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Republican Senator: No Maternity Benefits Needed
Senator Jon Kyl, R-AZ, couldn't stand hearing that he might have to pay for maternity benefits under any healthcare reform that passes this Congress. Truly. He said he doesn't require maternity care and therefore really objects to being asked to pay for it.
When Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-MI, reminded him that his mother might not share that sentiment, Senator Kyl stuck to his guns. "Maybe 60 years ago," he acknowledged. Maybe. But no sure thing for this red-blooded, strong Western fellow. No sir, even invoking the needs of his mother made no real dent in his bias.
As Committee Chairman Senator Max Baucus, D-MT, thanked Sen. Kyl for his comments and bonded with him about their love for the great American West, all that was missing was a hitching up of their pants and a little good old boys chest bump.
It was sickening. As this nation struggles with one of the highest infant mortality rates in the industrialized world, to have any United States Senator make the argument that he or she would not support inclusion of maternity benefits in the basic healthcare needs of this nation is not only offensive, it should have been met with an immediate rebuttal from every other member of the Senate Finance Committee. Where was their outrage on our behalf?
But not today. No, not today. In this 111th Congress, making this sort of ugly comment still passes as something for which pats of the back are more likely than real reform. Shameful, shameful.
I will remember these comments, gentlemen and gentlewomen. I will remember. I will spread the word. And I vote. In 2010, in 2012 and beyond.
- Posted in
43 Comments so far
Show Allwhat an embodiement of greed, ugly selfishness and a putrid rotting soul-another one of this stripe in a position of power over artists, mothers and flowers.
heartless scum
this does not just hurt mothers
he hurts babies too,
and people who hurt babies deserve to ***
they must be eliminated from gene pool homo sapien erectus. fool mf.
if christians want to watch out for what they call evil, they don't have to look very far...
You missed the point. The Senator's views precisely reflect current evangelical christian morality.
The evil that they think they are fighting has taken the very form of their own righteous morality...
what an embodiement of greed, ugly selfishness and a putrid rotting soul-another one of this stripe in a position of power over artists, mothers and flowers.
heartless scum
this does not just hurt mothers
he hurts babies too,
and people who hurt babies deserve to ***
they must be eliminated from gene pool homo sapien erectus. fool mf.
I'll bet this sludge nugget in an expensive suit would jump at the chance to get his viagra on the gov't dime.
"As Committee Chairman Senator Max Baucus, D-MT, thanked Sen. Kyl for his comments and bonded with him about their love for the great American West, all that was missing was a hitching up of their pants and a little good old boys chest bump."
Shouldn't the title of this article then be changed to
"Republican Senator and Democrat Senator: No Maternity Benefits Needed"
???
The republican senator actually made the statement.
q
It sounded like he objected to having a maternity rider on his own health insurance policy; not that he objected to maternity coverage in general.
And the irony is that this hypocritical motherf%%$r must be "pro-life"
And Baucus is a shame to this country. Sickening.
I am so glad Sen.Kyl cannot give birth! It would be nice to watch him go through labor though!If he was impregnated by Aliens would he choose Natural child birth through his available orifices?Then he could go to work the next day. peas
johnny dear: Mr. Kyl may not be able to give birth but he can still impregnate! (god help the poor woman!). And he obviously sees his (and every other man's) billions of sperm as far more sacred than the woman's one monthly egg.
Just another Unevolved White Heterosexual Male. They need to be bred out of the gene pool.
Read Sherri Tepper's "Gate to Women's Country". She has a fascinating suggestion...
State of The Nation:
Baseball has fallen into disrepute, applepie is a fat-making indulgence and now motherhood is an economic inconvenience.
The American eagle has two right wings, no feathers and a very nasty bowel disorder.
And it just ocurred to me that John McCain declared that he was not George Bush...but Obama didn't.
I'm going to crawl under my desk and say bad words.
Why would "family first" right wing christians worry about maternity leave when they can import slaves from other countries to work in their factories and on their farms, or in businesses of their campaign contributors?
