“If President Obama is reelected on November 6th, it will be primarily because he ran against Mitt Romney. It he were running unapposed, 2012 would be a very tough fight for him.” – Mark Shields, “The News Hour”
HAPPY WOMEN’S EQUALITY DAY, which on the eve of the Republican convention doesn’t seem like such a silly thing to celebrate anymore.
The quote above from Mark Shields is as sobering as it is true and this is part of the reason:
“Obama is the conservative reformist of my dreams. #ToryPOTUS” – Andrew Sullivan (via Twitter)
Pres. Obama as the “conservative reformist,” doesn’t that say it all?
Obama’s conservatism is something I’ve been writing about for years. It’s created more disaffected progressives and liberals than any other aspect of the Obama presidency, because this foundation bleeds through it.
What it means if Romney-Ryan wins and sweeps in a Republican Congress is something every person thinking or having decided to vote third party has likely thought about long and hard.
Every modern American woman, as well as the men who love us, will benefit from the reproductive health care options now available through Obamacare. It’s part of Obama’s economic plan that focuses on women, as is the Lily Ledbetter Act and pay equity, all of which Republicans oppose.
There are other candidates who represent women’s equally as well, Jill Stein and Rocky Anderson both do, even Gary Johnson supports women’s equal right to self-determination, something today’s Republicans fight against at all levels, though on entitlements and our government’s role in a modern society Johnson is delusional.
Women and feminist men sick of the Democratic-Republican seesaw that has gotten us nowhere will weigh the reality about to play out in Tampa, Florida this week. The answer they come up with begins with evaluating the third party candidates and the power they lack to get into a position to affect change by winning in November. This stacks up against the the antipathy they have towards the buying of the presidency, while thinking about what Todd Akin Republican policies would mean for women. It’s a tough intellectual endeavor, because in the end they’re voting for a candidate who can’t break through, because the voting system in our country is set up this way on purpose.
Keeping candidates like Jill Stein, Rocky Anderson, as well as Gary Johnson, on the outside looking feckless, impotent and unimportant, while Democrats promote women’s right and Republicans promote women’s bondage to government or the state. So what do feminists of either gender do if they can’t bring themselves to support the broken system? Some will eventually give in, which is understandable, and others will continue to fight for change no matter the cost, which is noble. However, the movement and activism for alternatives beyond Democrats and Republicans must get larger, louder and more effective, or the supporters of third party candidates will end up hurting women’s equality in the end.
If Republicans prevail in 2012, what will that mean for women’s equality?
Maybe Americans have to see their anti-women agenda enacted before it’s understood?
Or perhaps if Republicans tried to implement their Romney-Ryan-Akin agenda the American people would launch a full scale revolt. Perhaps that’s what’s needed, because what’s going on right now in this country isn’t working, just look at Congress.
At a time when the Republican Party has revealed itself as the Todd Akin brigade, with a foundation of Dick Cheney neoconservatism minus the experience, the possibility that Romney-Ryan-Akin could assume power must vex independent voters, as well as disenchanted progressives, especially those who are high information activists that don’t blow with the wind and are laughed at and derided by Democrats and Republicans for daring to think outside the corporate party system. However, the passion of independent voters to reject the very system that has a stranglehold on better candidates prevailing, stronger policies being implemented, and a Congress being elected that isn’t in place to applaud the Executive Branch if he is one of their own, is no less important than the partisan’s goal to re-elect Pres. Obama because of what looms for women’s rights if he doesn’t prevail.
But what about the people who are against the American foreign policy currently on tap, with Republicans and Democrats representing the same type of militarism and Pentagon profligacy, with a drone war thrown in here and there? What do people do if they’re disgusted by the Obama administration’s lack of prosecutorial heft where Wall Street is concerned? That Democrats continue to ignore the plight of the poor while Republicans think the disadvantaged just need longer bootstraps?
Anyone committed to not voting for the big two corporate parties, for which no one can blame them, continues to carry the heaviest burden, because for our democratic republic to carry on as usual has proven not to be the answer, but looking at the alternative prospect this year remains a harrowing alternative to envision for women’s rights. It’s why the Democratic convention will be an anthem to this issue and should be, because they own it.
The stakes are high on all sides. People want more than just a contest between Obama and Romney, with the only way to get that being for more people to demand it by sending a message with their vote.
Yet on this Women’s Equality Day in 2012, we all face the prospect of the Republican Party and its Todd Akin platform being implemented, which has to give all voters pause.
How badly do American women need Barack Obama and the Democratic Party’s commitment to advancing women’s full equality? When you look at Romney-Ryan the answer screams out, but considering what you’d be voting for if you decide to vote against the Republican Party’s vision for women, the choice remains complicated.
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release August 24, 2012
WOMEN’S EQUALITY DAY, 2012
- – - – - – -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION
On Women’s Equality Day, we mark the anniversary of our Constitution’s 19th Amendment, which secured the right to vote for America’s women. The product of profound struggle and fierce hope, the 19th Amendment reaffirmed what we have always known: that America is a place where anything is possible and where each of us is entitled to the full pursuit of our own happiness. We also know that the defiant, can-do spirit that moved millions to seek suffrage is what runs through the veins of American history. It remains the wellspring of all our progress. And nearly a century after the battle for women’s franchise was won, a new generation of young women stands ready to carry that spirit forward and bring us closer to a world where there are no limits on how big our children can dream or how high they can reach.
To keep our Nation moving ahead, all Americans — men and women — must be able to help provide for their families and contribute fully to our economy. That is why I have made supporting the needs and aspirations of women and girls a top priority for my Administration. From signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act into law and creating the White House Council on Women and Girls to combatting sexual assault and promoting women’s economic and political empowerment at home and abroad, we have worked to ensure women have the opportunities they need and deserve at every stage of their lives. As women around the world continue to fight for their seat at the table, my Administration will keep their interests at the core of our policy decisions — and we will join them every step of the way.
Today, women are nearly 50 percent of our workforce, the majority of students in our colleges and graduate schools, and a growing number of breadwinners in their families. From business to medicine to our military, women are leading the fields that were closed off to them only decades ago. We owe that legacy of progress to our mothers and aunts, grandmothers and great-grandmothers — women who proved not only that opportunity and equality do not come without a fight, but also that they are possible. Even with the gains we have made, we still have work to do. As we mark this 92nd anniversary of the 19th Amendment, let us reflect on how far we have come toward fully realizing the basic freedoms enshrined in our founding documents, rededicate ourselves to closing the gaps that remain, and continue to widen the doors of opportunity for all of our daughters and sons.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim August 26, 2012, as Women’s Equality Day. I call upon the people of the United States to celebrate the achievements of women and recommit to realizing gender equality in this country.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.
BARACK OBAMA
Great post, Taylor. As you know, I’ve been thinking about this
Broadly speaking, but certainly including women’s equality, from my “working from the outside” the Duopoly perspective, one fundamental question is about the “when.” One huge contributing factor in the continuing and extraordinary power of the corporate parties is that there are always substantive arguments about “now” not being a good time to challenge the system, from inside or outside. The “we must win THIS election” argument is always present, and can always be made (sometimes more easily than others) by contrasting the two parties, certainly in what they say, and to varying extents and at different times, on what they actually do. And such contrasting is important. But of course, when the focus is always on the current election, the Electorate is always stuck with the same two choices from the same corporate system.
Breaking this cycle will, as I know I repeatedly say, require both inside and outside actions. Outside agitators have a huge job in finding ways to make their voices heard and be seen as “relevant.” At the same time, unless the Inside agitators are serious about actual changes, and are serious about acting in that direction, the only “change” we’ll see is more of the same, as defined by the Electeds — just enough to get through the current election and anticipate the next. It’s the status quo system that’s at the heart of the Duopoly understanding of “change,” not women’s rights, or those related to LGBTs, immigration, health care, poverty, jobs, housing, etc.
I know you have, Joyce.
Appreciate it, and I’m so proud to have you continually pushing on your end on this as well. Your voice has added a lot of context.
Yeah, it’s an all hands on deck situation.
The teabaggers have been able to change the Republican party from the inside into the full blown shit house rat crazy repugnantklan party we see today.
From the inside. Dems need to do the same thing.
“Maybe Americans have to see their anti-women agenda enacted before it’s understood?”
Is this what Americans really want? This pushes us further back than the 50′s. I don’t understand those women who blithely support Romney/Ryan knowing what’s at stake.
I’m going to have a very difficult time this election. I have no clue how I’m going to vote because for the first time in more than 50 plus years of voting I will be voting as an Independent. The question has even come up – am I going to throw away my franchise by not voting? That in itself is a scary thought because of the struggle women went through to get the vote. I could never vote Republican because I just don’t believe in what they stand for and never have. They are reactionary and have no view to the future. The Democratic Party once was a party that was able to articulate and implement many of the policies now in place. I don’t recognize that party today and I suppose it’s because there are so many “blue dogs” who I really consider Republican. But most of all I feel it is because of our president who I feel as betrayed us big time.
