Sept. 13, 2008

Lipstick On A Wing Nut

The Nation: Enough With The Feminism, Time For Some Tough Questions

  • Play CBS Video Video "Lipstick On A Pig" Row

    In a new ad, the McCain campaign accused Sen. Barack Obama of a thinly-veiled attack on Gov. Sarah Palin. Obama fired back that the ad was "absurd." Chip Reid reports.

  • Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin answers questions after signing three budget bills into law in Anchorage, Alaska, Friday, June 29, 2007. Photo

    Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin answers questions after signing three budget bills into law in Anchorage, Alaska, Friday, June 29, 2007.  (AP Photo/Al Grillo)

  • Timeline Palin's Path

    A look at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's life and career

  • Photo Essay Sarah Palin

    Alaska's youngest and first female governor tabbed to be McCain's running mate.

(The Nation)  This column was written by Katha Pollitt.
John McCain chose the supremely under-qualified Sarah Palin as his running mate partly because she is a woman. If you have a problem with that, you're a sexist. She talks incessantly about being a mother of five and uses her newborn, Trig, who has Down syndrome, as a campaign prop. If you wonder how she'll handle all those kids and the Veep job too, you're a super-sexist. "When do they ever ask a man that question?" charges that fiery feminist Rudy Giuliani.

Indeed, Palin, who went back to work when Trig was three days old, gets nothing but praise from Phyllis Schlafly, James Dobson and the folks at National Review, who usually blame all the ills of modern America on those neurotic, harried, selfish, frustrated, child-neglecting, husband-castrating working mothers. Even stranger, her five-months-pregnant 17-year-old, Bristol, gets nothing but compassion and respect from Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and others who have spent their careers slut-shaming teens for having sex - and blaming their parents for letting it happen.

If there were an Olympics for hypocrisy, the Republican Party would have more gold medals than Michael Phelps. And Palin would be wearing quite a few of them. It takes chutzpah for a mother to thrust her pregnant teen into the world's harshest spotlight and then demand the world respect the girl's privacy. But then it takes chutzpah to support criminalizing abortion and then praise Bristol's "decision" to have the baby. The right to decide, and privacy, after all, are two of the things Palin wants to deny every other woman, and every other family, in America. Palin's even said she would "choose life" if her daughter was pregnant from rape. Can't you just hear Bristol groaning, "Mo-om...!"

The Republicans bashed Barack Obama as a "celebrity," but now they've got a star of their own, so naturally the rules have changed. Nothing would suit them better than for the media to spend the next two months spellbound by the wacky carnival on ice that is the Palin family: Todd, aka the First Dude, the kids, Levi the hunky bad-boy dad-to-be - well, maybe not him so much after his expletive-adorned MySpace page briefly came to light ("I'm a fuckin' redneck"; "I don't want kids" - whoops). The snowmobiles, the moose burgers, the guns, the hair, the glasses that are flying off America's shelves (starting at $375 a pair, and she has seven). Fretting over the work/family issue alone should take up enough column inches to employ all the female journalists in America from now to next Mother's Day. And don't forget that op-ed staple, What Does This Mean for Feminism?

Well, I'm not playing. I don't care about Sarah Palin's family. I don't care if she's a good mother. I don't care if she's happily married, or who shops and who vacuums, or who takes care of the kids while both parents are at work. I don't want her recipe for caribou hot dogs, either. Life chez Sarah and Todd might make an adorable sitcom (Leave It to Jesus?) or a scathing tell-all a decade or so down the road (Governor Dearest?). Either way, so what? This is an election, not The View. As for feminism's meaning, what can you say after you've said that her career shows that even right-wing fundamentalist women have taken in feminism's message of empowerment and that's good, but that Palin's example suggests women can do it all without support from society and that's bad?

Count me as a feminist who never believed that being PTA president meant you could be, well, President. The more time we spend on dippy ruminations - How does she do it? Queen Bee on steroids or the hockey mom next door? How hot is Todd, anyway? - the less focus there will be on the kind of queries that should come first with any vice presidential candidate, and certainly would if Palin were a man. Questions like:

  • Suppose your 14-year-old daughter Willow is brutally raped in her bedroom by an intruder. She becomes pregnant and wants an abortion. Could you tell the parents of America why you think your child and their children should be forced by law to have their rapists' babies?

