The basic premise of Assault and Flattery: The Truth About The Left and Their War On Women, by Katie Pavlich, is that women should be aware of the statements, actions, and rhetoric of the Left and not remain silent. She makes very strong arguments about the hypocrisy and outright lies by those who claim to support empowering women. American Thinker had the privilege of interviewing her about her latest book.

The most powerful parts of the book are the exposure of the liberal heroes, specifically Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. A great line in her book, “Ask yourself what would have happened if they had been Republican… As long as he’s a liberal, a man can use the power of his position to put women into any ‘position’ he wants.” Katie suggested conservatives tell a liberal the story of a powerful CEO sexually harassing and using his power to flatter a young female intern. They will show outrage; yet, when Bill Clinton’s name is mentioned they defend him because sexual harassment is dismissed as a personal issue, which is different in their minds than policy issues.

Pavlich argues that Hillary Clinton, as the poster child for the women’s movement, has made it lose moral authority and credibility. She should not be admired and instead should be admonished for participating in and allowing a young girl to be persecuted. Monica Lewinsky’s recent statements support Pavlich’s argument. Lewinsky tells of Hillary Clinton describing her as a “narcissistic Looney Tune… but I find her impulse to blame the woman, not only me, but herself, troubling. And all too familiar: With every marital indiscretion that finds its way into the public sphere --many of which involve male politicians -- it always seems like the woman conveniently takes the fall.”

Pavlich told American Thinker, “Look at the commercials and rhetoric during the 2012 Presidential campaign. They basically told women to vote with their legs apart. They despairingly emphasized that women should vote on sex appeal and not on the issues and policy. The Left does not want women talking about issues other than birth control and abortion, which is the direct opposite of what Republican women focus upon, such as jobs, the economy, their bank accounts, and pursuing opportunities. There is nothing more dehumanizing than being classified by the types of pills you take or by your “lady parts,” and yet that’s exactly what Democrats have done to women. The most concerning issue to most self reliant educated women is not birth control.”

The chapter titled, “Barack Obama: the Most Anti-Woman President Ever” makes the book worth the read. The author chronicles how the Obama Administration is unfriendly to women by emphasizing issues such as, women’s pay, women in the workforce, ObamaCare, and the treatment of women in the Obama Administration. 

The book highlights the case of Christy McCormick. She served in Iraq as the DOJ elections expert, helping to oversee the March 2010 Iraq national elections. Pavlich writes in the book, “Throughout her year in Iraq, McCormick was discriminated against because of her gender…  She was repeatedly subjected to unfavorable treatment and hostile verbal and non-verbal behavior.” Pavlich goes on to write, “After bringing these discriminatory actions to the attention of management, McMormick was retaliated against and was told she was ‘too assertive.’” After officially filing a complaint with the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity McCormick received further retaliation and reprisal. During this interview, Pavlich noted that McCormick’s complaint has not been settled and told American Thinker, “Women were routinely ignored, dismissed, and patronized throughout the Iraq embassy along with condescending comments about intellectual abilities and physical appearance.”

She also reiterated the statistics in her book that show how this administration has hurt women economically. There are 780,000 fewer women in the workforce than when President Obama took office in 2009 and that unemployment for women has reached an all time high of 15.5%.  She even quotes President Reagan’s liberal daughter, Patty Davis, “Could the president please explain why I and others are losing our health insurance plans? Wasn’t supposed to happen!” Yet, Pavlich noted women’s health care plans, besides being cancelled, went up significantly regarding premiums and deductibles.

Emphasizing this administration’s attempt to foster women’s dependence on the government, Pavlich directly argues that it is counter to what the feminist movement was about and they portray women “as weak and needy. They talk about how the government should be the helping hand in every aspect of a woman’s life. In the Obama worldview, women aren’t human beings capable of charting their own destiny at home or the workplace just as men are, they are dependents in desperate need of government handouts and abortions. Why didn’t we ever see ‘The Life of John,’ as opposed to the ‘Life of Julia?’ It’s apparent Team Obama sees only women, not men, as helpless victims of their gender, needy of government assistance to survive every stage of life. The patronizing and condescending tone of Obama’s ‘Life of Julia’ campaign said it all. We are nothing without big government. We are nothing without him.”

This leads in to her discussing with American Thinker how gun control also makes women more dependent. “Guns are the greatest equalizer for a woman. Guns give us a right to defend ourselves as independent women. God may have made man and woman, but as the old saying goes, Sam Colt made them equal.”

She wrote this book to present the other side, and is hoping that women will read it to see that Democrats do not have a monopoly on women’s thoughts. She noted that the Democrats are still spinning the war on women. “Just look at the Hobby Lobby Decision. The NOW President Terry O’Neill goes on national TV saying this was an attack by five Conservative men against women. Yet, she ignored the fact that the entire legal counsel on behalf of Hobby Lobby was all women.”

Assault and Flattery is not about women’s rights. It’s about political power and the agenda of the Left. Pavlich exposes the power grab and the blatant hypocrisy of the Democratic Party by dispelling the myths, half truths and lies liberals tell. The overall point is for women to not have tunnel vision and to look outside the prism because, as she told American Thinker, “If Republicans are waging a war on women, then the Democratic elite is waging a war on the truth.”

The author writes for American Thinker.  She has done book reviews, author interviews, and has written a number of national security, political, and foreign policy articles.