Mitch McConnell TV Ad Fact-Checked: True

Washington outsider and advocate for change Mitch McConnell took a bold step this year, effectively crowd-sourcing his campaign commercials to the drooling masses.

This inspired strike of utter genius can best be described as “SmarTarded™” in a way Kentuckians may best be remembered.

This particular 30-second spot covers a lot of shaky ground claiming that Mitch McConnell supports women, women voters and women’s rights, as portrayed in the publicly available video released by campaign officials.

The video shows McConnell cavorting with a variety of average, older, minority and even surprisingly attractive women. At one point, a group of women hold pre-printed signs of support as if to say, “I support him enough to hold a sign if it means I get to be on TV, but not enough to actually make one of my own.”

Watch the commercial, then read the Fact-Check

We fact-checked the video; Rating: TRUE

Literally every citation shown on screen is accurately represented by the accompanying voice over.

We’ve taken the trouble to provide every single link ourselves so you can see just how honest this ad is.

Mitch McConnell’s Actual Voting Record on Women’s Issues

• Mitch McConnel voted NAY to S Amdt 4689 – Teen Pregnancy Education Amendment effectively making teens more vulnerable to unintended pregnancy.
• Voted for S Amdt 1757 – Prohibiting Federal Funding of Human Sexual Behavior Surveys, in effect to codify his preconceived notions, however wrong they might be.
• Voted against the S Amdt 244 – Unintended Pregnancy Amendment which would provide millions in pregnancy prevention and family planning.
• Voted to ban condoms without parent’s consent (effectively making them inaccessible, since few parents would give consent and fewer teens would have the courage to ask.) S Amdt 1390 – Contraceptives Distribution Amendment making teen pregnancy even more likely.
• Mitch voted against S 2578 – Protect Women’s Health From Corporate Interference Act of 2014 which allows employers like Hobby Lobby to restrict access to birth control.

All of this makes you more likely to have a child when you are young, poor, uneducated, or a combination of these things. But don’t worry, Mitch McConnell won’t support you once you have that child.

• Except that McConnell voted against HR 3963 – Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 (CHIP), meaning he didn’t even want your child to have health insurance.
• He sure as hell didn’t want additional children to have access to health care when he voted against HR 2 – Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization and Expansion
• While still supporting the food stamp program for farmers, he did try to make it much more difficult to qualify for assistance when he voted to S Amdt 2174 – Limits Eligibility for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• States can get a bonus for reaching a higher proportion of those in need, but not under McConnell’s watch. McConnell voted to S Amdt 2172 – Rescind Bonuses to States for Administering Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Voted NO. S 2199 – Paycheck Fairness Act
• Voted NO again. S 3220 – Paycheck Fairness Act
• Voted NO a third time. S 3772 – Paycheck Fairness Act
• Didn’t like the S 181 – Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 which would make it illegal to discriminate wages based on gender alone.
• And if he doesn’t like those, you know there’s no way he’s going to support something called the HR 2831 – Equal Pay Bill. That’s just crazy talk.

BONUS ways Mitch McConnell supports women

• He voted against the S 47 – Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013.
• He voted against providing S Amdt 3820 – Legal Immigrants Assistance Eligibility Amendment, which means, even though you are a legal immigrant, he still wants you to be discriminated against.

So why the hell would a woman ever vote for Mitch McConnell?

Beats me. Maybe it’s tradition or pressure from friends. Maybe it’s a lack of knowledge about who he is, what he supports or how he votes.

It’s certainly not because they like what he stands for. That would make them pretty awful people.