Alito's nomination concerns women's rights activists
Allison Stevens, Special to the NNPA from WomensEnews
Issue date: 11/10/05 Section: POLITICS
"I hate to take glee at anyone's misery," Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women in Washington, D.C., wrote in an Oct. 30 blog, ''but I'll admit being pleased that every day brings more dissension in conservative ranks and fresh possibilities for indictments of women's rights opponents in the Congress and over at the White House. Anything that distracts them from slashing our rights, cutting funds for human needs (and starting another war) makes me excited to read the newspaper again.''
The indictment and subsequent resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby, came on the heels of the September indictment of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican who resigned after being charged with channeling corporate contributions to home state candidates in the 2002 elections. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, has come under scrutiny for possible insider trading connected with the sale of stock in his family's hospital company shortly before the value of the stock fell.
Bush has also came under heavy fire for his tardy response to Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast.
''All of these things taken together clearly weaken President Bush,'' said Gloria Feldt, the former president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Feldt and others hope the GOP's problems will weaken Bush and perhaps build opposition to his party's agenda, which at the moment includes plans to cut funding for federal programs that aid women and children and enact tax cuts that critics say are geared to wealthy individuals and large corporations.
Women's rights advocacy groups such as NOW and the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C., are using public relations tools and grassroots lobbying efforts to build opposition to proposed budget cuts to federal programs that provide health insurance for the poor, foster care and food stamps.
''Republicans tend to vote in lock step,'' Gandy said, noting that Republicans may now be more willing to buck their party in its weakened state ahead of 2006 midterm elections. ''I think the administration is going to have a harder and harder time pressing its agenda because of all the corruption that's been revealed.''
The indictment and subsequent resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby, came on the heels of the September indictment of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, the Texas Republican who resigned after being charged with channeling corporate contributions to home state candidates in the 2002 elections. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, has come under scrutiny for possible insider trading connected with the sale of stock in his family's hospital company shortly before the value of the stock fell.
Bush has also came under heavy fire for his tardy response to Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf Coast.
''All of these things taken together clearly weaken President Bush,'' said Gloria Feldt, the former president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Feldt and others hope the GOP's problems will weaken Bush and perhaps build opposition to his party's agenda, which at the moment includes plans to cut funding for federal programs that aid women and children and enact tax cuts that critics say are geared to wealthy individuals and large corporations.
Women's rights advocacy groups such as NOW and the National Women's Law Center in Washington, D.C., are using public relations tools and grassroots lobbying efforts to build opposition to proposed budget cuts to federal programs that provide health insurance for the poor, foster care and food stamps.
''Republicans tend to vote in lock step,'' Gandy said, noting that Republicans may now be more willing to buck their party in its weakened state ahead of 2006 midterm elections. ''I think the administration is going to have a harder and harder time pressing its agenda because of all the corruption that's been revealed.''