Comments

1
DOUCHEBAG!
2
"Man who who hands you the broom"?
3
Perhaps you should not have closed this with the imagery of you handing a woman a broom, even if it is to break that glass ceiling with.

I mean, who breaks glass with a broom? A brick, perhaps a hammer...but why a cleaning implement that is essentially a symbol of the old Angel in the Household? A broom is for cleaning up the glass, not breaking it.

Not that I think it was an intentional slight, but still.
4
Those are all wonderful traits, however your party wants to end choice on abortion and wants to expand the definition of abortion to cover the major forms of contraception. I won't trust anyone who is part of a party that has that as a tenant of its policy.
5
@1: Screw off man, McKenna at least has the balls to put himself out there to a very hostile audience, the least you can do is treat him with a modicum of decency, maybe prove you are not an immature child.

You give everyone here a bad name with your petty nonsense.
6
You're going to hand me a broom? FUCK YOU DUDE.

This better be a joke.
7
Perhaps Rob "the militant feminist" can explain why he wants to limit women's access to life saving healthcare?
Or limit women's rights to marry who they love?

8
"You need a man like me to help you do all that empowerment bullshit you ladies are on about!"

See, this talking down stuff is why you're down in the polls...
9
Lemme guess, you keep that broom in the closet with your gay friends, and a bunch of wire coat hangers.

Shame on you.
10
Ok, this is definitely fake. Good prank goldy, Eli, and gang
11
"Feminism and Republicanism Aren't Mutually Exclusive"

Now you're just looking ridiculous.

Seriously, Slog, is this what we pay you for? To provide a place for Republicans to hang around making themselves look ridiculous? Oh right.
12
I don't need a man to hand me a broom to break a glass ceiling - I'm perfectly capable of doing that all on my own. I would like the GOP men to keep their hands off my uterus, however.

BTW - the choice of a broom for imagery was a poor one. The implications there will piss a lot of women off.
13
Thank you for coming here, Mr. McKenna. I appreciate you making the effort. I hope to see more of you and other candidates from your party here.

That being said, would you kindly address the concerns brought up by posters 4 and 6?
14
"BTW - the choice of a broom for imagery was a poor one. The implications there will piss a lot of women off."

What are you talking about? Rob's a feminist! He says so! Right before he talks about handing the ladies their broom.
15
@13) Rather, posters 4 and 7.

Oop.
16
Hi Rob McKenna, I'm a feminist too! Unlike you, I am a poor feminist who works two part time jobs and has no health insurance. My primary care provider is Planned Parenthood. I visit them three times a year for my birth control injection and a cholesterol test and once a year for both of those things plus a well woman check up where I am screen for cervical and breast cancer among other things. All of this, with the exception of the cholesterol test which I pay for out of pocket, is covered by Take Charge. I have never been offered an abortion at Planned Parenthood, probably because due to their fantastic care I have never been pregnant. My question to you is, if you are elected governor will I still be able to access this low cost quality care at my local Planned Parenthood Clinic? What will you do to ensure that poor women across the state have access the same great reproductive health care as I do?
17
Whooosh.
18
So what you're saying is that you don't use appropriate tools for the job at hand? Please tell me they at least get some kind of eye protection while they whiff away at that overhead glass with their bundle of straw on a stick.
19
@14 - Technically it's not their broom, but their husband's broom.
20
@19 - Could be. Or maybe it's the Nimbus 2000. Expecto Cro-Magnon!
21
Any "feminist" willing to align himself with the Republican Party of the last 12 years is either a shameless liar, or shows such poor judgment that he should be disqualified for office on that alone. We are smart enough to see through you.
22
Yeah wow, yikes. That was almost as bad as your pink chicks button. Rob, you need a women advisor, like yesterday.
23
Thank you for being willing to venture into the lion's den to talk with Slog readers. I wouldn't have expected that and I appreciate it.

I want to believe you when you say you're a feminist but it just doesn't ring true for me. As a woman, I'm just baffled as to how anyone can think it's their place to tell me what I am and am not allowed to do with my body. You wouldn't want a pimp to control what one of your daughters could and couldn't do, so why would you want let the government take away her sovereignty over herself?

And if you really care about Washington families, protect all of them, not just the ones formed by opposite-sex couples. Please, protect and fight for the freedom to marry for all loving and committed couples in Washington. Families of same-sex couples need you to fight for them too.
24
Why the avoidance on issues such as health care for women?
Yes, it is nice that 500+ women are working in the AG office.
But what about the women who are NOT working in the AG office?
What about their health care?
What about their rights?

Brooms are used to clean up broken glass. Not to break glass.

What, specifically, is your definition of "feminist"?
25
Maybe he intended to evoke empowering witch/Wiccan imagery? Yeah, a stretch. Trying to be nice to the "not quite convinced if he's for real" guest poster.
26
"I can be the man who hands you the broom..."

I just love that Slog is giving McKenna a rope to hang himself with.
27
That's nice. I'm still going to be giving my vote to the other guy though. Oh, and I regularly volunteer at a food bank, but then again, I don't have anything to prove.
28
"Hi. My name is Rob McKenna and I'm a feminist." ???

I find it hard to believe that was said with a straight face. Paul's comments had me going for awhile, but this is starting to seem really fake.

If it's not fake, I'm speechless.
30
Oh look another guy who wants to shrink government so it's just large enough to fit in a vagina or an asshole.
31
Dear Rob,

Nice try. I really feel you there and appreciate the effort. But really? Stop. You're embarrassing yourself.

Unfortunately, you've just shown what you truly think about women. A man has got to be the one in the position of power to hand over some?? Talk about patriarchy!

Sorry dude. You just proved my point. My heart goes out to you because I feel like this was a pretty genuine attempt at peace. But you've got to stop pretending that you have to hand out positions to women because they're women. Why not hand out positions to PEOPLE who DESERVE them? Hire the best person for the job! And, if you're not a raging bigot, 50% of the time the best person is going to be a woman. (And not because of her ovaries, either.)

Yes, women care about sexual assault, but there's a lot more to being a feminist than volunteering at domestic abuse shelters. Good for you, you don't beat women. But you still think they're less than you.

Next time, educate yourself on what a feminist is before you start spouting off crap again. Insulting everyone by thinking we need YOU to hand us BROOMS is hardly helping your cause.

Ugh.
32
Jokes over guys, fake right?
33
"Feminist":

This word does not mean what you think it means, Rob.

If you do not believe that reproductive rights are human rights, you are not a feminist. If you do not believe in marriage equality, you are not a feminist. Support for domestic violence and trafficking victims is great, but often that violence includes reproductive coercion (birth control tampering, poking holes in condoms, etc). Gay and lesbian couples are not immune to domestic violence either.
34
Jesus Christ, Rob, who's advising you?

If you want to appeal the ladies, you'll need to cultivate more of a bad boy image.

* Lose the glasses.
* It looks like you haven't changed your hairstyle since your mom used to cut it - loosen up and let it grow a little shaggy, this isn't 1958.
* Do your next press conference wearing a leather jacket with a cigarette dangling out of your mouth.
* Humor! Women love men who make them laugh.
* It's certainly A-OK that your the feminine type of guy, but despite the strides we've made in tearing down gender roles, the fact remains that women tend to be attracted to masculine men. So, uh, maybe work the bench press into your gym routine, and grow some facial hair.
35
Why, in your view, are LGBT families less deserving of state protection and benefits than straight families?
36
Mr Mckenna- my problem with your stance on feminism is not that I doubt your feeling towards women, it is that your stances, and the stances of your party on specific policies that affect women are strikingly anti- woman. To convince me that you are , infact, on the side of women like my wife, sister, and daughter, I need to see you make the following public statements:

1) Commit to fighting any attempt to prevent access to contraception, including Plan B or morning after pills.
2)A public repudiation of the attempt to redine rape into "Forcible" and "Non Forcible" categories.
3) A public commitment to oppose any "Fetal Personhood" legislation, which legally subjugates women to the needs of potential fetuses.
4) A public disavowal of any legal challenge to the ACA, which my diabetic daughter needs to maintain access to healthcare

After those policy positions are made clear, I will happily entertain supporting you as a feminist.
37
Mr Mckenna- my problem with your stance on feminism is not that I doubt your feeling towards women, it is that your stances, and the stances of your party on specific policies that affect women are strikingly anti- woman. To convince me that you are , infact, on the side of women like my wife, sister, and daughter, I need to see you make the following public statements:

1) Commit to fighting any attempt to prevent access to contraception, including Plan B or morning after pills.
2)A public repudiation of the attempt to redine rape into "Forcible" and "Non Forcible" categories.
3) A public commitment to oppose any "Fetal Personhood" legislation, which legally subjugates women to the needs of potential fetuses.
4) A public disavowal of any legal challenge to the ACA, which my diabetic daughter needs to maintain access to healthcare

After those policy positions are made clear, I will happily entertain supporting you as a feminist.
38
*facepalm*
39
Anyone who stands on the pro-discrimination, anti-woman GOP platform will NEVER get my vote, no matter what karma-boosting activities he fluffed his resume with.
40
Many people have already stated my concerns. But here are my views. True support would require you to support ALL people's civil rights, including LGBT people. You would support the right to choose, no matter what - get the govt out of our bodies. You would support Plan B. You would support the requirement that all pharmacies fill all prescriptions without a side plate of judgement. You would support health insurance for all people like any civilized societies should have. You would clearly state that you don't follow the Republican Platform on these topics. And you would not tell young women to "get a job". You would not bar Stranger staff from your campaign events. You would show a lot more respect for other people at all times, even when the cameras are off.

And you would come back and answer the questions we have put to you in our comments.
41
Rob, if you're reading this you need to be a man and apologize for your broom comment. That was ridiculously backhanded. I would assume any self described feminist would see the error of that.
42
Dear Rob,
I wouldn't vote for you under any circumstances because I am a woman and I think. Guess what you can do with my broom?
43
Would never vote for any candidate who will not support my reproductive rights and autonomy. Stuff it Rob.
44
My friend must of dosed my door handles with some really strong acid because this morning I'm hallucinating that the dude who wants to take away healthcare from women, who belongs to a political party that talks about forcible rape, who obstructs equal pay amendments, is now a feminist who wants to break the glass ceiling by handing out brooms? Are you handing them brooms because you thing they are witches and can use the brooms to fly around the glass wall? You're a republican feminist? re-pub-li-can feminist? ohh my God the acid is strong. did my brain just divide by zero?

What the hell is going on? Why is everything spinning so hard today? This is gonna get worse before it gets better.
45
How do you resolve being a "feminist" and running under the Republican platform?!!!! Do you support a woman's right to choose? Will you stand up to your Republican cohorts and say No to the National and local platforms? Until you can do this - you are Not a Feminist. Sorry Rob - need to walk the walk and talk the talk before you can say you really support women and and equality.
46
Stranger: Not Cool to post this as a hoax. The Stranger should have better ethics - bummer. NOT COOL.
47
"BUT ITS OKAY GUYS, I HAVE A BLACK FRIEND"
48
& this is exactly why I am not voting for you. You, sir, are no feminist. You have worked so very hard to take each of my reporoductive choices away in which are not yours to make. You try so hard to make it seem as if you are 'fighting' for women, but instead, you are fighting against us. We are watching and we are voting.
49
Man what year and planet do you live on...it's 2012! And us American Women will tell you and even show where you can put that Broom....You are so full of BS, You should be a shamed of yourself for even making that statement..How dare you treat American Women this way ...if you want the type of women that stay in the kitchen and have no opinions then go live in Iran/Iraq that's more your type of Country and get the hell out of ours!
50
Man what year and planet do you live on...it's 2012! And us American Women will tell you and even show where you can put that Broom....You are so full of BS, You should be a shamed of yourself for even making that statement..How dare you treat American Women this way ...if you want the type of women that stay in the kitchen and have no opinions then go live in Iran/Iraq that's more your type of Country and get the hell out of ours!
51
I do love that.

"Hi, I'm Rob McKenna, and here's your broom."
52
Hi Mckenna,

I appreciate all your work to end domestic violence, but i DO NOT appreciate your stance on abortion or a women's right to choose. You don't support Planned Parenthood and You don't support the Affordable Care Act. Without Planned Parenthood millions of women would be left without life saving cancer screenings- do you not think that women deserve to live a life cancer free???? For every $1 spent on family planning, the government saves roughly $4- it will cost the government MORE money if you force women to have baby when she is not financially stable to do so. Would you rather a woman who is not ready for motherhood not be able to feed or cloth her child? Do you not believe that women deserve to make their own choices regarding their own bodies??- What if your wife, friend, child, sister got raped- would you want them to have to keep the baby? What would it be like for them to have to look at their rapist everyday though their child's eyes?!? As a man you don't have to think about these things on a daily basis because you were lucky and were born in control of your own body- but as a governor you NEED to think about these things because half of your voters are women and we are just as important as you and as men.
53
Mckenna i appreciate all you have done for domestic violence, but I DO NOT appreciate your stance on abortion or Planned Parenthood or the Affordable Care Act. PP saves 1000's of women's lives each year with their cancer screenings. How can you call yourself a feminist when you do not think that women should be able to control their own bodies? What if someone you loved got raped- shouldn't they have the opportunity to get an abortion or do you want them to think of their rapist every time they look into their babies eyes? What if a loving couple was having sex and the condom broke, but they can't afford to keep the baby because one of them is unemployed?. Would you rather they bring up the baby poor, without enough food to be healthy or would you rather those people had a baby when they could take care of it?!? Feminists believe in equality- you don't believe that women should be in control of their own bodies- that isn't equal and that isn't feminism. I am a woman-I work hard, I went to college and I have done everything I can to live a good healthy life- but without birth control and cancer screenings there is no way I can do that. No one can call themselves free if they don't control their own bodies- and hey isn't that what America is all about?
54
Hi Mckenna,