When I lived in AZ, this slimeball never aanswered any of my letters or even acknowledged that I existed. I hope the women of AZ toss him out on his ass next election, and I hope the women of Montana get Baucus too. Any of those viagra powered men who are against maternity care should be banished.
This is the epitome of the right wing view that life starts at conception and ends at birth.
In European countries they feel children are important so they hold mothers' jobs and pay mothers to stay home and ... oh never mind.
Joe
Maybe whoever raised Kyl would have done a better job if she'd had maternity leave.
thanks for that, clever..!
i learned in japan that if you are able to read (by touch) the ki/chi of the body, it is clear that a human child ideally should be close to its mother for 13 months, and that breast feeding should be for at least six months...(as guidelines)...
This GOP senator's mother surely didn't deserve any maternity coverage, but she sure could have used abortion on demand which the British have as I understand. Hey, she was born in a backward, even by European caucasion standards, country. Senator Jack Ass, when somebody whips your booty for senator unless quit next term, and someone will, I'm gonna really enjoy the hell out of it
Arizona-- isn't that the state that most of the West is most ashamed of other than maybe Alaska?
AD
Donn Smith mentions America moving backwards.
This is a very real phenomona. I mentioned the Polls done in the book Fire and Ice wherein Canadians and Americans were polled on the same questions to see where they stood.
I mentioned that in Canada 18 percent agreed with the statement "The man should be the head of the Household and the master in his own home" where 51 percent of Americans agreed with said statement.
What was equally interesting and what I did not mention is that this same poll has been taken with regularity over many years and we were MUCH closer in out beliefs when they started.
The Americans claiming the man should be master in his household has been climibing every year the poll taken while In Canada it drops.
Yes, GwNorth, and I also wonder if such a statement, if made by an MP, would be tolerated in Canada. It would certainly be front page news, and it would receive a lot of public outrage. But then, attacks from within on Medicare in Canada get can raise a substantial outcry, don't they?
The divergence in opinions shows that SOMETHING is happening. There is a mechanism that is leading to Americans becoming less tolerant and more Authoritarian.
It important for Canadians to note this so as to ensure it does NOT happen here and recognize that inside that old Reform Party are a whole lot of Politicians that would love to see it happen here.
"I mentioned that in Canada 18 percent agreed with the statement "The man should be the head of the Household and the master in his own home" where 51 percent of Americans agreed with said statement." -- GwNorth
Sadly, I'm not surprised by the stat you included in your post.
A couple of years ago, I reconnected with a classmate of mine -- I grew up in a very conservative, very religious rural community in Southwest Iowa, Red Oak, with a population of about 6500 -- the daughter of a Lutheran minister, from whom I received communion, after attending and passing through catechism classes in junior high. Today, I don't belong to a church, and have long since left the hypocritical beliefs behind. However, this church, to which I did at one time belong, continues to teach submission of women. In fact, they proselytize around the world, converting people to their belief system. When I was growing up, some of the churches, with their fire-and-brimstone preachers, told women who were divorced, within the theme of their sermons, that the divorced women would go to hell. They didn't do their job, and consequently, lost their men. Of course, in these sermons, there was no accountability of the men to their wives or to their children. My friend's mother used to go home and cry all afternoon following the Sunday morning sermons. Finally, the family, minus the father who left, changed churches.
This is what I grew up with -- and part of the reason why I left town! And, many of the churches in Red Oak, today, continue to teach the same lessons that they taught when I was growing up in the late 1950s and 1960s.
What was the stat that Bill Maher reported in his film, Religuous -- About the numbers in this country who believe the Noah's Ark story as being literal? I think the stat hits around 50%, too, similar to the stat you shared in your post.
BTW, for those of you who are familiar with Steve King, Republican Representative from Iowa -- Red Oak, Iowa is in his district -- the 5th District. He's the one who, before Congress, claimed that Obama is "King of Acorn," amongst his other ramblings.
To understand these people, it's important to read Bob Altemeyer's book, The Authoritarians -- available on his website at NO charge. His research shows us how these authoritarian followers are mobilized, etc. John Dean used Altemeyer's research when he wrote his book, Conservatives Without A Conscience. If you google "Bob Altemeyer," the site will pop right up! He teaches at Manitoba University in Canada. It's very difficult for rational minds to grasp this kind of irrationality. And, with at least some of these people, it's impossible to have a conversation or to change their minds in any way. The book is very interesting.
