I Am (Blue-Collar White) Woman, Hear Me Roar

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I’m reading that a big part of President Obama’s lead in battleground states is coming from blue-collar white women. This is a group that usually leans Republican, so demographic-watchers are taking notice.

The real wonder, to me, is why this group ever preferred Republicans. Much credit is being given to the effectiveness of President Obama’s ad campaign, in particular the ones playing up Romney’s “47 percent” remark. And there’s probably something to that. Low-income white women are, I suspect, less likely than the menfolk to kid themselves that Romney wasn’t talking about them.

Bottom line: Romney is a Suit. He is a pure and distilled Suit. He has Suitness coming out of his pores; everything about him just plain screams Suit. And low-income women generally learn from experience that nothing good ever comes from Suits.

Further, the Democrats finally have clearly distinguished themselves as being pro-legal abortion, pro-Planned Parenthood, and pro-contraception benefits, while Republicans take the opposite position. Low-income women often live one pregnancy away from absolute ruin.

And, um, equal pay for equal work, anybody?

And blue collar women are most often in jobs that don’t pay health benefits, and getting health care for themselves and their children is a constant worry. They don’t see government programs as “dependency” but survival. They may not understand how “Obamacare” is going to work, and they may be afraid of it or skeptical it’s going to change much. But neither do they have much incentive to want to preserve the status quo. And Republicans look like a party of, by, and for Suits who want to preserve the status quo for the benefit of Suits.

And what else are the Republicans offering? Ralph Reed being crazy.

33 thoughts on “I Am (Blue-Collar White) Woman, Hear Me Roar”

  1. “Suitiness” might sound better– but may be too close to the related word snootiness.

    And Ryan is a public sector “suit” also, to be sure. Together, they absolutely resemble the team of new owners who “fired your dad”.

  2. What Mitt should look like to every one of the 47%ers he talked about.
    Mitt looks like the guy who bought up the business your husband/wife worked in, and outsourced his/her job – and you needed at least one good income in the family, if not two.

    Mitt looks like the Bank’s Senior Manager who also declined a reduced mortgate for your family, when you asked to talk to the Bank Manager’s boss.

    Mitt looks like the judge who foreclosed on your home.

    Mitt looks like every politician who ever promised to work for you and yours, and instead looked out for himself and his.

    Mitt looks like one of the rapacious Vulture Cannibals who feasted on an economy, and then, when the whole system they ran like a giant casino collapsed, ran to the government asking for help and then had the audacity to give themselves 6, 7, or 8 figure bonuses afterwards, while your family lost it’s pension, and had its house and 401K plan plummet in value – and that’s IF you still have one or both.

    And Mitt looks like the owner of your favorite NFL, NBA, or Baseball team – you know, the guys who cut or traded your favorite players, and raised the price of admission and food and beverages so much, only people like him can attend the games anymore.

    Mitt looks like the guy who got successful because of who he was, and who he knew – not what he made of himself, and what he knew.

    Mitt looks like the kind of politician who’ll beat the drums of war, but at the same time, didn’t serve in a war he protested FOR, and whose sons didn’t even think of volunteering when so many had no choice but to do so if they wanted a higher education, or to get out of a terrible family or neighborhood, because, well, why should Mitt Romney’s sons want to serve the country when he himself didn’t?

    And Mitt looks like he wants to be President because, well, he wants to be President. Are you implying that he wasn’t born to that position? And you surely can’t be implying that he’s not entitled to it, are you? Or that he’s incapable of handling it?

    The one thing Mitt doesn’t look like, is a person who gives a sh*t about anything but himself, and maybe his family and his cronies – and even THAT’S a maybe.

  3. I guess the little ladies aren’t so dumb after all.
    Poor Karl just can’t figure out how to suppress that vote.

  5. I think the GOP also benefited from terrorism/security fears from that demo as well, but Obama has gotten bin Laden and convinced most people that he can be a steely-eyed leader in a crisis far better than that empty Suit, who seems uncomfortable even on a stage with his supporters.

  6. If you put Ralph Reed, Rush Limbaugh, Mitt Romney and Karl Rove in close enough proximity would that cause a “singularity” of lies? Maybe it already has.

    I remember “suit” being used in this synecdochic way in one of those classic “hard boiled detective” films. It was cool then, cool now. It sure fits the Mitt.