  • You say you don't believe global warming is man-made. Could you tell us what scientists you've spoken with or read who have led you to that conclusion? What do you think the 2,500 scientists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are getting wrong?

  • If you didn't try to fire Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen Baker over her refusal to consider censoring books, why did you try to fire her?

  • What is the European Union, and how does it function?

  • Forty-seven million Americans lack health insurance. John Goodman, who has advised McCain on healthcare, has proposed redefining them as covered because, he says, anyone can get care at an ER. Do you agree with him?

  • What is the function of the Federal Reserve?

  • Cindy and John McCain say you have experience in foreign affairs because Alaska is next to Russia. When did you last speak with Prime Minister Putin, and what did you talk about?

  • Approximately how old is the earth? Five thousand years? 10,000? 5 billion?

  • You are a big fan of President Bush, so why didn't you mention him even once in your convention speech?

  • McCain says cutting earmarks and waste will make up for revenues lost by making the tax cuts permanent. Experts say that won't wash. Balancing the Bush tax cuts plus new ones proposed by McCain would most likely mean cutting Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. Which would you cut?

  • You're suing the federal government to have polar bears removed from the endangered species list, even as Alaska's northern coastal ice is melting and falling into the sea. Can you explain the science behind your decision?

  • You've suggested that God approves of the Iraq War and the Alaska pipeline. How do you know?

    By Katha Pollitt
    Reprinted with permission from The Nation



    If you like this article, check out www.thenation.com for more investigative reports, timely editorials and incisive columns

    Video and Galleries from Opinion

    Add a Comment See all 107 Comments
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 4:49 PM PDT
    ---"John McCain chose the supremely under-qualified Sarah Palin. Well, I''m not playing. I don''t care about Sarah Palin''s family. I don''t care if she''s a good mother. I don''t care if she''s happily married, or who shops and who vacuums, or who takes care of the kids while both parents are at work. "---

    There it is . . . The Nation true colors. They couldn''t hide the elitism in the last piece . . .
    Reply to this comment
    by lhwrites September 13, 2008 4:50 PM PDT
    Thank God somebody is finally saying this!!!!
    Reply to this comment
    by hotwitch September 13, 2008 4:51 PM PDT
    The snowmobiles, the moose burgers, the guns, the hair, the glasses, Oh my !!! The left-wing feminists have re-emerged bringing questions of Palin dripping with self-hatred and classism. Oh, why can''t Palin be more appealing to America''s elite?
    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 4:51 PM PDT
    The Nation needs to go back and look at how much time they devoted to trashing Sarah Palin rather than talking about the issues when it suited them . . .
    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 4:52 PM PDT
    Posted by hotwitch

    LOL Good one!
    Reply to this comment
    by lhwrites September 13, 2008 4:56 PM PDT
    Sam the Cat:
    Elitism? That''s a stretch.
    Did you know she was for the bridge to nowhere until she was against it. But guess what? Even when she was against it she still took the money! Only in a Republicans head could that possibly make sense!
    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 4:58 PM PDT
    ---"Sam the Cat:Elitism? That''''s a stretch.
    Did you know she was for the bridge to nowhere until she was against it. But guess what? Even when she was against it she still took the money! Only in a Republicans head could that possibly make sense!"---
    Posted by lhwrites

    I mean, are you actually expecting a response to that or what? You''re black and are voting for Obama; I''m female and I''m voting for Palin.

    One person one vote. See you in November.
    Reply to this comment
    by jefflz-2009 September 13, 2008 5:04 PM PDT
    Additional question for Scary Sarah: Are you a believer in the Rapture? Would this have any influence over your decision to use nuclear weapons against Russia and start World War III, if for example, they sent troops into Georgia again? This woman is another Goldwater with or without lipstick!
    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 5:09 PM PDT
    You know one of the greatest tools of manipulation is to appeal to peoples'' senses of superiority - you would think people who fancy themselves as being so much better than everybody else would be used to getting prayed upon like that.

