In a recent comment to the New York Times, Alaska delegate Bill Noll had this to say about Sarah Palin and her recent family turbulence: "If this doesn't resonate with every woman in America, I'll eat my hat."
Dear Bill, get ready to eat your hat.
the following are my favorite excerpts from a blog brought to my attention by ben.
As a woman, I do not blindly support women first. I do not believe any woman will do. I believe that it is the rare individual who can lead this country. I want someone exceptional. I want someone smarter than I am, more judicious than I am, and more knowledgeable. I look forward to the day when that person happens to also be female. Until then, I do not support promoting a woman just because of her gender.
This assumption relieves Senator McCain and his supporters of the burden of viewing women as thinking, sentient beings fully equal to men. Instead of an acknowledgment of equality, John McCain's choice is pandering of the cheapest and most obvious kind and has cost him the respect of women across the globe. Obviously, the man is threatened by strong, capable women with proven credentials or he'd have chosen one of the many thoroughly qualified women representing his party in Washington.
It is our duty to question her and judge her, not on her parenting or family, but on her intellect, knowledge, experience, and viewpoint.
It is easy to use the epithet of elitist when those you oppose are in fact, more highly qualified and far better educated than you are.
I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association, she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself. She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child. She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a child.
American women ... finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.
amen.
before this, I didn't prefer mccain, but I respected him. I was probably going to vote for obama, but I was still willing to give the conservatives a chance. well, this has tipped the scales and if I'm not mistaken, I'm not the only moderate woman's vote he's lost. not by far.
Did you see McCain's speech on Thursday night? Did you watch Sarah Palin's speech on Wednesday night? You're quoting someone elses take on Sarah Palin. There's another side to her story, and the Post (no less) has indicated evidence of significant numbers of women who do resonant with Palin and like her better than McCain. I watched both Obama's and McCain's acceptance speeches. Both did very well. My opinion (just me, not someone elses from some column or other)is that McCain is a man of greater substance, understanding, experience, bi-partisanship, dedication and depth. Obviously, I am more conservative than you, but I see in McCain more moderation than here-to-fore in Republican presidential candidates. Obama, in my view, and if you examine his political record, is extremely liberal. Less is more where federal government is concerned. I would not vote for McCain because he chose a woman for his running mate, but I like the running mate he has chosen. He specifically did not choose someone from the Washington establishment, and for good reason. He is anti-Washington, and intends to shake things up quite a bit if elected. I would expect that, if elected, he will have Democrats in his cabinet and on his staff. He speaks to unification in this country, not division and polarity. The two candidates are alike in many ways, but their political philosophies diverge in the means to the end. I believe McCain's commitment to change in Washington (yes, they both are compaigning on "change")is more convincing because he is committed to serving the nation, not the Republican Party.
ReplyDeleteThis blog might be really good for us, because it gives me a chance to reflect and respond in writing. When we talk politics, my brain doesn't move fast enough to express myself accurately.
Love you,
Mom
haha everyone is campaigning on change. do you know why? because obama campaigned on change. as soon as he started talking about corrupt washington and hope and change and individual impact on government, so did everyone else. you have to think back to who started it.
ReplyDeletemccain may have been trying to avoid washington's "corruption" by choosing a governor, but i don't think it was wise of him at all to choose a relatively inexperienced and obsolete running mate. and i happen to find it insulting that he purposely chose a woman for the sole purpose of trying to snag feminist voters. um ... buddy, it doesn't work like that. feminists are liberals. you can't rope in hillary's female supporters with an ideologically opposite woman.
i haven't listened to any speeches. you forget i have no time and no tv (cnn is my favorite, but we're not allowed to watch it in the apartment) i could probably find them online though.
like i said, i like mccain, he's relatively moderate and reasonable, but i've said to you before, i'm taking a risk with my vote, and i'm risking it on something different, an idea i believe in, in the hopes that maybe someone new trying new things can make something better happen with this country. with any risk, it could turn out badly, but when one ideology isn't working, i don't see why we shouldn't try a different one.
