Allen West: All Aboard the Crazy Train

By Sean Wagman on 01/31/2012 @ 11:30 AM

Tags: Why Women, Lois Frankel, GOP Opponents

Time to board the Allen West crazy train. While speaking at a Lincoln Day Dinner in West Palm Beach for the Palm Beach County GOP, Rep. West fired off this choice line:

“We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain't on the table…Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America."

I’m glad he really did not hold back this time…

This is just the latest sound bite from a man who seems to have no filter. If he’s not calling Obama’s supporters a “threat to the gene pool” or voting lock step with the GOP’s War on Women, then he must be calling Debbie Wasserman Schultz “the most vile, unprofessional and despicable member of the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Americans have repeatedly asked Congress to protect Medicare and create jobs, but Allen West’s record shows that he is more interested in pushing his extremist views that do nothing but push the divisive politics of the Tea Party.

It is time that his voters sent him a message: Stop this crazy talk and start representing us.

That is why at EMILYs List, we are proud to support Lois Frankel. Not only does she have a track record of supporting businesses and creating jobs, she will work to protect women and families against the extremist Tea Party agenda.

Help support Lois Frankel today and get Allen West’s crazy train out of Congress.

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Women providing real solutions

By Molly Kordas on 01/27/2012 @ 05:16 PM

Tags: Why Women, Elizabeth Warren, Susan Bysiewicz, Cheri Bustos

For the past four years women and families have struggled while the economy tanked and jobs were lost. In this heated election cycle, there are no more important issues than job creation and economic recovery. EMILY's List women are leading the way in providing real, concrete solutions for economic growth and putting Americans back to work.

Elizabeth Warren has always looked out for middle class families. Warren had the backs of middle class families when she fought tooth and nail to protect taxpayers through the Troubled Asset Relief Program. She stood strong for working women and men when she worked to create and implement the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Before Warren's efforts, women were more often targeted in the subprime mortgage market. Women were more likely than men to get these unfair loans, but Warren's efforts ensured future protections for women and men. Warren has fought for women and working families throughout her career, and she will no doubt be their voice and champion in the U.S. Senate.

In Connecticut, U.S. Senate candidate Susan Bysiewicz is the only person running in her primary who has a plan that will keep Americans from being exploited again by Wall Street and big banks. The past few weeks, she he has been rolling out her "Accountability Plan" which will make sure middle class families no longer pay a higher tax rate than the wealthiest Americans and finally hold politicians accountable, making them actually answer to the people they claim to represent.

And holding down the trend in the House is Cheri Bustos who is focusing on getting people in her district back to work. "Nobody's going to be bringing jobs back out of the goodness of their hearts," she said. "There's enough buy-in from people running for Congress … to be able to work together and make things happen." Her plan to create a "manufacturing triangle" between Rockford, the Quad Cities, and Peoria will refocus the district on innovation and manufacturing, combined with writing tax code incentives and penalties into law to stop companies from moving American jobs overseas, will help produce jobs for the people in her district and Americans across the country.

EMILY's List women are working hard to create jobs because we can't wait any longer. We need a change now and Americans deserve a Congress that understands their needs and is willing to fight for them.

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On standing up for Roe

By Ryan Sims on 01/27/2012 @ 02:08 PM

Tags: Why Women, Choice, Women's Rights, Reproductive Rights, Feminism

Working at EMILY's List is pretty fantastic.

I'm fortunate to have the opportunity, in my own way, to help pro-choice, Democratic women running for office all over the country. And every now and then, I get the chance to do something like what I did last night -- attend NARAL Pro-Choice America's Roe v. Wade 39th Anniversary Dinner.

And I walked away from it with an emotion I didn't expect -- a sort of warm-bodied fuzziness, coupled with a stand-up-and-fight style of motivation. Because the stories shared in that room, of women unable to obtain basic health services, either because of cost, draconian legislation, or simply the region of the country where they live -- I couldn't help but be as committed as ever to the goal of protecting a woman's right to choose. But that's not even close to the whole story of the people in that room.

One that stuck out was the story of the low-income abortion-access charity, right here in Washington, DC, whose local government funding was completely eliminated in the scope of a day, used as a pawn in a Congressional budget fight. Gut-wrenching as that is, they refused to be victims of the Congressional gamesmanship, and by the next morning had collected the funds necessary to pay for the over two dozen women they had scheduled for the next day, women who would have had no access to care otherwise.