    Any of you have evidence that you''re not the ones getting ''duped''? Because usually the first sign somebody is in fact being duped is that the duper''ll tell you ''don''t be fooled'' by other people . . .

    Questions to ask yourself:
    1) What EVIDENCE do you see as proof that Obama is any more qualified than Palin?
    2) Are you able to come up with an equally thorough list of questions you could ask Obama without having a twinge of fear that he might lose if anybody were to ever ask him those questions?
    Reply to this comment
    by wogerwabbit September 13, 2008 5:13 PM PDT
    You''''re black and are voting for Obama; I''''m female and I''''m voting for Palin.

    One person one vote. See you in November.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Posted by SamTheTVCat at 04:58 PM : Sep 13, 2008


    I knew it was because he''s black and you''re a racist.
    Reply to this comment
    by paris1969 September 13, 2008 5:13 PM PDT
    The DNC chose the supremely under-qualified Barrack Obama as its presidential nominee partly because he is black. If you have a problem with that, you''re a racist.

    ....... this makes just as much sense as Katha Pollitt''s statement!!
    ............. why does CBS News give space to this kind of garbage??
    Reply to this comment
    by im4honesty September 13, 2008 5:17 PM PDT
    Questions to ask yourself:
    1) What EVIDENCE do you see as proof that Obama is any more qualified than Palin?
    2) Are you able to come up with an equally thorough list of questions you could ask Obama without having a twinge of fear that he might lose if anybody were to ever ask him those questions?



    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Posted by SamTheTVCat


    That''s the best you can do?? That''s very weak and shallow.

    LMAO!!!
    Reply to this comment
    by paris1969 September 13, 2008 5:17 PM PDT
    Obama was a member of a church for 20+ years where the crazy pastor ranted about white-America and God D**amn America ... but the elitist at The Nation and the New Republic wants us all to forget all that ... because in their twisted elitist minds that is something you don''t talk about ... kind of like someone f**arting at one of their white wine parties!!
    Reply to this comment
    by JohnR007 September 13, 2008 5:18 PM PDT
    Why kill the baby? If you want to kill someone, then kill the rapist, the baby may turn out to be ok. God can cause good to come out of ANY bad situation.

    Romans 6:23
    For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

    Deut. 30:19
    I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;



    Reply to this comment
    by tawpdawg111 September 13, 2008 5:52 PM PDT
    News Reporters Peter Hamby and Rebecca Sinderbrand just reported the following:
    "Sarah Palin did not visit troops in Iraq, a spokesperson for the Republican VP nominee confirmed Saturday, as new details emerged about the extent of the Alaska governor''''s foreign travel".
    "(In addition) earlier, campaign aides confirmed reports that Palin''''s time in Ireland on that trip had actually been a re-fueling stop" . . . (not for international business transactions as earlier reported).
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Ok Im back with fresh batteries in the LIE detector.

    Bzzzzttt !!!

    Thats a LIE!
    Its not a "distortion"
    Or a "contradiction"
    Or a "misrepresentation"
    Its an out-and-out LIE told by an out-and-out LIAR!
    The LIE detector is sittin on dead red.
    Freakin LIARS!

    This is so much more fun now that its not about the "issues"
    Reply to this comment
    by lhwrites September 13, 2008 5:59 PM PDT
    Sam the cat:

    What about your response to the fact that she was for the bridge to nowhere until she was against it? Then of course, she took the money.
    I''m glad you''ve decided I''m black (I''m not by the way) but what does that have to do with Palin''s hypocrisy? Only a Republican calls white "black" and lies the truth.
    Reply to this comment
    by truthhurts01 September 13, 2008 6:03 PM PDT
    Hmmm.... Tell the truth, ask sensible questions, and become branded an elitist. What a novel idea! Even as an old, white, lifelong Republican redneck I can tell Palin is not qualified to be vice president, and that McCain%u2019s judgment in choosing her as running mate shows that he is not qualified to be president either. Aside from her beliefs, lack of knowledge/qualifications, and obfuscation of the facts, the cronyism and vicious vindictiveness she has employed both as mayor and governor show that she has no place being a heartbeat away from the presidency. McCain''s choice for VP, fear mongering, s**t slinging campaign, as well as his voting record during the Bush administration, has convinced this lifelong Republican that we don''t want or need four more years like/worse than the last eight.

