Letter: Palin insulting to women’s causes
Thursday, September 4th, 2008
Two words on Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: Cheap shot. The choice of Gov. Palin cheapens the politics of the election, the intellect of American women and the career of the very woman it supposedly elevates.
In this election, identity politics — defining candidates solely by broad social categories like gender, race or religion — has arguably achieved a stranglehold on public discourse. While the Obama campaign — often the target of these discussions — has worked to move past this, the McCain campaign is putting Palin’s identity as a woman above things like experience, trust and policy. It’s a shot aimed to woo disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters and generate press coverage in the wake of the Democratic National Convention. This is a shot that once again puts the gender identity discussion above the policy record of the candidates.
This obvious attempt to draw in former Clinton backers, evident in Palin’s acceptance speech referencing “18 million cracks” in the glass ceiling, cheapens the feminist cause and assumes political blindness in women nationwide. It assumes women supported Clinton solely for her gender and not for her accomplishments and progressive views. It assumes women will vote for Palin because she’s a lady, despite her pro-life stance and McCain’s abhorrent women’s rights record.
Finally, it is an insult to Palin for McCain to prematurely make her, a largely unqualified governor, the second woman to ever make a major party ticket. It turns what could have been a legitimate career into a political stunt and turns her name into a tactical joke.
It makes me nauseous to see how McCain, no doubt at the advice of former deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, let Palin fly like a decoy duck, cheapening the debate and his own candidacy.
My greatest fear is not that this ploy will work (it won’t): It’s that putting Palin in a glass elevator to the top will do nothing to help. It will actually hurt women’s causes: women who struggle with lower wages, lack of healthcare and domestic and sexual violence. A vote for Palin does not mean equal pay for equal work. A vote for Palin does not mean help preventing unwanted pregnancies. A vote for Palin means politics as usual.
—Sara Shannon, senior in political science
Discussion
All comments are moderated by Kansan.com staff. For our full user policy, click here.
Rather than dismissing her as a cheap trick to get votes, you could see how her positions are in line with the Republican party's base. She's pro-life, favors nuclear power, favors drilling in ANWR, and favors drilling off-shore. All of these things are likely to get conservatives to the polls. A candidate on the Republican ticket who holds these views would be considered a sold choice among conservatives if the pick were a man. Why is it different for a woman?
Try this little experiment. Read this letter again, but everywhere you see the words "Sarah Palin", substitute the words "Barack Obama", and everywhere you see the words "Woman" or "Women", substitute the words "African-American". Of course, you'll also need to turn "Republicans" into "Democrats", etc etc. but you get the idea.
Would that then transform this letter into 'racist hate speech'?
Double standards are the hobgoblin of hyper-partisan minds, don't you think?
I agree with you 100%! My fear is that some women won't see past the BS and look into her background since the media are forbidden to do so. Her stats on education are appalling. She slashed education funding 61% for special needs children, this before she said those families would have a "friend and advocate in the White House". She bankrupted her own hometown leaving the mayor's office with a $22 million debt. They had a balanced budget when she entered office. Her coziness with oil and her lies and back-stabbing of friends and colleagues is embarassing. She tried to manhandle the Wasilla town librarian into removing books and was met with fierce outrage from the citizens. She is also anti-abortion-rights even in cases of rape and incest. She is nothing I can be proud of and not only as a woman, but as a decent human being. Women have worked too hard and too long to settle for this.
I am a revised PUMA-"Passing Up McCain's Alternate".
Lenexa Mom, It's weird that she "did all of that" yet has the highest approval rating of any US governor. It's the media talking.
And one of her first actions as mayor of Wasilla was try to see how she could get books removed from the library because they contained profanity, and tried to fire the librarian for not cooperating.
Hi Hugh, it could be she's the most popular governor because she hands out roughly $4000 per resident in pork barrel money. The average per person nationally is $56. That money is coming out of your pocket.
Yea...ummm Governors don't ask for pork barrel, Senators do. Ted Stevens did all that not Sarah Palin. She even turned down the Bridge to Nowhere funding.
I didn't say Gov. Palin asked for the pork. However, in regards to the infamous bridge she said "thanks, but no thanks", but did Governor Palin return the money? No, she did not. It doesn't really matter what the money was for, the point is, the money stayed in Alaska. If she was truly a "reformer" she would have returned the money to the federal government with a note saying, "Thanks, but no thanks".
Sara, sorry for getting off point in your wonderful piece. I am looking forward to reading more of your work in the near future.-TH
On Oct. 22, 2006, the Anchorage Daily News asked Palin and the other candidates, “Would you continue state funding for the proposed Knik Arm and Gravina Island bridges?”
Her response: “Yes. I would like to see Alaska’s infrastructure projects built sooner rather than later. The window is now — while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.”
--http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/aug/31/sarah-palin-supported-ketchikan-bridge-nowhere-dur/
Wait, wait, wait....Didn't Obama and Biden both support the appropriations for the "Bridge to Nowhere," even maintaining that support when Senator Coburn (R, OK) suggested that a large portion of the funds be reallocated to help with Katrina relief (specifically the rebuilding of the Twin Spans Bridge in N.O.?)
When Palin reallocated the funds, she used them for infrastructure (i.e. road building,) which qualifies as pork, I agree.
Here's an article that describes the situation a little bit more in depth and from another perspective:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Yzk1MWE2ZDg5OGE3ZGYyMTY3ZGEyZTIzMTk0MjVhZWQ=
Share your 2¢
Requires free registration.