The Hand that Rocks the Cradle

Here we go again. The CNN transcripts are not yet up as I blog this but, already, the sexist media coverage of Republican presidential contender John McCain's running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin, has begun. This despite her accomplishments.

Palin, like McCain, is a conservative with a maverick streak who has shown a willingness to clash with others in her own party. A self-styled hockey mom and political reformer, she has been governor of her state less than two years.

Palin's selection shocked numerous Republican officials.

At 44, Palin is a generation younger that Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, who is Barack Obama's running mate on the Democratic ticket.

She is three years Obama's junior, as well – and McCain has made much in recent weeks of Obama's relative lack of experience in foreign policy and defense matters.

In making his pick, McCain passed over several more prominent prospects who had figured in speculation for months – Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge among them.

Palin flew overnight to an airport in Ohio near Dayton, and even as she awaited her formal introduction, some aides said they had believed she was at home in Alaska.

She is a former mayor of Wasilla who became governor of her state in December, 2006 after ousting a governor of her own party in a primary and then dispatching a former governor in the general election.

This morning on CNN, John Roberts asked if a mother of five, the youngest with Down Syndrome, will have time to care for her child if she is VP. John King said that was a ''poignant'' question.

Really? If a male state governor had been appointed, would they even be asking?

It's not as if Roberts asked if Palin would have the time to devote to the office or campaign. It's that he asked if she had time to attend to job one, her womanly and motherly duties.

To top it all off, Dana Bash later said something about the optics of a 72 year old candidate -- McCain -- being seen with a much younger woman. (You mean like his wife C-word Cindy, 54?)

Really? If a 44 year-old male state governor had been appointed, would they even be asking?

Seems to me the culture is very accepting of older man-younger woman optics. Look at all those anchor teams. Look at Regis and Kelly. Look at Hollywood.   

Meanwhile, in Sexist Radioland, they're portraying her as a ''slutty librarian'' type. Palin, a former beauty queen, wears the stereotypical updo and glasses in all the little boy librarian fantasies.

When does this end?

(Thanks to my pal Carla!)

UPPITY DATE: Governor Palin is a Trojan Horse. The anti-choicers are celebrating bigtime. Like I predicted, a woman's right to choose will be a big issue in this campaign.

Comments

[dog lover]

Sorry to cast a cloud over what appears to be some light, Antonia, but the beat goes on. By choosing a woman like Palin, maybe a party maverick but lest we forget, a lifetime member of the NRA, with very conservative (read, pro-life or anti-choice) views and so on, McCain has insulted women who have felt disenfranchised by Hillary's defeat and Obama's lack of addressing their concerns. It suggests, or McCain's pick of a woman where Obama didn't, suggests a sop to the unhappy Democrat women, and at the same time, suggests, they wouldn't notice any difference so long as there's a woman on the ticket. It's the same misogynist message in different clothing, methinks: i.e women are political airheads.

[Antonia]

Totally on the same page, Dog Lover. She wouldn't have even been picked if she were a man, of that I am certain.

[Tony]

The issue around whether she should have enough time to take care of her children -- especially one with special needs -- would usually be considered sexist.

HOWEVER --

Consider that Joe Biden, Obama's running mate, who was a single father for a few years, and his own story of tacking a four hour train ride to and from Congress shortly after his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash, so that he could be with his two boys.

Biden took the time, and even, as I understand it, avoided the swearing in ceremony when he made it as a Senator, so he could be with his sons in hospital.

Sexist? Maybe.

But also fair when you compare these VP's life stories.

[Adam]

It didn't really come as any surprise that he'd pick Palin, IMHO. She seemed like a perfect candidate for the Republicans.
1. She's a woman, so they're trying to grasp as many disillusioned Hillary supporters as they can. It's pretty blatant.
2. She's a far-right conservative, so it appeases those in the Republican party who think McCain may be leaning too much towards neutrality.
3. Her husband works for BP. I'm not versed well enough in business politics to be able to decipher how exactly it's a good thing, but others seem to be bringing it up a lot in debates elsewhere. She IS very much an advocate for off-shore drilling, and wants to open up the ANWR for drilling ASAP. Of course, it could also mean she has another agenda, but with family in the oil business that's usually a given.
4. She's good-looking, so they might just grab 'a couple' of votes from people who think appearances matter more than policy.
5. She's a member of Feminists For life, AFAIK, and will help attempt to push the Wade vs Roe into oblivion.

I agree with Dog lover, that they're pretty much insulting Hillary voters.
This election, however, just got more interesting.

[Aaron]

I can't even begin to understand what McCain is thinking here. There were a host of better qualified individuals, including women, who could have been tapped. Palin's presence pretty much tosses out the experience attack, underlines McCain's age and (IMHO) does more to discredit and disrespect women than picking a man. Without any compelling qualifications (years of experience, deft ability at some particular of governance or campaigning, the ability to swing a crucial state) this pick looks like the rankest pandering. "Just put a woman on the ticket, so we can be historical too! That'll convince 'em!"

