he is a Catholic. He has about as much knowledge about foreign policy as anyone in DC, and is highly respected by the likes of Richard Holbrooke, Strobe Talbott and Sam Nunn. And, when it comes to debate, one had better be prepared with their facts and figures ready…because I’ve seen him tear a person to shreds in just one sentence and very politely, to boot. He deeply cares about the elderly, and knows the ropes because he helps his mother with her insurance. And, he is an advocate of women’s rights. Lastly, he plays a mean game of tennis.
By DianaT on 08/21/2008 1:22 am
DeBrcaobj
Sounds great to me. Other than his obvious qualifications, do you think he will do more for the ticket than Clinton would? I have real mixed feelings about her on the ticket. Also, I don’t trust myself to know who is best because I honestly do not know enough about all those said to be on the short list (except Clinton) to feel like I can make an educated choice. Also, beyond how good they would be at the job, there is the job of getting the Democrats elected and how good each one would be for the ticket in that respect… to bring in votes.
By DeBrcaobj on 08/21/2008 1:34 am
DianaT
Joe Biden has an excellent website and I have gone there often over the years. He also is easy to find out in the web because of the fact he is at the helm of the foreign relations committee. Also, DeB, you may want to go to Charlie Rose’s site because he has archived old interviews and Biden has been on his show often. You may want to see his interviews. I will still argue that the best ticket is not Hillary Clinton, because Bill will always be in the shadow. Also, it is essential for Obama to assert himself and show that he is running the show, the Clintons suck all the energy out of a room. Now, I think that Hillary is one of the best informed Senators we have, but she and her team also have a way of tripping over themselves. I am just praying that the VP candidate is not a lightweight, and that he/she will balance well with Obama. I have always argued that Bill Richardson is a very credible person also. Smart as he can be(Rhodes Scholar), pleasant, and extremely experienced in foreign and domestic affairs, has a huge Hispanic following, and is very pragmatic.
By DianaT on 08/21/2008 1:43 am