Moosing Sarah -- Time for the Dems to Leash the Pitbull
It seems forever since the Democrats completed their triumphant Convention in Denver with its Obama/Biden/Clinton/Kennedy unity ticket and its intoxicating sense of take-it-to-the-finish line momentum. What happened? Not Sarah Palin. How could a small-time Alaska mayor and first term Governor derail the Obama freight train? No it was not Sarah Palin but the extraordinary reaction to McCain's wildly irresponsible decision to make her his running mate that seems to have paralyzed the Party.
Something about Palin scrambled the otherwise steady nerves of the Obama campaign. As if they were believing everything she was saying. Assuming that the Republican base was the country and hence thinking her success at her Convention there would be replicated nationally. (Did you see the face of that convention? Is that really the face of America?) Afraid to be accused of sexism (ironic after how it disposed of Hillary); or of unwarranted anger (Obama sometimes seems like Governor Dukakis, unwilling to rise to the bait even when it would be politically smart to do so).
Why is it so hard simply to tell the truth about Palin? Yes she is a successful and politically smart woman to be admired for that reason. But she is also a typical Republican values hypocrite preaching choice for women - except when it comes to pregnancy; preaching that family should be kept out of the political searchlight - except when it is useful to parade her own family on center stage; preaching against earmarks - except when it help her career to solicit them for Alaska; preaching about America first - except that she actually has made a career out of putting Palin first, Alaska second and America last (check out her Alaska secessionist husband).
She is a successful and politically smart woman, but she is also a right wing extremist who tried to delete books she didn't approve of from the town library where she was mayor and tried to fire the librarian when that didn't work; who is a creationist and, like the current occupant of the White House, who has little use for science, whether it is the science of evolution or the science of global warming; who never had a passport until last year when she visited her National Guard troops in Kuwait. Otherwise a stranger to the world in which America must make its way.
She is a successful and politically smart woman, but she is not merely pro-life, she is a no-exceptions-never-mind-rape-or-incest pro-lifer who thinks woman have no right to participate in decisions about what happens to their bodies if they become pregnant.
What the Democratic leadership has yet to figure out is that the real gender bias in the Palin appointment is the patronizing attitude that assumes what would and should be savaged and ridiculed in a man must be condoned or even welcomed in a woman.
Dukakis was skewered by twisted stories about rapists and released prisoners because he wanted to appear reasonable. War hero Kerry got swift-boated by men who never served in the military. Is Obama now going to let himself get moosed by a parochial Alaskan know-nothing because she's a woman?
Time to get mad. At Palin. At McCain. At the Bushes (yes both of them). Gender equality means women can't hide their biases and dogmatism behind gender.
Speaking of men, it is not really Palin but McCain who is the perpetrator we need to criticize. It is McCain who cynically chose a far right wing ideologue who shares the worst biases of the current administration in Washington and made her his running mate in a "campaign against Washington."
In other words, it is not the pit-bull in lipstick but the man who unleashed her who bears the responsibility. Michael Vick went to prison for turning his pit-bulls loose on others. I'm not recommending putting McCain in jail, just keeping him and his snarling (or is that a smile?) running mate out of the White House. Your move, Senator Obama.
Read more analysis from HuffPost bloggers on John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin
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Obama's turning out to be the most hapless candidate in a seemingly endless line of Democratic losers. It boggles the mind that after so many decades of exposure to the Republican slime machine, Obama and his staff have been so flumoxed by Sarah Palin. The whole country saw Palin gleefully castrate Obama before a TV audience even bigger than his own. How could Obama and Co. not have been ready to respond to this IMMEDIATELY with battle axes flying? Obama would have lost the nomination to Hillary if the primary season had lasted even a week longer precisely because Hillary made him look weaker than a woman herself. You'd think Obama and Co. would have girded their loins when McCain named Palin as his VP and she gave plenty of hints of what she could do on TV in her acceptance speech. But not. Palin castrates him, and Obama tries to keep playing the role of the superior and detached professor who can only smile at the foolishness of his intellectual inferiors. But the real world is no law class--at home or abroad. The American public has always sensed that Obama is a weakling, Dowd's Obambi. Palin would never have dared to try this mockery on Jim Webb, and if she had, he would have eviscerated her. The Democrats will never win until they produce a presidential candidate with real guts. Palin would have eviscerated Hillary too.