[BB]

This blog is way off base. If McCain had picked Louisianna govenor Bobby Jindal there would be a similar amount of criticism regarding lack of experience. Furthermore, the only applicable experience Palin has was as governor of one of the smallest states in the union for less than two years. Also, please humour me with Palin's accomplishments. Yeah, rigorously supporting Big Oil is quite the accomplishment, especially in Alaska.

[Mark]

Given the pronouncements at the DNC from both Obama and Biden over the past few days, it seems that the Democratic ticket is more feminist than the GOP ticket that has a woman on it. I'm not just talking about the issue of "choice" vs. "life," but more importantly, about healthcare reform, education reform, bipartisanship, finding common ground and other approaches that are less divisive. On the other hand, Ms. Palin does seem to be the perfect GOP woman choice - one that will appeal to traditional patriarchal values, who will clearly be seen as McCain's junior in all aspects, so as not to pose a threat to him (or his manhood). And, (how I'll hate myself in the morning for posting this) she does make for good eye-candy on the campaign trail (bite my tongue, bite my tongue :)

On a more serious note, though, this does seem to be an awfully cynical, politics-as-usual choice: younger to balance older, woman to balance man, Alaska to balance Arizona, inexperience so that the Democratic party can't attack her record without backwashing onto their own candidate. The only question in my mind is, will Americans fall for it? Will the sexist faction of Hillary supporters follow the X-chromosome, rather than feminist social policies?

[Antonia]

Thanks BB but it's not about that. It's about the fact that, if she were a man, nobody would be questioning her ability to work and parent.

Please see this.
http://thestar.blogs.com/broadsides/2008/08/beyond-the-pali.html

[Craig]

I don't think that's a really parallel situation, Tony. Neilia Biden's fatal car accident occurred *after* Joe's first election to the senate, so while the way he handled the tragedy might speak to his basic human decency, it wasn't an election issue. And even if circumstances had been different and Neilia had died before the election, anybody who dared to suggest that being a newly widowed single parent somehow dimmed Joe's fitness for office would quite literally have had their head handed to them on a platter by *both* parties.

Palin's situation, on the other hand, is being treated in some quarters as a litmus test for whether she *should* be elected to national office or not.

All that said, I do see this choice as a somewhat cynical attempt to cash in on the Hillary Clinton factor. She has no prior national profile. She only has a couple of years in statewide office to date, and in a state that would have gone Repub in the fall *anyway* (so she doesn't even lock up a swing state). And to top it off, she's got a lingering controversy hanging over her head over why she fired the state's public safety commissioner. For all of those reasons, she wouldn't even have been on McCain's radar in the first place if she were a man.

All that said, however, it's quite interesting that no matter which party wins the White House in the fall, history will be made: if the Democrats win, the US gets its first African-American president. If the Republicans win, the US gets its first female vice-president. And in the unlikely event that things go completely wonky and some other party manages to upend them both, that's *still* a historic event.

[Portia]

I agree with the above poster. If she was Hilary I could understand it. But she is far from it. She lacks credibility for me. Oh well, it's McCain's grave.

[Craig]

I'm going to agree with Aaron, too. I can think of *several* Republican women who would have been much stronger nominees: Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Elizabeth Dole, Jodi Rell, Linda Lingle.

If it was important that it be a woman from *Alaska*, then why not Senator Lisa Murkowski? If it was important that it be a woman who mirrored McCain's reputation as a maverick who was willing to dissent from the party line on a matter of principle, then why not Christine Todd Whitman?

And everybody I've listed here would have had the same surprise factor that this did, while bringing more credibility and far more potential to lure moderate swing voters. Okay, maybe Dole wouldn't have been all that surprising, but she'd still bring far more of the other stuff to the table.

I'd hate to believe that the fact that none of these other women are former beauty queens -- Palin is -- has anything to do with it. But with the Republicans, one never knows anymore.

[sooey]

I'm not surprised at all by his choice. She's a typical Republican.

[D Ealey]

If she was a man, she would not have been picked. In this instance she was picked because she was a women and that is unfortunate in and of itself.

I do however agree in some aspects with your comments. As we were travelling in the Ohio today, we were listening to Rush Limbaugh an avid Republican and he said this about Palin 'Ýeah but we got the babe''. Too bad the sexism is coming from the same party as well.

[The Stygian and His Shemitish Dogs]

"McCain has insulted women who have felt disenfranchised by Hillary's defeat and Obama's lack of addressing their concerns."

hmmm is this a legitimate site?

http://www.hillaryclintonforum.net/discussion/showthread.php?p=319459#post319459

there's always a third alternative

massive numbers of women, angry at Hillary's defeat but not ready to jump to McCain, may just choose to go flower arranging, scrap booking, mountain climbing,etc., on election day

I've done somethign similar a couple of times when disappointed in all the candidates .....

this will be fun ....

