John Kyl's female trouble

Jon Stewart on Halliburton

Jennifer Johnson, a former Republic staffer who now works for the state Democratic party, goes after John Kyl in the paper’s op-ed page today, focusing on a few recent comments and votes that aren’t going to endear him to his female constituents.

Again, Johnson’s working for the Democratic party, but it’s hard to argue with her points:

First, he landed in the hot seat by dismissing Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s call for basic maternity care to be included in insurance plans. “I don’t need maternity care,” he stated during Senate debate.

An editorial in Tuesday’s Republic defended Kyl. He was “debating in the public’s interest” to keep costs down, the editorial stated. But Kyl, and The Republic, missed the point: Women are angry, not just because of Kyl’s remark, but because their senator claims he is fighting to keep costs down.

Down for whom? Maternity care costs women dearly. And women can be denied coverage because of so-called “pre-existing conditions” such as a C-section or a previous pregnancy.

And then there’s Al Franken’s mischievous Halliburton rape amendment:

Last week, Kyl voted “no” on an amendment that would block defense contracts with companies that prevent employees from suing over sexual assault. In other words, Kyl voted to protect the interests of corporations over the rights of sexual-assault victims.

The amendment had been proposed to prevent situations like that of Jamie Leigh Jones, a former contractor for Halliburton/KBR in Iraq who said she was drugged and brutally raped by a group of fellow contractors. Despite solid medical evidence, Jones was blocked from pressing charges in court because her defense contract prevented it.

Johnson, politely, doesn’t mention that the woman was also was held captive in a crate when she tried to report the gang rape.

Kyl voted on the side of the military contractor.

The Halliburton case, incidentally, caught the attention of the Daily Show last night: