Sex Sells in the GOP

Let's face it folks: Sex sells. There is nothing like a good sex scandal in Washington to shake up power. Bedroom boondoggles spawn our leadership and shape our policies. This year's election is no different. The media had a misogynistic field day with The Sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits, before that we had John Edwards, Mark Foley, the Reverend Ted Haggard, and Bill Clinton. Now we are all over the personal back story of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Recently, John McCain's campaign manager told the Washington Post, "This election is not about issues." The GOP cannot run on issues, (especially not this year.) The issues all lead to the failures of Republican policy, and huge financial mismanagement. No, they need a campaign on moral values (i.e.: SEX.). It worked before, so why not stay the course?

Less than forty eight hours after Sarah Palin accepted the vice presidential nomination for the Republican Party, the debate dropped back into that old black hole of morality and religion, God and guns. Caribou Barbie and Ken McCain are reinventing the 1950's Ozzie and Harriet image of middle class America, with a little modern day marketing twist. For them, it's still about family values, but instead of pots, pans and pearls, mom is running for V.P. with a special needs baby on her hip, while flaunting her teen daughters "pro-life-choice." The message: Vote for the conservative Christian, pro life, gun toting Maccabee-mom who loves John McCain, won't raise taxes, and will lead our soldiers to victory without it costing you a dime.

Honestly, it's the same platform George Bush ran on in 2004! The only change is the shoes. We have a schoolmarm in Stilettos instead of a wing nut in wingtips. This was supposed to be the year of the economy and alternative energy. Decades after Bobby Kennedy led the charge, support for the development of domestic alternative energy is finally an issue with bipartisan support! Both McCain and Obama were actively promoting their energy platforms as the key factor to our future economic prosperity, that is, until Sarah Palin came along. Palin is a pawn. She will perpetuate the great cultural divide in our country, and keep us from precious energy independence.

In order to move forward, we need an energy debate, not an abortion debate. We need a foreign policy debate, not saber rattling speeches. We need a plan to improve our system of public education, not a reprise of Inherit the Wind.

McCain's choice of Palin offers insight to the cabinet he will select. We don't need partisan puppets like Scary, Moe and Drilly in the White House. We need centrist executives who are experts in their fields. Just as George Bush mutated from "The Uniter" to "The Decider" after his election, we see clearly that McCain will do the same under the extremist pressures of the far right. McCain is no maverick, he is just a hired hand with a brokeback filly, putting up fences for the oil industry, and voting in lock step with that good ol' Texas oil man George Bush 90% of the time.

It's clear why the McCain campaign doesn't want to focus on the issues -- their platform is as far right as ever. The GOP Is all over the idea of using our military as our only source of foreign diplomacy and it barely acknowledges the $10 billion a month we are currently spending in Iraq. Palin said not one word in her acceptance speech about dealing with this massive national debt!

Sarah Palin is running on a ticket against equal pay for equal work. She is against comprehensive sex education and a woman's right to choose. John McCain, opposed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Bill, expansion of SCHIP for low income children, funding for preventive family planning services, and contraceptive coverage by insurance.

A vote for this woman is a vote against all women. The right is using an anti-feminist woman as sexual bait for women voters in hopes of getting The American People all whipped up over the moral values issues that whisked them into the White House eight years ago. They are applauding her as an example of women's progress, even as major backers of The Old White Guy party like James Dobson and Rod Parsley still call for women to live in biblical sub-servitude to men.

Palin owes her success to the progressive feminist movement she decries. Without the work of these women, from the jailing of the suffragettes to the Clinton Candidacy, she would not have this historic opportunity. She needs to honor that, and realize how her beliefs and positions undermine opportunities for all women. As Gloria Steinem said in her recent article from The Women's Media center, "Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere."

The last thing I want is a "Pit bull in lipstick" using her personal back story as a wedge to tear apart everything women in this country have worked for over the past 100 years. That's what she's selling, and I can only hope the American people are not buying. We DO want a woman in office, but the Palin product, comes at too high a price. We need a better deal. In the mean time ladies, we are just going to have to wait bit longer before ordering those White House drapes.

Comments

[LisaJ in MI]

Great points, Kelley. To add to your essay -

John McCain thinks women are unintelligent. He thinks we will ignore the issues and vote for his ticket because we can relate to his running mate more than anyone else on either ticket simply because she is a woman.

By choosing the McCain ticket even when it contradicts your stand on the fundamental issues our country needs to address, you are allowing yourself to be hoodwinked. You're as stupid as McCain thinks you are.

I'm not talking about the issue of abortion. I'm talking about the issues that are affecting everyday Americans every day.

Our future as a country is about the issues. The issues include addressing the jobless rate, helping the struggling middle class that is a vital part of our economy, and generally speaking, admitting that the status quo is not working. If you're not familiar with the issues, take the time to get familiar with them. Don't let McCain convince you it's about personality. If we women emphasize personality over reality, we are taking 18 million steps backward.

[googthang]

Sarah Palin: This Woman, This Time. For all you Feminists; it's time to move on, nobody buys your fake social agenda anymore.

[googthang]

Are you kidding me? The bashing of Sarah Palin says one thing: Feminism is not for women. If you happened to walk lock step with the Feminist agenda then you may be supported by their ideology. Feminist is anti-woman, anti-male, and anti-family. We'll see how much Feminist support Obama gets in the fall if Palin isn't the new model of the American Female.

[dsmyre]

No more BULL from the PITBULL.

[GreenEyedLilo]

Excellent turns of phrase, from "Caribou Barbie" to "Scary, Moe, and Drilly." Of course, the main points shone as well. I feel like we are being distracted. And yes, Sarah Palin is a VC Andrews novel come to life, but we don't need that at the moment. We need to get out of the "culture war" slime for a moment and talk about the real things that affect us all. As you mentioned, energy is so vital, but even that's being reduced to bumper-sticker nonsense. And of course, you get people going, "See? She knows and loves Alaska, and *she* thinks it's okay to drill in ANWR!" Yes, and when I worked in 7-Eleven, I also encountered people who thought it was okay to spend literally their last dollar on a lottery ticket. Either way, the gamble isn't worth the risk.

I have mentioned this quite a bit, but I'll retell the story here. When I was ten, Geraldine Ferraro was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee. We girls in my fifth-grade class were so excited! Mondale won my class' mock election because girls slightly outnumbered boys, and we wanted so badly to see a woman in such a high position. And that was cute and totally age-appropriate. However, I am horrified to see grown women in their thirties and forties even consider voting "for a lady", any lady, in an election with real consequences. I dearly hope that enough Americans smarten up by November.

[ionu]

Kelley,
You're exactly right, but I think we've all come to realize Sarah Palin isn't on the ticket to attract women. She's "arousing interest" among middle-age and older white men. McCain's new demographic is the Viagra Vote.

[ellievanhoutte]

Right on Kelley!!! Your perspective is right on...a candidate should be evaluated for the values and strengths they stand for, not just race, gender, religion or a single issue. I hope that lots of women who are watching this important election are paying attention to the details as closely as you are. You shouldn't read a book just because it has a great cover, nor should you make a presidential pick based on a whim decision based on face value.