DownWithTyranny!: Real Men Stand Up For Women When They're Attacked, Right?

I hope you caught our live blogging session with North Carolina Rep. Patsy Keever yesterday at Crooks and Liars. If you can't read this question and answer, please click on the image to blow it up:

Generally, we've been encouraging people to fight the Republican War Against Women by contributing to the campaigns of progressive women like Keever-- as well as Darcy Burner (WA), Ann Kuster (NH), Carol Shea-Porter (NH) and Franke Wilmer (MT). But all the Blue America candidates, men and women, are committed to fighting this right-wing claptrap-- and fighting it hard. Even a relative moderate like Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley is outraged by the GOP diversion away from a jobs agenda and into the socially divisive crap, targeting women. "Right now," Braley told his supporters, "a war is being waged on women-- on their health care, their reproductive choices, and their bodies. This radical assault is being fought on the radio waves, in state capitols across the country, and in the halls of Congress."

Right now, right-wing extremists in Washington want to turn back the clock on women's health and safety. Republicans want to pass laws prescribing health care to women based on religious and political beliefs. But these private decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor-- not a Washington politician.

You've probably heard about the all-male Congressional birth control panel – the one that refused to allow a courageous young female student, Sandra Fluke, to testify. Then, a few days later, right-wing misogynist and radio host Rush Limbaugh called her names I won't repeat because my mom gets these emails. Seriously, it was sickening.

And it's not only Rush Limbaugh who's taking up arms against women. Republicans in Congress are cutting funding to Planned Parenthood, one of the country's top providers of preventative services, like pap smears and breast exams. And they're attempting to deny women access to contraception and other reproductive services.

And to rub salt in the wound, I just heard that Republicans are planning to oppose the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act. I just can’t believe how extreme their agenda has become.

We can't stand for this kind of political posturing and disgusting discourse. We need to make sure Republicans don't turn back the clock.

Today for the first time anywhere you're reading that two of the progressive champions Blue America is sponsoring-- Rob Zerban (D-WI) and Dr. Lee Rogers (D-CA)-- will be campaigning together against two of the Republicans' most persistent warriors against women. (Stay tuned for details.) And if you don't understand how Ryan and McKeon, powerful senior GOP committee chairs, respectively Budget and Armed Services, are waging war against women, Lee explained it succinctly today for his neighbors in southern California when Ryan's budget came out:

Not only have the Republicans assaulted women by fighting to allow employers to withhold vital women's health services, like oral contraception, but now they have doubled-down on their attacks on Medicare. Rep. Buck McKeon just praised Rep. Paul Ryan's new budget plan which ends Medicare as an entitlement and thrusts seniors to the private insurers without caps on premiums. Women live longer than men, and care at the end of life is expensive. I don't want to see a wave of estate bankruptcies to pay off end of life care, when Medicare would have protected them. McKeon wants to use money that would have gone to seniors healthcare to, instead, avoid the slow down in the defense budget, so he can reward his defense industry campaign financiers.

Another candidate, Trevor Thomas in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who's running against right-wing extremist Justin Amash, made the same connection. He's pretty pissed off and took some time out from hammering Amash on jobs, the #1 issue he wants the election to be about.

Republicans in Congress have been doing everything they can to deny women access to healthcare, the right to choose and have now put women at risk to increased violence. I’ve had enough-- that’s why I am running for Congress to be a voice for women’s access to quality and safe healthcare.

I am the only Pro-Choice candidate running and I own it. I face a Democratic opponent who would side with Republicans attacks on Choice. We know we cannot beat a Republican by challenging him with a conservative Democrat who stands against access to healthcare, we need a champion for our Values.

Just when you thought the attack could not get any worse, the news is reporting that Republicans in Congress will oppose re-authorizing the Violence Against Women Act!

This crucial law provides services including

• Community violence prevention programs

• Protections for victims who are evicted from their homes because of events related to domestic violence or stalking

• Funding for victim assistance services, like rape crisis centers and hotlines

• Programs and services for victims with disabilities

• Legal aid for survivors of violence

Speaker Boehner and the Republicans in Congress deserve to know that we will not stand by while they work to attack women and put their lives in danger with their disgusting agenda.