'Waist-up' issues

Wow. GOP "pollster" Kellyanne Conway gets 1,100 words and 35 column inches in the PG to argue "The GOP Can Win Women" (Sept. 2 Forum). She argues that Democrats "speak to women only from the waist down," and not from the waist up, where her polling shows "economic worries are key."

I get 250 words to reply to Ms. Conway, so here are just a few of the GOP policies that are driving women away in droves. The Republican Party:

Opposes equal pay bill for women.

Opposes increasing the minimum wage.

Supports higher student loan interest rates.

Votes for cuts for education and day care, including Head Start.

Supports cuts to public transportation.

Supports cuts to clean air and water regulation.

Supports policies that will increase middle-class taxes, particularly on working women. (The Ryan budget would raise taxes on families earning $30,000 to $40,000 a year by $500.)

Opposes health care reform but offers no substantive plan of its own to make care affordable and accessible to all and reduce costs.

Supports cuts to social service programs providing shelters for battered and abused women, job training and continuing education.

Supports lowering Social Security benefits and increasing retirement age. (Social Security accounts for two-thirds of income for women over 65.)

Supports conversion of Medicare to a voucher system adding thousands a year to the health costs of seniors.

I could go on ... a lot, but I am reaching my limit. Let's look at the polls again in November, Ms. Conway. I'm afraid you are in for a shock.

DOUG WEBSTER
Monroeville