Stabenow With the Smack Down

Politicians in every party like to try to get digs in at each other once in a while. Nothing wrong with it, in general (although "Go fuck yourself" is going a little far...but I'll admit when Rahm Emanuel says it, it becomes ridiculously sexy) and in all honesty, I kind of like seeing real personalities come through the political robots they all tend to be most of the time. Whether or not I like those personalities is another question, of course.

I don't know much about Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), but I know I like this bit of personality that came out to play at a recent Senate Finance Committee meeting:



In case you can't view the video, the committee members were debating Senator John Kyl's (R-AZ) amendment to the health care bill which would remove language that defines which benefits employers are required to cover, including maternity care. Kyl was predictably douchey in that traditional white Republican male way:

"Well, first of all, I don't need maternity care," he said. "And so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that I don't need and will make the policy more expensive."

Ah, asshole logic. Don't you love it? Thankfully, Sen. Stabenow didn't let that one slide, responding, "I think your mom probably did."

OH SNAP! Now THAT is a dig I can fucking get behind. Hats off to you, Sen. Stabenow, for trying to get this jerk to see that maybe, just maybe, it's not all about him.

And if I may expand on her statement a bit (and I think I may, since it is my blog and all...) isn't it so disgustingly typical of someone like Kyl - a white, heterosexual, upper-class, Christian, Republican man - to be so completely uninterested in and uncaring about the possible needs of anyone other then himself and others just like him? "I don't need maternity care." Oh well, gee - if YOU don't need something, then FUCK IT, let's just toss it out the window! In fact, let's just write this bill up based solely on your personal medical needs, just so we don't offend or annoy you anymore with the silly, silly needs of all these other people, those fuckers. Who do they think they are, having different medical requirements than you? Those stupid women and their uteruses. YOU don't have a uterus, so how could you be expected to give two shits about them?

Hm. Maybe your wife could answer that one for me. I'd love to hear her thoughts on your total disregard for the needs of pregnant women and mothers, considering she has been the former and is the latter. PSST, by the way, Sen. Kyl - those kids of hers? I think they might be YOURS. Wouldn't that be crazy?? Because that would mean that at some previous time in your life...maternity care might have actually mattered to you! Oh, but I forget myself. Silly me, to think having a wife would make you see the needs of women any differently. What malarkey!

Ugh. This is one of my main problems with Republicans. Not only can they never see anything from someone else's point of view (especially if that someone else is an Other in some way - female, POC, gay, disabled, etc) but they seem arrogantly proud of that. They sneer about Democrats' desire for empathy and compassion as though we were talking about crappy sports teams we refuse to stop cheering for. They act like caring about others, even when their needs are not yours or are even diametrically opposed to yours, is a weakness, a flaw, and that they are somehow stronger and better for not giving into it. They love their privilege more than they love their fellow man. And that's a sad way to live.

It's not all about you, Republicans. Refusing to believe that won't make it false.