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Sarah Seltzer

Sarah Seltzer

Posted: August 29, 2008 05:56 PM

A Feminist Appalled by Palin


When I saw that John McCain had picked Sarah Palin as his running mate this morning, I was on the elliptical trainer, and my rage propelled me to the most furious workout I've had in a while.

It's always exciting to see women enter the political fray at higher levels. But a lot of feminists out there, are appalled by the cynicism and condescension inherent in this choice. It's as though the McCain camp believes our irrational she-hormones will lead us, like sheep, to pull the lever for any candidate who looks like us--even if she has a strong record, as Palin does, of standing against women's interests.

He hopes to court Hillary Clinton supporters with a woman VP who said on camera that she didn't like Hillary's "whining" about gender issues, a woman with unpopular, far-right positions on reproductive justice issues and LGBT rights. She's a woman who rides high on being a super-mom, but has an environmental record that won't leave the world in good shape for the next generation, her kids' generation.

This last-ditch attempt by the McCain campaign to re-brand its image is in reality, a capitulation to the far right. It assumes that women don't realize the extremism of the Republican platform this year, which opposes abortion even in the cases of rape and incest, and all stem-cell research. In recent weeks, it's been clear that the Republicans are not that into contraception either, contraception, which almost the entire country has used or will use at some point. This is something feminists have been saying for years. The anti-choice movement is not about saving unborn children, but rather about controlling women's sexuality, and subjecting women to second-class citizen status.

It's no rare thing for the right wing to use prominent women to keep the rest of us down. But just because Sarah Palin is a woman doesn't mean she's good for women. And female voters know that.

Join this facebook group to tell the media, and the McCain camp, that women won't fall for this ploy.


Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate

 
 
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11:35 PM on 09/09/2008
Great to hear from a feminist. Sure she has problems, but her biggest is that she is trying to pull off an enormous HOAX on the American Public, it may have worked in Alaska, but it isn't going to work here. Here it the definitive guide to all you could ever want to know about how she tried to pull this off.

If you are a Good American, copy this link, send it to your friends, and paste it into any forum messages so we can send that girl packing!

http://www.sarah-palin-photos.com/
09:32 AM on 09/04/2008
Give me a break!

Sarah is incredible! She's intelligent, quick on her feet...and REAL. That's something we don't see in politians...usually their speech is filled with rhetoric and are incredibly boring - politicians are usually incredibly boring. Here we have such an incredibly inspiring woman.
10:43 AM on 09/04/2008
Stop being appalled and be proud of powerful women with strong convictions even though they might not agree with your own. God knows we have plenty of men like that in power!

I couldn't be more proud of Sarah Palin. She is a former mayor and governor and mom. As women I can't believe how quick we are to destroy eachother. Do I agree with her on every issue?Absolutely NOT! But, she impresses me with her experience, her convictions, and her style. She was fun to watch, she was inspiring, and she would definately shake up Washington.
I am sick of pro-choice, pro-life as the only issue that seems to concern women. We shouldn't be afraid of politicians - men or women - who may have different ideas than us. McCain puts the pro-choice matter straight into the hands of individual states where it belongs. This is not a matter that the federal government should control otherwise it becomes political fodder that inhibits us from considering far more pertinent federal government issues as we choose our leaders in Washington.
11:52 AM on 09/03/2008
Palin is backcountry ignorant, to all reports demonstrably incompetent and unethical both as mayor
and Governor, and overtly and horribly cruel, as detailed in some other articles on this site. She typifies the woman who has long since given up personal integrity, scruples , and believes the only path to power is via pleasing men at every step of the way, She has played the game, played it ruthlessly actually, but behind the coquetteish smile is a boatload of bitterness, and CONTEMPT for the men she had manipulated with her 'charms' when she lacked the self-confidence to stand on
her own.

Flattery being what it is, men tend to buy the surface 'product' and miss the contempt, but
women - republican AND democratic - should KNOW BETTER. I doubt many females have been so
fortunate as to avoid a Palin personality in some work or social setting. They're not always even
particularly attractive as Palin is, but all have the same attitude toward 'bestowed' advancement, the
same lack of fundamental self-esteem and self-respect.

No woman with self-respect would or could view Palin as a role model. She is very much the
white equivalent of Clarence Thomas - an anti-affirmative-action, porn-loving, office stalker who
happened to be black, who replaced Thurgood Marshall, one of the giants of the civil rights era.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
boycottrightwingthings
END WAR on women vote Dem 2014!
05:56 PM on 08/31/2008
I think that Palin is going to be a BIG embarassment for McCain. I really applaud this choice, it shows that there is no doubt that mcCain has finally REALLY LOST IT.
05:37 PM on 08/31/2008
I am appalled that you are apalled. It cannot be her lack of experience that bothers so much, but her beliefs and positions. Everyone says Obama is smart, and he will surround himself with smart people, why is the same not true for Sara? She obviously is not a member of the sisterhood of traveling pantsuits. Too bad..
05:36 PM on 08/31/2008
Apparently Palin is a member of feminists for life. I checked the group out and it seems pretty legit. I was disapointed when Obama didn't choose Hillary, so I'm considering McCain who was at least man enough to pick a woman. Best of all, she has no part in the "do nothing congress" that rubber stamped pretty much anything Bush wanted. Also, as a mayor and govenor, it seems like she has had to make a lot of decisions, which the same can't be said for the other three.
05:25 PM on 08/31/2008
Huffington, you guys really need to make it like 35o or add a word count counter. I have to break my post down.

I'm here to tell McCain that although I was against Hillary, there is NO denying that Hillary worked LONG and HARD at the 18 MILLION cracks.

