To Hate Like This Never Felt So Good -- Taking Revenge on Sarah
From the get-go, I've been pretty Machiavellian about this election. "Do what you gotta do, Obama, Axelrod et al. I won't criticize too much as long as you make it to the White House." Winning campaigns are a lot like sausage, I figured. While you enjoy the tasty finished product, you don't always want to see what happens to get there. But unlike in 2004 where my enthusiasm for Kerry was really just motivated by distaste for Bush, my happiness with Obama was much stronger than my dislike of McCain.
And Then Sarah happened. And it got personal.
On the night she gave her acceptance speech and the RNC, like so many devoted liberals, I couldn't contain my rage. She really got under my skin.
Oh, it's on.
And then I jumped off the deep end.
I don't just want Obama to win. I want this woman to lose. Badly. I want her destroyed. Publicly. And I want her to suffer.
As I told my boyfriend this the day after her speech, (in the interest of self preservation he hadn't even watched it) he rightfully looked at me like I was a lunatic.
Maybe I was.
Reading about her all day as I edit blogs here at HuffPost probably didn't help with my anger. I started to tell friends and family outside of work that in the interest of my mental health, wecouldn't talk about her.
I tried to let my feelings mellow, but the woman has the ability to get my blood pressure to rise instantly.
Then a couple days ago, my friend Alex Leo sent me an email:
This has been going around. I think it's fabulous and thought you would too...
Instead of (in addition to?) us all sending around emails about how horrible she is, let's all make a donation to Planned Parenthood. In Sarah Palin's name. And here's the good part: when you make a donation to PP in her name, they'll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor. Here's the link to the Planned Parenthood website:https://secure.ga0.org/02/pp10000_inhonor
You'll need to fill in the address to let PP know where to send the "in Sarah Palin's honor" card. I suggest you use the address for the McCain campaign headquarters, which is:
McCain for President
1235 S. Clark Street
1st Floor
Arlington, VA 22202PS make sure you use that link above or choose the pulldown of Donate--Honorary or Memorial Donations, not the regular "Donate Online"
A couple of bloggers have since mentioned this idea, including Patt Morrison who started this trend of donating in "honor of" Bush to Planned Parenthood 8 years ago. But with Sarah it feels like an even more appropriate place to donate since she's the newest poster girl of anti-feminism.
And today in the New York Times, Hillary Clinton and Cecile Richards made the urgent case for why we need to support women's reproductive rights now because of new rules the Bush administration is proposing that could greatly limit women's access to reproductive services.
I'm not sure how exactly to calculate a dollar amount that I should give in honor of Sarah that would appropriately counteract all the aggravation she's caused me. The formula might look something like this:
Number of times she's lied about the bridge to nowhere + number of nights I couldn't fall asleep because I was thinking about her + number of blogs I've read about her + one quarter of the cost she charged victims for rape kits in Wasilla + number of times she's compared herself to Hillary Clinton = ????
The idea of giving to Planned Parenthood seems like a healthy channeling of my frustration. I have, in fact, noticed that everyone is worried about money since we are in the middle of a massive financial crisis. But sometimes you just have to do something nice for yourself. And for Sarah.
UPDATE: Blogger John Neffinger gave me the following pertinent info:
I heard about this from someone else today and we were discussing this: The problem is the McCain campaign is run by contemptuous little anti-choice staffers -- no one who cares will ever see those cards. A better address might be the Palins' home, where at least her local postal workers and neighbors will notice:PO Box 21
Wasilla, AK
Happy donating everyone!
Follow Katherine Goldstein on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KGeee
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Loved It !!!
Finally , I don't feel so crazy ...As I was reading it , it was like seeing myself for the last few weeks.
I just send this to all my friends and will be making a donation ....would love to see her face.
Thanks for the great idea.
Re: my last post-- maybe when Palin said she was ready "to run the country" it was a typo-- it should have been "ruin"??
Nice pick up, but I saw the error as the first letter of the last word. It should have started with a, as the saying actually goes.
