I feel like I’m beating a dead horse here. Well, actually, I am beating a horse that should be dead, but unfortunately, this horse is still very much alive.
But enough about dead horses, I want to talk about Sarah Palin, that’s Governor Palin to you, and sexism.
I read this morning that conservative women are claiming that attacking Sarah Palin’s experience is sexist. (I will link when I find where I read that.)
Let me set something straight here. Asking whether she has enough experience to be VP is not the sexist part.
The sexist stuff is the stuff that does not, would not, happen to a man.
Asking whether or not she is neglecting her family by running for VP.
Did they ask Barack Obama if he is neglecting his family while he is off campaigning? No.
Pointing out that her awesome, bring-down-the-house speech was written by a speech writer.
Do they ever point that out about every single other politician in this election, including Obama? No.
Saying that she is just a token to appeal to women voters.
Do they accuse Obama of being a token to appeal to black voters? No.
Putting her on the cover of US Magazine with a celebrity gossip-style headline.
Did they do that with Obama? No.
Women are not mad about people asking legitimate questions about Sarah Palin’s qualifications – well, we wouldn’t be, if someone actually was. We are mad that she is being treated differently because she is a woman and, as I said in my previous post, most of us have been there.
This will backfire, people. Mark my words.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Charity, above you wrote:
“I read this morning that conservative women are claiming that attacking Sarah Palin’s experience is sexist. (I will link when I find where I read that.)
Let me set something straight here. Asking whether she has enough experience to be VP is not the sexist part.”
In your previous post you did just that by quoting Obama’s comment in a post you wrote:
“Even Barack Obama himself chose to belittle Sarah Palin by comparing his current position to her former position.
My understanding is that Governor Palin’s town, Wasilla, has, I think, 50 employees. We’ve got 2,500 in this campaign. I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year. We have a budget of about three times that just for the month,” Obama said, in response to a question on CNN.”
Obama talks about employees and you’ll turn that into a sexist statement.
Why hack yourself out like this?
September 4th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Note to self: use bold or caps, not italics to stress words.
I said that Obama compared his CURRENT position to her FORMER one. That was how he was belittling her. If he compared being governor to running a campaign, fine. If he compared being a mayor to being a state legislator, fine. But, no, he compared what she USED TO do to what he CURRENTLY does. That is the problem.
So let’s say that was not sexist (funny how you ignored all of the things I mentioned in THIS post). But let’s say this statement is one he would have made about a man. Then at the very least, he is engaging in false, misleading, dare I say, Rovian, tactics. He is misleading people into believing that she is currently only the executive over 50 people, rather than an entire state government. If he was a Republican, that would be called a LIE.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I didn’t ignore anything you said. What I pointed out was the impossible position you apparently want to see folks put in when it comes to discussing Palin.
Anything said is sexist … you put that quote in a post talking about how horribly sexist the treatment afforded Palin has been. Trying to disassociate that from your post now doesn’t work.
Presidential politics always has been rough and tumble. For ANYONE, male or female, to enter into such a fray without an expectation of both personal and professional attacks is foolish at best, unrealistic in the medium and dangerously out of touch in the extreme.
Stop whining for Palin and expect her to stand up for herself if she’s so damned good. This isn’t about Palin … this is about presidential politics … turned very nasty by Republican stalwarts too!
On that Obama quote … I’d love to see the whole thing put in context, because I find it hard to believe that Obama would be that off from the facts (although I don’t entirely discount it).
September 4th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Reading back over things … I don’t see Obama ignoring Palin’s current job .. as the quote goes “My understanding is that Governor Palin’s town, …”
He calls her GOVERNOR Palin … now I’d really like to see that quote put in its proper context.
Don’t take my posts as personal attacks, Charity, I only do that when people get deliberately nasty with me. I’m simply interested in a reality based world.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
I don’t take your attacks personally. I read GMD. I know how you are. You are an equal opportunity attacker.
I would also like to read the full context of that quote. I couldn’t find it at the time. But he is still comparing the number of people she oversaw as mayor to the number of people he (or his campaign staff, really) oversees on his current campaign. I can see that the motivation there might not be sexism, but there is plenty of other stuff out there that is.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Oh, and I think she did just fine standing up for herself last night.
“Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities.”
This is not about her inability to stand up for herself. It is about how much it bothers me when women are treated differently from men.
If I had followed the Democratic Primary closer, which I barely paid attention to, I would have said something about the way Hillary Clinton was treated. The stuff I saw when researching my post A Woman for President was infuriating.
September 4th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Sarah Palin did not earn the title “Barracuda” without reason. She was an extremely ineffective mayor (racking up 22 million in debt in a few short years) and consistently put the interests of big box corporations and “legacy” items ahead of improving infrastructure and minor things like schools, social services and public safety.
When you have people like Cindy McCain saying that she has foreign policy experience because Alaska is the closest territory to Russia or Palin herself saying that she has commanding experience because she was a Governor, (Kunin forcefully put down that talking point here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....23358.html ) there’s going to be blood in the water.
I know we’ve had presidents over the last 16 years who haven’t taken responsibilities for f’ing anything (nor have the past two Governors in Douglas and Dean for that matter). But shouldn’t there be a point when people of all political stripes just look at the record and agree at what reality is?
Is she being treated differently? Yes. Does she deserve to be treated differently because she is a woman? No. Should she be called to term on any stupid comment or black mark on her record? Yes.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
“Stop whining for Palin and expect her to stand up for herself if she’s so damned good.”
Actually, the Daily Show of all places had an excellent quote from Palin herself earlier this year when she was speaking about attacks on Hillary. That whole show that I watched yesterday was actually one of the best shows that I’ve ever seen.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/index.jhtml
At least check out the “Sarah Palin Gender Card” segment.
“except that you have actual responsibilities”
Come on now…the two top repsonsibilities of the Mayor of the Wasilla, AK are serving as the figurehead for the city & only voting on city council issues in the event of a tie. She also decided to bring up the idea of banning some books at one council meeting.
“Sarah Palin did not earn the title ‘Barracuda’ without reason.”
Please, she earned that “title” when she was on her high school basketball team…let’s get the myths about her straight here.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
“Please, she earned that “title” when she was on her high school basketball team…let’s get the myths about her straight here.”
“Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
point guard on the high school basketball team.”
While the origins are true, it is unfortunately not a compliment and the “title” has stuck with her for a very specific reason. Not entirely sure why it mattered, but the more info the merrier. In fact, feel free to give a read over of a comment posted a few days ago:
http://www.andrys.com/palin-kilkenny.html
Lots of good info there, I suppose.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Here’s Sarah Palin on MAD Magazine.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....23683.html