MOMocrats™

Guest Post: Disappointed Doesn’t Cut It Anymore: A Mother’s Rebuttal of President Obama’s Plan B Politics

The MOMocrats welcome this guest post, written by Kate Stewart. Cross-posted with permission from Amplify.

Disappointed doesn’t cut it anymore.

Disappointed, angry, dismayed -- these are only some of the emotions I am feeling this afternoon after hearing President Obama's poor excuse for restricting access to Plan B One Step.

I am also scared.

Scared about the health of my daughters.  As the mother of two daughters, just like President Obama, I try to use "common sense" as much as possible. But, also like President Obama, I am not a doctor; I am not a scientist. I use my own judgment when it comes to things I am confident I can handle -- a case of the sniffles, a little cold. 

But, I also understand that it is my responsibility as a parent to know when I don't know all the answers and it’s time to turn to experts. And that, apparently, is where the President and I disagree.

When my daughter’s pediatrician gives me medical advice, I listen. Carefully. American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society of Adolescent Health and Medicine make recommendations about my daughters' health, that matters to me. A lot. And I believe it should.

 Today, President Obama has made the irresponsible – and nearly incomprehensible -- decision to support HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius’ move to block the FDA from expanding access to Plan B One-Step emergency contraception. Whether the President’s decision was motivated by well-intentioned ignorance or political cowardice is beside the point. Either way, this move will adversely impact millions of women, particularly young women, across the country.

MOMocrats Readers: Tell Us Who You Are Survey

After nearly torpedoing the world economy with the manufactured debt ceiling crisis, the Tea Party House of Representatives has decided to take a three-week break. (Never mind that they leave the FAA floundering without a budget; if I were them I'd consider taking the train back home to my district -- it's kind of hard to enforce airline safety when the government stops paying the workers).

The MOMocrats also have summer plans, which include a reunion in San Diego this week for the BlogHer conference. Unfortunately, not all of us are able to be there -- but enough MOMos from around the country will be in attendance to allow us to have an extended, in-person meeting. This is fitting, because Elizabeth Edwards' keynote at BlogHer was the inspiration for the MOMocrats site back in 2007. It will be something like a homecoming.

It will also be our first opportunity for a quorum of MOMos to make plans about where we want to take the site in 2012. We've changed a lot since '07, and we suspect our readers have, too. But those are only suspicions. We invite you to do us the favor of taking a short survey, to help us determine what our priorities will be. 

We're hoping for as many readers as possible to participate by 3:00 PM Pacific Time tomorrow (August 3), so we can use it as a framework in our planning session.

And if you're going to be at BlogHer, we hope you look us up!

Medicaid In Extremis

Three months ago the Republicans opened debate on the FY2012 budget when Rep. Paul Ryan released The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise. In that plan, he proposed a remaking of Medicaid that would eviscerate the program’s core purpose: provide health care to the most vulnerable.

Many labor under the misconception that Medicaid is health benefit open to any low-income American. In reality, states are only required to cover impoverished children (including those in foster care), pregnant women, some disabled persons, some adults with dependent children, and the elderly. In fact, more than 2/3 of Medicaid spending pays for services for the disabled and elderly; children consume about 1/5 of the total funds with the rest going to adults.

Childless adults, even those with incomes far below the poverty line are not automatically eligible for Medicaid. Nor are the parents of Medicaid-eligible children automatically eligible for coverage. For example, in Alabama, parents’ incomes cannot exceed 24% of the federal poverty line – less than $5000 a year for a family of three. Eleven other states all have income eligibility well below the FPL.

MOMocrats at Netroots Nation 2011

The MOMocrats get around! As the 2012 Presidential campaign is pretty much upon us, MOMocrats Joanne Bamberger (aka PunditMom) and Cynematic participated in a panel to let progressive candidates and activists know that they need to be paying attention to social media moms if they want to win.

Sitting at your desk while you're eating lunch? This video of the panel is a perfect way to get caught up with the power of women online! Thanks to former Congressional candidate Krystal Ball and Anita Jackson of MomsRising for making this panel awesome!

Watch live streaming video from fstv3 at livestream.com

And, we also had a chance to meet the fabulous sponsor of our MOMochats -- Bubble Genius -- who was an exhibitor at Netroots Nation! Can't wait to try out the samples we came home with!

For Less Weiner, Elect More Women

OK, so I fell for Anthony Weiner's lies about the whole "woe is me, my Twitter account was hacked" thing. But, honestly, were there many of us who thought that in this day and age of political sex scandals -- or scandals involving semi-nude self-portraits -- that any elected official would be stupid enough to Tweet images of himself to women he'd never even met and think he wouldn't get caught? If the first rule of the internet is that E-mail is forever, it's not a leap to realize that all social media is forever, as well. Delete things as much as you want, the fingerprints will always be there.

The level of dumb-assness (yes, that's a very journalistic word!) in the whole Weiner story is amazing to me. In the immortal words of George W. Bush -- fool me once, um, wait, uh, won't get fooled again.

While the few rules I offered Congressman Weiner about how to deal with the media when they think they've got the goods on you aren't quite relevant anymore, I've got one more for him and all the other powerful men out there:  

Dudes, keep your body parts and delusions of grandeur to yourselves!

Down to the Wire in NY 26: Help Kathy Hochul Keep Her Lead Over Corwin

Over at our MOMocrats MOMochat radio show, we've had some fun talking about the special election to replace disgraced GOP Representative Chris Lee. (You remember: He was the dude who got in trouble for soliciting dates on Craig's List. Yes, he was married and campaigned on "family values.")

At the time, those in the know thought Lee's seat would be a shoo-in for another Republican. After all, this district is considered the most conservative one in the state. The Republicans were quick to nominate their candidate for the seat: Jane Corwin, who is already known to the voters as their representative in the state Assembly. She had a four-week head start on her Democratic opponent, Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul.

And then a funny thing happened -- not "ha ha, funny" but political kismet: Paul Ryan unveiled his "Path to Prosperity" (which Cynematic more correctly describes as the "Road to Ruin"), which would gut Medicare and Medicaid and place seniors squarely at the mercy of the insurance market. Republican Corwin supports the plan...

...and suddenly, the Democratic candidate is in striking distance of picking up the seat in NY 26.

It appears that most Americans like Medicare just the way it is... a fact Republicans seemed to understand two years ago, during the health care debate, when they misled older voters into thinking that the Affordable Care Act was a sneak attack on the program.

One of the aspects of this campaign that had us chuckling on the radio show is this satirical site, which came into being because Corwin's people were not as thorough as they should have been when snapping up domains for the candidate. (Social Media 101: Just because you got a .com for your campaign site doesn't mean you don't also need to own .org, .edu, .info and .tv, too.)

Hochul is one of the candidates backed by EMILY's List, the PAC devoted to promoting the election of  pro-choice Democratic women to all levels of government. And right now, the group is recruiting grassroots supporters to phone bank with Get Out the Vote calls to Democrats in NY 26.

From their website: "Even just an hour of your time will make the difference for Kathy, and we'll provide you with all the information you'll need to make calls to mobilize targeted voters."

Sign up here.

EMILY's List President Stephanie Schriock will be our guest on Wednesday's edition of MOMocrats MOMochat.

Five Reasons Debbie Wasserman Schultz Will Rock the DNC

Guys have been running the Democratic National Committee for the past two and a half decades. The last time a woman was in charge of the nationwide Democratic show, we hadn't yet heard Bill Clinton deny that he'd had a relationship with "that woman."

Takes you back, doesn't it?

That's all about to change as Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz stands ready to move into one of the most important roles in her party -- the chair of the Democratic National Committee. So what can we expect from her? Business as usual or is she going to show the Dems a path to electoral victory in 2012 they haven't thought about yet? As she takes the helm as the Democrat's chief fundraiser and strategist, it's fair to ask, especially if you're not from her home state of Florida, why Debbie? Here are just five good reasons we can assume that Wasserman Schultz is the perfect woman for the job:

Guest Post from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand: Congratulations, Debbie!

We spent a little time on this morning's MOMocrats MOMochat radio show exulting about yesterday's announcement of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) as the Democratic National Committee's new chair. She's a smart politician, an expert communicator -- and a working mom, who almost makes it all look easy... even when it's not (as when she fought cancer a few years back, seemingly without missing a beat). We're delighted with the appointment... as is her friend (another of our MOMocrat girl crushes!), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:

I was thrilled to learn yesterday that President Obama has chosen my good friend, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, to be the next Chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Not only is Debbie a wonderful person and a strong progressive champion, but she has been such an advocate for women and a true mentor to me. It's so important for women who are interested in running for office to have role models and Debbie has served as that for me and so many new female members of Congress.

Debbie will be only the third woman ever to chair the DNC. It's so important that more women rise to positions of power so our points of view and our interests are front and center. As a young mother who ran for Congress and has risen up the ranks of the party, Debbie embodies that and I know the DNC will benefit greatly by having her as chair.

Debbie has spent 20 years of her life serving the people of Florida. Since 2004, she's represented Florida's 20th Congressional district with unparalleled passion, energy and conviction. Debbie truly sees her role as a public servant as a personal and moral commitment to making a difference for the families she represents.

She's done incredible things for her district, her state and this country as a whole and I can't wait to see what she will do for our party.

I hope you'll join me in wishing Debbie congratulations. Please sign the attached card and I'll make sure to get all your well wishes to her.

Thanks for sending your congratulations to Debbie! This is such an important time for Democrats and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have leading the charge.

 

MOMocrats Live Chat: State of the Union 2011

Please join our live coverage of the president's State of the Union speech tonight at 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT / 6 p.m. PT. 

2010 Politics in Review by the MOMocrats: President Obama's Trial by Fire

I think there's a musty old law somewhere that impels media outlets to produce some kind of year in review piece each end of December -- or maybe it's just an easy topic to riff on when all you really want to do is recover from one holiday while preparing for the next. At any rate, Karoli and I did our own Year in Review episode on this week's MOMocrats MOMochat radio show.

I prepared for the show by highlighting some of the posts here on the MOMocrats website for 2010, and even though I remember all of these events, I was surprised to see they had all occurred THIS YEAR. And what a year it's been.

Karoli summed up 2010 as "President Obama's Trial by Fire":

JANUARY

• Health care reform had still not passed by the time of the State of the Union (for some reason, I had been remembering HCR as a 2009 endeavor - maybe because it took ALL of 2009 before spilling into the first quarter of this year).

• Supreme Court hands down Citizens United ruling

• Scott Roeder convicted for murder of Dr. George Tiller

• James O’Keefe caught and arrested for dirty tricks at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office

• A 7.0 earthquake devastates Haiti