[the one]

Gov. Palin has as much experience and a more diverse resume than Barack Obama and has crucial executive experience as a mayor and governor, while Sen. Obama has no executive experience at all. Mrs. Palin is currently serving her first term as governor of Alaska and is the commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard. Before becoming governor she served as Ethics Commissioner of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004, also served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, City Council from 1992 to 1996, and was twice elected mayor of Wasilla, in 1996 and 1999. Contrast that to Mr. Obama, the Junior Senator from Illinois who has yet to finish serving his first term in the U.S. Senate and before that served from 1997 to 2004 in the Illinois Senate.

[sooey]

Omigawd! Who's been looking after her family while she's been doing all that?!

[ross thomas]

If you want to talk about sexist, let's talk about McCain. He met Palin for the first time six months ago and thereafter spoke to her only once, by phone, last week, before selecting her. He picked her simply because of her gender. What a cynical sexist play on his part.

[Stan]

Most intelligent people understand that abortion is an deeper question than simply the right to choose to kill a fetus any time you want. There are good arguments on both sides.
Her record will appeal to many people. Contrary to what one of the commenters here said, she has a record of standing up to the oil companies.
And that brings up the question of a record, she and McCain have a history of accomplishments, Obama has done nothing.
If you want change, both McCain and Plain are mavericks and have a history bucking their own party and of reaching across party lines to reach real accomplishments. Obama has never voted against his party and has no accomplishments.
This will be the classic style vs substance race. Obama has almost the entire media in the tank, but voters are starting to see that and it will cause a very real backlash.
Can the media hide all of Obama's skeletons?
Or will the internet expose him for the media creation that he is?

[Ann-Marie]

While the concern of Obama’s experience was warranted and thoroughly tested in many debates etc, he was voted by millions to be the presidential nominee for his party. Palin was chosen by one man with his own interest in getting elected in mind……so much for putting your country first.

My other concern is that if Obama had presented himself as a ‘black candidate’ whose primary focus was that constituency, he would have been toast. Why is Palin’s ‘feminist credentials’ front and foremost.

All this is truly scary given the turmoil the world is in today

[peterclarke]

The Junior Senator Barack Hussein Obama, while being a well educated individual and a non-white politician with the incredibly bad judgment and inexperience for either VP or Presidential candidate, continues to come across with great rhetoric and hype. Obama has NO executive experience and has voted 100% of the time along party lines. No Change there. At least McCain has CHANGED his vote more than 10% of the time. Plus Sarah Palin, only running for VP, is a documented reformer with a proven 14 year political track record both executive and legislative experience, which is way more than the Junior Senator. Obama, unfortunately, would require 4 years of an on the job training program, which the American people can not afford. Keep smiling....

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

The April 07, 2008 issue of the American Conservative has a really interesting article “Dixiecrats' Revenge: How White Women Got to the Front of the Bus”, by Allan Carlson, describing how, apparently, the 1964 Civil Rights Act was hijacked by upper-class feminists by the addition of ‘sex’ (I don’t think the misuse of ‘gender’ was current then, but I may be wrong) as a prohibited ground of discrimination. Many of the original framers of the Act saw the dangers to the original intent that this posed, but were outmanoeuvred by a coalition of (mainly Republican) feminists and Dixiekrats who wanted to throw an apple of discord into the act from the beginning.

Well worth reading in this context (the author was thinking about the Obama-Hillary confrontation at the time), but it’s not on line, so you’ll have to check out a library, or someone who has back issues in a non-disorganised state.

[Diana Marie]

OMG, a good ole boy in a skirt; just what's needed for President if the waxen-faced McCain falls off his perch.

[Robert Wiseman]

I have to agree with the premise that much of the commentary about Ms. Palin reveals the same sexist mindset that attached to coverage of Hillary Clinton. We sure don't hear or read comments about Barack Obama's pant suits, do we? As well, when Obama called a female reporter 'sweetie' or some other diminutive, where was the outrage. Ms. Palin has a responisibiltiy, shared with her husband, for the care and nurturing of her children. Instead of saying she can't do that while working as a politician [an old argument that I thought was put to rest long ago, but apparently not] let's support her right to figure that out for herself. I should add that I am not a fan of the Republicans, and if I lived in the US I probably would vote for Nader or Green. Regardless, let's think about whether we would say the same thing about a male politician before we criticize Ms. Palin or any other woman who has the courage to become a politician.

[sooey]

What's to consider? It's NEVER raised with male politicians. Ever. And they pimp their families as a matter of course. Having a family gives male politicians more credibility - thanks to a gullible media that loves its stereotypes.

Women can't win with the media. It's sexist.

[kel]

I thought she went pretty heavy on the eyeliner for a political speech.

Kelly