Putting this woman within one heartbeat of being the President of the United States is scarier that having four more years of the current administration. It's close, but she is scarier. My biggest fear up until recently was having John McCain as Commander in Chief, now my biggest fear is him dying as Commander in Chief.
Excellent points. It is also very worrisome that she is in seclusion to learn"Talking Points" for interviews and debates. There are also Cliff Notes Cram sessions, because I will bet that three weeks ago she did not know the name of the British Prime Minister or the capital city of Pakistan or Afghanistan.
The Republicans have said that she will learn about government affairs at the feet of John McCain.
Faced with the current domestic and international agenda, will "President" McCain have time to tutor. If McCain, for some reason, cannot complete his term, what happens to America as we face serious economic, ecologic, military and energy challenges, with Sarah Palin our commander in chief? What if our country is faced with a situation similar to the Cuban Missile Crisis?
This is like choosing a heart surgeon who went to correspondence school. God help us!
I agree with your post one hundred percent. I am a woman and I definitely believes in equaity and all that entails. I personally find it far more sexist and condescending that the McCain camp seeks to insulate Palin and not treat her as an equal. If Mccain win, she is one heartbeat away from the presidency
We have watched the male candidates get hit with hard intrusive questions surrounding their personal and professional lives....s
The person to take on Sarah Palin is Hillary Clinton. Woman vs woman. Palin is nothing but a myth, she should be exposed for the fraud that she is, and Clinton is the person who can do it..
I agree wholeheartedly. When I saw that woman making fun of Barack's community activism, I saw red. I want Joe to go after her and not let her off the hook, beat her senseless and then smile. Giving her a pass like Joe did today on Meet The Press is not going to work.
In your dreams
Obama is laughably deferential on most matters and Palin in particular.
Obama is walking a tough but not impossible tightrope with Palin. He needs to attack her corrupt ideas with condemnation equal to that Bush speech writer's. Many voters would rather follow a strong leader who is wrong instead of a tepid commander-in-chief who never wants to offend.
The Palin gambit is paying off fiendishly. Obama can be polite and lose or find enough passion inside to break this strange romance that even reasonable voters are having with McCain/Palin.
Who knew that being a woman would be an inpenetrable shield for Palin? You're going to see a lot more hotties entering politics if this is the new way of winning elections.
Since Obama put his family on national t.v. (not just standing on stage, but for an interview) does that mean his family is fair game? I thought families, or rather Democrat families, are off limits. Was putting a first term senator at the head of the Dem ticket "wildly irresponsible"? I guess experience is only required on the Republican side. Were you upset when Ferraro was put on the ticket? And actually Kerry was "swiftboated" by Vietnam vets, some of whom served with Kerry. I guess Kerry leading off his convention with "Reporting for duty" was supposed to be ignored.
My stomach is churning, wondering if the Democrats once again will blow it . I say go after her I am so sick of the GOP and there tactics. As Democrats we need to finally say you know what lady you are a liar, a hypocrite, a typical Republican and we are sick of people like you tearing our country apart.If we lose this year I will be crushed. It is so important that we get the country back on track, for the future..
GO OBAMA BIDEN !!!!!
"Gender equality means women can't hide their biases and dogmatism behind gender."
THANK YOU!
For the same reason that there's really no such thing as "reverse racism", there's also really no such thing as "reverse sexism". Because, as you've suggested, if equality really means anything, it means that inappropriate, unfair or discriminatory behavior of women on the basis of one's sex is every bit as offensive as if it were coming from a man.
Hopefully Barack, Joe and their team will bear this in mind as campaign with toughness against McCain - Palin. Enough of the double standard!
MM
Focus on McCain - same old same old.....
It's the economy stupid
As a feminist, I'll say this--it is very upsetting every time a woman comes around who claims to stand for women's rights, and who then proceeds to behave exactly like, well, the worst of men. Sarah Palin is not only a poor excuse for a woman, she entirely misrepresents the tenor and intellectual integrity of feminism. Let's see her for who she is--a man in female drag--and treat her accordingly.
