by Nicholas Beaudrot of electoral Math
I assume ezra's low post rate is due to his travel to YearlyKos, so as one of the few bloggers not attending because I'm too cheap busy dedicated to providing readers with more content, I thought I might fill in a bit. With a hat tip to echidne of the snakes, number of Republicans voting against for the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: TWO (Chris Shays (R-CT) and Don Young (R-AK)).
I certainly wouldn't have expected all Republican Congresswomen to vote for the bill, but you have to believe that at least some of them had experienced gender bias in their lives and would find the argument that only the first unequal paycheck counted as an act of discrimination patently offensive. Or, at the very least, that they would fear organized opposition from even the moderate women's groups that support the bill. Or if not women's groups, maybe AARP. Heather Wilson (R-NM), has in the past had a quasi-moderate voting record and will face a tough fight for re-election in 2008; what's she doing voting against this bill? Can Shelley Moore-Capito (R-WV) really vote against this and have a serious shot at statewide office? Does the Republican party really think it is a good idea to turn "equal pay for equal work" into a partisan issue and come out against it? Have their party strategists simply lost their minds?