Great post, Taylor.
Is this what Americans really want? This pushes us further back than the 50′s. I don’t understand those women who blithely support Romney/Ryan knowing what’s at stake. (Jane Austen)
I don’t think the majority of Americans want to revert us back to the 1950′s but we have to accept that there are some women who will blithely, or from religious conviction, or from their dislike of Obama or Dem principles, will sell out their own gender for religious, monetary or just plain ole mean-spirited reasons.
Like I, you’re from NY, Jane and I found out today that the Republicans have decided to run several women in the Senate race against Kirsten Gillibrand. One of whom, Wendy Long, has the support of the Conservative Party in New York and the GOP, of course, who is an attorney but she might as well be Ryan or Akin in a skirt because she believes as they do that abortion should be illegal in all cases: no exceptions for rape or incest or when the woman’s life is in jeopardy.
Of course, she’s a radical capitalist who doesn’t believe in regulations and thinks Dodd-Frank, that middle of the road law which does nothing to address “too big to fail” needs to be overturned.
Here is a NY Times report about her candidacy. http://tinyurl.com/9mbkd2s
Here is paragraph from that report:
“My son was 8 or 9 and he really wanted a gun,” she told me. “It was Christmas and I said to my husband, ‘It’s time for a gun.’ ” Ms. Long had grown up in New Hampshire; her husband, Arthur, a partner at Davis, Polk & Wardwell, spent his childhood in Greenwich Village and was baffled by the notion but acquiesced. As a result, the boy owns a rifle, which resides at a shooting range in Rockland County. Ms. Long has achieved the highest grade the National Rifle Association offers to politicians without voting records on Second Amendment issues.
Lovely. This woman’s husband, also an attorney, was “was baffled by the notion but acquiesced.”. Swell.
She’s against same-sex marriage and like Rick Santorum believes that if same-sex marriage is legalized, it’s the equivalency to a human being marrying an animal. Here is a “charming” bio of her also from the NY Times http://tinyurl.com/9q8un8y
Ms. Long is a strong social conservative who has spoken out against same-sex marriage, saying it could open the door for humans to marry animals. Ms. Long has been linked to a student newspaper at Dartmouth, her alma mater, that mocked gays, blacks and Jews.
Charming, isn’t she.
Her supporters cheered the loudest during the voting process, but some Republicans worried about her electability.
No kidding, Sherlock.
This woman is no Sharron Angle or Christine O’Donnell. She’s a well-educated woman with an impressive CV (resume). She and her family live in Manhattan and she complains that her views are less than welcome in the borough. WTH does she expect with her 1950′s outlook on life.
So, even in NY, the moderate voice is being squashed by the Republicans and Conservative Party which is becoming more influential in this state albeit it’s a Mount Everast climb for them. However, even this small sized influence is disturbing given the extreme positions taken by this group much like the National GOP.
What I find insidious is that the GOP is actively in pursuit of women to run against Dems (women Senators and Representatives) and/or liberal candidates who are every bit as regressive in their beliefs to their own gender. But, the GOP thinks people (read women)won’t be listening closely to what those GOP and uber conservative women believe and will only see a candidate who shares their chromosomes.
Today I contributed to Act Blue which is supporting 5 Dem Women Senate Candidates and I will be campaigning for and voting for Kristen Gillibrand once again to knock the stuffing out of Wendy Long.
I’m going to have a very difficult time this election. I have no clue how I’m going to vote because for the first time in more than 50 plus years of voting I will be voting as an Independent. (Jane Austen)
I’ve given financial support to Jill Stein and as of this writing will most likely be voting for her as Potus. I will also be voting down ticket Dem and today donated via Act Blue to support five women Dems.
There is a big part of me that is scared of the outcome of a Romney/Ryan administration and not only because I’m a woman and a gay person. But, if I do vote for Jill Stein, I’m from NY and my vote will not count as I don’t live in a swing state (more reason to get rid of the Electoral Collage). NY will never choose Romney/Ryan over Obama/Biden so my vote is safe and will take little courage to cast. Unlike the vote of someone in a swing state. So, suffice it to say I’m now collating my decision and although (given the powerlessness of my vote) I am more wont to vote Green, I cannot know for certain what I will do until Nov 6th. I’m just trying to be as honest here as possible.