I appreciate all your work to end domestic violence, but i DO NOT appreciate your stance on abortion or a women's right to choose. You don't support Planned Parenthood and You don't support the Affordable Care Act. Without Planned Parenthood millions of women would be left without life saving cancer screenings- do you not think that women deserve to live a life cancer free???? For every $1 spent on family planning, the government saves roughly $4- it will cost the government MORE money if you force women to have baby when she is not financially stable to do so. Would you rather a woman who is not ready for motherhood not be able to feed or cloth her child? Do you not believe that women deserve to make their own choices regarding their own bodies??- What if your wife, friend, child, sister got raped- would you want them to have to keep the baby? What would it be like for them to have to look at their rapist everyday though their child's eyes?!? As a man you don't have to think about these things on a daily basis because you were lucky and were born in control of your own body- but as a governor you NEED to think about these things because half of your voters are women and we are just as important as you and as men.
55
Okay, everyone is freaking out about the broom comment. Yes, it was definitely an oversight on his part regarding sensitivity towards stereotypical gender roles, but let's be realistic please. If you have neighbors upstairs who are being loud what is it people often do? Bang on the ceiling. What's the most readily accessible household item people tend to use to do that? A broom.

If there were a literal glass ceiling I were breaking I'd probably use a broom, requires less force than throwing something and I don't own a gun nor am I fond of having the police called on me. Not to mention regardless of your gender identity, you'll probably need to clean up the broke glass. So realistically, a broom is a logical thing to hand for the task.

Maybe his inability to realize that it was a poor choice of words is telling of not being fully aware of sexism (not saying I think that, but it's worth speculating on), but aside from that I strongly doubt his comment wasn't intended to be sexist or subconsciously sexist.

Not saying you don't have a right to be upset, irked, or amused (as I do). I just personally don't think anyone should actually freak out over that specific statement.
56
Okay, everyone is freaking out about the broom comment. Yes, it was definitely an oversight on his part regarding sensitivity towards stereotypical gender roles, but let's be realistic please. If you have neighbors upstairs who are being loud what is it people often do? Bang on the ceiling. What's the most readily accessible household item people tend to use to do that? A broom.

If there were a literal glass ceiling I were breaking I'd probably use a broom, requires less force than throwing something and I don't own a gun nor am I fond of having the police called on me. Not to mention regardless of your gender identity, you'll probably need to clean up the broke glass. So realistically, a broom is a logical thing to hand for the task.

Maybe his inability to realize that it was a poor choice of words is telling of not being fully aware of sexism (not saying I think that, but it's worth speculating on), but aside from that I strongly doubt his comment wasn't intended to be sexist or subconsciously sexist.

Not saying you don't have a right to be upset, irked, or amused (as I do). I just personally don't think anyone should actually freak out over that specific statement.
57
You are a Republican, I don't believe you. I also believe that you would say anything right now in order to gain votes. You are certainly not getting my vote. I don't think you are a kind person, as evidenced by your rude treatment of a woman trying to get your comment (right now, can't remember what the issue was) out on the street while you walked along. You were not remotely polite, or kind. In fact you were an asshole. I decided then and there that that was your true self.
58
McKenna, you are a GOP ahole. I will never vote for GOP ever! You were a bad Attorney General & you will make a worse Governor! You slit your own throat when you sued my Federal Government over the Affordable Care Act. The GOP War on Women will end when every last one of you are out of office!!! I'm starting with you & McMorris-Rogers is next.
59
Rob,
If you are reading this post, tell your buddies the Koch Brother and Rupert Murdoch to stay the fuck away from our TVs and our state! We don't need your anti-woman, anti-women, anti-minority, anti-poor, anti-young, anti-old Grand Ole Party tricks in Washington state.

You and your billionaire friends can buy off endorsements from all the newspapers in this state and keep the truth from coming out in the news. But we're on to you. When you and your buddies go down in November, just remember this. You had a chance to win this election fair and square, by listening to us regular folks and actually seeing us as human beings. But you chose to try to steal this election with phony postcards to a million voters telling them they're not registered to vote, with attempted fraudulent use of the same database that Republicans are using to purge voters illegally in Florida, and attempted suppression of voters by not providing printed voters pamphlets.

We don't need your criminal buddies Sam "Reed-up-my-ass" Reed and Kim "Whine-man" Wyman fucking with the voters and suppressing votes. And don't need your "I got me a barrel full of AR-15, the same gun that serial killer James Holmes used to kill those people in Colorado" Reagan "Dung" Dunn. You can run and hide all you want, behind Obama signs cleverly placed next to yours. But our eyes are wide open, and we're watching you.

Please wait...

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