Madeleine Albright: Why Would Any Woman Vote for Mitt?

Posted on Sep 3, 2012

Flickr/Shameek

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright articulated in an interview Monday what quite a few people have probably thought but not publicly said: Given the recent assault against women’s rights by Republicans, why would any female eligible to vote cast her ballot for Mitt Romney in the presidential election?

“I think there are some who believe they [Republicans] are actually protecting women, you know, and that it is better for women to be taken care of. I think women want to take care of themselves, and I think having a voice in how that is done is very important,” Albright said. “And frankly, I don’t understand—I mean, I’m obviously a card-carrying Democrat—but I can’t understand why any woman would want to vote for Mitt Romney, except maybe Mrs. Romney.”

It should be noted that Mitt Romney isn’t doing particularly well among female voters to begin with, something that should not come as a big shock to anyone given a slew of high profile controversial remarks regarding rape (hello, Todd Akin et al.) and the party’s hard-line position on abortion (stated clearly in the GOP’s official platform). Besides, it’s not for nothing that the GOP has been accused of waging a war on women.

—Posted by Tracy Bloom.

The Huffington Post:

The former secretary of State, who has been an outspoken advocate for women in the workplace, said she found Missouri Senate Candidate Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-Mo.) assertion that a rape victim can shut down her body to avoid pregnancy to be “one of the more outrageous” comments she’s witnessed in her 75 years.

“It was appalling and disgusting,” she said. “But if I may say so, the things that he said in one form or another are in the Republican platform. So [while Republicans are] saying he is a nutcase and they have to move away from him, they did not move away from their platform.”

Her reference was to language in the GOP platform that outlaws abortion even in cases of rape or incest. It’s a policy that Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), has embraced throughout his career, before distancing himself in the wake of Akin’s remarks. Romney has always supported such exceptions. Even so, Albright argued, he had “become captive to a party that does in fact think that women should not have voices.”

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