Am I "Off Message" on Sarah Palin?
Warning! This pundit isn't feeling the same way as most of my colleagues about Sarah Palin. She is being attacked for her lack of experience for the job and for whether she should be putting her family first instead of her career. This just isn't that unusual in my book. And the more it goes on, the more uncomfortable I feel with that message.
I am a woman who someone took a chance on several years ago and gave me a job that had only previously been done by old white guys. Experience? How do you get any if no one takes a chance on you? And the decision to take a chance can be instinctive, as John McCain said. Sure it was a gimmick. But would we feel better if it was Tim Pawlenty? What someone does on a small scale can be a good indicator of what they do on a large scale. So suggesting that she would do any worse than the host of guys who have auditioned for the job isn't that compelling an argument to me. And what about the argument that she is a negligent mother who will be distracted from her important role. I am a mother who constantly feels the pressure from others about whether I am fit to be a parent, whether I put my kids first often enough and whether my son with learning disabilities gets enough of my attention. Who has the right to to judge my family?
My grandmother always said "You can't tell time on someone else's clock". Judgments about people's personal lives are better left unsaid and unrealized.
So why then do I think that Sarah Palin would be a terrible vice president? Because I also think that John McCain would be a terrible president.
I don't care about how Sarah Palin or John McCain take care of their families. I care about how their policy choices affect my family and millions of other Americans.
-McCain and Palin get their health insurance paid for by the government (hers in Alaska and his in Washington). Yet they oppose giving the 42 million other Americans the same access to affordable healthcare.
-John McCain's kids don't have to worry about paying for college. Yet, he has opposed every single education support program to help others.
-McCain and Palin say they will stand up to oil companies. Yet the only energy policy they support gives millions of dollars in tax breaks to oil companies to do more drilling and he has opposed every piece of federal legislation to explore alternative fuel sources.
-McCain and Palin say they will revamp how Washington does business. Yet his campaign is filled with lobbyists and she has been in bed with Senator Ted Stevens funneling federal money for useless projects in Alaska for years.
-McCain and Palin have refused to answer very real questions about her potential abuse of power in Alaska when it came to her firing a State Trooper because she was on a revenge kick for her sister costing an officer his job. And McCain and Palin have no solutions for Americans worrying about their jobs in a fragile economy.
-McCain and Palin want us to leave their families alone. Yet they want make rules for our families by eliminating our right to make our own choices over abortion; eliminate our access to family planning education or domestic partner benefits; and our freedom from discrimination. They want to control what our kids learn in school about sex and about science. In short, through the policies they promote and the judges they support, they want the government to be more in control over our private lives than at any time in history.
-McCain and Palin now say their campaign is about change, too. Yet, the only real change they have proposed is a change from a suit to a skirt in the VP's office and one man fighting a misplaced war for another in the Oval Office. That seems to me to be the right reason to oppose them in November. It's not the process or the people, it's what they represent. This unconventional choice of VP by John McCain won't stand up to the hype and result in a win in November because they are the wrong choice for the country.
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Agreed, let's focus on the issues and not get distracted by culture wars. But where is Hillary Clinton in all of this? (Probably waiting either for Palin to self-immolate or at least until she's the nominee). When Hillary surfaces, I say that she should challenge Palin to a debate on women's issues alone. Not tjhat either of them is that one-dimensional of course, but Hillary can say "Look, you invoked me in your first public address last Friday and claimed leadership on feminist issues. Yet noone knows what your policies are, what principles they are based on, how your religion affects the, etc. I was vetted for 18 months on policy grounds--now it's your turn if you want to be v.p."
Very good points regarding how McSame and Palin's beliefs and views on governing affect the citizens of the USA. I'm happy he made this choice as it spotlights his own flip-flopping and hard tilt to the right. "Let them eat cake" should be their campaign slogan!
lots of women juggle a job and a family.
however, Palin's family is not just any family, with a Down syndrome infant and a pregnant teen daughter.
her job is not just any job, because she will be a heartbeat away from the presidency and leadership of the free world (and running for vice president is pretty stressful too).
so anecdotal evidence about how other women manage to have a family and a career really does not apply. Palin is in a unique situation on both ends and abandoning her family for this campaign contradicts the "family values" Republicans claim to love.
People aren't (or shouldn't be) making such a big deal about her having no experience. They are (or should be) making a big deal about the fact that the GOP has been attacking Obama as having little to no experience and then their nominee picks a VP candidate with even less. It sort of invalidates the argument the GOP has been making for months.
I agree - there is plenty in the record to poke holes in without dredging up personal issues.
I am appalled they would trot her out as a champion against Washington politics and earmarks when I see her record with federal pork projects while Mayor and Governor. America doesn't like being lied to.
I am amazed they had the audacity to try and convince us she was a major player against the Bridge to Nowhere, when the facts tell a very different story.