  8. I think when you’re getting squeezed financially you tend to pay more attention to the source of, and reason for those pressures that are pushing in on you. Romney’s solution of more jobs( job creators) doesn’t address the situation at hand and won’t alleviate the pain and hardship that working class women are experiencing.
    Romney is in a different dimension; where capitalism is an abstraction, but those of us who live a world where the reality of capitalism is concrete, our understanding is entirely different. We experience the shortfalls of an out of balanced capitalist system.

    When you’re in a situation of adversity the natural thing is to cling or graviate toward something to lessen your burden.. Obama is leading on a path toward hope and common cause..
    Huddled masses yearning to breathe free? If that makes sense to what I’m saying.

  10. Swami,
    Somewhere, millions or billions of years from now, some future civilization will marvel at my brilliance – or my inane stupidity.
    Probably the latter.

  13. Paulie’s been dropping hints that he wants a new slide rule for Christmas. He’s such a fun guy, especially when he shows his boyish grin when the kids rib him at the breakfast table by calling him Capitan Crunch.

  16. The blue collar women we are talking about here are the backbone of this country. And boy howdy have they had some shit hung on them. Years ago they were thought of as the bad or immoral ones for being single moms- while they work their asses off to provide a home and give their children a decent upbringing. All the while being looked down upon by the mittwitts and muffies of the country.

    The blue collar women I am lucky enough to know work their fingers to the God damn bone, then go home in a car they pray stays running only to work more, cooking, cleaning, laundry, homework, baths for the kids. If they are lucky enough to still be alive at that point many study, hoping to make a few more meager bucks an hour. Too many times they are jerked around by the father of their kids and dont get any support of any kind, so they have heard all the bullshit lines before.Thats what mittwitt is selling and he is getting the same response from women as if he had walked up to them in a bar and delievered his best line.
    It is hard to bullshit a woman who knows reality so well she tries to conserve tampons because her kids need new shoes worse. Trying to sell her a bill of goods is a potential health risk.
    I would dare to say the average woman, venturing into the world on her own has had every bullshit line on the planet handed to her from mechanics to boyfriends to bosses- and I am not talking about pick up lines only I am talking about every one she encounters who tries to take advantage of her. You learn QUICK to spot bullshit at 500 paces. I believe that is what we are seeing here.
    Even if women don’t know the details of mittwitts policies( because they are too complex and us simple shit women would turn the station and pee ourselves because we were too overwhelmed by all those great big numbers!) because he was for it before he was against it so many times you need score cards to keep up and who has time?- women can still smell bullshit.
    This is the new group politically to be reckoned with- the new angry white males and they are well adjusted to being very picky consumers. Any political party who looks at the numbers in swing states and does not see this trend and does not adjust their platforms accordingly is missing the boat so to speak.

  18. erinyes..Intense video.. I remember you mentioning once about the plight of the Florida day laborer (Able Body Labor).. I know you understand just how cruel life can be for those that can’t keep up the herd.. I’d take up mugging people before I allowed someone to exploit me as viciously as those scumbags do.

  19. I’ve noticed that the twit filter is more grabby on Tuesdays. I get the impression maha has other commitments and leaves the site on autopilot (thus the rest of us are w/o adult supervision). I’ve learned not to take the twit filter personally. I look forward to the liberation of your comments!

  20. erinyes,
    Jeez!
    It’s no wonder they’re ‘nickel and dimed’ – they spend their shifts playing instrument and singing about how their pay sucks!
    What’s a musical slacker worth on the free market nowadays?

  21. Swami, so many are just flying under the radar; under the table money, doing whatever to get by.
    I swear, I’m getting to be such a sissy; that video got me all chocked up because it’s true.

  24. The real wonder, to me, is why this group ever preferred Republicans…

    A: The whole social conservative schtick. The GOP as the moral, upright, defenders of America, versus the Dems as immoral, Godless.

    Sounds like economics and reality finally got through to this cohort.

  25. Ryan is on the teevee right now talking about how Americans get money from the government and how that is bad. People who are disabled or who receive social security of course get money from the federal government. People who were injured in war receive social security. Children like Paul Ryan who lost a parent get a support check from Social Security. Retirees who paid in to federal retirement get checks every month. Who is Paul Ryan against? This unstated “taker” group is just his version of Saint Ronnie’s fictitious “welfare queen” hatred focus.

