If Republicans are to appeal to women, they can't keep looking to the past

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/06/republicans-appeal-to-women-looking-to-the-past

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If the 2012 elections were about male Republicans sticking their feet in their mouths and their heads up their asses – “legitimate rape”, “binders of women”, offering women the aspirin-between-the-knees method of birth control – I predict that 2016 will be the year that the Republicans reveal themselves to be the party of, for and by old farts.

Lately, everything old Republican men say – about women, about rape, about marriage equality, even vaccines – sounds more old-fogey than forward-thinking. And while they have never been the party of the young and hip, in the midst of an all-out young feminist revival, Republican rhetoric sounds older and limper than ever.

And as the male Republican guard reveals themselves to be as stale and funky as your grandpa’s drawers, older liberal women are stepping into the limelight as cool and accomplished.

We’ve got Notorious RBG; they’ve got Mike Huckabee’s war on Beyoncé. It’s no country for old men. Not anymore.

Less than two years ago, it was considered a viable strategy to paint Hillary Clinton as “old” in an attempt to discredit her potential presidential run. But in the age of Texts from Hillary, she’s the “grandmother [voters] want to hang out with”, the woman who jokes about titling her book the Scrunchie Chronicles and the candidate who is reportedly considering Brooklyn as home to her campaign headquarters.

Today’s Republicans might be clued in enough to realize calling one of the country’s most experienced female politician “old” is not a good way to woo the women voters they’re so desperate for, but I’m not sure they fully realize the power of Clinton’s experienced cool.

As Rand Paul struggled to do damage control after saying during a CNBC interview on Mondaythat some children get “profound mental disorders” after inoculations, for example, Clinton tweeted a savvy message: “The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and #vaccineswork. Let’s protect all our kids.” She even ended her tweet with the winning hashtag, #GrandmothersKnowBest – demonstrating that any “Grandma-in-Chief” jabs will be promptly brushed off her shoulders.

But Clinton doesn’t even have to look hip for the GOP to look squarer than Spongebob.

On Tuesday, for example, as the Utah Judiciary Committee debated a bill that would change the state’s rape law to make clear that sex with an unconscious person is sexual assault, Republican state representative Brian Greene expressed a concern less befitting a lawmaker and more suited to your horrible misogynist great-uncle:

It looks to me now like sex with an unconscious person is, by definition, rape. I hope this wouldn’t happen, but this opens the door to it: an individual has sex with their wife they she is unconscious ... but a prosecutor could then charge that spouse with rape.

Well, yes, Scary Men That I’m Glad I’m Not Married To, that is the point; wives are neither their husband’s property nor unrapeable by their husbands.

Greene is hardly alone: In a statement reminiscent of Pat Robertson’s claim that feminism encourages women to “practice witchcraft,” US senator Ted Cruz has accused pro-choice activists of being Satanists; Huckabee hasn’t let go of his bizarre obsession with Beyoncé; and even young Republicans are honorary the traditions of the old ones with their attempt to reach women voters by comparing politicians to...wedding dresses.

So keep it up, guys! The more you come off as ancient, out-of-touch anti-feminist scolds, the more women are going to laugh it up at the voting booth.