i'm not so naive to think that everything about obama is wonderful wonderful, i expect failures and disappointments, but i expect less of them, and hopefully the trade-off between those failings and the benefits of having him as president will be worth it.
oh yeah, and of course she has supporters and female supporters, that blog is only representative of the haters (some of whose responses were stupid and others that were awesome enough that i wish i'd written them myself)
ReplyDeletei would just like to say that i'm anticipating whoever wins to die in office. so, looking at palin v. biden, palin is an ideologue to the umpteenth degree and biden is more moderate. i agree with most everything associated with him.
ReplyDeletei find it amusing that the democrats have an ideologue running for president with a moderate vp and the republicans have a moderate running for pres with an ideologue vp. crazycrazy.
sorry to interrupt.
There are a lot of female voters who are not feminist; ergo, she is not obsolete. You are talking to a woman here who has eight children, one of whom is significantly handicapped. I can relate to her, and respect her. She may not have much experience in real time, but the time she has had has been put to extreme use. She has an 80% approval rating in her state -- they love her, and you have to ask yourself why. Don't discount Alaskan voters, just because they only have 3 electoral votes. Millions of Americans have similar opinions as people in Alaska do.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm not trying to change your opinion or get you to vote differently. I respect your right to come to the conclusions you have and vote accordingly.
And Amanda, I don't expect either candidate will die in office. And Biden is not a moderate. Check his congressional voting record-- as liberal as they come. And you're not interrupting.
i've thought of myself as more of a moderate, and i agree with most of his record. so i guess i'm more liberal than i've admitted to being.
ReplyDeleteif obama wins, you can count on several assassination attempts. and mccain isn't the healthiest person alive, the dude is 72 - that's not my only reason for not voting for him though.
anyway, i want someone who is elitist, smarter, and better educated than the average american to be in office. biden is, palin is not. alaska is a red state, of course she has a high approval rating.also, there aren't any people in alaska - and the few that are there hardly represent the diversity found in the rest of the country.
bwahaha mom this is awesome. we're having a political debate and i love it.
ReplyDeleteher ratings were 80% but the most recent numbers (before the vp announcement) were down to 60% and the reason why those are so high is because she gave everyone a $1200 tax rebate from gas money (gas money they shouldn't have because they shouldn't be drilling!!!)
biden is a liberal. mccain is a conservative. BUT you would tell me that mccain is more moderate, but that's within his conservative views. likewise, biden is a more moderate liberal. i loved that when the announcement of biden as vp came out, you told us that celesta said it was some crazy way liberal guy and you agreed with her, but dad said that biden is actually more moderate in his party. when we say a politician is moderate, we mean within their party because there are virtually no real moderate politicians, a two party system doesn't allow for it.
... which is why mccain's choice for vp is such a big deal. he has to draw over as many undecided moderates as he can while appeasing the staunch right. so he picks sarah palin to try to draw the female demographic. the non-feminist women you describe, mom, he already HAS those. he needs to get the borderline liberals, like me. well, treating my vote (which is an extension of my brain) like a commodity that can be bought off by cheap ploys. i only like commodification in the importance of being earnest.
modern politics functions within a circle of elite, educated, and aware citizens. unfortunately, modern campaigns use every bit of propaganda and faulty logic and cheesy symbolism they can to sway the rest of the american population, who is largely ignorant and allows themselves to be easily swayed. i was not raised to let others control my brain like that.
yes, i like the elitist candidate. not only am i at a typically liberal age, you might find more reasons for my politics, mom, by taking a look at where i was raised. not utah. not nebraska. northern virginia. i was raised comparatively urban and elite. i don't feel the republican back to the states pull. Alexander Hamilton all the WAY!! woo!
i know you're not trying to change my mind, mom. we're just debating. think french. it's all about the rhetoric, about racking up the small points, about having fun, getting into it, not about changing the other person's mind.
ReplyDelete