There were plenty more stories, of women and their partners overcoming the barriers to safe women's health care dropped in front of them by anti-choice legislation, but that one stood out. It stood out because it is a shining example of the dedication of the pro-choice community -- standing up for the rights of women, no matter the senseless and discriminatory behavior of the opposition.

Toward the end of the evening, the several hundred dinner attendants were asked to put down their forks and drop their napkins on the table, and to stand up if they had personally been affected by a woman's right to choose. As nearly every chair in the room emptied, there was a sort of hush that fell over the crowd. We looked around and looked at everyone who was, quite literally, standing up for women's rights.

And that's why I walked away both with a warmed heart and a heated desire to fight -- because people are standing up. And they're continuing to stand up. Through the 2012 elections. Through efforts on the state level to roll back women's rights. Through the ongoing War on Women at all levels.

People are standing up. And standing together -- to protect Roe v. Wade and protect basic women's freedoms. And that's thrilling and inspiring.

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On the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, commit to a 40th

By Sarah Larson on 01/26/2012 @ 04:36 PM

Tags: Why Women, Choice, Women's Rights, Reproductive Rights, Feminism

On the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I woke up before dawn. I pulled on my thermal shirt, laced up my running shoes, and headed out the door. I pounded the pavement along Rock Creek Parkway, sweeping up and around the Tidal Basin and onto the National Mall. When I got to the Mall, I stopped to watch the setup for the "March for Life," the annual anti-choice rally.

The sight of thousands of people wearing brightly colored t-shirts bearing anti-choice slogans gave me real pause. The past few years have been difficult ones for the pro-choice movement -- sixty-nine anti-choice laws were passed in 2011; thirty-four were passed in 2010. These are astounding figures, figures some in the anti-choice movement call "breathtaking." On this, they and I agree. It is breathtaking, the scope of the attacks on reproductive rights we've seen over the past few years. So on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I think it is important to remember what the ability to choose really means.

When I laced up my shoes that morning, I did so from my home, just down the street from the campus where I attend graduate school. I am all too aware of the impact an unplanned pregnancy could have on my education goals. I may be able to support myself meagerly with scholarships and student loans, but supporting a family would likely be out of the question. My long term career goals might be completely out of reach if I did not have the right to choose.

And I am not the only one who has been positively impacted by abortion rights -- half of women who have a child between the ages of 15 and 19 receive a high school diploma before the age of 22, compared to 90 percent of women who do not have a child. There are real consequences to anti-choice policies.

So, on the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I'd like to take a second to express my gratitude for that decision. I'd like to thank the Court for recognizing that the five percent of women between the ages of 15 and 44 who have an unintended pregnancy every year should have the right to decide whether they want to raise a child or not. I'd like to thank them for 39 years of women being able to attend college; for 39 years of women being doctors; for 39 years of female lawyers, politicians, astronauts.

The right to choose is about so much more than pregnancy -- it is about self-determination, about the right for women to choose their futures, and about privacy. And on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I hope everyone reflects on that and vows to see the 40th anniversary, too.

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Gabby Giffords, forever an inspiration

By Alyssa Franke on 01/26/2012 @ 03:36 PM

Tags: Gabrielle Giffords

Yesterday marked the end of Rep. Gabby Giffords’ final week in Congress, as she’s opted to focus on continuing her amazing recovery. Gabby’s time in Congress came to a close with an emotional and tearful tribute to Gabby by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who then read Gabby’s letter of resignation to the Speaker of the House. I can’t imagine there was a dry eye left.

Take a look at some of the highlights from Gabby’s last week in office:

• On her final full day in her district, Gabby returned to courageously finish the ‘Congress on Your Corner’ event that was tragically interrupted just over a year ago. She met with constituents, a practice she has long valued.
• Tuesday night, Gabby returned to the floor of the House for the State of the Union address, where she received a heartwarming standing ovation. President Obama made a special stop at Gabby’s seat, where they embraced in a hug.
• And yesterday Gabby entered the House to submit her letter of resignation, where she received a standing ovation. Watch the video below, where EMILY’s List champion and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz reads Gabby’s letter. It’s incredibly moving. Gabby also cast her final vote for a bill she introduced, continuing her commitment to border security. The bill passed unanimously.

From everyone here at EMILY’s List, thank you, Gabby, for being such an inspiration to women everywhere, with your strength, positive outlook, and commitment to public service. Your recovery has already been amazing, and we wish you best of luck in the time to come. But we know this isn’t the end, and we look forward to seeing your next steps, and standing with you as you take them.

Thank you.

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