McCain Camp Levels Charges Of Sexism

During the primary campaign, charges that Barack Obama or his surrogates engaged in sexist politics were, perhaps contrary to conventional wisdom, not all that common. For starters, much of that derision was aimed at the media -- several pundits and hosts in particular. Secondly, Hillary Clinton shied away (at least publicly) from inserting gender into the campaign, much to the consternation of her female supporters.

So it is with a little tinge of surprise and much more newsworthiness that the McCain campaign leveled charges of sexism today at Barack Obama for his treatment of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

In a comment sent out by the Arizona Republican's aides, adviser Carly Fiorina said she was "appalled by the Obama campaign's attempts to belittle Governor Sarah Palin's experience. The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has made in his life. Because of Hillary Clinton's historic run for the Presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Governor Palin."

As evidence, Fiorina pointed to comments from Joe Biden calling Palin "good looking" and Obama comparing his campaign staff to the "50 employees" under Palin's control as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.

McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer chimed in with a Wall Street Journal op-ed entitled "Ignore The Chauvinists, Palin Has Real Experience:

Ms. Palin has a tangible, impressive record of achievement and executive experience. She is head of the Alaska National Guard and the chairman of two multistate agencies that make energy decisions that affect all Americans. While Barack Obama spent almost all of the past two years running for president, Ms. Palin has been running a state.

...

All women should be proud of Mr. McCain's selection of Ms. Palin as his running mate, an historic moment that came the week of the 88th anniversary of women's earning the right to vote. Sarah Palin will break through the glass ceiling that, as she noted on her first day as the vice presidential nominee, has 18 million new cracks thanks to Hillary Clinton.

Fiorina's Biden example may be taken out of context. The Senator was actually mocking himself, saying Palin was more pleasant on the eyes than he. And her latter complaint is more politics than gender. But Pfotenhauer and Fiorina's statements are illustrative in two ways: they suggests that the McCain camp is growing more and more concerned with the mounting criticism of Palin and are hoping (in the classical political sense) to assume the role of victim. It also demonstrates the extent to which racial and gender sensitivities will dominate the general election. In the end, moreover, it could make Hillary Clinton an even more important actor in this process as she becomes the de facto referee of what attacks on Palin are legitimate and which are out of bounds.

Comments

[linzy]

SNL is aTV comedy show for God's sake! Get real, Carly. You screwed HP royally, so is this all that's left for you? Or do you aspire to higher office? If so, we're really in deep trouble: Hi, I'm Carly and I'm Secretary of State. Do you have any straws I can grasp?" To equate whatever transpires on SNL means you are grasping at straws, either paranoid, too sensitive, or just plain crazy. Geez, Michael Phelps even took the parody on his mom (who is great, by the way) as humor and in good fun. Carly, lighten up!

[CTtransplant]

I guess it is now sexist to question a candidates credential­s...appare­ntly the Repugs don't like to be questioned about anything....makes them poor choice for elected official....write them off.

[Banji81]

Aaaaand, action!

[lizinatl]

come on now.....Palin herself does not like whining....or in the case of Hillary, whiney women..

this coin has too many sides...

[BarackDaVote]

This is the most sensitive republican party of all time. I mean seriously. First they were crying about age discrimination , then racism, then media bias, now its sexism...whats next Sore Loser-ism!

[Hillrick]

They seem to believe that crying like this inoculates them from attack at least making some people believe it and then when an ad is aired, they have a jaundiced view of it.

[uclafan]

Carly Fiorina for Mayor of Wasilla! THAT experience will get her in to the White House!

[LCRover001]

Well that didn't take long.

Isn't this the same bunch who claimed Obama was playing the race card?

I guess if you have no issues to talk about or real substance to brag about you just do as Rove did of attack and divide.

Palin’s best defense is she has been Governor, well so was GWB and they used the same antics of attack and divide to get him elected thing is he was governor for a longer time and is still unqualified to do the job even after he has been trying for going on 8 years now. So what does that say about being Governor as experience?

When is the kitchen sink going to come flying at Obama next Monday? Guys you need to save something for October the election has just begun and you're already resorting to the gender card.