There is another point I want to make but will do so an another post here as this one is long enough.
We don’t need Obama. Women’s unemployment is higher now than when Bush left office. Women need money.Money is important. With out it, none of these other issues that you are making this campaign about really amount to a hill of beans. The last I checked Abortion is still legal. And you all keep stating that Romney feels about abortion the same way that Todd Akin does and you are spreading lies when you say that. Romney is ok with abortion when it is from rape or incest, or the mother’s life is at stake. So please, vote Obama out. He is bad for women. He only cares about getting himself re-elected. He is a blatant opportunist to the detriment of everyone but himself. He only said same sex marriage was ok just a few months ago. He signed this amnesty thing for illegal aliens’ children, just a few months ago. Have you all forgotten the time frame of these actions? Why did he do these things? because he was desperate and slipping in popularity. If he really felt the way he says he does about these actions, why did he wait so damn long? You are wrong to vote for this man, Obama.
Romney wants us to return to the disastrous Bush policies. There is really no reason to vote for either one of them based on the economy. Both of them are promoting failed supply side economics which have caused a decline in median household income. Here’s the problem, Romney spent the entire primary season pandering to the tea party nuts like Akin so what are we supposed to believe? If he had stayed away from doing all that then you could make a very good case but by picking Ryan as a running mate he has shown that he embraces all that stuff. If he had picked a moderate for a running mate you might have a point. The message that Romney has been sending out by his actions over the last year “i’m with you to the nuts”. Everybody knows that Obama just did that stuff to get votes. You’re not telling anybody here anything new. And then you have to worry that Romney’s real jobs program is war with Iran. Who’s to say he doesn’t buy into the nutty neocon policies of “reinventing the Middle East”?
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*Other than making himself and his investors phenomenally wealthy and hiding
his money outside of the USA to avoid paying taxes, Mitt Romney had ZERO, ZIP,
ZILCH on his resume that proves he can improve the economy and create jobs. In
fact, his involvement at Bain had the opposite effect–closing companies and
killing jobs. So I don’t understand why anyone has any confidence at all the
Romney could do any better than Obama with the economy.
Obama has and to deal with an obstructionist, hostile Republican Congress
whose only goal is to make Obama a one term president. They don’t give a crap
if they lead the country down the tubes while they do it either. in fact want
this country to fail economically so that Obama looks bad. And even though
Obama and the Democrats had a majority for a mere 2 years, they didn’t have
enough of a majority to override a filibuster which the Republicans have uses
over, and over, and over, and over and over again.
Finally, access to abortions and affordable contraception is directly
related to economics for women. It is kind of hard to make ends meet when you
have hungry kids to feed and childcare to pay for.
Do women need Obama? If they want to keep abortion legal and
affordable birth control available, yes they do. If the Republicans get control
of everything, women can kiss control over their bodies goodbye and it will be
sooner than anyone ever imagined.
Ladywalker, there you go making up BS about Romney’s taxes. YOU DON’T KNOW THAT HE HID MONEY OVERSEAS. YOU DON’T KNOW THAT. You have just heard that from your liberal lying media so much, you actually believe. And about Bain?, You don’t know about that either. Have you ever thought that maybe the whole company would go down the crapper and more jobs would have been lost instead of just some, had Romney not been involved??? Again, the liberal lying, nasty, media has you believing so much BS, it’s pathetic.
What I find so unbelievable is that you are all still blaming Bush. Obam has had 3 years to fix this and he CAN’T. We just get deeper and deeper in debt and unemployment and you all want 4 more years of this???? Just f-cking unbelievable.
Even you can’t make a case for voting for Romney only voting against Obama.
You have spent all your time on this site telling us why we shouldn’t vote for Obama, but you have yet to tell us why we should vote for Romney. Please tell us what Romneys plan is to create more jobs? What does he plan to do about medicare ? Seeing as he says he will repeal Obama care, what will he replace it with? Whats his plan for people on unemployment? What plan does he have for education, infrastructure and veterans? How does giving more tax breaks to the wealthy and big corporations help cut the deficit and economy? Last but not least…What is Romneys plan to insure women their rights to control their own bodies and health?
I’ll be waiting for you to spell out Romneys plans on some of these issues, because I haven’t heard one word from Romney.
Angels81..terffic questions. I anxiously await replies….The only things I have heard about Romney’s economic plan is that his tax proposal will raise taxes on the middle class (i.e., ME) and lower taxes for those in his bracket. I need better reasons to vote for him other than “He is not Obama,’ Or “Obama bad….”
