(San Francisco, Wed., July 30, 2008) – Responding to news that rap artist Ludacris released a song today in which he calls Hillary Clinton an “irrelavant bitch,” WomenCount is calling for an apology as well as a blanket condemnation by the Party leadership.

In his song entitled "Politics," Ludacris calls Hillary Clinton an "irrelevant bitch" and also attacks President Bush and Sen. McCain. These lyrics are outrageous, offensive, and unacceptable.

In an e-mail this afernoon to its membership, WomenCount states, “It is another example of hateful, sexist language being used on the campaign trail, and now is our moment to make it clear: not on our watch! The leadership of both parties must step up to condemn such hateful speech and demand apologies. The Obama campaign has criticized the lyrics, but we call on the presumptive party nominee, who is the celebrated subject of the new song, to go even further: Publicly condemn the song. Demand an apology on behalf of the targets. Now.

“This is not an issue of being PC,” states Rosemary Camposano, communications director for WomenCount, “This is about beginning the grinding and painful process of rooting out this kind of hate language and behavior whenever and wherever it exists.  The Democratic leadership have pledged to unhinge our nation from gender-bias, hate-language and misogyny and we are taking them at their word.”

WomenCount (www.womencountpac.com) has embarked on a campaign called “Stop the Silence in which they are promoting specific language be incorporated into the National Platform now being drafted for the Democratic National Convention.  Through an e-mail petition campaign, driving content on the blogs, and direct contact with the Democratic Leadership, WomenCount is applying pressure to begin eliminating gender bias in the media and wherever it exists by condemning it “on the spot” going forward.