Palin & her ideas are an insult to everyone other than those so caught up in her false celebrity that they don't even care what she thinks (which apparently isn't often, and rises from 1950s beliefs). Denier of climate change, pro-creationism in schools, totally anti-choice, anti- women's rights, disrespectful of the law (won't answer subpoenas), liar, liar, liar (I could use the word for each time she has lied, but that would fill up the post). And sorry, but anyone who says they have foreign policy experience because she can see Russia from an offshore island is just plain stupid. Laughable, actually, if her ignorance weren't so terrifying. I, too, hate her for her constant lying. Lying is not a family value, Palin. Maybe your family, but not the majority of us-- particularly from someone running for any office, especially an important one. And she's also very easy to hate for her absurd claim that she's ready to run the country. What a pompous elitist!
Give $17! That's how old Bristol is!!
BRILLIANT!!
Palin is an insult to the American people
Country First?
I think not
McCain Campaign First!
Were you inside my head when you wrote this??? These are my sentiments exactly (except I didn't any e-mails from Alex).
The aerial hunting of wolves & bears hasn't helped endear her to me either. I've gone from moderate loathing to borderline hate. I want Biden to destroy her in the debate.
"You can see Russia from Alaska, Churlie" Gawd.
I am so sick of liberal women calling Governor Palin anti-feminism - she's anti-abortion - but she epitomizes my definition of a feminist - a woman who didn't let her being a female and mother stop her from realizing her dreams and goals. I wish she was pro-choice, but stop crying for the wolves and the polar bears and calling it feminism.
I have a very strong liberal arts degree, but my studies did not include feminist studies.
Is Sarah Palin a feminist? To me, feminism is being proud of your innate feminimity, whatever that entails. To me, Palin is an anti-feminist. Palin supports obstructing the right for a woman to choose how to control her body. Also, when I hear Palin talk about Title IX, and being point guard on the basketball court, all I hear is "I'm just as much a guy as any other guy."
I'm a gay male, but to me, there's something beautiful about a woman being a woman. To me, I think Palin represents a woman that feels very uncomfortable being a woman, and compensates for her innate sense that women are less than men, by overcompensating her desire to play-with-the-boys, and most of the time, playing harder than the boys "Churlie" [I stole that but I liked it. :)]
What feminist would charge raped women for a kit that would assist police in finding the person who assaulted them - have such a cavalier attitude and contempt for the victims of sexual assault? What feminist would use her influence to fire a law enforcement official for seeking federal support for assisting abused women? What feminist would endow her half-educated macho husband with governmental powers he did not earn? What feminist would not readily recognize the competence and expertise of other women capable of leading this country and knowing you don'[t measure up - make a childish grab for power? What feminist would be unconcerned for the earth including those creatures who share this world with us, maintain the ecological system and cannot speak for themselves and would be indifferent to their habitat? Your definition of feminism is superficial lacks a moral dimension. You can have a female body, be a mother, but your dreams and goals can be perverse and cause others irreparable harm.
Excellent post!
Stop crying for wolves and bears??
Slaughtered; in danger of extinction
The heartessness of the Palin/McCain ticket - for humans and animals - appalls me. And I'll damn well cry if I want to.
In danger of extinction? uh no - the facts don't support your argument. And cry all day long - I don't care, just don't call it feminism.
By your definition Phyllis Schlafly is a feminist. Look her up, if you are too young to remember.
I'm sure the rape victims of Wasilla Alaska have hopes and dreams too. What about them? She cut funding for WIC and teen mother programs! This is NOT pro-women in my mind!
Governor Palin is an insult to America. She is not qualified to be (Vice) President. Period.
Send several smaller donations equaling what you would have sent once. More effective
I saw this email chain idea the other day and thought it was a great idea. I've actually been thinking about making a basic donation for a while (printed out the mail-in donation forms and everything), but never got around to it. This post was the push I needed. I just made my donation to PP in honor of SP using the address above. Now I just have to balance my finances and make my first ever political contribution ... to Obama/Biden. And an equal amount is going to the Clinton campaign debt paydown as well. This is one former Hilary supporter who votes on the issues and analysis of the candidates positions, not on the gender of the candidate!