I’m posting this here because it’s relevant with the sub-topic at hand “Women’s Equality Day”.
I attended Catholic schools from grammar through my grad degree. I knew many nuns and priests during that time and can give an earful of what I learned and witnessed first hand but this post is not about that. My Catholic university experience was a “horse of a different color” as the hierarchy (as strange as this seems) never proselytized the religion, they just didn’t. Their academic persona was to the forefront in my experience.
So, until this day, I don’t have mixed feelings about the Catholic Church (I don’t agree with the hierarchy and don’t believe that the Pope is the embodiment of Christ on Earth) but I do have mixed feelings about those who dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ.
There are two types of religious men and women who become priests and nuns. There are good and decent priests who don’t harm children, don’t reject homosexuals and don’t think women should be excluded from the clergy and some of those don’t believe that abortion should be banned. And, then there are those who are the opposite.
In regard to nuns, there are those who are more loyal to the parish priest and will protest if you suggest they not as loyal to the teachings of Jesus Christ. They ususally haven’t stopped wearing the Catholic Burka as they are Orthodox conservatives.
And, then there are those nuns who are represented by Sister Simone Campbell from the “Nuns on the Bus” who dedicate their lives to serving the poor and the disenfrancized. These are the women who embody the teachings of Jesus Christ in all of it’s human goodness who practice and live what JC preached.
And, this brings me to the Mitt and Anne Romney ralley in Michigan the other day and covered by Taylor here the other day when Romney supposedly made a joke about his birth certificate saying that “no one has ever asked to see my birth certificate” and so pandering to the worse instincts in the GOP base, the birthers.
When I watched that video, the thing that struck me like a ton of bricks wasn’t so much what Romney said (although I was astounded by his comment but it just added to my dislike of him), what hit me like a ton of bricks was what I saw in the audience. Three Catholic nuns in full nun regalia clapping full force with their hands up in the air clapping at Romney’s birth certificate comment.
Take a look at this video and look in the audience. The three orthodox nuns in their Catholic Burka’s are in the bottom middle of the screen whopping it up as if the Pope was calling out the numbers at a Church bingo game and they all yelled BINGO!
http://tinyurl.com/9o8s4ez
They behave like three stooges. What a disgrace. I highly doubt the Catholic Bishops and the Vatican will say one word to these women for their unseemly behavior unlike their tiresome diatribes to Sister Simone Campbell (who is an attorney as well as a nun) and those other splendid women the ”Nuns on the Bus”.
The inequality here of how one group of women of religious order are singled out for control by the Bishops and the Vatican who are trying to silence them for speaking out against injustice (mostly for the poor and disenfranchised and who are truly living up to the teachings of Jesus Christ) is no different from how the GOP in Congress is trying to control all American women.
*1.”We don’t need Obama. Women’s unemployment is higher now than when Bush
left office.”
The avalanche from the Bush Crime Syndicates raping of America was just starting as Obama took office and you blame him for that? Brilliant!
2.” Women need money.Money is important. With out it, none of
these other issues that you are making this campaign about really
amount to a hill of beans.”
Yeah, women don’t need their rights…just pay em and they’ll shut up
3. The last I checked Abortion is still legal.
And you all keep stating that Romney feels about abortion the same way
that Todd Akin does and you are spreading lies when you say that.”
Technically women still have access to abortion services..however many, many states have enacted such onerous regulatory nonsense that for all practical purposes abortions are unobtainable in much of the country and UNobtainable period for poor women.
4.”
Romney is ok with abortion when it is from rape or incest, or the
mother’s life is at stake.”
Let’s see, his VP pick is in lockstep with Akins…the Repugnantklan/teabagger/UBERChristian platform is in lockstep with Akins. Sure…..Romney is in favor of abortion rights for women legitimately raped huh?
5.”So please, vote Obama out. He is bad for
women.”
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!
6.” He only cares about getting himself re-elected. He is a blatant
opportunist to the detriment of everyone but himself.”
That maybe an arguable point but you haven’t provided any evidence or proof yet.
7.” He only said
same sex marriage was ok just a few months ago.”
Good for him, he did the right thing.
8.” He signed this amnesty
thing for illegal aliens’ children, just a few months ago.”
Good for him, he did the right thing.
8.” Have you all
forgotten the time frame of these actions? “
No, he did the right thing…and?
