The Washington Independent

Women\’s Issues

Michele Bachmann: Keep the Government’s Hands Off My Body!

By | 08.20.09 | 5:47 pm

Does the conservative Minnesota Republican congresswoman now support abortion rights? How else can one read the following statement, made earlier today Tuesday on Sean Hannity’s radio program? From TPM’s Eric Kleefeld:

“That’s why people need to continue to go to the town halls, continue to melt the

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The Ubiquity of Empathy

By | 07.20.09 | 2:06 pm

From Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker comes this simple but not-much-discussed observation: Empathy is not, as some seem to think, a scourge peculiar to Hispanic females. Indeed, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is as empathetic as Sonia Sotomayor, Parker appropriately pointed out yesterday, the only distinction being that their More…

Franken Quizzes Sotomayor on Perry Mason — and Actual Constitutional Issues

By | 07.15.09 | 3:50 pm

For a comedian-turned-politician with no formal legal training, the newest senator and Judiciary Committee member, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor some of the most complex but elucidating questions about Supreme Court cases we’ve heard yet. After bonding with Sotomayor over their mutual love of the More…

Anti-Abortion Activist: Palin Could Be a New Reagan

By | 07.07.09 | 12:10 pm

Earlier today I talked to Jill Stanek, an anti-abortion rights activist who hounded Barack Obama over his vote against Illinois’s Born Alive Infant Protection Act, about the possibility of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin stepping out as a pro-life advocate after she leaves the governor’s office.

“It would More…

NOW Sides With Palin, Attacks Letterman

By | 06.12.09 | 3:01 pm

The National Organization for Women nominates David Letterman for a slot in its “Hall of Shame” for his joke about the governor of Alaska’s daughter getting “knocked up” at a Yankees game.

After two nights of “jokes” at the expense of Palin and her family, Letterman tried to explain

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Randall Terry Compares Tiller’s Killer to Nat Turner

By | 06.11.09 | 3:53 pm

Despite delivering on his promise of wings and Guinness, Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry failed to draw a crowd to his news conference at the National Press Club today about, among other things, the recent murder of Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. Terry repeated More…

Is She or Isn’t She? Gingrich Sort of Retracts the Racist Accusation

By | 06.05.09 | 1:46 pm

Former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich admitted on Fox News’ “Hannity” that maybe Sotomayor herself isn’t a racist. Still, he insisted, her statements are.

“In my newsletter I went a step too far in saying that she is a racist because I don’t know her and there’s no evidence More…

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Sonia Sotomayor

By | 06.04.09 | 4:22 pm

Avid observers of the circus surrounding Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court may be interested to know that her answers to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s questionnaire were completed in record time and are now available here on the Judiciary Committee’s Website — all 172 pages of them. More…

FBI Ignored Repeated Complaints From Tiller’s Clinic About Murder Suspect

By | 06.04.09 | 8:18 am

How is it possible that the FBI was told repeatedly just days before the murder of Dr. George Tiller that Scott Roeder, now the leading suspect, had repeatedly broken federal law by vandalizing the women’s health clinic where Tiller worked, including gluing the locks of the clinic, and the FBI More…

Little-Enforced Law Opens Window for Suits Against Extremist Groups

By | 06.03.09 | 6:00 am

The threats started in 1995. It was the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, and the American Coalition of Life Activists decided to create a poster for their annual meeting listing the names and address of a group of doctors who performed abortions. They called them “the Deadly Dozen,” and declared More…