    Obama 08!!
    Reply to this comment
    by burfnyc September 13, 2008 6:16 PM PDT
    SamTheTVCat said:
    1) "What EVIDENCE do you see as proof that Obama is any more qualified than Palin?"
    Try this:
    BA Political Science (specialty International Relations) - Columbia University
    JD - Harvard (Editor & President Harvard Law Review)
    8 years in Illinois senate
    Taught Constitutional Law for 12 years... Sr Lecturer for 8 years.
    3 years in the Senate... Senate Foreign Relations Committee... Senate Committee on
    Veterans'' Affairs... Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions... Senate
    Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
    List of sponsored legislation... http://tinyurl.com/6nzbg4
    And, he just went through an exhaustive Primary Campaign, beating the Clinton Machine...

    Palin -
    BS Journalism (minor Political Science) - U of Idaho
    Wasilla, Alaska - City Council - 4 years - population: under 8,000.
    Wasilla, Alasks - Mayor - two terms
    Governor Alaska for 18 months - population: under 700,000

    2) "Are you able to come up with an equally thorough list of questions you could ask Obama without having a twinge of fear that he might lose if anybody were to ever ask him those questions?"
    Senator Obama has been questioned up the wazoo, for the past 18 months, actually since his speech in 2004.
    Not to mention that he''s written two books, about his life & politics.
    A more appropriate question, would be, make a list of questions he hasn''t been asked?
    Reply to this comment
    by jefflz-2009 September 13, 2008 6:26 PM PDT
    After her just saying that the Iraq War was payback for 9/11 (we all know that was a big lie) and after her comments about the Iraq War being the work of God, it is further proof that this woman is not fir for office. More than that, Scary Sarah is a know-nothing who needs a lot more prepping before she can be let loose on her own- even days of being holed up with her Rove handlers didn''t do the job. Maybe thay shoud get her an earpiece so she can get the answers right like Bush. Apparently she is also like George W. Bush who takes his orders directly from God. Scary Sarah is truly unprepared and unqualified. She all set to start WWIII - if God tells her its the right thing to do. McCain has put at risk the long term stability of this country by bringing this wing nut into the election. He has made a mockery of the electoral process. Palin must be rejected for the sake of future generations and for the entire world. war with Russia is not acceptable place to start in a nuclear world.
    Reply to this comment
    by chalres-2009 September 13, 2008 6:29 PM PDT
    burfnyc Well said.. Thanks for defending the truth and trying to enlighten the ignorant. Go Obama... Bring on the debates...
    Reply to this comment
    by tonyd_31 September 13, 2008 6:30 PM PDT
    I smell the strange scent of desperation from the GOP faithful. You have been so happy that McSame''s bounce from the convention put him a point or two in front of Obama but you had to know it would not last. Palin''s novelty has wore off and she demonstrated in her first interview what most of us already knew, that she is not ready to be a VP. McSame has revealed himself to be a liar and willing to do or say anything to win. I feel the desperation and what is even worst for the GOP faithful, we have not even made it to the first debate. Thank God the American people are not as gullible and uninformed as the GOP faithful. Distractions have a very short shelf life in campaigns.....The issues always come back to the top.
    Reply to this comment
    by adam791-2009 September 13, 2008 6:36 PM PDT
    As far as I can see The elitist claim is backwards. You think Obama''s time as an organizer in South Chicago was spent listening to Vivaldi and drinking Champagne? I bet Giuliani''s and Palin''s terms as mayor were pretty comfortable though. Stop for a moment and think which job sounds easier being a politician or working with the poorest people in the most crime ridden neighborhood of a large American City. Sounds like a no brainer to me.
    Reply to this comment
    by tonyd_31 September 13, 2008 6:49 PM PDT
    If John McSame had conduced his campaign a little more honestly I would still hold him in high-regard. He is talking about "Country First" and then because of a desperate attempt to get Hillary''s disenchanted voters, he select a far-right extreme lady with little experience to be his running mate. Then he starts conducting the most sleaziest campaigns in memory with lies and distractions. He doesn''t discuss any issues and Obama is going to wipe the floor with him at the debates.
    Reply to this comment
    by burfnyc September 13, 2008 6:55 PM PDT
    One thing, to Dems: Please stop with the McSame, etc.
    No need to be calling anyone names, and stoop to the level of the GOP. Truth is on the Dems side, as are the issues.
    What''s the point of calling names?
    All it does is lower yourself... let them call names, lie, etc. Just state the truth, debate the issues... and leave it at that.
    Reply to this comment
    by tonyd_31 September 13, 2008 6:57 PM PDT
    You''''''''re black and are voting for Obama; I''''''''m female and I''''''''m voting for Palin.
    One person one vote. See you in November.

