Make Her Whine
Already the Democratic pundits are worrying about whether to attack Sarah Palin -- will it look like bullying? Will it make voters sympathize with her? Will it make voters identify with her and vote for her? Women are supposed to lay off her because -- she is a woman! The thinking goes that we can't question her choices because women's choices are sacrosanct. Nor can we investigate her life (beauty queen, Christian Dominionist, links to Ted Stevens, childbearing history) because those are private issues. But what Sarah Palin shows is that once again, the right wing is adept at turning the women's movement upside down and offering us a woman who reinforces patriarchal power rather than challenges it. Palin is another Margaret Thatcher or Ann Coulter, a woman who attaches herself to men in power and then does them one better. She uses the freedom that the women's movement has brought her quash the liberation of women with other views than hers. The bitch is in there, as it is with Coulter and Thatcher and Katherine Harris. The Democrats have to bring that bitch out and she has given us the right to do it.
Did she really accuse Hillary Clinton of "whining?" Then she's already told us that she won't mind any challenge -- that she can rise to any question. I want to see her do it. The personal is political, after all. Here are some issues she has to explain: What is her religion and who is her pastor? Is she a Christian Dominionist and how does she feel about the separation of church and state? How does she square her roles as mother and politican? Who is taking care of the kids while she is away, including the baby? If it's the husband, I'm glad. If it's a nanny and always has been, then I want to know how a wealthy woman with a nanny helps women in general -- wealthy women with nannies are nothing new. If she's into "family values," I want to know what they are, and how the nanny views Palin's "family values." If she produced a child at 44, I want to know if she believes in birth control, because birth control is a political issue. I also want to know her views on the government's obligations to the disabled. Do the disabled children of rich people get special treatments that their parents can afford, while the disabled children of poor people get nothing? Who is the boss in her family? If it's her, then I want to know how that squares with Christian notions of patriarchy. If it's the husband, then I want to know his values and beliefs about all the issues that face the nation, and I want to know who will actually be the vice president. I want to see her tax returns. I want to see his tax returns.
About the breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is a political issue because the baby formula companies have promoted baby formula all over the world, much to the detriment of babies. If she's a family values right winger, I would expect her to back those values up by breastfeeding for six months to a year, at least. If she's not breastfeeding, frankly, and she doesn't believe in birth control, then she's a hypocrite. She has to run as a right wing family values soccer mom or she has to run as a woman who has gained freedoms through the efforts of other women. She can't do both.
Is she really a gun-toting moose-killer, or is this a pose? What are her ties to the oil and gas industries -- and I don't mean her beliefs. I want to know who paid her and when and how much. She says she doesn't know what the vice president does, so I want to know what she thinks about Dick Cheney and the unitary executive. I want to know if she understands the Constitution and what the limits of the executive branch are. I want to know if she's ever been abroad, if she has ever written anything about the Iraq war, or if she's just a follower with a pretty smile, who goes along with the big boys in order to get a little something for herself. I want to know how she treats her children, what kind of mom she is, because I want to know about her personal morality. This is a valid issue, because in the last eight years we discovered with George Bush that once a bully, always a bully. I want those kids from her high school to come forward and tell me what she was like back then.
We had years to relate to HIllary Clinton. We saw her through good times and bad. We saw her do things we didn't agree with, and we saw her do things we did agree with. She was an open book in many ways. Sarah Palin accused her of "whining." I didn't agree with Clinton, and I didn't support her, but I never accused her of whining. That "whining" remark is the hallmark of a bitchy and and arrogant point of view -- a characteristic of all conservative women politicians. So, Sarah thinks she can take it. I say we give it to her good.
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Oh, thank God for the Internet.
.... for intelligent, hard hitting, straight from the hip questions like these ....
... for the kind of thinking women who are not so dumb as to even THINK of going for this bait and switch trick by McSame
... for the sweetness of McSame's absolute stupidity ....
67 more days until the celebration of ALL celebrations ...
great post Jane!
Jane - let it slide for a few days. Just watch the fireworks. If you want to ask about the issues, do so. I believe we have enough to get her on domestic and foreign policy experience . . . you probably won't even have to touch the other areas you cited in your blog.
Patience Jane. Just watch and see how the Repubs handle this one.
Beautiful. Absolutely brilliant.
