Rachel,

GOP’s Anti-Obama Campaign

Robert Draper's book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives" exposed that the GOP made plans on the evening of Obama’s inauguration, to sabotage his Presidency through subversion. While it infuriates me that what may well have been one of the greatest Presidencies in our history was purposely trashed for political gain, these actions have also caused irreparable harm to the nation’s economy and to the lives of millions of Americans.

This cannot simply be brushed it off as “Politics being Politics”. People’s lives were destroyed and possibly lives lost by bills being blocked that could have prevented people from losing their homes, their jobs and their health insurance. Bills that could have stimulated job growth and stabilized the economy were blocked simply to prevent Obama’s success. While some were committed to passing laws to bring the country out of the economic collapse, the others were committed to prevent that from happening.

The nation has been divided by a continuous barrage of Right Wing hate, lies and fear
mongering like no time since the Civil War just to forward this GOP policy.

An article in Daily Kos, “Darrell Issa: Hold Hearings To "Expel" Ryan, Cantor & Other GOP Who Plotted To Undermine U.S Economy” , is calling for a Congressional investigation to expel those who participated in the plot to undermine the US economy. I believe there is enough evidence, even if it’s the just the overwhelming volume of circumstantial evidence, to get this accomplished. If the GOP wins this election, Koch-ALEC wins this election. I don’t believe we can afford to let this happen!

And why is the MSM and even most of the internet blogs conspicuously silent on this conspiracy, or is Google blocking the search results?

MVP730

Is anyone else concerned about the Ron Paul followers trying their best to steal delegates? The primary process may not be perfect, but it is an example of democracy at work.

Rachel,

I very much enjoy how you keep your cool so well in these kinds of situations. Bravo!

Rachel, your new navy blue high-lapel blazer is very nice. (I want one!)

I am an engineer, and a woman. I do know that men that do the same job that I do get paid more. That has always been the case. I work as many if not more hours than many of these men. But I don't play golf. And I can't complain, or they will find a way to get rid of me.

Division of labor across all industries is not split equally across gender lines.

According to the Department of Education, just 18 percent of 2008-2009 college graduates in computer and information sciences and support services were women.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-201204170945usnewsusnwr201204120412techwomenapr17,0,1418816.story

To say the 77 cents on the dollar pay gap is solely due to discrimination sounded flimsy without citing the studies behind it. That isn't to say discrimination doesn't happen, just use a more solid study:

... The Health Affairsstudy on the pay gap between newly-trained male and female physicians is just such a study, demonstrating conclusively that:

1. The gender gap in physician salaries is not related to specialty choice or work hours. No matter where women are choosing to work (solo practice vs. hospital, city vs. rural), which specialty they choose to work in or how many patient care hours per week they sign up for, women physicians earn less than their male counterparts. According to the lead author, the authors of this study “honestly tried everything we could to make [the trend] go away, but it wouldn’t.”

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/02/gender-gap-physician-salaries.html

That one drives a point home.

I am a woman engineer. Most of the male engineers who do the same job make more money. It has always been this way. I work as many hours as they do, or more. But I don't play golf, and I don't sit around and brag about the kind of car I drive, so I am not part of their club. And I can't complain, because if I do, they will find a way to get rid of me. And, please, before anyone tries to tell me differently, I always get the top rating, so my lower pay isn't about performance.

I watched this segment yesterday on Meet the Press and was totally appalled. Not only was Dr. Maddow accused of being a "fact-deficient emotionally driven 'girl'," but the constant interruptions were obviously designed to shut her down.

PoliticusUSA did a nice piece on it this morning, and it's worth the read. The last two links concern the very real gender gap in pay, with the last from a Stanford study that shows 41% of the gap is unexplained, despite the Republican denial and cherry picked 'facts' offered in the segment.

http://www.politicususa.com/rachel-maddow-war-on-women.html

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/04/pay_gap_infographic.html

http://www.stanford.edu/group/scspi/_media/pdf/key_issues/gender_research.pdf

The American Community Survey is really useful to track down the earnings differences among men and women. See it at http://www.census.gov/acs/www/ and then click on "income and earnings" to start finding relevant data.

But the issue is a lot more complex than that. There are some legitimate reasons why men and women earn different salaries, and Castellano inadvertently hit on one (though he obviously did not mean to). Women sometimes (not always) work fewer hours than men, because they are the ones in two-parent families who often assume the responsibility of being home when kids return from school.

