It’s painful to watch someone who has so completely lost the narrative

As Emma pointed out yesterday, Terri Lynn Land is on a one-woman crusade to ensure that we’re fully aware that she doesn’t support income equality for women by repeatedly bringing up the “War on Women” topic. Yesterday it was a comical video that is getting trounced all over the internet. For example, here’s the inestimable David Nir at Daily Kos:

My only response: Man. This kind of guffawing rejoinder to substantive policy criticisms is truly pathetic. Anyone swayed by this kind of “argument” is almost certainly already very hostile to Democrats—the sort of conservative who declares, “There’s no ‘War on Women’ because Monica Lewinsky!” It’s hard to imagine this ad will persuade anyone persuadable, but the fact that Land’s even put it out suggests she thinks this topic makes her vulnerable.

Today it’s an eight paragraph essay on her website titled “The Real War on Women.”

The overly long essay (someone should really explain to her what tl;dr means) is an exercise in watching a person who has lost the thread trying to partake in a conversation. I suppose it’s not too surprising that she doesn’t get it. For someone as filthy rich as Terri Lynn Land, income inequality isn’t really a “thing”. She waxes lyrical about her grandmother and then goes on to say the real war on women is taxes and over-regulation.

Derp.

She shows no evidence whatsoever that she has a clue about how her positions perpetuate the problem of women being paid less than men for the same work. She shows no evidence whatsoever that she has a clue about the fact that laws passed to restrict a woman’s access to safe, affordable, legal family planning services like abortions are a direct attack on women and women alone. She shows no evidence whatsoever that she has a clue about the fact that women pay more for their healthcare than men do.

Yet she wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act that ends making having a vagina a preexisting condition. She has stated that women don’t want equal pay, they want “flexibility” (apparently men don’t) and that she would have opposed the the Paycheck Fairness Act. As an RNC Committeewoman, she voted for the Republican Party’s platform which called for banning abortions, even in the case of rape or incest, and has the endorsement of Right to Life.

No reduction of taxes addresses these issues. No reduction of regulations addresses these issues. No amount of misty-eyed poetry about her grandmother fixes these issues.

Every step of the way Terri Lynn Land has come down on the wrong side of issues that impact women. It doesn’t matter if the person pointing that out is a Penised American (like Gary Peters) or a Vaginaed American. There is a War on Women and Terri Lynn Land is one of its foot soldiers.

But don’t take it from me, a Penised American. Take it from a Vaginaed American, Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer:

.@TerriLLand Would you like ME to explain equal pay to you instead then? #MISen — Gretchen Whitmer (@gretchenwhitmer) April 22, 2014

Someone should tell the GOP that just because your candidate has XX chromosomes does not mean you suddenly have a pro-woman agenda. — Gretchen Whitmer (@gretchenwhitmer) April 22, 2014

The idea that Terri Lynn Land thinks that just because she’s a woman somehow makes her a pro-woman candidate leaves her silence in the face of serious challenges Michigan women and families face every day all the more unacceptable and wrong. Ms. Land is not mocking Gary Peters – she is mocking Michigan women who deserve an actual answer as to why Ms. Land supports forcing rape victims to pay more for the health care they might need after an attack. Ms. Land’s snark is heartbreaking to women all across our great state who deserve her respect, but instead have to suffer through her silly stunts.

It’s clear that Land is very worried about how women view her and how that is affecting her chance to be elected. She even now claims in her essay that, “I’m a woman, of course I support equal pay for equal work!” despite being on the record for saying the opposite.

If you are a Vaginaed American, especially if you are a Vaginaed Michigander, let your voice be heard on this. Do NOT let Terri Lynn Land off the hook simply because she possesses a vagina. Speak out against her hypocrisy.

The very idea that, despite her positions and record, she is somehow pro-women just because of her gender is as sexist as her Party’s stance on nearly every issue impacting women.

Don’t let her get away with it.

Finally, here’s Progress Michigan’s response: