Did you know that working moms who don’t watch Fox are socialists? Neither did I.

But then I asked some folks on Twitter, who were beating up on a friend of mine who is a left of center lady, not unlike myself, and was on Fox this morning (the national cable version, not the local), if they could link to the clip about which they were razzing my friend, since, being a working parent, I don’t watch the morning news shows because, well, I’m working – and parenting. (I know – many of us have the television or radio on in the background while parenting and working but that is not the norm in my home at all – way too distracting; I can parent & work at the same time, but add cable morning news shows to the task list and I’m on overload.)

And their response to my simple and, if I might say so myself, civil request (intended to allow me to make an actual judgement on the razzing they were giving my friend which included them saying that the way she said the word “privilege” regarding Ann Romney was in a perjorative way) was to tell me that, for saying I was working, parenting and not watching Fox, I spoke like a “true Socialist.” Later tweets included mentions of their belief that I envy male anatomy and some other things that have nothing to do with anything, except to demonstrate perfectly how the motherlode of all linkbait is the often-called always-maligned Mommy Wars.

If ever there was a subject in need of being limited to civil discourse-only, this has got to be it.

Read the rest at the Civic Commons (where this working mom works, from home and from wherever civic engagement takes me).

The gap exists because of reality: when women look around and on an every day occasion, see and experience where we aren’t included or even thought about, or, when we are included or thought about, how we’re treated – whether in real life (Ginni Rometty) or fake life (anything on Mad Men) – we don’t like it.  And we see the statements and policies of conservatives as, in general (yes, there are exceptions), upholding, supporting and keeping in stasis what we don’t like, while we see the statements and policies of moderates and liberals as, in general, seeking to change, alter, take down and improve that which we don’t like (though of course there are plenty of exceptions there too – start with any sex scandal).

And, as if to underscore how clueless the men are, US Senator Mitch McConnell claimed that his female colleagues certainly would support him in calling out the “war on women” as being manufactured. Thanks, Mitch, for demonstrating how completely you haven’t heard a word your female colleagues have said and how thoroughly you expect them to follow you in lockstep, to wit, from that link:

“Talk about a manufactured issue. There is no issue,” McConnell said. “Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (from Texas) and Kelly Ayotte from New Hampshire and Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe from Maine I think would be the first to say—and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska—’we don’t see any evidence of this.’”

However, three of those female GOP lawmakers whom McConnell cited— Snowe, Hutchison and Murkowski—have specifically spoken out against Republican measures they believe are aimed at women.

Then, there’s the whole gaslighting aspect to what McConnell and others like Republican National Committee Chair, Reince Priebus, are saying – Preibus analogizing his belief that the notion of there being a war on women is as far-fetched as suggesting there’s a war on caterpillars.

We’re not being gaslighted – reality bites. And no amount of optics of Republican female spokespeople on the trail or a strong spouse, daughter-in-law or mother will begin to cut into the reality.

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Read more here.

The Following election poll was conducted over a seven day period from February 20 – 27, contacting 3200 likely primary voters of each major party, divided equally over the 16 congressional districts.   All calls were made in person, to landline phone numbers researched on whitepages.com, from registered voter lists supplied by the Secretary of State:

Ohio U.S. Senate Republican Primary Polling
Name            TOTAL        Men         Women         Under 50      Over 50
Dodt                 1%           1%             0%               0%             1%
Glisman            23%         15%            32%              17%           24%
Gregory             3%           5%             2%               5%             6%
Mandel             17%         20%           14%              22%           13%
Pryce                6%           9%             4%               4%             6%
Undecided         50%         50%           48%              52%            50%

Take a look at that undecided number!

Ohio’s open primary system means that its large portion of voters who identify as independents, and women in particular, can really affect the outcome of this race.  Turnout is notoriously low for primaries – I heard yesterday on one of the cable shows that it can average just 10-20% nationwide for the presidential primary race. Ouch.

Donna Glisman – you go girl! I don’t know a thing about her, I’m not voting a Republican ballot and I do know who I’m supporting in November – but I always like seeing women run.  Check out her League of Women Voters’ information here.

I won’t be voting for any of these candidates in the primary or the general, but for those of you who really want to vote for a Republican, you clearly do not need to follow the narrative that because Josh Mandel has the money, he has the win.

Go be civic and really make your vote count on March 6 – whichever way that goes for you.

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Bernadine Healy must be spinning in her grave

(More about Bernadine Healy here – she mandated that women be included in health trials – about women’s health. Hello.)

There’s a lot of excellent commentary on that photo around the web but here’s US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) speaking up about it – with the image full blown behind her:

And we can’t ignore that here are the menz pundits this morning on MSNBC (read more about the optic debacle here) talking about what else – women’s health and contraception. Nary a woman.  Unbelievable in 2012.

Where are the women?

Definitely check out the cleveland.com comment thread – be sure you’re sitting down, even if you’re used to the tone they sometimes take on.  And also browse this comment thread on Connie Schultz’s Facebook page.

Folks, we have a long, long way to go.  If this cause inspires you, please check out Name It Change It, an effort to catalogue and call out, on a non-partisan basis as you will see from the examples, just how rampant the sexism is, especially when politics is involved.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Citing his combative style and personal life, many women in Florida say they won’t support Newt Gingrich in the Republican primary. That gender gap has allowed Mitt Romney to open a commanding lead in Florida over the former Speaker, WSJ’s Neil Hickey reports.

This WSJ report covers why, very specifically, the women going for Newt thing in South Carolina won’t happen in Florida: