‘Nashville’ Star Connie Britton Rips Romney in Op-Ed
Nashville and Friday Night Lights star Connie Britton has co-written an op-ed in USA Today ripping GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his use of a Friday Night Lights football mantra in his campaign and for policies she says fail women. “‘Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can’t Lose’ wasn’t just about winning games,” Britton with Sarah Aubrey, a former executive producer of Friday Night Lights. ” Rather, it was a rallying cry of hope and optimism in a community where everyone had a fair shot – no matter their background, no matter their parents, no matter their gender. And no matter their politics.”
“It has been surprising that the phrase has been usurped and co-opted by Mitt Romney and his campaign for their gain,” they continue. “And it got us thinking: What would the women of Dillon think about this?” Britton and Aubrey point to the “middle-class Americans” depicted in the show, particularly the women. “The women we represented on the show – the women we are in real life – are like the millions of women across the nation,” they write. “Women who want to make our own health care decisions. Women who want to earn equal pay for the work we do. Women who want affordable health care.”
In advocating for President Obama, Britton and Aubrey cite the president’s support of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Affordable Care Act. “For the first time in our lives, being a woman is no longer a pre-existing condition – our insurers can’t charge us more for having breast cancer or being the victim of domestic violence,” write Britton and Aubrey.
But the pair say Romney’s vows to repealing the Affordable Care Act and cut funding for Planned Parenthood – the “health care provider that nearly three million Americans rely on for their life-saving cancer screenings, well-woman visits and affordable birth control” – represent serious threat to women’s health.
“So as women, let’s take ‘Clear Eyes, Full Hearts’ back and use it as it was always intended – as a motivator for progress, power and greatness. Let’s use our clear eyes and full hearts to vote early,” they write in closing. “Let’s use our clear eyes and full hearts to tell every friend, family member and neighbor about what’s at stake for women in this election. What’s at stake for all of us.”