From The Seattle PI
By Roberta Riley

Oh how John McCain courts women. With Sarah Palin at his side and our unpopular president sidelined, he promises huge, glass ceiling-shattering change.

What is the substance behind his symbolism? On every issue of concern to women — from education to equal pay, health care and physical security to retirement and financial security — John McCain and George W. Bush are identical and abysmal. It is their best-kept secret.

How can this be?

Lipstick doesn’t just differentiate the hockey moms from the pit bulls, as Palin joked in her convention speech. Lipstick conceals the harsh, anti-woman actions of McCain and Bush. Bush searched high and low for women, preferably attractive ones, from groups opposed to such things as equal pay, health care for all, contraception and shelters for battered women. Then he handed them the reins of government. McCain approved his Cabinet appointees, who have now quietly dismembered federal programs near and dear to women. Their favorite tools are executive orders, rule changes and unfunded mandates, which do not require congressional approval and rarely grab headlines. They excel at doublespeak. When congressional action is needed, McCain votes with Bush 95 percent of the time, and now he’s recruited Bush’s lipstick crew to his team.

On the 35th anniversary of Title IX, the federal law requiring equal opportunity for females in education, Bush’s Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, held a warm, fuzzy news conference to celebrate the law’s successes. Then she silently weakened the rules for Title IX compliance, threatening sports opportunities and scholarships for women. McCain tacitly approved. Not only is the slice for females getting smaller, the whole pie is shrinking because Spellings, who regulates the federally guaranteed student loan program, ignored the inspector general’s advice and refused to recoup the hundreds of millions in excess profits that predatory college loan lenders siphoned from funds meant for students.

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