My name is Catherine Morgan, I'm a writer, nurse, mother, and founder of "The Political Voices of Women". This is a blog dedicated to inform and educate the voting public through articles, ideas, and links. It's also a way of giving myself a voice, rather than just sitting back and watching politics and my opinion go by.
--- I am now also at the Care2 Election Blog.
There seems to be a lot of confusion over whether or not John McCain is pro-choice or pro-life. Why is that? Up until a few hours ago, I would have said I thought he was pro-choice. Maybe it has something to do with . . .
To start with, the candidates didn’t want to do a full two hour debate, so MSNBC agreed to cut it down to an hour and a half. I was tremendously disappointed with this decision. Well, not really (I was actually fighting off a happy dance). Sorry, I guess I kind of have a love/hate relationship with these debates.
Overall, it wasn’t a bad debate. Who won??? Some are saying McCain (I think he falls on the economy, and he outright lied about a statement he made on the economy), some say Huckabee (I did like his explanation of the fair tax), and others are saying Romney (even though they says he’s a flip-flopper, he seems like he has a strong message on the economy). Ron Paul didn’t get a lot of time, but he did make some good points. Interestingly enough, no one seemed to think Giuliani was the winner (I would have to agree). I’m not so sure who the winner was, but I think it could have been Hillary (they actually talked about her tonight more than anything else).
There was obviously a conscious effort not to attack and fight with each other. The Republicans were definitely playing nice tonight, I know that probably disappointed the pundits, but it made me happy.
Here are some other interesting spots to check out…
Mitt Romney scored his first major primary victory Tuesday in his native Michigan, a win he desperately needed to give his weakened candidacy new life and set the stage for a wide-open Republican showdown in South Carolina in just four days.
BlogHer’s Election 2008 coverage was created in response to the terrific enthusiasm this community demonstrated while developing our non-partisan 2008 Voter Manifesto, twelve policy questions American women have about health care, Iraq, the economy and the environment.
Frankly, however, our political team is confused by the response of presidential candidates to BlogHer, and to some other organizations and blogs by women. For the past six months, BlogHer has invited seven leading presidential candidates — Democratic and Republican, we’re non-partisan — to participate with BlogHer’s influential, passionate community of now 7.6 million techno-savvy women, who write and read thousands of influential blogs. While our editors, Morra Aarons-Mele and Mary Katharine Ham have made in-roads with the campaigns and we do have another year until Election Day, at this point we’ve been told no, both in words and in actions, as have some other women’s blogs and political groups.
And there’s more — what really confuses us is that:
Instead of the presidential candidates, BlogHer has been offered an opportunity to interview two candidate spouses, Ann Romney and Michelle Obama (more in our action timeline below) Just this week, two presidential campaigns (Senators Clinton and Obama) started marketing new Web sites devoted exclusively to women, even specifically to moms. These are the very women who populate BlogHer’s conferences, visit our sites and write the blogs in our ad network. In fact, if they’re trying to reach moms, the majority of BlogHer’s 1,100 BlogHer Ad Network members are mothers, and most blog about that parenting experience! (More detail, including their recruiting letters to women and moms in our action timeline below.)
So our question is, do we want to be marketed to by presidential campaigns or spoken with? And by whom? We think that if they want to get our votes, candidates themselves should answer our questions in the Voter Manifesto. But only if that’s the course this community supports. So — could you please lead us in the right direction by answering these questions and asking your readers to help us too by posting this poll on your blog? We’ll take all our votes and our voices on this poll right to the presidential campaigns.
An interesting topic came up today, and I would really love to know what other people think. If you are a Democrat or Independent who likes Ron Paul, does it make sense to change your party affiliation and vote for him in the primaries?
Let me give you a hypothetical…
Lets say that I am a registered democrat, if I vote in the primaries I am basically voting against one democrat and for another. For the most part, regardless of who wins the democratic nomination (whether they were my pick or not) I will be voting for that person in the 2008 election. I say that not because I am some kind of “drone” to the democratic party, but because I am 90% sure that whoever the democrats put up, I will like better than the Republican.
Now, what if I change my party affiliation to Republican before the primaries and vote for the one Republican candidate that I wouldn’t want to tear my hair out if elected president (in this case Ron Paul)? Then, if Ron Paul does get the Republican nomination, I can actually pay attention to the issues and debates, and vote for the “person” not the “party”, that I think is best for the country.
Pros and cons…
Pro - If Ron Paul gets nominated and wins the presidential election…It still wouldn’t be a “GOP as usual” administration.
Con - You don’t get a say in the nomination of the democratic candidate.
Pro - You will actually feel like you are voting for a person and not a party when it comes to the presidential election.
Con - You could be wasting you vote on someone unelectable (or at least that’s what some people say).
Pro - You can feel like you are making a statement “against” certain Republican candidates, even if Ron Paul doesn’t win the nomination.
Con - The Democratic National Committee would surely frown upon this idea. [I guess that could be a "Pro" disguised as a "Con".]
Okay. So what do you think? If you are a Democrat or an Independent (who likes the fact that Ron Paul isn’t GOP as usual)…Is changing your party affiliation for the primaries a good idea?
*Personally…I don’t know enough about Ron Paul to recommend or not recommend him, and that’s not really what I’m trying to figure out here. I want to know…If a person is already sure they like Ron Paul better than the other Republican presidential candidates, is it smart to change your party affiliation for the primaries? And I guess the same question could be posed of a Republican that thinks one Democratic candidate would be better than another?
