On Friday’s edition of MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, host Andrea Mitchell and ultra-liberal Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer actually compared Thursday's House hearing on contraception to the 1991 Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings. Mitchell linked the two, reminding that the Clarence Thomas hearing became "an earth-shattering moment on the Hill because it had been such a male institution for so long. That did become the year of the woman." [See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Boxer appeared on the show to express her anger that a Thursday hearing in the House on contraception and religious freedom included no female panelists in the first panel, going so far as to sneer that Republicans were "openly hostile towards women being respected and being able to choose their own health care options."
The two then shared a moment connecting the hearing to the 1991 Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on the sexual harassment allegations levied against soon-to-be Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by Anita Hill.
The liberal Boxer set up Mitchell's "year of the woman" comment by remarking, "And I've been predicting for months now, even before this, that 2012 will be the year of the woman."
Liberals seek to a new low each day the contraception issue continues, this time making ridiculous comparisons to a sexual harassment hearing in the 90s, as they are forced to use scare tactics to try and win a losing argument against religious freedom. Clearly, Mitchell the journalist and Boxer the left-wing politician are on the same wave length.
Below is the relevant transcript:
Andrea Mitchell Reports
02/17/2012
1:30 p.m.
Nancy Pelosi: I may at some point be moved to explain biology to my colleagues.
ANDREA MITCHELL: That was House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi speaking about the house hearing on contraception where only men were allowed to testify. Leader Pelosi’s colleagues on the Senate side are just as mystified by the all male first panel, there were witnesses, women witnesses, in the later, in the hearing. Joining me now is California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. Thanks very much for joining us. There seems to be an atmosphere right now on the Hill where people are just talking past each other and there is real male female divide, tell me if I'm wrong about that.
SENATOR BARBARA BOXER: Yes, you are wrong about that. It's a Republican/Democratic divide. Much more than male/female. Some of our greatest supporters are Senator Blumenthal, Senator Schumer, a whole host of colleagues who are standing by our side. I wouldn’t say that at all. It's really a matter of ideology, and it’s not new Andrea, it's just shockingly surprising to me that in this year, they would be so open about their hostility toward women being respected, being able to choose their own health care options. And it is a reminder of 1992 [sic] when I ran so long ago, it’s hard to believe it goes so fast. The people looked at the Clarence Thomas hearing and they saw, the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearing, and they saw an all male Judiciary Committee here in the Senate, we had the year of the woman. And I've been predicting for months now, even before this, that 2012 will be the year of the woman. And that picture is going to become an iconic photo, my grandson said to me, I said to him who is 16, what is wrong with this, they are talking about women's health care, what is wrong with this Zach? And he said they are all dudes, grandma. That is from a 16-year-old. And it brings it home. It’s insane that they did this.
MITCHELL: You know Senator Boxer I was at the hearing and I covered the hearings, the Clarence Thomas hearings and this was really a light change, an earth-shattering moment on the Hill because it had been such a male institution for so long. That did become the year of the woman. And I remember Strom Thurmond was chairing the hearing, Joe Biden was on that panel, the late Ted Kennedy. Arlen Specter. You had a lot of people that were sort of trapped in this way of thinking. And it was really an extraordinary moment watching that going on.
BOXER: It was. It was. And there's Anita Hill being asked very intimate and personal questions and not one woman is on the panel. And then, Darrell Issa has a chance to have a panel that has, that reflects different views, it could be male/female and different ideologies and he chooses to have all men all with the same opinion. And it just shows you where the Republicans are coming from now. As I have often said, this is not the Republican of my grandpa's Republican Party. I remember my dad just being so in love with Eisenhower. He was a Democrat. He voted for Ike, he said oh, no, I'm voting for Ike. Where are the mainstream Republicans? There's just a handful left frankly.
MITCHELL: Some are suggesting that this is a tactical move, particularly on Rick Santorum's part, not what was said yesterday about Foster Friess, but just in general talking about the social issues to fire up the Republican base. Is this good politics?
BOXER: Let me just say this, I am a Democrat and I know what fires up our base, clearly, one of them is equality for everyone. And if their's is you know, turning on women's voters, if there's a short-term advantage -- I’m sorry, turning on women. If there's a short-term advantage in that which I would question, I'll give it to them, once they get to the general election, that is so extreme. Andrea, the fight for equality, we know how long it's taken, we look at the civil rights movement and the women's movement, it's painful, it's tough. But who would believe that in this year, birth control would be back on the agenda? You know, it's -- it defies common sense, I would think it's an area where we can all come together because it's such a win/win, when we plan our families there are fewer abortions, there are healthier kids, healthier women -- and so many women use birth control for medical reasons and one of the women who wanted so badly to testify is eloquent on the point, that had a friend of hers got ovarian cancer, that had a cyst that kept growing because she could not afford the birth control pills that were so important to shrinking that tumor. So it’s mind-boggling, and I don’t know if they get any advantage to it in quotes. I certainly wouldn’t want to hurt half of the population to get some kind of an advantage if I were them.
