This is a fantastic way to earn their votes, Democrats. Slurring them totally won’t make them vote Republican, right?
‘Mama bears’ may be the 2024 race’s soccer moms. But where the GOP seeks votes, some see extremism
In many election cycles, there’s a snappy shorthand used to describe the type of voters who may help decide the winner. Think soccer moms or security moms. Even NASCAR dads.
And now, the “mama bears.”
These conservative mothers and grandmothers, who in recent years have organized for “parental rights,” including banning discussion of gender identity in schools, have been classified as extremists by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They have also been among the most coveted voters so far in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. (snip)
These so-called mama bears whom DeSantis and other Republicans are courting are conservative women living across the United States. They are largely white and may belong to official groups such as Moms for Liberty, which says it has 120,000 members nationally, or smaller ones like No Left Turn in Education. Some belong to no group at all.
See? They’re all racists. Except, the Moms For Liberty is comprised of whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics, among others. And they aren’t just Republicans, they are Independents and squishy Democrats. Even your average Democrat, the ones who aren’t the crazies, do not like what is being foist on their children.
Geralyn Jones, 31, of Marion, Iowa, said she was not active in politics until the pandemic, when she grew concerned about mask requirements and online schooling for her son, who was in kindergarten. She started asking questions and did not like the answers she was getting.
Jones pulled her two kids out of public school after the district approved a policy that allows transgender students to use the bathroom or locker room of the gender they identify as, without alerting parents,. She now leads the Linn County chapter of Moms for Liberty and said that seeing other moms get involved in politics is empowering.
And that’s extremist how, exactly? Not wanting her daughters having to being in bathrooms and locker rooms with biological boys with mental illness is extremist? Wanting the school to keep her, the parent, informed and involved?
Opponents say the warm-fuzzy image of a mama bear is a way to mask a cruel, extreme agenda that hurts children.
“Republicans have decided that this is, I think, their golden ticket for the primaries to rile up their base,” said Katie Paris, who runs Red, Wine and Blue, a network of women pushing back on GOP-backed policies such as the anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans efforts of Moms for Liberty.
“Call it ‘parents’ rights,’ call it ‘mama bears,’ and try to make it sound like something that would be common sense. … The reality about ‘parents’ rights’ is that it’s just about the rights of a vocal minority that is trying to carry out an extreme political agenda.”
Yeah, you keep going there, denigrating parents and see where that gets you. Funny thing is, a lot of these bat guano insane women pushing this do not even have kids.
Read: We’re At The Point In The 2024 Campaign That “Mama Bears” Are Now Extremists »