I am pleased to announce that our list of women blogging on politics, has today reached over 300. When I started the list only a few weeks ago I had 100 blogs, and now thanks to so much participation by other women bloggers, we now have 316 women political bloggers on the list.
I would like to take this time to thank some of the many bloggers who have helped grow and promote The Political Voices of Women. Now, in no particular order…
Today, Dee from Conservatism With Heart not only promoted the blog and our list, but used her post to send me over 25 links of blogs that were not yet on the list…Single-handedly bringing our list to over 300. Thank you Dee. Dee also posts at Grizzly Groundswell.
Thanks to all of these women (and the one man “opit“), for helping to make The Political Voices of Women the “go to” place for women bloggers, and people who want to know what they’re thinking.
I’m sure that I’ve missed many (and for that I’m sorry), so if you have done a post or added me to your blogroll please leave me a link in comments…And the next time I do a thank-you post, I will be sure to include you.
Why No Healthcare Questions at GOP Debate? — by Catherine Morgan
There were exactly “zero” questions on healthcare at the CNN/YouTube Republican Debate. I find it very disappointing that there were three questions on guns and the IRA, a few on religion, and even one on sports teams…But, squeezing in a healthcare question wasn’t possible? Very disappointing.
Obviously, this is an issue that is not at all important to the Republicans. As a nurse, a mother, and a compassionate member of society…I find the lack of interest in our country’s healthcare crisis by these candidates appalling. There is no way that I will vote for any candidate that does not recognize the seriousness of this problem, or who does not at least have some desire to rectify it. Personally, I believe there are many Republicans that are “compassionately” conservative enough to agree with me.
Just in case you are sick of the debates, but still want to be able to hold your own at the water cooler today…Here is your recap of the CNN/YouTube Republican Debate. Listen to the issues that are of interest to you, and feel free to skip the rest…I wish I could have done that.
Interestingly, there were exactly “zero” questions on healthcare. Maybe they could have considered having one less gun question, and address the issue of healthcare? Nope. Very disappointing. Obviously, this is an issue that is not at all important to the Republicans. As a nurse, a mother, and a compassionate member of society…I find the lack of interest in our country’s healthcare crisis by these candidates appalling.
There is no way that I will vote for any candidate that does not recognize the seriousness of this problem, or who does not at least have some desire to rectify it. Personally, I believe there are many Republicans that are “compassionately” conservative enough to agree with me.
**AS OF TODAY, DECEMBER 6TH…I WILL BE UPDATING THIS LIST HERE (I’ve managed to have three lists, keeping them all up to date is becoming too time consuming). SO, FOR THE MOST UP TO DATE LIST GO HERE. Thanks.
Answering the question…Where are all the women political bloggers? I decided to take some time today and surf the Internet for as many women blogging on politics that I could find. The refreshing thing about women political bloggers is their diversity. Now, in no particular order, here are over 100 women political bloggers and blogs.
UPDATE: We now have over 250 275 women bloggers on this list. Thanks to everyone sending me links, keep them coming.
We know that women slightly outnumber men online. But at least anecdotally, it seems as if more men are on the political blogs, writing specifically about politics, reading about politics and putting in their two cents in the comments sections. Did you notice how many more men compared to women submitted videos for the Democratic YouTube debate in July? The pool of videos for the upcoming Republican YouTube debate is similarly stocked with more men.
Women In Media & News, a media analysis, education and advocacy group, works to increase women’s presence and power in the public debate. WIMN’s POWER Sources Project provides journalists with a diverse network of female experts.
List is now in alphabetical order. If you would like something added to your link, or you would like your blog added to this list…just say so in comments. Thanks.
This morning I received an email from my favorite BlogHer political contributing editor, Morra Aarons. She pointed me in the direction of 10 Questions, to check out a video question that is getting a lot of attention…
Ann Coulter Continues Her Diarrhea of the Mouth…Insulting Jews, Women, and Political Bloggers.
While I was putting together my YouTube video recap of the democratic debate last night…I had the misfortune of coming across another interview of Ann Coulter having diarrhea of the mouth. Nothing unusual for Ann. Of course she is given an opportunity to apologize for her hateful remarks about the Jewish faith, but she instead continue her rant, with her “perceived” superiority (Ann is a “profit” in her own mind…a delusional one at that).
Anyway, here is her YouTube “diarrhea of words”, where in the first few minutes she also insults women…Particularly women such as myself, who dare to blog about the “godless” political party of the democrats.
She says that the big story is…”the left wing blogosphere we keep hearing about and code pink lunatics…are they just irrelevant and gutless traitors?”
O.k. — I have know idea what a “code pink lunatic” is, but I’m sure it has something to do with the whole being a godless liberal Coulter delusion.
Part one…
Quick example of the Ann Coulter delusional mind-set…
[As Ann sits at the right hand of The Father, he declares to her, his republican party affiliation.] Of course, how else would she be able to channel God through her best selling books. Unless she’s sitting at the right hand of the “other guy”…more likely if you ask me.
Bill O’Reilly says that all teachers are left-wingers, he also says FOX News is fair and balanced. I’m thinking he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. I put a post on Bill’s latest “crazy talk” on my new site The Political Voices of Women.
It just occurred to me that Bill O’Reilly and Ann Coulter would make a great couple…as long as they use birth-control.
