Patting the little ladies on the head

— John McCain weighs in on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which Isaiah pithily describes here, and demonstrates the utter inadequacy of E. coli conservatism to grasp, well, reality:

"I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what's being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems," the expected GOP presidential nominee told reporters. "This is government playing a much, much greater role in the business of a private enterprise system."... "They need the education and training, particularly since more and more women are heads of their households, as much or more than anybody else," McCain said. "And it's hard for them to leave their families when they don't have somebody to take care of them.

Of course, as this document shows, average educational attainment has been higher for women than for men for ten years now. Read here for the definitive demonstration that, yes, women make less than men for the same jobs, and yes, the only possible way to explain that is discrimination.

Doesn't matter. The Senate's conservative minority just filibustered fair pay for women—or, as the AP laundered this shameful action, "killed the bill Wednesday night on a 56-42 vote that denied the measure the 60 votes needed to advance it to full debate and a vote."