And you thought the left had exhausted all the ways to reach low-information voters in 2012.
Women’s magazine Cosmopolitan (famed for its sex "advice") will endorse political candidates – starting with the 2014 midterm elections. Politico reported on the “#CosmoVotes campaign,” that begins Monday as an “effort that will include candidate endorsements, stories on women-centric issues … and a social media effort to get readers to the polls and be part of ‘the party of the year’” – a party that plans to wipe out pro-life candidates.
The site, which boasts 30 million unique visitors per month, “will endorse from one to three candidates based upon an ‘established criteria agreed upon by Cosmo editors’” every week beginning Sept. 8 for the November elections.
That criteria, says Politico, “fall squarely into the liberal camp — equal pay, pro-choice, pro-birth control coverage, anti-restrictive voter-ID laws.”
But there is one “deal breaker:” abortion.
When Politico asked about “a [hypothetical] candidate who might line up on certain issues like equal pay but is pro-life,” Amy Odell, a Cosmopolitan.com editor heading the new political push, “said that would be a deal breaker.”
To clarify, Odell continued, “We’re not going to endorse someone who is pro-life because that’s not in our readers’ best interest.” “[P]eople say that’s a liberal thing, but in our minds it’s not about liberal or conservative, it’s about women having rights, and particularly with health care because that is so important. All young women deserve affordable easy access to health care, and that might include terminating a pregnancy, and that’s OK.”
(Yes, Cosmo deeply cares about “all young women.” Minus those pro-life women voters, women candidates – and unborn females, of course.)
“These are about lifestyle issues for women,” Cosmo Editor-in-Chief Joanna Coles said. “The biggest single decision which will impact your life is when you have a child,” she ironically noted. “I want women to have control over that, not a bunch of old white guys sitting in D.C. That to me is why I am doing this.”
Besides that, Coles highlighted healthcare, contraception, equal pay and “gun control issues.” “If there are candidates who are in favor of 9-year-old girls shooting Uzis at a theme park,” she declared, “we are not in favor of those candidates.”
As part of the master plan, Cosmo’s senior political writer Jill Filipovic, “will interview candidates and publish pieces on issues of the day.” One to-be-published story will focus on “the struggles women officeseekers have with the media.” (Speak for yourself, Cosmo.)
The social media campaign will feature Ban Bossy’s Beyoncé to publicize a “Save the Date” for Election Day.
Cosmo’s new endorsement offers phenomenal “credibility” to the abortion movement. What candidate doesn’t want a recommendation from an outlet that hosts the “2014 Sex Olympics" – or the “Holiday Sextacular” "Twelve Days of Sex Moves"? Specific to the website, Cosmo also offers sexual positions for lesbians and “The 16 Best Chairs to Have Sex On.”
— Katie Yoder is Staff Writer, Joe and Betty Anderlik Fellow in Culture and Media at the Media Research Center. Follow Katie Yoder on Twitter.
