Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R. KY) has made so many shameful votes that he has to lie about them to appeal to female voters:
http://www.whas11.com/...
While last week he deflected a question about his previous votes against the Violence Against Women Act, today, McConnell explained that he's a longtime supporter, but preferred an alternative to the one advanced by Democrats.
"Actually I voted for a much stronger version of the Violence Against Women Act than the one that ended up passing the Senate," McConnell said. "So I'd be happy to have that debate with my opponent or anyone else because I voted for a much stronger provision."
“Once again Mitch McConnell is misleading Kentucky women because the truth is that he has repeatedly fought against stronger versions of the Violence Against Women Act and has no interest in standing up for the women of his state," said Regan Page, Deputy Press Secretary at the DSCC. "Women make up over half of the electorate in Kentucky and they deserve a Senator who will fight on their behalf. Mitch McConnell would rather be the face of partisan political gridlock in Washington.” - WHAS 11, 7/12/13
Ok, here's what the Senate version of the VAWA that passed call for:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
The bill passed 78 to 22. It already had 62 cosponsors, which ensured its passage, but it picked up additional support from a handful of Republicans.
Senators who voted against the bill included Republicans John Barrasso (Wyo.), Roy Blunt (Mo.), John Boozman (Ark.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Cornyn (Texas), Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Orrin Hatch (Utah), James Inhofe (Okla.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Ron Johnson (Wisc.), Mike Lee (Utah), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Jim Risch (Idaho), Pat Roberts (Kansas), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), John Thune (S.D.) and Tim Scott (S.C.).
The bill authorizes $659 million over five years for VAWA programs. It also expands VAWA to include new protections for LGBT and Native American victims of domestic violence, to give more attention to sexual assault prevention and to help reduce a backlog in processing rape kits. Created in 1994, VAWA has helped to strengthen programs and services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence and stalking.
Ahead of the vote, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the bill's sponsor, questioned why anybody would vote against his legislation since it just expands protections to vulnerable groups.
"It is difficult to understand why people would come in here and try to limit which victims could be helped by this legislation," Leahy said. "If you're the victim, you don't want to think that a lot of us who have never faced this kind of problem, sat here in this body and said, 'Well, we have to differentiate which victims America will protect.'" - Huffington Post, 2/12/13
Now here's the "stronger" version of the VAWA that McConnell voted for:
http://www.salon.com/...
Leading up to the Senate vote on the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization, a version of the bill that stripped protections for LGBT women, undocumented immigrants and Native American women was defeated.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, introduced the scaled-back version of the bill, which failed by a vote of 34-65. Among the 34 Republicans to vote for the bill were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., the only female senator who is not a co-sponsoring the version of the VAWA that will likely be voted on on Monday.
In addition to stripping out the tribal jurisdiction provision, Grassley’s legislation differs in several key ways from Leahy’s bill. It would remove the word “women” from VAWA’s largest grant program, effectively broadening the scope of the original 1994 law to include male victims of violence, who face far less victimization than their female counterparts. Grassley’s proposal would also take out protections for LGBT victims of domestic violence and place new restrictions on U visas, which are given to immigrant victims of domestic violence who help law enforcement officials to identify and prosecute their abusers. - Salon, 2/8/13
So McConnell's version of a "stronger" version of the VAWA is anti-gay, anti-Native American and anti-immigrant. It's shit like this is why after nearly 30 years in the Senate, Kentucky voters are getting sick and tired of McConnell:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Up for reelection again in 2014, McConnell faces dismal polling numbers. In January, a Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll found that only 17 percent of residents said they were planning on voting for him. A recent Public Policy Polling survey showed him tied in a hypothetical race against Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky's Democratic secretary of state, weeks before she announced she was running on July 1. Today, McConnell finds himself at both the most powerful and most vulnerable moment of his career. He faces not only a Democratic opposition out to avenge McConnell's attacks on Obama, but an energized tea party unhappy with the GOP establishment and independents disgusted with Washington.
Keith Runyon was a veteran reporter and editorial page editor for the Louisville-based Courier-Journal, Kentucky's dominant statewide paper, which has generations of close personal ties to state and national Democrats. He witnessed McConnell's rise in Louisville and its suburbs of Jefferson County. He met his future wife, Meme Sweets, when she worked as McConnell's press secretary after his election as the county's judge-executive. Runyon came to know McConnell well. He says that McConnell was not always such a ruthless partisan obstructionist.
"It was not the local Mitch McConnell that became the problem," he told HuffPost. "It was what he became when he went to Washington." - Huffington Post, 7/11/13
While Washington may have transformed McConnell, Democratic women like Wendy Davis (D. TX) and Alison Lundergan Grimes (D. KY) could help transform America:
http://www.salon.com/...
But the rise of these red-state women is good news for Democrats, even if pundits say they can’t beat right-wing veterans (and national villains among liberals) like McConnell and Perry next year (and I’m not conceding that here). In most red states, the best hope for Democrats is a rising coalition of Latinos, black people, Asians, young voters and white women. Davis and Grimes could accelerate the future. - Salon, 7/2/13
Lets help Grimes take out McConnell by fueling her campaign:
http://www.alisonforkentucky.com/