...psssst...

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121. I don't regard a woman's right to choose as a "distraction issue."

And we're NOT getting wins on that, which further underscores my point. There's a psychology to this. You damage the Democratic brand by adding to the public perception that Dems are a gang that can't shoot straight or at fault for everything and then the general gullible impressionable and easily manipulated public take-away is simply "oooh, Democrats baaaaaaad." That, in turn, translates to republi-CON votes, OR it leads Democratic voters to throw up their hands and stay home on Election Day - while the GOP is motivated and fired up as all hell and their voters show up to vote and they win.

And then you start getting Kansas. Ohio. Wisconsin. Michigan. Virginia. Texas. And on.

This kind of thing Does. NOT. Happen. when Dems are in charge! And frequently, when Dems are in charge, you also have more women in charge because there are more female politicians among the Dems than among the GOP. To me as a woman, and as the mother of a young woman of childbearing age, this adverse turn of events is distressing as hell! It's become THE issue for me as a voter, first, last, and damn near always. ANY politician who is against a woman's right to choose is a non-starter for me as far as whether I'm ever gonna vote for that person, and it doesn't matter WHERE he or she stands on any other issue. Including other issues I care about deeply. But I care about this more. I have at times been forced to be reduced to one-issue voter status - it's THAT important to me. As Joe Biden would say, "this is a big fuckin' deal." I see our rights as women being eroded by the day, in state after state, in situations where men have the governing majority and that same majority is also republi-CON. We fought hard for that right, and it's systematically being taken from us, at a rate I've never seen before - and I'm 60-years-old this year. I dread seeing the GOP with such a hammer-lock on so many states. It's no good for women's rights. And they've started coming after you, too, voters-and-potential-voters-who-are-not-white-skinned. They've already gained a lot of ground going after unions also. And DAMMIT, IT'S NOT THE DEMOCRATS DOING THAT OR INITIATING THAT OR PUSHING IT THROUGH BEHIND CLOSED DOORS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT WITHOUT WARNING OR SIGNING IT INTO LAW!!!

Sorry to yell. But that's the way I feel about it. It's starts and ends with that, for me. A woman's right to choose is an absolute. It's not up for discussion, or up to ANYONE but the individual woman. It is non-negotiable. And I see an astonishing few republi-CONS on my side of this issue, while Democrats are visible everywhere. The two parties are NOT the same. There IS a difference. A big one. And when a woman controls her own body, she controls her own destiny, her own future, and her own economics, both within her own domicile and filtering out into the surrounding community at large. Which, btw, sooner or later impacts and addresses every one of your concerns.