Now we KNOW who will be Michigan’s Senator after November 2012
Pete Hoekstra, he of the catastrophic “Yellow Girl” anti-China campaign ad that all but destroyed any chance he had of competing against Senator Debbie Stabenow in November, has now sealed his fate. How? By pretty much guaranteeing that he won’t get any women to vote for him.
During a campaign stop yesterday, he was asked about the Lilly Ledbetter Act, the law that allows women to sue companies if they pay men more than women for the same job. Hoekstra responded that it shouldn’t be the law.
I voted against it. Will repealing it be a priority? If you came back and said, you know, that’s really the thing that’s hurting my business the most. My guess is there are other things that we can do that have a higher priority in terms of what I, what I believe might need to be done. I think you know we need to create — that thing is a nuisance. It shouldn’t be the law.
Think Progress has the audio.
It’s hard to believe during a week when the Republican Party is trying like hell to deflect accusations that they are waging a war on women and women’s rights that Pete Hoekstra would boldly go where nearly nobody else has gone before like this. Although there must be some, I can’t think of any examples where a politician of any stripe has said that the Lilly Ledbetter Act is something that shouldn’t be law. I would say it shouldn’t NEED to be law but even the most hardcore, dyed-in-the-wool, anti-Regulation Republicans don’t have it in themselves to publicly speak out against the Lilly Ledbetter Act. Ron Paul, maybe, but actual contenders? No way.
They may want to but they have one little problem: women actually vote. Apparently someone forgot to tell Pete Hoekstra.
But, hey, Pete, seriously. Knock yourself out. The quicker you flame out, the less money and effort Senator Stabenow will need to spend and the more time she can spend in Washington, D.C. protecting and expanding the rights of women. And you can stay back here in Michigan working to … wait. What is exactly that you do again? Oh, yeah. That’s right. You’re a lobbyist.
[H/T: Lynn/@wavingcrosser]