This is indeed really scary. I agree that the Dems need to hit hard: Palin wants women to become government property while they're pregnant. NOT okay. She would be highly indignant if the law forbade her and her daughter to do what they felt was right about the pregnancy. (Or, at least, Sarah - who knows how the daughter really feels?) And the intelligence of a woman who supports abstinence only education when it demonstably doesn't work? She doesn't even have to look at studies or statistics - just across her kitchen table. And getting away with all the problems in her background, refusing to interview.
The Rep.s are so openly careless with the truth. Crap like "Obama will raise your taxes..." to low and middle income people.."J
Unbelievable that he's running a 'throw the bums out" campaign - John, that would be you.....
they are kings of the catchy, smart-aleck, bumper sticker slogan that is the opposite of what they are really doing: " no child left behind" "healthy forest initiative" - kings of taking away the fruit basket and giving us back a grape - and being thanked for it "see, we're looking out for you!" Oy!
This is precisely what happened. Something terrible happened at the moment the Sarah Palin "pick" was announced--the Dems were reading the tea leaves, worrying about offending, showing a fear of losing. The Obama team lost their nerve right then. The right to frame the issue--the right to express indignation, outrage at the crass and gimmicky aspects, all this was lost as the team hesitated. The morning after the Palin speech, Obama should have been angry--shown that he would not put up with being insulted and diminished. She had done nothing in her life to earn her the right to put him down in that manner. But we heard.....
Does Joe Biden have some chronic need to praise the other side, no matter what they are engaged in? Could we please stop hearing how wonderful John McCain is and how much he (Biden) thinks of Palin? The weakness of the Obama-Biden team reaction to the Palin pick has actually normalized the choice of Palin--a choice which is in fact bizarre and frightening in the extreme. A lot of people have invested an awful lot in this campaign to get us out--finally--from the years of darkness. We need to see some strength and fortitude on OUR behalf.
Totally Well Said!
This week...les
I can not believe we can let this happen considering what we KNOW will be the outcome over the next four years. Those that vote for her out of spite or ignorance will be stunned by what this dynamic duo can accomplish. The rest of us will be wondering how we let this slip away.
People need to wake up! Think about if McCain and Palin have control over the next 1 or 2 picks to the Supreme Court? And remember, as VP Palin gets to vote in Congress if there is a tie. I wonder which way she would vote on certain issues.
This is not about gender, it is about ideology and power.
It's not what she's for, it's the excitement and buzz she's created. Obama is in big big trouble if he can't find a way to attack her and diminish her. She's drowning him out. Sh'e become the "change" candidate. For a Democrat to be in trouble after 8 years of Bush and with our economy in meltdown, it is very worrisome. Do the Dems and Obama have an answer? If not, they're cooked and so is the USA.
Americans are indoctrinated to follow the buzz (crowd) the day they begin school. The Reps have represented Obama as an elitist/in
We are a nation of sheep, who will vote for the bullies. Hey bullies with lipstick aren't scary, are they?
Barack, listen to your mother and go bloody their noses!!!
Actually, Joe Biden's mom was the one who told her son to geo bloody the bullies' noses, but you're right. The Democrats have a dismal history of getting their opponents on the ropes and not knocking them flat when they have the chance
The reaction of non-thinking women to Palin seems much like the reaction of non-thinking men to Bush, especially in 2000: "Gee (Duh), he's just one of us. Now, it's the moronic sheep-mentality women saying, "Gee, she's just like us," as though any of these idiots really think they're qualified to be president.
Those individuals who base their lives and decisions on the premise that every word in the Bible is the literal truth (as long as they can use that to justify their selfish ends) are a lost cause, and will vote Republican no matter what. Obama and Biden need to present a strong case to the fence-sitters who are still capable of getting it right.
Part of the problem for voter stupidity/ignorance in this country is that so many people have no idea how the big corporations, especially the coal and other extractive industries, are pillaging our environment, poisoning our air and water, and buying off so many "public" servants. The media bears much of this guilt. America's best-kept secrets are such because this stuff never get to the masses. If more people knew what is happening in this country, especially at the hands of Republicans, Obama would slaughter McCain.
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