The Senate passed a bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which has been credited with significantly increasing the number of women willing to report domestic violence. The House has yet to take up the bill, but it will be much more difficult to pass there. But I had to laugh at how CBS News framed the vote:
In a rare election-year moment of bipartisanship, the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) on Thursday afternoon, legislation that gives women protections and recourse against violence and abuse.
The bill passed with bipartisan support by a vote of 68 – 31.
A rare moment of bipartisanship? Every single one of those 31 votes against the bill came from Republicans — and specifically Republican men. The five Republican women in the Senate all voted for it, along with every Democrat and a handful of other Republican men. This is not a rare moment of bipartisanship, it’s just another example of the Republican consensus being stridently opposed to women’s rights.
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jba55
May 2, 2012 at 10:37 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I used to wish I could read minds, but I don’t anymore. Mostly because I really, really don’t want to know what’s going on inside the head of a person who would vote against something like this. It’s safe to assume that all the men who voted against this are married, right? I wonder what their wives think of their vote. I wonder if their wives are allowed to think…
Michael Heath
May 2, 2012 at 10:43 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Democrats, including President Obama, also like to absurdly assert bipartisanship for legislative successes when there’s only a handful of Republican votes.
We also see people claiming landslide electoral victories when the vote is approximately 53% – 47%.
schmeer
May 2, 2012 at 10:44 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
jba55,
I’d like to ask them when they stopped beating their wives. It seems like a relevant question.
anandine
May 2, 2012 at 11:02 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I think it’s based on “and in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children,” which proves god thinks women deserve punishment.
thztds
May 2, 2012 at 1:03 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
My understanding of bipartisanship these days is that there exists a single Republican who’s willing to defy the party line. So even if the bill had failed, as long as it gets one vote from the Party of No, then it counts as unprecedented bipartisanship.
Chiroptera
May 2, 2012 at 2:13 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Interesting factoid. A significant faction of the Senate — just shy of a third — just doesn’t give a damn about domestic violence, and all of them are Republicans.
That pretty much tells you all you need to know.