GOP’s sleazy pickup artists: Why their lame lines will never work on women

[DonViejo]

The right thinks it has a new way to woo female voters. Unfortunately for them, women aren't as dumb as they think

KATIE MCDONOUGH

Lots of Republicans have lots of feelings about the party’s problems with women.

This week, Mike Huckabee argued that dealing with women requires treating them like “special treasures” (who, presumably, he trusts can control their libidos). And Rand Paul has surprisingly little to say about how few conservative women currently hold political office, but seems very impressed by a strong showing from female veterinarians who hang around with his niece. Lesser names in the party have tried to connect with women by calling them “vaginas” or “hosts” for fetuses.

But savvier conservative strategists have tackled the question more thoughtfully, framing the problem as one of “optics” and “messaging” getting in the way. Stop the flood of casual misogyny and bizarre paternalism, the argument goes, and the votes will fall into place.

And the GOP has tried. In its meager effort to shift the party’s brand and appeal to a broader (read: not white) base of women voters, they have appointed Republican women to tell the country precisely the same things that Republican men have been saying for years. In recent months that has meant explaining that the GOP believes it is sound policy to force people to buy expensive “abortion riders” in case they get raped, to attempt to cut food assistance programs by an obscene $40 billion at a time of record need and to tell workers that they shouldn’t be able to access birth control – that they already pay for – because it might hurt their boss’s feelings.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/03/13/gops_sleazy_pick_up_artists_why_their_lame_lines_will_never_work_on_women/