Taliban Dan Has A Point Of View On Women's Issues-- It's Toxic

A friend of mine, a distinguished author, has a new book out and he was invited to be a guest on Bill Maher's TV show. His book is about the dangers inherent in the new breed of America's far right. The book is available at the DWT bookstore and I hope you'll buy it. It's called American Taliban and it may be a tiny bit abstract for some people who might be better off just reading David Broder columns in the Washington Post instead. Anyway, the distinguished author invited me to come along to the show and I want to go to be supportive of him and, although I don't get HBO at home, I'll always appreciate Bill Maher for how he helped us all to understand exactly who Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor is. But the other day Maher jumped on the Village bandwagon which has been pulled along by John Stewart and Anderson Cooper, the former uncharacteristically intellectually sluggish and the latter very much characteristically intellectually sluggish. I've sworn off Stewart's show for the remainder of the election cycle and I always opt for the emotionally and intellectually void HGTV over Cooper anyway.

Each joined in on the attack against Alan Grayson because you just NO DONT SAY another fine American is Taliban. You don't? I do. Daniel Webster is part of the American Taliban and he and they are a danger to America-- a very, very real danger, probably ten times more dangerous than the actual Afghanistan Taliban (not counting the clear and present danger to the U.S. troops occupying their country). That's why we call him Taliban Dan. It doesn't mean he has one eye like Mullah Omar or that he dresses like an Af or uses the Pashtunwali code of honor. Like I said, sometimes things are a tiny bit more abstract. Just a tiny bit.

Although a sharp cookie like Ed Schultz had no problem understanding the point, Grayson decided to make it easier for John Stewart, Bill Maher, Anderson Cooper-- good luck-- and The Villagers in general. He even had the sages at Politifact and FactCheck.org give the new, less abstract ad their blessing in advance. The ad is up top and these are the facts:

FACT: Daniel Webster "would force victims of rape and incest to bear their attacker's child.”

FACT: Daniel Webster “sponsored a bill to create a form of marriage that would trap women in abusive relationships."  

FACT: Daniel Webster "is an advocate for a group that teaches that mothers should not work outside the home."

Watch as Webster tries repeatedly to dodge questions about his horrible record on women’s issues. 

Since the new ad began airing this week, Daniel Webster has flat-out refused to be interviewed by reporters on multiple occasions.

“Career politician Daniel Webster hopes that if he closes his eyes to his own awful record, it will go away. Well, it won't. Now we know why Webster hesitated so long to run for Congress-- even Webster himself can't defend what he has done during his 28 years in office. Webster thinks that if he stays silent on his record, no one else will say anything either, and reporters and voters will quit asking about it.  What an insult,” said Congressman Grayson.

I'm going to go to Maher's show next week and, if I get the opportunity, I'll try to talk with him about why he messed up so badly when it came to the Taliban Dan ad. Meanwhile, let's keep up our efforts to get Grayson's back because there are only two possible results on November 3-- either America's best congressman is still in office or we have a member of the American Taliban representing Orlando, Florida, trying to figure out how to legislate his extremist religious views-- like stoning disobedient women and children (and obedient gays)-- just like he tried doing when he was in the Florida legislature.

Meanwhile, the National Organization for Women (NOW) endorsed Alan Grayson for reelection today, calling him a champion for women's issues and reminding voters that Daniel Webster "would significantly delay or turn back women's advancement if elected" and that he has a long history of fighting against women's issues.

Webster, who was a member of the Florida Legislature for 28 years, sponsored a bill in 1990 that would have established covenant marriage and prevented divorce for people married under the program except in cases of adultery. He also voted against legislation to prevent health insurers from considering domestic violence to be a preexisting condition.

In the 1990s, Webster reportedly said he opposed abortion in all cases including those involving incest and rape.

"We'll be set back 20 years if he's elected," Slutiak said.

More like 2,000 years! Isn't that when they were into the idea of stony disobedient women, still advocated by Webster's guru, Bill Gothard.