I wan't Biden to challenge this woman to a bunch of town hall meetings ASAP. McCain pounced on Obama for not caving into his town hall challenge.
I think your comments are very unfair.
Rush Limbaugh has called her the new face of feminism and she named her kid Trig.
Surely two strong indicators she'll be great for women and the country if she gets to the White House.
Yea right, Limbaugh is your expert? And I suppose Limbaugh is a feminist too? LOL
Women want independence and respect, but challenging Sarah Palin on her record and qualifications will look like the Dems are beating up on a poor little woman?
You can't be a victim when it suits you and independent and strong only when it suits you.
"Did she really accuse Hillary Clinton of "whining?"
No. she didn't. Here's the video.
http://www
Let's see how that goes now that SHE will be under the microscope. I expect the "no fair" whining to commence momentarily if it hasn't already.
Brillant Post. The most thought provoking piece I've read in the press thus far. Great insightful dialogue.
I think this is going to be a very difficult road for Gov.Palin. To be thrust into this maelstrom after coming out of no media Alaska is going to be something to watch. And I hope the McCain campaign dosn't shield her from the press. We need to hear from this woman. We have no idea what she stands for on serious issues and her convention speech and debates are not going to be enough. Everyone else on the ticket has been in the national spotlight for a long time. We need to see her and see a lot of her. She should be on Meet the Press immediately. If not, then the campaign is doing us all a great disservice. Loved The Secret Lives of Dentists, Jane. One of my favorite movies!
Wow! Jane. I am duly impressed. I have read everything out there and was wondering when someone would question the wisdom of dragging a baby out on the campaign trail Or not. Of course I am not surprised that a man with the wisdom of McCain didn't consider that something as insignificant as a tiny baby could be an obstacle to his ambition. But as a mother, it was the very first thing that popped in my head when I heard she had an infant. What?? I wonder how long she considered the ramifications to her family. It all seems like it was all so hurried and last minute.
Altgough Obama fans may have been too ferocious about it,m we did try to warn Clinton fans _ did you not know McCainb was going down this path? Did Clintonistas really think Mccain capable of showing women respect? Have you not grasped what "4 more years" really means? Palin - the former beauty queen who became a 'reformer' becuase she didn't get the job she wanted, but who thinks its really about makin' babies and shootin' endangered species and drillin' wild-life preserves and using government to get back at people she don't like and taking bribes and teachin' cresationism in schools and - 'yup yup.' PUMAMA
Jane Smiley: I didn't agree with Clinton, and I didn't support her, but I never accused her of whining. That "whining" remark is the hallmark of a bitchy and and arrogant point of view -- a characteristic of all conservative women politicians.
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I didn't agree with Clinton, and I didn't support her either. And you bet I accused her of whining - as well as lying, manipulating, and trying every desperate move she could in her "kitchen sink" campaign against Barack.
It's over now - thank the gods - but I'm not going to stand for any whitewashing of her as we move into the general. History ain't writ that way.
As for Palin's evangelical Christian beliefs, she's just as entitled to them as you and I are to ours. To the extent that they influence her political choices, they're relevant for us as voters to consider. Aside from that, her personal pro-life values (to use one example) are no different than Mario Cuomo's, or Bob Casey's.
And what she does with her boobies and her babies is her own damn business.
Or maybe you're just doing a left-wing Ann Coulter imitation here? If so, it's damn good!
I'm all for happy warrior, smashmouth politics - but this piece is just over the edge.
"To the extent that they influence her political choices, they're relevant for us as voters to consider."
Yes. For example, it looks like her Assembly of God church, like Rev Hagee's, may promote end-times philosophy, as in support Israel to the point of taunting them to nuke Iran so the rapture can come quicker. I'd like to know if she buys into that, especially if her finger might someday have access to one of those poof buttons.
A valid political concern, for sure. I hope one of the better journalists asks it of her directly.
This was an absolutely excellent essay, Jane. I will be shocked if the conservative media (i.e. all of the main stream media) treats even half of these issues.
Awesome Post.
Tear this woman to shreds. For the good of the nation. Honestly.
She may turn out to be smart and wonderful, but she has no business being VP. None. She is literally and actually dangerously reckless as a pick.
A journalism degree from Idaho???? Ok, I'm not big on Ivy League, but you better have done something more than 18 months as Gov. of Alaska. Beauty queen? Sports caster?
Tear her down.
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