The focus should be on the lies, and more of the same.
She allowed her daughter to be exposed to the tabloids and punditocracy for the sake of her political career, threw her under the bus when the rumors about her own baby started up and yet stands as some kind of paragon for values voters? I'm sorry for her daughter, but Sarah and Todd Palin are to blame for either being unbelievably ignorant or arrogant.
THIS is what we should be sending out to everyone and making sure that anyone who plans to vote in November understands these issues.
It is about policy differences and about the importance of keeping religion out of national decisions. I don't care what Sarah Palin thinks about abortion, evolution, prayer in the school, the environment and more......so long as she and her like don't force their beliefs on me. Wasn't this nation founded on the separation of church and state? If so, how do the GOP get away with foisting their evangelical beliefs on the rest of us under the guise of "family values"?
We need a lively debate on issues and policies so let's keep those questions coming!
From the moment I heard the confirmation that Palin was the pick I knew it was a gimmick because McCain and his ilk have the notion that you can't pick on the girl so she would be safe from attack regardless of whether or not they are valid questions and questions that Obama and Biden would be asked. And THAT is where the sexism in this campaign comes from. Well, that and the fact that McCain thinks women will vote for her based on her anatomy.
But McCain has used the same tactic this whole time too. We are not allowed to ask the tough questions of him because he's a POW. That is his get-out-of-jail-free-card (admittedly, not my best analogy). It's immature and unfair.
Good to see a feminist recognize the inconsistency/hypocrisy here.
An attack of this manner by the left (especially by feminists on the left!) on a woman in this situation would NEVER happen if Palin were a Democrat instead of a Republican.
Rather, they would probably be calling for the blood of the attackers.
How about some consistency, people? Does your philosophy only matter when it is politically expedient? It is embarrassing, and sooner or later, it will backfire.
Your reference to Pawlenty is interesting. Although he has some ethics issues of his own, he does have alot more experience then Palin. He is a lawyer and was a VP for a company, city council member, a state legislator for 10 years and is governor of Minnesota for over 4 years. Minnesota is the 21 most populous state whereas Alaska is 47th.
Would I want him for VP -no. Just like the thought of McCain in office scares the pooh out of me. But don't cry sexism where none exists. She is not qulaified and has very little experience. She could have run for senator first to learn about national and international politics. Everyone should be held to the same standard and not be given special treatment because they are a minority or a woman. I call that reverse sexism and reverse racism.
Maybe McCain hasn't swayed you completely, but judging by your prior comments of her supposed significance as a certain extension of female empowerment indicates that this little token gesture of McCain's to some extent appears to be working.
Thus, if you can be that sympathetic, then I suspect that McCain will probably manage to win over at least a million votes from more impressionable so-called liberals who are indeed evaluating their decision exclusively on the basis of gender.
I think this sums up the situation pretty well. Rather than let this be yet another wedge issue election with a bunch of fanatics squeaking out the apathetic and jaded issue voters let's just stand up, turn off the TV, and vote this whole crooked fundamentalist regime out of the government. It only takes 20 minutes to drive up to your polling place and vote, then you can relax for 8 years while the only marginally corrupt "traditional" politics take hold again. Say what you want about Obama, but I really don't see him wiping his butt with the constitution, unlike some presidents we know.
I think you're right Hilary. You've been doing a great job on the panels, by the way. The more Democratic surrogates say "experience" - without giving specifics, - the more Republicans will cry sexism.
It's a legitimate question whether Palin can care for 2 small children - on with special needs - and 2 teens, run a campaign and possibly be VP. She is being investigated for abuse of power. Her husband has been copied on confidential e-mails and has been sitting in on confidential meetings while she's been http://andrewhalcro.com/shadow_governor_governor). She has extreme social views. There is enough there to attack her on, instead of the fuzzy "experience" argument. Each time that argument is used, Repub. surrogates drag Obama down to her level. Yes, I said "down".
Obama has campaigned for 2 years and received a majority of votes. He has been examined extensively. Palin has been chosen by 1 man, and is being molded and packaged for presentation to the public. Can the public get to know the REAL Sarah in 2 months, and one debate??? What happens to John McCain while the public catches up?....John McCain escapes scrutiny.
The experience thing would have been a one or two day event if McCain's issue message hadn't been based soley on the house of cards that is the experience argument.
However, I do think that McCain's people have been stoking the flames od the current experience debt with their inane defense of her experience. If they are doing it so that Palin can come out tonight and can that debate for a boost to herself, or if they simply forgot how to defend with strength and brevity. Every defense is an attack, but the attack becomes simply dumb because there is no defense.
Excellent argument! I too am uncomfortable saying that she shouldn't be VP (or god forbid president!) because she has 5 kids and yet my mind can't help going there. But you're right; there are so many other valid reasons McCain/Palin should not get our votes.
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