The liberal website Think Progress is out with a hit piece claiming Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas is the most anti-woman politician in America … because he supports a flat tax.
In an article titled “Ted Cruz just laid out the most anti-woman agenda yet,” TP author Kay Steiger sought to begin the “war on women” chant against Cruz by attacking policy positions few would think of as specific to a gender.
Steiger achieved this by looking at certain polls showing women split on issues or less enthusiastic than men about certain issues, as if that makes Cruz’s stance anti-woman.
Steiger lists the repeal of Obamacare as somehow being anti-woman — not only because of the contraception mandate, but also because “Women have decidedly mixed views on Obamacare, but some recent tracking polls have shown approval of the health care law getting a slight edge among women.” (Of course, if women are that closely divided on the issue, couldn’t Obamacare itself be considered “anti-woman?”)
Steiger also claims that Cruz’s agenda is anti-woman because he’s for the flat tax and abolishing the IRS. After admitting that “There’s little polling” on these matters, Steiger found one poll from 2012 that showed the flat tax was 10 points more popular with men than with women.”
Steiger uses similar polls showing women support a path to citizenship and gun control to show that Cruz’s views are somehow harmful to the gender.
Note to Think Progress: Just because you don’t agree with someone doesn’t mean they are actively trying to hurt you.
When it comes to Cruz’s foreign policy on Iran and data collection, Steiger really has to stretch. She points to polls showing women being less enthusiastic about the issues than men to support her claim that Cruz is against women.
Cruz’s popular opinion that Common Core is a terrible policy is also evidence that the Texas senator hates women, according to Steiger. Why? Because even though just 17 percent of Americans approve of Common Core, they’re wrong, according to Steiger. And therefore Cruz is wrong. And therefore Cruz hates women. Or something.
You would think Steiger would have a reasonable left-wing case for Cruz being unpopular with women based on his positions on abortion and same-sex marriage, but not exactly. Steiger admits that just 50 percent of women identify as pro-choice, meaning the other 50 percent either identify as pro-life or don’t adhere to labels. And 55 percent of women supporting same-sex marriage isn’t exactly a run away loss for Cruz. (Also, abortion and same-sex marriage rarely even register on the list of Americans’ top priorities.)
Being anti-woman would mean Cruz is actively advocating for policies that would hurt women. Just because women don’t like the flat tax as much as men do doesn’t make the flat tax anti-woman. The same goes for the other policies on this list.
