In the aftermath of Maria Shriver’s report presented to President Obama on how women are being abused financially in America, we need to take a look at whether they have reached real equality.
We are not speaking about whether women earn the same money as men. That remains a fascinating canard in a society where more women have college degrees and we have a couple of generations of women being in the workforce and starting their own businesses. I have always said that the marketplace would eventually even out these issues because if women really were earning only 77 cents on the dollar, no man would get hired because only an idiot would pay so much more for the exact same skills.
What I am speaking of is how women do not get equal political treatment. While watching a recent Fox News Special Report panel, what set me off was when Julie Pace of the Associated Press stated that there could be a backlash coming because of over reach in attacks against Wendy Davis. Wendy Davis is the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Texas. It was clear that the implication was that men were beating up on her and that would come back to haunt them. How many times have we heard this before?
This subject is still front and center, particularly with all the speculation about the candidacy of Hillary Clinton for President in 2016. There remains significant discussion about the potential for men running against her beating up on the little woman. We believe that this is large reason why Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) did not go after her when she now-famously answered his question by stating "Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night and decided they’d go kill some Americans," Clinton said. "What difference – at this point, what difference does it make?" As we have previously delineated in this column it mattered a lot, and she got away with it because Mr. Johnson was either unprepared to answer or unwilling to attack Mrs. Clinton. Since we know Mr. Johnson is quite smart, we pick the former and believe he did not want to be seen as pummeling a woman – even one who has reached the stature of Hillary.
Miss Davis is getting everything she deserves. First, is she that myopic to not know that misstating your past does not fly any longer? Anybody with a computer and some initiative can put your resume under a microscope. It has happened multiple times and cost many people their jobs, but Davis -- who has launched a campaign for the governorship of the second largest state in the union -- must have felt she could get away with her manipulations. In this case, it was not some bozo that did the checking, but a reporter for the Dallas Morning News, Wayne Slater, who is well known for his attacks on George W. Bush.
The numerous discrepancies in her resume make her look like a serial liar, but a couple of things bring her integrity into question. Women have justifiably complained on many occasions that their husbands left them after they (the wife) worked to put them through medical or law school. This is a despicable act by a deplorable person. Then why would it not be so for Ms. Davis? She has not denied she left her second husband after he paid for her college and law degrees.
The second thing that makes someone question her integrity is that not only did the daughter from her second marriage choose the husband in the divorce, but the daughter from her first marriage did also (she actually had reached majority age). We deplore men who don’t take full responsibility for their children so why should Ms. Davis be different? I have not seen anywhere that she fought for joint custody. What she apparently fought for was her political career.
She would not own up to her situation beyond stating she had minor timing discrepancies in her resume. After that she attacked the guy in a wheel chair. Her opponent appears to be Greg Abbott, the Texas Attorney General, who was partially paralyzed when hit by a falling tree. If Abbott is guilty of anything he should have just kept out of it, because the press was having a field day with Davis. But Davis stooped even lower and blamed Abbott for the negative press.
What are we missing here? How can anybody not pile on this lady? How can even the likes of Al Sharpton defend this lady? Has she become such a heroine of the left because she defended late-term abortion that she has become untouchable? Are there no grownups in the Democratic Party of Texas who can call for her to step aside since the die is cast and she is dead meat in this race?
None of these questions will be answered because she is a woman and she still gets protection from being treated equally. It is time for women to reach full equality and for the press to treat them the same. If they want full equality economically -- as they deserve -- then they should be held up to the same scrutiny in the political arena. That means let’s see Davis and Clinton pilloried for their misdeeds and not protected because of their gender.
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