Hagan is running from her record
Published September 10, 2014
by J. Peder Zane, News and Observer, September 9, 2014.
I get it.
I know why some women claim they were offended when Thom Tillis addressed Sen. Kay Hagan by her first name during last week’s debate. It’s the same reason Hagan – a sitting United States Senator, for goodness sake – said she felt “insulted” when Tillis lodged the common political charge that his opponent’s “math just doesn’t add up.”
They are hardcore partisans working to advance a phony narrative about the GOP’s “war on women.” They realize that Hagan and other red state Democrats will have a very hard time winning on their records so they must, once again, run an “ism” campaign: accusing their GOP opponents of sexism and racism.
Though bad for the country, this approach may be smart politics. Hagan and other Democrats are running just as voters are realizing that “hope and change” has morphed into fear and decline and that the Obama presidency is one long episode of “Welcome Back, Carter.”
They are seeking re-election at a time when polls show that 66 percent of Americans think the country is on the wrong track, when 55 percent oppose the Affordable Health Care Act, when the economy continues to sputter and when events in the Ukraine, Syria and Iraq are spinning out of control.
Even as Hagan and other red state Democrats pretend they are “moderate,” “independent” voices, there’s no getting around the fact that she has voted with Obama 95 percent of the time. During her almost six years in office, she has provided bedrock support to a president whose job approval rating stands at 38 percent, according to the latest Gallup poll.
Hagan is running – from her own record.
Unable to demonstrate that their policies have strengthened America, Hagan and other Democrats are pursuing a strategy of divide and conquer built on false and ugly claims. That’s why Joe Biden told a Labor Day crowd in Detroit that “ it’s time to take back America.” As Attorney General Eric Holder has noted, this was an ugly battle cry when tea party activists sounded it. To my ear, it is even more disturbing when it’s shouted by the vice president of the United States.
The Kay kerfuffle is less an honest expression of outrage about how Tillis addressed Hagan than evidence of a national strategy to demonize Republicans. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee, articulated this tactic with brutal focus at a recent roundtable in Milwaukee. Equating Republicans with perpetrators of domestic violence, she said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker “has given women the back of his hand. ... What Republican tea party extremists like Scott Walker are doing is they are grabbing us by the hair and pulling us back.”
There are many reasons why women tend to support Democrats, but this ugly demagoguery is not the way forward. Instead of a thoughtful discussion of issues, it offers a false caricature of both Republicans and America. It suggests that in 2014, almost half the population, including presumably the millions of female Republicans, wants to oppress women. It is of a piece with the common Democratic claim that half the country wants to restore Jim Crow laws.
While Republicans are routinely cast as the party of angry white males, it is Democrats who work mightily to stoke anger and resentment.
When Hagan raised substantive women’s issues during the debate, she distorted them to suggest full-scale war on women. Despite Hagan’s claim, the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision did not broadly empower employers to “deny access” to contraception. It said that the government cannot force family-owned businesses with demonstrated religious beliefs to pay for a handful of contraceptives methods they consider akin to infanticide. Instead of demagoguing this important issue, Hagan should find a way to provide IUDs and morning after pills to the tiny number of affected women.
Hagan also said she supports “equal pay for equal work” and cites the deeply misleading claim that women earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. This is especially rich as Hagan reportedly pays her male staffers more than females, as does the Obama White House.
Sexism does not explain these disparities. The White House, for example, says more men are in higher ranking positions. In the broader economy, men earn more because they are more willing to worker longer hours and have less flexible schedules than women.
The truth is that these issues are terribly complex. If we wish to move forward as a nation, we should stop transforming them into ugly, divisive campaign slogans and start finding solutions we can all support.
Can we all get that?
September 10, 2014 at 10:14 am
Norm Kelly says:
I'm almost speechless! Almost, so don't get your hopes up!
When I saw the headline I expected this editorial ran ANYWHERE but the N&D. An editorial that is, at first glance, honest about K's record and at the same time critical of her record. Of course, her record should be criticized. There is plenty there to criticize, but who would have guessed it would appear in the N&D, where one expects to see nothing but praise for Demons & criticism (another ism) of Republicans!
The fact that K votes with the desires of the occupier at least 95% of the time is NOT the shocking or noteworthy part of this. The fact that she criticized Mrs. Dole for voting with Bush around 90% of the time, instead of being 'independent' is the important thing to remember about K. She criticized the Republican for voting with/supporting the Republican president and then agrees with/supports the Demon president at an even higher rate. Was Bush a great Republican president? Far from it? How does his presidency compare to the current occupant? There is no comparison! The current occupier is such a phenomenal failure that it would be funny if it weren't so scary! Except that in every area that he chooses to succeed, he has, but in every case it's an area where he should have failed. Take socialized medicine for example. He succeeded. Which means the country fails. Take increased government give-away programs and the influx of illegal aliens that take advantage of our generosity. He has succeeded in his schemes. Which means the country fails. So in almost every case, a success for the occupier is a failure for the country.
Joe Biden is a joke. His name may be officially changed before he runs for president. When Republicans used 'take back America', the demons and libs claimed it was a racial slur, just like everything else is a racial slur to them. Which means it begins to become less effective. But when the DEMONCRAT VP says take back America, first it has NO racial undertones associated with it. Second, WHO EXACTLY does the Jokester want to take America back from? Does he want to take it back from the socialists, as the Republicans were using the phrase? Does he want to take it back from the black guy? Since the socialists are currently in charge, and if Joke were elected it would simply be another socialist, it can't be that he wants to take America back from the socialists. Therefore, the only logical conclusion is that THIS TIME the phrase 'take back America' can ONLY be considered a racial slur. And every one knows that demons are not racists! Sure! Want to buy a bridge in NY?
So, the editorial demonstrates that since demons can't run on their record and be re-elected, they are running on the same old, tired, used, playbook. Demonize their opponent. Lie to their supporters. Run from their record and distort the record of their opponent. Make claims about yourself that can NOT be substantiated. Run from previous comments. What did Scott Walker run on? Exactly what he DID WHILE IN OFFICE! What will he run on for re-election? His RECORD! He has been very successful by implementing conservative ideas! What can K run on? Massive new government programs? Massive central planner deficit spending?
Pointing out that both K and the occupier pay women less than they pay men on their staffs is disingenuous. I believe that would be the word used by demon pols. Stating fact is considered bad form by the demons. Distorting the truth is acceptable to demons. Stating facts confuses demons and their supporters, cuz they experience these things so infrequently. And it's considered a racist, homophobic, sexist thing to do. The only reason you drag out those fact things is because you are a white guy who hates women, wants to keep them in the kitchen, take power away from them, make sure they don't get equal treatment, and want to ship black people back to where they came from. Don't try to hide behind what you consider 'truth' or 'facts'. If you are a racist, woman-hater, then it's time to come out of the closet and simply admit your bias! Of course, that's the demon response to truth & fact. And demon pols do what they can to dispel these facts and truths by telling their supporters that their opponents have nothing of their own to stand on so the only thing they can do is distort the record of the kindly, loving, non-sexist, non-racist lib pol.
How nice it is to see truth in the N&D. It's notable because it's so rare. Since I don't read the N&D, I won't know if on the opposing page of the paper the editorial staff had a rebuttal of this post. If they did, I'm sure it would contain very little information, but a lot of criticism of the information contained in this post.