Someone on CD, months ago, recommended the book to me, and I don't remember who it was. Possibly, most of you have already read it, but if not, the book is quite enlightening, and helps to explain these people who are irrational in their beliefs, and can be mobilitzed on behalf of those beliefs.
Kay
I think there's at least one other result of fundamentalist religion that occurs maybe earlier than the common authoritarianism.
I grew up in a similar religious environment in a small Southern town at the same time in history, but the church was Southern Baptist. When I was young, I "believed", though I haven't been to a religious church for 35 years now. There is something exciting about religious belief and passion that I think is kin to "falling in love" -- all reason and reality seem to fly right out of the mind, and an "intimate fantasy" of perfection in self and another takes over. And like falling in love, a lot of people find that what they fell in love with does not stand the test of reality. Some stay "believers" all their lives, though.
I believe "religious authoritarians" have lost their religious wonder and ecstasy, and I suspect now believe that they and everybody else are doomed to hell if they don't follow the rules they were taught (much easier when religious wonder is still present and the promised rewards are still potentially-real). No matter that the promises didn't hold up and prayers aren't answered -- most take the position that they themselves aren't good enough to have the promises and prayers fulfilled, or that their God is actually unknowable and punitive. It's a no-win bind to be in for those without the courage to fearlessly look at reality.
Anney: In my neck of the woods, it was an austere kind of religious fervor, very limiting, and didn't have the passionate exuberance of a revival kind of religion. It was very stern! And, children in school were often judged on whether they went to church, and also on what church they attended, if they did. Certainly, the two styles are very similar.
"The dooming to hell" is definitely a consequence of both styles of fundmentalist religious beliefs. The accusation strikes fear in the hearts, and is meant to, I believe, control the people. I also agree that these believers end up feeling as if they, themselves, are not "good enough" to have their "promises and prayers fulfilled." It's a very debilitating way in which to live.
In Bob Altemeyer's book, The Authoritarians, he first takes right-wing authoritarian followers and dissects their belief system, illuminating the personality traits that enter into the equation, and then he adds the religious fundamentalist elements and how they can intersect. It's very interesting! Over the years, he has accumulated data to back up his arguments. For me, it was well worth the time it took to read.
Kay
Excellent point. If the religion is one that doesn't begin with a happy exuberance and one is just taught dos and don'ts along with the idea of a punitive God, that must be pretty grim from the outset.
This is the land of Gauleiter Arpaio and his racist roundups, and one of a few states that "elected" more Republicans than it did in 2006 (since the Gauleiter's office keeps custody of the voting machines, impossible to tell what sort of charades they play with them), not to mention the other spoiled brat misogynist continually returned to the Senate . . .
This is the land of Gauleiter Arpaio and his racist roundups, and one of a few states that "elected" more Republicans than it did in 2006 (since the Gauleiter's office keeps custody of the voting machines, impossible to tell what sort of charades they play with them), not to mention the other spoiled brat misogynist continually returned to the Senate . . .
I'm dumbfounded at his statement, but I suppose I shouldn't be. A Republican during a health care reform discussion said that he didn't want a public option because there was no way he wanted his ne'er-do-well drug-addled brother to have the same access to health care that he himself had worked for all his life. I would say to him perhaps if your brother have had that access, he might be in better control of his addiction today, as John Kyl's mother might have had more opportunity to raise an empathetic son.
Well, maybe women should resign themselves to giving birth in the fields and byways like animals without any benefits at all of health-care, Mr. Kyle. It won't matter if they or their babies die if there are problems.
I would suggest to Mr. Kyle that if he doesn't like women getting health care for maternity concerns, I don't like men getting health care for prostate or testicular cancer. Why should I have to pay for something that will never affect me?
Furthermore and more realistically, I don't see why I should have to pay for his health care OR his pension/retirement.
I'm hoping the Senator was quoted out of context. I'm hoping that no one, with more than a grade six education and being semi-literate would make such statements or at least express them publicly. I'm hoping that any politician that expressed these views would be swiftly voted out of office by people with at least one foot in this century. I'm hoping that the senator was just tired and cranky that day- no morning coffee perhaps, or, worse, in the early stages of dementia. Sad for him, sadder even for his State and the good people therein.
I'h hoping that this is an exception- that his opinion is not shared by the great majority of his fellow politicans or the people of his State. That at least some belief in the common good will prevail.
Sadly, many will support his views, including many women.
Senator Kyl is perhaps the best example to use for those creationists who believe that humans walked with dinosaurs, being one himself, and living proof, for some, that evolution either hasn't occured or is selective at best.
Bill in Canada
Bill
I doubt that many women will support his views. The cost of delivery alone in a hospital is astronomical, not even including prenatal care, so not covering maternity is hardly optional for women of childbearing age.
I've no doubt he made the statement and believes it. It's obvious he has a hatred of women that he hasn't been challenged on. As the famous "Ben Matlock" says, "he's a jackass!"
Anney: the white wealthy women- those you see at republican conventions and I would think those nice middle class women you see on the televangelist's shows- people who believe in a literal reading of their holy book will as well. Its not fair to generalize or sterotype these people of course, but there is a pattern of fundamentalists belief, conservatism and very right winged views.
We have all that here as well. But almost fifty years ago, we decided, as a people, that socialized health care for all our citizens, including maternity care, was what we wanted. Paid for from public taxation. For the common good. We all gripe about taxes, especially wasteful spending, but I would bet that not one Canadian in a hundred thousand would exchange our system of publicly funded health care for what passes for it there. You're all being lied to by your insurance companies, your politicians and your right wing media, and dinosaurs like the Senator just make any progress towards improving the lot of so many, and in particular women and children, that much more difficult and unlikely.
-Bill
Sioux Rose
SALT: Great post. Love your final paragraph! Right on.
Senator Kyl is perhaps the best example to use for those creationists who believe that humans walked with dinosaurs, being one himself, and living proof, for some, that evolution either hasn't occured or is selective at best.
****
What a great statement.
I'm completely dumbfounded (though unfortunately unsurprised) by Sen. Kyl response.
Of course the most interesting things to me in his backward look at those glory days of the American female tend to remind me of the "pioneer" stock of my foremothers:
- Both my maternal great-great and great grandmothers were Suffragettes, (My great-great grandmother didn't live long enough to see women get the vote.)
- My maternal great aunt was a Marine during the Great War. (Never call her "lady marine", or "woman marine" or even "Marinette"; she *was* a United State Marine.)
These idiots have no concept of the true history of this country, and they keep attempting to return it to a period that never existed -- except in a few MGM and Warner Bros. musicals.
The Dem/Rep have had their fifty years in power, and have made a mess of it. It's time to let the adult socialists in to straighten things out.
clowns like this should be rounded up (pardon the pun)
as they are cowboys and gelded just in case they want a trophy
wife who might want kids. the correct name for turds like
these bozos is cement head. it covers all the bases quite
nicely. these bozos clearly don't respect women as equals.
if they could have children themselves god forbid all
these federal acts they oppose would be changed to not
only federal law but also some kind of religious sacraments.
Senator Jon Kyl dosen't require maternity care - just little blue pills,,,
women rule
i saw a bumper sticker that said good women don't become famous, i scrawled mary magdalene on it; hehehe.
i think she was the lord's girlfriend, that is so sweet and some kind of wonderful
faith, hope, love
I think Kyl's point is why provide women maternity leave if they aren't working anyway? Women don't hold jobs in Kyl's American West. They churn butter, hang up the wash, and pump water up the well with a baby on their back. And then its 'git back in here, woman, and fry me up some bacon!'
How do these sociopaths get elected and why are they not shunned when they get to the Senate. What a cruel, mean spirited and backward country we live in if this is our brand of politics. The rest of the world is laughing at us. The rest of the world, except maybe Afghanistan, is thankful they are are not citizens of the US.