Judd Talks About a Possible Run. Why She’s Voting for Obama

[seabeyond]

Judd gave the audience a preview of what kind of outspoken leader she would be when the panel started talking about about Rep. Todd Akin's controversial comment about rape. Judd, who works with victims of sexual assault as a UN Goodwill Ambassador, gave Akin a bras d'honneur, an obscene gesture meaning "Up Yours." New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who also sat on the panel and is encouraging Judd to get into the race, quickly chimed in and offered Judd some political advice. "That is where you say 'I sincerely disagree,' " Gillibrand joked.

Judd has been very vocal in recent months about what she percieves to be as slights against women. In April, she wrote an article on The Daily Beast that chided a number of media outlets for saying she had a "puffy face" in a widely-circulated photograph, calling the conversation an "assault on [women's] body image, the hypersexualization of girls and women and subsequent degradation of our sexuality."

Judd admits she is picking the minds of the female leaders she admires. Backstage, she says she asked Gillibrand how she balances family and the commute back and forth to Washington.

"I have strong female-to-female alliances and I listen to you, and you make it normal," Judd told Gillibrand.

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2012/09/05/ashley-judd-talks-about-a-possible-run-for-political-office?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews



Exclusive: Ashley Judd on Why She’s Voting for Obama, GOP’s War on Women, & More

The next U.S. president will in all likelihood be nominating a new Supreme Court justice, and Mitt Romney has vowed to appoint someone who would strike down Roe v. Wade. As a vocal pro-choice advocate, do you find that disturbing? It’s unacceptable; and I think that this contest is about individuals’ values and hearts and souls, and thus, collectively, about the American soul. I encourage people to read the Romney-Ryan platform closely because I do believe Governor Romney is an honorable person and he will do what they say in that platform, and it will be disastrous. I talk a lot about abortion because to me, abortion in and of itself is not what the conversation is. When people have medically accurate sex education and access to modern family planning and can choose the method that works best for them, we can prevent unintended pregnancy. And, if unintended pregnancy is prevented, it significantly reduces the need for abortion; and there’s no controversy in that. I would be very uncomfortable if I was on set and the person running the set had a conversation with me about what kind of family planning my husband and I could practice because of what I have access to according to my job and health care. That would apply to me and the other women on the set only and not to the men, and it’s so fundamentally unfair.

And Romney’s running mate, Paul Ryan, has a 100 percent pro-life voting record, according to the National Right to Life Committee, while Rep. Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin had only a 98 percent pro-life voting record. I don’t know if everyone knows this, but Ryan worked with Mr. Akin on the constitutional amendment, and the legislation he proposed, including narrowing the definition of rape, yet they scrambled to distance themselves from Mr. Akin when his controversial statements came out. Even the Department of Justice amended their definition of rape and took out this offensive and inaccurate word: “forcible rape.” Part of the reason why they didn’t want to is it would become such a law enforcement burden because there are so many rapes in this country. If they broadened the definition of rape to what it actually includes, they’d have a higher caseload.

By wishing to ban emergency contraception and abortion, are the Republicans waging a war on women’s bodies? It seems like they don’t want women being single and having sex for pleasure. Right. To have sex and be obliged to procreate. There’s a critical distinction that we don’t always talk about in the public space: I think that position is pro-birth but it’s not pro-life. Having children requires love and the resources to properly feed, educate, and support the child, and the Romney-Ryan proposed budget does everything from cut Head Start, so you’re obliged to have this child but if you’re in a lower- or middle-class income bracket, you don’t have access to Head Start. Plus, they want to totally slash education, and it would be devastating. And voucherizing Medicare and Medicaid disproportionately affects women, children, and the elderly. So, you have to have the baby, but you lose the safety net that so many of them would need.

What did you think of Clint Eastwood’s “invisible chair” speech at the Republican National Convention? I was on a plane on my way to Iowa to campaign on behalf of the president, so I didn’t see it live, and then I’ve chosen not to watch it because I think we all have our own way of supporting our candidate, and that was his way, so who am I to find fault in it? It’s really none of my business.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/06/exclusive-ashley-judd-on-why-she-s-voting-for-obama-gop-s-war-on-women-more.html?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews

[left coaster]

1. "what she percieves to be as slights against women"..

Love the framing! Yeah, anyone who even has two cerebral synapses to rub together perceives it as such.. it's a REALITY.

Ashley Judd 2016, I say!

[seabeyond]

2. yes. amazing. it would be interesting to see her get into politics.

i guess maybe they think she may be to honest, blunt, vocal.

i say, that works for me.

[CrispyQ]

3. This:

There’s a critical distinction that we don’t always talk about in the public space: I think that position is pro-birth but it’s not pro-life. Having children requires love and the resources to properly feed, educate, and support the child, and the Romney-Ryan proposed budget does everything from cut Head Start, so you’re obliged to have this child but if you’re in a lower- or middle-class income bracket, you don’t have access to Head Start.

I love her. If she runs I'll send her money.