Count me in... this woman has taken over ever spare minute of my day. I have tried everything just to get the sound of her voice out of my head... I will not be satisfied till she leaves the world stage in tears.
I read Patt Morrison's post on this topic yesterday and was bowled over by its brilliance - as I am by Katherine Goldstein's fellow-feeling on Sarah Palin. I thought I was the only one in the world lunatic enough to be losing sleep over her, but I've spent more than one insomniac night brooding over HuffPost, Yahoo! Politics, CNN.com, MSNBC.com, DailyKos - whatever I can get my eyeballs and brains on, finally resorting to mind numbing repetitions of middle-of-the-night Sudoku to numb my brain toward slumber. This is the best idea I've seen in days - thanks to everyone for spreading the word!
I THINK WE SHOULD ALL SEND SEVERAL SMALLER DONATIONS, RATHER THAN THE ONE WE WERE THINKING OF SENDING
I find this thread to be really funny and enlightening. First off Planned Parenthood should be self funded with PUBLIC DONATIONS! The government is everyone's money not just liberals view of as many abortions as we can possibly manufacture. Overwhelmingly this country does not want public money fnding abortions. SO in that sense if you want to donate for that purpose I congraulate you.,
As for the post by Jenni or Jennifer. Your facts are skewed big time. McCain-Palin have grown the womens vote by 20% since Palin was nominated. Obama has struggled with voters since burying Hilary throughout the primary, and now his hackett men & women (this blog and you bloggers too) are continuing to kill any Obama presidency by defaming a good, honest, hard working woman and MOTHER! Sadly, most of the posters involved are likely neither and are bitter woman who couldn't get a date if they had $100 bills taped to their clothes.
Have a lovely day and make sure to buy plenty of tissues for post election day cry fest. HAHAHAHAHA!
Alas, Sofia, you are mistaken. Palin's approval ratings are plummeting, even more so among women. (Now remember, I'm a lying liberal Ivy League elitist, so don't take my word for it; check the facts for yourself.)
The Sarah Palin tsunami, like all tsunamis, has finally crested and broken, leaving nothing but acres of raw sewage and a few swollen rotting corpses. (It's sort of horrible, most of them resemble Limbaugh and Rove.)
~A~
Dream on, little dreamer. Sarah isn't going anyway. Better get used to her. She is going to be running for President in 2012.
Sarah is Ronald Reagan with lipstick. And REAL idealism. Not like the phony-baloney idealism of Obama, that he is constantly compromising.
I hope you notice too that she is not doctrinaire about her right wing ideas. She states that she is pro-life personally, but that does not mean that she feels that she must force all other women to be pro-life.
Let's face it. The Eskimos (her husband is part Eskimo) have practiced infanticide for thousands of years. If the tribe does not have enough food for a newborn baby, it gets left in the snow to die.
I'm a lifelong Florida Democrat who voted for Hillary. Yeah. I'm STILL furious. Sorry about that. I'm sure I'm misguided, but Obama sure looks like a fascist to me. He doesn't want to count any votes that are not for him.
But I'll get over it. Not. Personally, I really do not care which of these 2 guys win. They are both about equally good and equally bad. But I don't care much for the ObaManiacs he carries around in his Trojan Trojan.
I donated again to the Obama Biden campaign two days ago, and I gladly opened my wallet to send a donation to planned parenthood in honor of Sarah Palin-It feels great! I have sent the link to your blog to many of my friends and I hope they do the same.
I have two daughters 15 &12. I see McCain/Palin as the worst thing that could happen to their future. The reproductive rights of my daughters does not belong in the hands of the state I live in...Utah.
Katherine, What a great idea! I am so all over this. Will send to all my women friends, who without exception, feel exactly like you do. Thank you very much!
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