This Friday, The National Organization of Women (NOW) held an emergency rally outside the offices of Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to protest the proposed 2011 federal budget and the politics Sen. Rubio represents. A popular rally chant warned against future congressional cutbacks: “They say cut back, we say fight back!” “They” is referring to the proposed Paul Ryan budget that would terminate the entitlement status of Medicare and Medicaid and fast-track cuts to Social Security. NOW believes this type of “slash-o-nomics” is anti-women because the programs that are being slashed disproportionately serve and employ women. According to Terry O’Neill, the President of NOW and former law professor, Sen. Rubio was specifically targeted because he represents the right-wing Tea Party politics that seeks to destroy jobs. Quite simply, NOW organizers would like Rubio to be a one-term senator or as one chant put it: “Hey ho, Rubio must go!”
This article appears in Jun 23-29, 2011.