In their ongoing quest to figure out why "Screw you people!" wasn't a winning message in 2012, the Republican Party is having lots of meetings and panels and training sessions to learn how to say "Screw you people, please!" Because of course the big lesson they learned from November's ass-kicking wasn't that "screw you" policies are not popular, but that they simply need to find a nicer, friendlier way to say "screw you."

On Thursday, for example, at their special retreat in Virginia, held at what used to be the Kingsmill Plantation—yes, as in slave plantation—they had a "Discussion on Successful Communication with Minorities and Women," where they learned how to talk to not-whites and not-men more, you know, sensitively. In the Burwell Plantation Room. Brilliant planning there, fellas.

The prior evening, conservative women gathered for a panel hosted by the Independent Women's Forum—one of those silly little faux feminist organizations that devotes itself to furthering the Republican Party's misogynist agenda, but dressed up in skirts and pearls so it looks more feministical. Turns out those even those conservative women are a little upset with their own party:

“Is there anyone more tongue-tied than a Republican politician talking about women?” panel moderator Christina Hoff Sommers asked. […] Hoff Sommers, an author and American Enterprise Institute fellow known for her attacks on the feminist movement, instead saved her most pointed criticisms Wednesday night for the older, male politicians who she said were alienating young women voters. “We have some problematic allies,” Hoff Sommers said in her opening remarks. “Conservative leaders and funders, they don’t take women’s issues seriously.” “I’m not sure what’s worse: conservatives ignoring women’s issues, or conservatives addressing them,” she said as the audience laughed.

Yeah, laugh it up ladies. Because it's freakin' hilarious how the Republican Party has been so god-awful on women's issues, while Republican women have enthusiastically supported and voted for the party's anti-woman agenda, isn't it? All those attempts to restrict and defund women's health care, supported by lady Republicans. Blocking renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, supported by lady Republicans. Attacking women who use birth control, supported by lady Republicans. Trying to redefine rape and explain how some rape is't really rape because, you know, chicks, man, they're always lying about being raped so they can cash in on all the fabulous government-funded gifts and prizes. Yup, lady Republicans have been right there, lock-stepping with the party. Damn shame about the men though, isn't it?

This isn't the first time Republican women have tried to convince themselves that they care about women too. In June 2011, the Republican women of the House had a consciousness-raising session, where they insisted that the party's agenda "is indeed pro-woman" because "it is pro-small business, pro-entrepreneur, pro-family and pro-economic growth."