New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor appeared on MSNBC's NOW with Alex Wagner Tuesday and claimed that the Democrats' "War on Women" campaign tactic had been validated by recent actions by GOP politicians. Under a graphic that bluntly stated as fact the liberal opinion that "War On Women Continues," Wagner and Kantor had this exchange:
Host Alex Wagner: "The U.S. Senate is preparing to vote on re-authorizing the Violence Against Women Act. This week Florida Gov. Rick Scott has vetoed more than a million dollars in aid for [sic] intended rape victims. Meanwhile a Missouri candidate for Senate says she's never heard of the bill. Jodi, Violence Against Women, this is the season, the season, the year of the woman, we keep saying that, but I think it actually is. Rick Scott, it's sexual assault awareness month in Florida. Perhaps not the best timing to kill 1.5 million dollars in aid to rape crisis centers."
Jodi Kantor: "Well I was, what's amazing about those stories is that it sort of seems like a Democratic strategist's dream, right? Like they were sitting in a room with a chalkboard and said, 'What scenario could we concoct to prove that there really is a Republican war against women?' These would be two great items in support of that argument."
Kantor, author of a recent book on the Obamas, was chided during the 2008 campaign by liberal Time journalist Mark Helprin for showing "extreme bias" in her contrasting profiles of Cindy McCain (hostile) and Michelle Obama (hagiographic).