Senators Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have been targeted by Republicans as the most vulnerable women senators for next year's re-election campaigns.
The three all support abortion rights and fight against welfare cuts, stances which conservatives plan to publicize in order to portray them as radically liberal. Republican pollster Tony Fabriuzo took cheap shots at the Senators, calling Murray "an empty suit," and attesting that Boxer "grates people the wrong way." Republican Chairman Tom Schroeder called Boxer an "extremist" on the abortion issue, and criticized her opposition to anti-affirmative action measure Proposition 209. In response to conservative charges that the women were too liberal for their constituents, Murray, a working mother, said "I probably am much more typical of a United States citizen than many of my colleagues."
Murray and Moseley-Braun said they weren't surprised by the GOP attacks. "It speaks straight to the gender gap problem that the Republicans have," said Murray. Moseley-Braun said "Republicans have failed to understand that women can be as accomplished and effective and hard-working as their male colleages. If they think the women they've targeted are pushovers, they've got another thing coming."
Media Resources: Washington Post - October 14, 1997
5/22/2013 Immigration Reform Bill Advances In Senate - Last night, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a sweeping immigration reform bill in a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5. . . .
5/22/2013 Afghan Women Arrested for 'Moral Crimes' Increases 50% - A new report by the Human Rights Watch shows that in the past 18 months the number of women in Afghanistan incarcerated for 'moral crimes' has increased from 400 to 600, a 50% growth.
Many of the women imprisoned for moral crimes were arrested running away from forced or abusive marriages and families, even though there is no law against leaving. . . .
5/22/2013 Army Commander Suspended for Adultery Amid Wave of Sexual Assaults - On Tuesday, Brigadier General Bryan T Roberts was suspended from his position as commander of the Fort Jackson, South Carolina training camp which trains approximately 60% of incoming female recruits pending an investigation into allegations of adultery.
Roberts was suspended following allegations of "adultery and a physical altercation." Colonel Christian Kubik, an Army spokesperson for the Training and Doctrine Command, told reporters "We don't have any evidence of any sexual assault. . . .
