| Marsha Blackburn (R) TN. (Small image of the Day) |
During a week when Michelle Bachmann stated she would not seek a 5th Term in the US House of Representatives, we get another blast of a GOP lost.
Representative Marsha Blackburn (R) TN, joined a panel on Meet The Press earlier today. The conversation apparently segued from discussion of Syria to the Pew Research study indicating women are becoming the major earner in an increasing number of households.
Two points before we listen to Blackburn. First The Congresswoman for Tennessee is the epitome of a “talking points machine”. Rarely, do I hear her speak without the ever-present: “the American People”, jargon from the GOP. How can the GOP speak for the “American People” when it is composed of 92% whites and little diversity beyond that census. Are we to believe that congressionals and surrogates like Blackburn go into African-American, Latino, and Asian communities for interaction and dialog about their opinions, wants and in some cases needs? Personally, I have never experienced a case where the woman as partner in heading a household did not work. Second, it seems the issue evolves around a matter of perspective. I have never lived in or know anyone who lives in a world where the income was so high the mother was not forced to work. Better, yet many women have professional careers and it is almost a natural that after decades they have begun to show as major bread winners. Women are attending college at a higher rate than men, and women generally attain higher grade levels than men. Therefore I ask, why is the Pew Research study generating alarm in conservative America and in the media.
As I completed the last sentence, I initiated a quick Google search of “women Vs. men” in college. In .58 seconds Google returned 165,000,000 hits. Of course, most are not directly related to the search, but the salient point is the topic is well archived and readily available for review. The first four Google links are posted below.
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I again ask, why is this even an issue? It is a rhetorical question, but would you like an answer anyway? Women working outside of the household is yet another issue born of conservative regressivism and their desire for a society with only the white heterosexual male as beings of true relevance and significance.
Would conservatives expect the graduating women, and women who are forced out of the household due to poor economic policy to refrain from earning money to sustain life for their families? On the other hand, the GOP has well worn mantra related to SNAP food programs for the needy (AKA food stamps).
There is yet another dynamic related to the increasing number of households headed by women. It is hard to imagine the huge number of job losses in 2007, 2008 and early 2009 are not having impact on the number of women as major bread winner.
Media Matters may have addressed the issue long ago, as part of deeper discussion of Mitt Romney’s claim that women disproportionately lose jobs under Obama. As is the case with all Romney comments, the words were yet another campaign lie. And of course, FoxPEN’s Steve Doocy (Linked via Media Matters) would follow suit by matter of network policy. As you read this short excerpt from the Media Matters piece, think about the number of men who may never have recovered jobs at the levels of their previous employment, if they have actually secured a job.
CNN: “Since February 2010, Women Have Actually Gained 863,000 Jobs.” CNN reported that employment among women has actually increased by 863,000 jobs since February 2010:
[T]he statistic does not reflect that men constituted a much larger chunk of the job loss pie in the year leading up to Obama’s inauguration.
In the 2008 calendar year, men lost a total of 2.7 million nonfarm jobs, compared with 895,000 jobs lost for women. Men made up 75.4% of the 3.6 million jobs lost that year.
Romney’s claim also does not reflect that the job losses for women began in March 2008, almost a full year before Obama took office. At that point, women held a total of 67.3 million nonfarm payroll jobs, the highest level of female employment of the Bush administration.
From that high point, the number of women with nonfarm payroll jobs fell for 23 consecutive months, spanning from the final 10 months of the Bush administration and first 13 months of the Obama administration. Since February 2010, women have actually gained 863,000 jobs. [CNN.com, 4/11/12]
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The image is very revealing in many ways. It seems to be an imaged reality of the mindset for the regressive GOP and conservative America.
Marsha Blackburn? The Meet The Press panel discussed n the topic from a somewhat light-hearted perspective. I will ad appropriately so as the topic should not warrant deep societal and psycho-conservative dogma.
During the Meet The Press segment, Blackburn moves through her talking-points as if a spokesperson for women. After a brief introduction into the reality of the Paycheck Fairness Act, Blackburn seems to turn her rhetorical dogma to issues of affirmative action.
Her soliloquy starts at the 1:00 minute mark of the 2:23 minute segment. While she relinquished the dialog for a moment, she reverted to her usual non-stop talking-points dominance about topics that were not part of the dialog. The Pew Research Study did not focus on vestiges of affirmative action, nor did anyone ask Blackburn her thoughts of ‘nonrecognition‘ of women in the workplace.
By the way, didn’t Blackburn join all members of the GOP House in voting against the Paycheck Fairness Act? Alas, the reason she may have wanted to deflect the dialog away from paycheck fairness and women as primary “breadwinners.”
The Pardu's Scroll 
