When Nancy Pelosi said that Gen. McChrystal should report his recommendations up the chain of command, not lobby in press conferences, the National Republican Congressional Committee responded that:
[T]axpayers can only hope McChrystal is able to put her in her place.
When Al Franken's amendment saying that defense contractors could not prevent their employees from pursuing legal action for workplace sexual assault or discrimination passed with bipartisan support, the National Republican Senatorial Committee said:
This misleading, partisan attack makes clear yet again just how out of touch Democrats in Washington are with the serious issues facing average Americans.
To summarize the Republican position: As women, we are not "average Americans," and gang rape is not a "serious" issue. As women, no matter how powerful we become on our own merits, the Republican establishment will still be hoping for a man to come along and put us in our place.
Not every Republican signs onto these views -- indeed, 10 Senate Republicans voted for the Franken amendment, giving the lie to the NRSC's claim of partisanship -- but this is the undercurrent of the party's policies. This is what they're hoping to get voters to overlook when they run a Sarah Palin or a Kelly Ayotte for office. This is why Bob McDonnell's campaign for Virginia governor has been such a popular campaign stop for 2012 prospects: because of, not despite, his opposition to marital contraception and women in the workplace. This is why David Vitter (who voted against the Franken amendment) is still a senator in good standing with the party of alleged sexual morality.
You don't have to go very far beneath the Republican surface claims of equality-but-not-really to get to the rock-bottom sense that women just don't count, that our rights and our wellbeing are always subordinate to whatever interest of men they might conflict with. When it comes to it, even the (themselves sexist) notions of chivalry and protecting women come behind protecting the right of corporations to imprison their female employees to shield their male employees from rape charges and still get government contracts.
As Markos said,
As predictably regressive as the modern GOP has become, it's shocking to see that they still have the ability to shock.
On this one, they probably always will.
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