[OgreDaddy]

Sarah Palin's nomination is a deliberate distraction tactic of classic Karl Rove proportions.

Once again the Republican marketing campaign fires up their extreme ideological base
to draw attention away from their failures in leadership.

The McCain campaign was clearly going to lose on issues because they have no defense
on the issues of the war, the economy or fiscal responsibility.

They know full well that without a meaningful Republican majority in Congress, that the current
administration faces very real and serious legal jeopardy once the audits and investigations
proceed under the Obama administration.

Mark my words, Sarah Palin is a deliberate distraction attempting to manipulate and divide the voters
on social wedge issues.

[urbanliterati]

I will repeat this until it sinks in...this is the biggest distraction the GOP has ever tried. McCain's campaign manager came out and said that this election is not about the issues. They are being honest for once. They want to use gimmicks to keep our focus off of the real problems this country faces. DON'T FALL FOR IT PEOPLE!

[KiwisCanFly]

Dare I say that most of us are ‘regular joes‘, trying to keep our heads above the water, financially.

Economically things have been rather dismal for most of us.

I submit the following as to the real reason why Alaskan’s love Sarah Palin.

People's Republic of Alaska where every resident this year will get a $3,200 payout, thanks in no small measure to the efforts of Sarah Palin, the state's Republican governor.
That's $22,400 for a family of seven, like Palin's.
The oil companies pay more taxes to the state of Alaska, they get to write that off against their federal tax obligation, leaving the rest of us to make up the shortfall.

Of course we can remedy that by having a federal windfall profits tax of the sort that Barack Obama dared propose.

BUT

McCain derided Obama's call for the windfall profits tax, saying it would "increase our dependence on foreign oil and hinder exactly the same kind of domestic exploration and production we need."

Please read Robert Scheer’s article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/palins-alaska-reaps-the-w_b_123430.html#postComment

[Sandi7552]

You have to admire the way these folks can turn anything into an argument that is ludicrous. It is sexist to talk about her lack of...It is ageist to speak of "heartbeat away'... It is unpatriotic to not support the warmonger.... For the love of God, why can only Republicans be patriotic, only Republicans have 'Family Values", Only Republican females be fit to serve (do you honestly think that the lip service respect Senator Clinton has gotten would have continued if she had been the nominee)? Sometimes our refusal to punch back gives them license to keep spreading their lies, and misrepresentations. It is time to stop clinging and start swinging! If Palin had family values, she would be at home taking care of her special needs child, privately handling the pregnancy of her 17 year old child while dealing with the deployment of her son and her day job. That would have been family values on display, not this garish, I am woman hear me roar at the expense of my family BS! I do not think the Clintons can undo the damage their sore loser attitude and comments have done and while no real Dem supports Joe Liarman, his hubris is astounding and traitorous to all that we hold dear and red meat for the Republicans. It is our choice, do we want the President we deserve or the President we need. After two elections for Bush, I am not optimistic.

[foxflood]

Also, where was Carly's outrage when Hillary was being taken down?

[hypnotoad72]

Bottled and sold in jars at Wal-Mart, next to the pregnancy tests and abortion kits I should think...

[foxflood]

The Republicans are just pissed that Obama's brother, who THEY hauled out of Africa into the media spotlight, never got any legs, and now they're crying foul because this has legs.

The mendacity of it is just appalling. They started this years ago with Billy Carter, putting the press onto him, and have done their level best to drag any competitor's family into things and to make it a referendum on their campaign. They can dish it out and they can't take it. What losers.

[Tinkeraw]

They can't use the POW excuse for her, so what is left the sexist excuse.

Having gone through the woman's right movement, if a woman wants to be "equal" to men, then she needs to be able to take the bad with the good, the hits, not whine when she gets a negative.

[TruepatriotinRI]

It seems to me that "sexism" is not paying a woman equally as a man for the same work, and not allowing women choice over their own bodies, or defining "marriage" along gender lines.

And "sexism" cuts both ways, like when you choose someone for a job based on gender rather than on experience!