Decision Discrimination Defeating Women

I tend to think of The Hill as being establishment liberal, but sane. Until I start reading headlines there such as this: “Five conservative Supreme Court men join Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, John Boehner and Ron Paul in the war against women.” It sits atop a post by Brent Budowsky, a former aide to dinosaur liberals such as Lloyd Bentsen and Birch Bayh, and you can just see the flecks of spittle flying into his computer monitor — and then fill-in the words that are missing — as he types the following:

In my latest column, Supreme Court on trial, I initiated a new discussion about how five conservative men on the Supreme Court have joined partisan Republicans in the war against laws and programs that serve women. In June we will remember the anniversary of the infamous 5-4 Supreme Court decision discrimination defeating women opposing against Wal-mart, when the five men joined fellow Republicans against efforts to win pay equity for women and end discrimination against women. It will not help Republicans to put South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is highly unpopular at home, on the presidential ticket with “war against women” politicians such as Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, John Boehner and Ron Paul.

Actions have consequences. Policies have impact. Court rulings have results. The Supreme Court conservatives have joined and at times led the war against women on a range of issues, especially in decisions that hurt women and support those who discriminate against women in hiring, promotion and pay. The Wal-mart decision was a disgrace. Republican opposition to equal pay for women is a disgrace. The vulture capitalism of Mitt Romney is a disgrace. The Ayn Rand-like reactionary budgeting of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan (R) is a dagger in the hearts of programs that serve women. The Austrian economics of Ron Paul is from the wrong century and the wrong continent, and profoundly hurts women.

The headline linking to Budowsky’s article at the Tatler asks, “When did The Hill Start Letting Kos Loons Post Directly on Their Site?”  The post at the Tatler also ponders, “Does Budowsky realize that Ayn Rand was a woman?” Nonsense, old sport! To paraphrase the mantra of this Obama voter, she’s not a woman, she’s an Objectivist! Incidentally, Budowsky’s “wrong century and wrong continent” line is equally rich — and equally ill-considered, considering the left’s worship of FDR’s 80-year old New Deal, LBJ’s nearly half-century old Great Society, and their goal of transforming America into the EU. (Which is working out just swell for all concerned.)

But hey, as a knuckle-dragging Austrian-economics loving Republican myself (who’s written for a couple of Randian publications), perhaps I’m simply not able to embrace the nuanced vision and poetic linguistic stylings of the man who previously called for the drafting of John Cougar Mellencamp to represent Indiana in the US Senate in 2010, and Al “Second Coming of David Sarnoff” Gore for the presidency in 2012.