Another reason is based upon personal choices. Castellano was (I hope) just being disingenuous when he implied that women don't get into fields like engineering because of innate talents. But if you look at some fields (like say, medicine), women cluster to certain parts of the profession in higher proportions-- like ob/gyn or pediatrics-- compared to other fields, like say neurosurgery. This does not mean that men don't go into pediatrics or women into neurosurgery-- it just says that the numbers are not 50/50 in those fields. As it happens, ob/gyn and pediatrics tend to earn less than other medical specialties. As well, more women are in HMO offices rather than in an independent practice. Both of these decisions, based upon personal choice and individual circumstance, could partially explain a pay discrepancy that is not based on any inherent problem with discrimination.

However, I was also under the impression that when you compare men in nearly every occupation to women in the same occupation, and assuming that both have been working for the same length of time under the same conditions, that there is still a discrepancy in pay that nobody can explain. My impression is that this was the basis for the Lilly-Ledbetter Fair Pay Act-- so it might be wise to couple income data with very specific cases that would illustrate this trend.

There are two unpleasant developments that have appeared in the last couple of years that I find deeply troubling: the rise of voter suppression laws and the Michigan emergency manager law. Both merit much more attention from the Justice department than they seem to be getting. Even more curious is the silence of the ACLU. Does anyone have any encouraging information on these two concerns?

Re: Sunday's Meet the Press

Here is the main takeaway: Obama presided over the economic recovery of women.

According to Castellanos, women do not make less than men, in fact they make more than men.

But every study I've ever seen says that women make less than men doing the same work.

The only conclusion, then, is that ever since Obama took office and passed the Lily Ledbetter act, women have caught up with, and even passed, men.

Thank you, Mr. Obama. Thank you, Democractic House and Senate.

And thank you, Mr. Castellanos, for bringing this success to our attention.

When I was promoted to VP, my salary was far less than the male VPs in similar fields. However, my education, experience, reputation - in my field and in my company nationally - far surpassed the male VPs. I was told that it was because I was not the "breadwinner" in my family. I am married to an attorney...therefore, he was the "breadwinner". (We didn't sue - I quit and started my own successful business!)

This old boys' school idea that married women should make less than their male counterparts is bull! This old boys' school idea that any woman should make less than a man for doing the same job is bull!

And please tell Rachel - Thanks for standing up for us! Even though you were talked over, talked down to, and mocked - your message came through! Thanks!

Rachel,

Thank you so much for appearing on MTP, I for one would never be able to stay so cool during a discussion with Alex. The mere fact of the interruptions would have "sent me of the deep end" and I would have ended up loosing it. Thank goodness we have someone as level headed as yourself to represent the Democratic policy issues and women in general.

Once again, thank you.

"You're manufacturing a political crisis" REALLY? No, I mean REALLY!!! This is an economic crisis for women. Let's get the numbers on single parent households headed by men! I am sick of the patronizing attitude of these men! Damn straight I am getting emotional-something wrong with that!

I'm repeating this post in case some of you missed it. Great stuff. Photo's of Maddow's bar at the MSNBC party after the White House Correspondents' Dinner: 45, 48, 50, 51, 53, 54, 58, 59, 60, 61.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/29/white-house-correspondents-dinner-2012-parties-msnbc_n_1462715.html

Rachel on Meet the Press, after Alex Castellanos denies women are paid less and actually says they are paid more because the work less hours. " It is about policy and I love how passionate you are. I wish you were as right about what you’re saying as you are passionate about it. I really do.

Rachel contains herself stating, "That’s really condescending. My passion on this issue, is actually me making a factual argument on it."

WOW, my 14 yr old daughter & I cheered when we heard you, very professionally and intelligently, call him out! Thank you and thank you for coming to Wisconsin...we could have stayed there a few more hours. Such a brilliant, warm, and intelligent women!

Obama and voter ID laws.

Isn't this something that he (and the Democrats in Washington) should have been addressing a YEAR ago?

If they lose, and these laws are the reason, they have no one to blame but themselves. Do they EVER learn?

Rachel, on Saturday the 28th, across the nation, women got together to show their anger at the GOP for the chipping away of women's rights. There was almost no media coverage about the event. Given the amount of coverage these laws that are being discussed/passed are getting, I find it disheartening that almost no one bothered to even give the rallies even a brief mention. I know you have been covering these laws for weeks now. If you could have your research team do a little web surfing and mention it, it would be great. There will be more marches to come.