Palin CAN'T touch even touch those crack should she be born all over again by standing AGAINST the progress women have made and turning a blind eye to gender inequality because she, in her little universe, hasn't experienced such inequality. Had that been how Americans see things in general, the civil rights movement wouldn't have had the amount of Whites fighting for JUSTICE and EQUALITY.
05:23 PM on 08/31/2008
mho1, you couldn't be more WRONG! The feminist movement wasn't designed to allow women to have only ONE choice but to have more than one, Pro CHOICE and ANTI abortion. When a woman like Palin is selected we are reminded of that if we are not on our toes, we'd be taken back to when we had NO choice.

Palin is the ANTITHESIS of CHOICE. It is NOT that Palin is anti abortion, but that she feels that she has the right to take away the choice of women to CHOOSE what is best for THEM, mentally, socially, economically, and ALL other areas affected by an unwanted child.

As I stated before, it is understandable for a woman to want to keep her child after having been violently violated because she has the coping skills, the faith that better days will come, the hope that she and her child will move forward. However, to make that decision for EVERY female goes against not only OUR laws, but those of whom SHE claims to follow, God's. Not every woman is able depend on or believe in God and not every woman has an arsenal of skills to deal with the after effects of rape. At the same time, not every woman finds herself getting depressed and or being worse off after an abortion.
01:53 PM on 08/31/2008
When I see what people call feminism on this site, it basically boils down to being pro-choice.

When I look up feminism in the dictionary, i see 1- the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes 2 : organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests.

What am I missing?
02:18 PM on 08/31/2008
How can you be a feminist and not trust women with the control of their own bodies?

Reproductive freedom is necessary in achieving political, economic, and social equality between the sexes. Pick up any women's history textbook and read about what life before reliable contraception became available. Examine what life is like for women who live in countries where they have no or limited access to birth control or abortion. And even if you oppose abortion, understand that contraception allows many American women today to have the resources to pursue careers, participate in politics, and to attend colleges.
03:27 PM on 08/31/2008
I agree that contraception is fundamental to that control of a womans body, but I was really asking about abortion, which is, I believe, more than a bit different than contraception.

What we are talking about, or what I was talking about, is not how to stop a pregnancy before it starts, but rather what happens after someone is already pregnant.

Some women believe that once a pregnancy has begun, it should be completed, but that doesn't seem like it should disqualify them from the overall aim of feminism.
05:24 PM on 08/31/2008
It is important that we learn that what we CHOOSE to do in our private life isn't necessarily what is best for OTHERS. Republicans and democrats have to learn that life is NOT what is good for me is what is good for others so therefore we should criminalize any position against what we believe as an individual.

At the same time, as women DEMANDING we get equal pay for equal work and have fought to and sacrificed to get an education, to have someone like Palin waltz into office with merely a BS degree in journalism and a minor in political science is laughing in the face of EVERY WOMAN that fought to better themselves in hopes of fulfilling the American dream.

What do we tell our daughters then? That it's OK if you don't get an education, it's overrated, look at Palin? Do we tell them to make sure you join a beauty pageant and HOPE she becomes the next VP or president as a result?

McCain has made a mockery of the women's movement. He thinks that his little ad congratulating Obama was funny and that it went unnoticed for what it was, a hissy-fit because Obama has made history and stole the show from underneath him. So he brings in a trophy VP hoping he'd receive special adulation from ignorant women that don't know better.
12:06 PM on 08/31/2008
As a woman, I agree 100% with Seltzer. Though I am not "for" abortion personally, I am for women's rights and their "choice" on reproductive issues. The Palin pick has made me realize for the first time that an overturn of Roe vs Wade would set women back decades in the fight for equality. We have 2 or 3 Supreme Court justice appointments coming up in the first term of the next president. This is a huge issue.

Secondly, women want to see a person fit for the job on the ticket....not just any woman.

Finally, our country has enormous problems right now, and I am stupified by McCain's political gimmick, as opposed to really thinking about who is best to govern this country. Instead of a maverick, McCain's VP pick makes him look like a loose canon....who would have tremendous power....scary!
11:31 AM on 08/31/2008
I'm sick and tired of women being defined by Roe VS. Wade.

I'm moving on.
11:20 AM on 08/31/2008
I am sure Gov. Palin is a wonderful mother, and a good person. But she had no national political experience or foriegn policy knowledge.

I can't help but think that part of the idea is. "ok, women, you want a woman, here is one." Then when she fails to say. "see women can't do the job, they should stay at home."

McCain is setting Gov. Palin up for failure. It is childish on his part and a huge sign he is not ready to be president. He was upset he couldn't have Lieberman as his running mate to he completely disregarded the importance of this descision.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
moonwatcher
11:00 AM on 08/31/2008
How do these people who want to ban abortion plan to in force it? If a woman definitely does not want to bring a fetus to term, she will find a way to get rid of it no matter if it is with a doctor or not. That is why pro choice was born. Women were dying from these attempts. Some of these women have serious family problems and mental problems that make having another child a real problem. I don't see these people who are so pro life helping them. Do these pro life people plan to accompany them to their doctor's office? What about a person's privacy and the right to control their own body?
10:03 AM on 08/31/2008
Not every woman is as educated and discerning as the author. Those "she hormones", as Sarah describes, them could play a gut-level roll in many decisions.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SonyaInTx
Money doesn't buy class.....
09:38 AM on 08/31/2008
This woman is nothing more than an eye batting debutante. Did you notice that in her big acceptance speech, instead of talking about her record, she spent 90% of the time telling us how great John McCain is?
She is against abortion, and wants more supreme court justices who are conservative to overturn Roe v Wade. If that is where she stands, fine. But I am more firmly in the Obama camp because I'm not going to let a politician, regardless of gender, tell me what I can do with my body.
The only thing Palin will do in office is be McCain's obedient lap dog.