    A former student of mine has MS. He gets about $1000 per month for full disability. It is not enough, especially for someone who cannot do many jobs but is still looking for work. He volunteers as afternoon receptionist at a local agency for the elderly. Ryan should take his abs to the gym to watch my student’s friends assist him in doing a workout to keep up his strength. He should watch the guy struggle to put on a brace that holds his leg straight so he can swing it around to prop himself up while he takes a step with the leg that still works a little.

    At the animal shelter where I volunteer, we get “welfare-to-work” clients who work 24 hours a week to create an employment history so they can apply for real jobs. They get paid about $250 for 96 hours of work per month, which is about $2.50 per hour. The money they get is not a wage. It is transportation support, really, so they can come there and demonstrate that they are reliable and willing to work. What does Ryan think of these “takers” and their lavish government payouts?

    A low-wage worker is in real trouble when the windshield wiper switch on his 10-year-old car quits working. It is a $200 factory part, not available as an aftermarket low-cost reproduction. If there are hand controls for the handicapped on the car, the replacement is over two hours of labor, so we are talking $300-$400 for a mandatory safety-related repair. That is about a week’s paycheck plus a day of the next week if he works for $10 per hour and does a typical 40 hour week.

    Yeah, we should be tougher on all these takers. They aren’t trying hard enough.. And when they aren’t getting their generous checks, they are probably going down to the emergency room to enjoy some free, convenient waiting time puntuated by coughing and puking. We should be sure to tell them that if they get food stamps via EBT card, they are not to share that food with others who live in the house with them. Yes, that happens to people. Yeah, let’s do some family-friendly things to help the struggling and make it clear that the government is the enemy.

    I read that Paul Ryan has almost never earned a paycheck that was not from the government. That must be how he knows so much about these evil takers.

  26. Don’t forget the vaginal probes..I can respect having an opposition to abortion and expressing that opposition with honest fervor; but to resort to reducing women to chattel, stripping away their dignity, privacy, and subjecting them to humiliation by the use of unnecessary medical procedure is an injustice.It’s an affront to humanity.

    If the repugs can’t prevail on the power of their truth then they should reevaluate their truth rather than assualt the foundations of justice and decency.

    Those God and Country repugs should heed the words that they hold so dear…. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

  30. Yeah then there are the folks who get food stamps, like they are entitled to FOOD, pffft. They get a whopping 4 dollars a day to eat on..Try it at home. See if you can eat 3 meals a day in $4.00. And if you really feel brave try to make the food GOOD for you. Last night i bought a single chicken breast at the store, the cost 3.75- on a food stamp budget that would have left me .25 cents for the day.Ground beef, which is not healthy is around 3.00 a lb and you can’t get much cheaper than that(to get that price also you have to buy a 10 lb tube). Fresh fruits and veggies are out of the question- unless you want to eat nothing else one day except a bunch of asparagus..Good but hard to get full(or even close to full) eating.
    And consider this: Many many people on the food stamp program are the WORKING POOR. Not the lazy do nothing slackers that they are portrayed to be. Try having the energy to put in a hard days work without the proper nutrition day in and day out.One can only imagine what living like that does to a childs growing body.But that is not cruel enough for mittwitt. He wants to take that 4 bucks a day AWAY from 15 million people(screw it when they die we will never miss them leaching off of us). How many of those 15 million are children that he is just suggesting will have to starve to death?
    I just find it mind blowing that someone could be so upset about a drone program that has killed around 400 people in 8-10 years but be totally indifferent about the 15 MILLION mittwitt wants to starve to death right here in our own back yard.

  31. justme,
    My Mom and I get $16 a month in Food Stamps – for the TWO of us. That’s a little over a whopping $.50 a day!

    The price of food isn’t completely out of control – IT’S FUCKIN’ REDICULOUS!!!
    It’s almost like the stores knownon-rich people are running out of money – so, better get it from them while the gettin’s still good.

  32. Maybe they heard that under the Affordable Health Care Act women will no longer have to co-pay for their birth control pills.

    “Keep ’em barefoot and pregnant” is indeed the Republican clarion call to all good, upstanding, American men who would never under any circumstances engage in sexual activity with any women for any reason other than to impregnate her.

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