Here is one of the very few official articles that I found about the rally in VT: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012120428018

Why are the Republicans blaming the Democrats for the war on women when it is Republican held states that are making and passing all these laws? Really is so agravating.

I felt a little sorry the Representative. She's one of those women who has The Fathers in her head and can't shake them, a woman who would oppress other women.

Hearing Rosen say that what is going on in State Houses across the nation doesn't matter was shocking and disappointing. How could it not matter! It's the same Republican Party, and through their legislation they are waging a war on women's reproductive rights. How could a so-called Democratic Strategist not understand the real world implications of those policies?

Congratulations on pinning back that propagandist's ears on the issue of equal pay. He had to resort to the 'some of my best friends are...' argument. How perfectly lame to cite his own marriage to prove the Republicans are not waging war on women. It's the same 'My wife tells me...' of Mitt Romney, as though the sum total of their knowledge about women's issues is confined to their marriages.

While watching I felt very encouraged for the old fashioned pastime of truth telling. The second you hit on a statistic he tried to interrupt you. Very in keeping with Republican disdain for the facts. Their attitude seems to be 'why let reality get in the way of our dogmatic narrative?' Great job, Rachel, of sticking to the facts and demanding Truth be told.

Good work on MTP, Rachel.

If you listen to the last part of what Mr. C said, you could almost conclude that he is advocating for women not to marry in order to get ahead and get a 'fair' wage.

Rachel, my jaw absolutely dropped at the rude, condescending and dismissive behavior of Alex Castellanos on MTP. I can only conclude that that is the Republican's playbook answer when they are being faced with fact and truth that they find inconvenient. That David Gregory allowed that to happen and continue is reprehensible; he is certainly no Tim Russert.

Why you didn't kick him in the shins is beyond me, but I thank you for your contained, intelligent response, and your representation of women in the best possible way.

I think that the problem of unequal pay is better illustrated by the likes of Wla-Mart and other retailers who, as part of their business model, rely on the ability to attract desparate single moms for whatever low wage they will accept both in their stores and in their product sourcing.

A message to Romney and the GOP members of congress on logic and commitment; The Great Recession, a descriptive term agreed to by all, is the mother of all recessions. As recession go, the job losses are the most severe, the duration the longest, and the adverse impact on income for citizens and state governments unprecedented. This also created the largest number of Americans and small businesses needing help.

These facts are not in dispute, but the remedies and solutions are fiercely challenged by both the Democrats and Republicans in congress. Let’s take a closer look at the approaches offered by each. I will start with the Republicans. I do this because their current solution was already tried in America’s first Great Recession created back in 1929 after the stock-market crash. The accepted Republican Wisdom, at that time, was for the United States Government to cut its spending as the country’s revenues had been drastically reduced, and their position prevailed in congress. The outcome of this position resulted in the renaming of the “the great recession”; as time ground on, and the worsening ravages were reassessed so was the name for the fiasco. It was now to be called, “The Great Depression”.

It is now 2012, and we are allowed to reuse the Great Recession term. This term has stuck because President Obama did the opposite of what was done in 1929. He pumped money into the American economy, but still had to deal with the Republicans in congress. The stimulus ended up not being as large as he wanted.

Democrats in congress have tried to pass other programs, similar to those implemented by FDR; when he put idled American workers on projects to build big dams, schools, and other things that our country needed. Obama asked Republicans to support funding for the rebuilding of highways and bridges that our country so desperately needs. This also would help American workers, but Republicans refused. This is but one of many examples of Republicans not honorably participating in the recovery effort.

Europe did not go the way of the Obama Administration. It went with the 1929 Republican solution, and is reaping the same disastrous results. The European economies are plunging deeper into an economic abyss as America sails slowly toward recovery.

I use this USA sailing metaphor as it, for me, depicts a large rowboat that represents our struggling economy; the Congressional Democrats are on one-side rowing in earnest, while the Congressional Republicans sit on the other side, each with an oar between the knees pointed up toward the heavens.

This economic boat moves grudgingly forward, but how much better would it be for our country if; THE REPUBLICANS WOULD JUST PUT THEIR OARS IN THE WATER!