9.” Why did he do these
things?”
Because he did the right thing.
10.”because he was desperate and slipping in popularity.”
Did you miss the part about he did the right thing?
11.” If he
really felt the way he says he does about these actions, why did he wait
so damn long?”
MAYBE because he had an obstrutionist repugnantklan/teabagger/UBERChristian House trying to block any and everything he attempted to do? maybe because it was politically expedient…So what? he did the right thing.
12.” You are wrong to vote for this man, Obama.”
Because he did the right thing?
If the Republicans take the White House in November we will return to the purgatory that was 8 years of GWBush. Make no mistake about it. Except this time, instead of the VP ruining the country to enrich his friends in the arms and munitions business, we will have a gvt. and vp training their sights on women’s freedom and women’s health and then on entitlements.
If you don’t think voting for Obama is worth it, please engage in a little meditation and remember the recent past.
I strongly dislike Obama, was a Hillary supporter, but with each billionaire funded negative ad campaign against Obama, I am getting closer to actually sending the Obama campaign money, something I swore I would NEVER do.
The most basic issue for those who want to see progress and good done for ordinary people in America is not to throw away your vote when you can vote against the Republicans by voting for someone who can actually win.
It is great to work toward change in our system, but I am not willing to sacrifice my future and young people’s future by letting someone like Paul Ryan get anywhere close to the White House.
Alice,
The recent past includes Obama’s failed policies sinking us lower and lower in to an abyss we may never recover from if he is here for another 4 years. You need to meditate and be a little more openminded. And as for birth control and abortion. It’s not going away with Romney. So please, let’s make this about the reality that this economy sucks and is only getting worse with Obama in office.
“So please, let’s make this about the reality that this economy sucks and is only getting worse with Obama in office.”
Let’s make this about reality?!!!!! FROM YOU?!!!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Reality is the repugnantklan/teabagger/UBERChristian mob has been waging economic warfare against the American public for three years. Please learn a new tune. This particular spewing of male bovine fecal matter is just to tedious….even from you.
As for Mitt da Twit…easy enough to shut everyone up about him and his dodging taxes…show us the returns.
Women need Obama very much. Like many others, I was a Hillary supporter, but this election is not about that. It is about whether we will have a president who supported the Lilly Ledbetter Act and Paycheck Fairness, cared about making insurance costs fairer for women than in the past, supported help for small business owners and women in that group in particular, and continuously supports a woman’s right to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy, a right that speaks to continued recognition of women’s equal right to self-determination and respect for women as equal persons.
Romney Romney has publicly stated commitment to overturning Roe v Wade and ending Planned Parenthood – he perhaps meant only to end federal support for PP, and perhaps meant an end to PP altogether. He did not state support for the Lilly Ledbetter Act of Paycheck Fairness, which Ryan did not support.
Romney made a statement at a town hall meeting in October 2011 to the effect that he supported a state personhood at conception amendment and states deciding on the abortion issue themselves. He did not understand that this could ban certain forms of hormonal contraception. On Huckabee, he indicated that he would support a personhood at conception amendment like that on the ballot in Mississippi and the context seemed to me to be federal congressional. Such an amendment would of course ban abortion even for rape victims and a woman’s health. Now, he says he supports exceptions for rape, incest, and the woman’s life. However, he puts Paul Ryan on the ticket, who has cointroduced a personhood at conception bill and other anti-abortion legislation at the federal level, and the Republican Party will go on having its outrageous anti-abortion plank without exceptions for rape, incest, or even the life of the pregnant woman.
Obama’s plan for taxes would continue the needed relief for the middle class that could stimulate the economy and would not overburden the wealthy, and his support for education would restore some of the education jobs that women lost through government job cuts. Obama has presided over an economy with virtually straight though admittedly too slow job growth for many months once the effect of the Bush crash ended, and he himself said when first running for president that it would take more than one term and even more than one president to fix the economy because he was honest. Economists recognize that his approach is more realistic than that of the Republicans. The main reason the growth has not picked up pace is the weird right-wing extremists people voted for in 2010 because they were impatient and even fooled by the Republican Party.
Romney will ruin life for women in the US, deprive them of the dignity of self-determination, and his friends will try to drive them back to domestic life of 50 years ago. This year, if a woman does not vote for Obama even if she prefers Gary Johnson, she’s completely crazy. If only these extreme misogynistic Republicans lose, there will be time enough in the future for third parties, as the RP will come apart at the seams and re-form at last.