    Posted by SamTheTVCat at 04:58 PM

    Well I am black. That means nothing to me as far as voting is concerned. I vote with who represents my philosophy for government and whose platform I most agree with. I am voting for Obama as I would have voted for whichever Democrat won the nomination. If Obama was a repub and won that party''s nomination (that will never happen in the GOP), I would not vote for him! I think anyone who would vote for someone because of gender or race is shallow and is an uninformed voter. But vote for who you may as that is your right.
    Reply to this comment
    by adam791-2009 September 13, 2008 7:06 PM PDT
    You''''''''''''''''re black and are voting for Obama; I''''''''''''''''m female and I''''''''''''''''m voting for Palin.
    One person one vote. See you in November.

    Posted by SamTheTVCat at 04:58 PM

    I am white and I am voting for Obama! Are you seriously going to play the race card like hillbilly? By the way John Mccane recently justified voting against a Matin Luther King Jr. Holiday by saying he was unaware of his work! He really is out of touch...Or dishonest. I was 4 at the time of his vote and was aware of MLK''s work.
    Reply to this comment
    by destardi September 13, 2008 7:56 PM PDT
    You''ve suggested that God approves of the Iraq War and the Alaska pipeline. How do you know?
    ---------------------------------

    How can you print this ***? Sarah Palin did no such thing.

    I''m a progressive, sticking up for a republican.

    ***?! How did that happen?

    When "liberals" for uhbama create websites called retardedbaby.com, SORRY but I''VE LOST ALL RESPECT for the uhbama wing of the dem party.

    -HillaryDem 4 McCain/Palin
    Reply to this comment
    by incog-nito September 13, 2008 7:56 PM PDT
    burfnyc: Here''s the short answer: Nice guys finish last. Look at 2000 and 2004.
    Reply to this comment
    by jmurrieta11 September 13, 2008 8:19 PM PDT
    Now Palin / McCain are shown to be liars once again.

    Palin now admits she was never in Iraq.

    Oh, and her "visit" to Ireland was an airplane refueling stop.

    So this wingnut''s foreign policy experience amounts to looking at Russia across the Bering Sea?

    Even that claim must be investigated. Needless to say, Russia is not visible from Juneau or Anchorage. It is only visible from a tiny island in the Aleutians. Has Palin even been there? I doubt it.

    Maybe some of the wolves she has shot from an airplane had wandered over from Siberia, though.
    Reply to this comment
    by kazoodan September 13, 2008 8:19 PM PDT
    You''''ve suggested that God approves of the Iraq War and the Alaska pipeline. How do you know?
    ---------------------------------


    How can you print this ***? Sarah Palin did no such thing.

    -HillaryDem 4 McCain/Palin

    Posted by destardi1 at 07:56 PM : Sep 13, 2008

    Check it out for yourself.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H-btXPfhGs
    Reply to this comment
    by jmurrieta11 September 13, 2008 8:21 PM PDT
    How can you print this ***? Sarah Palin did no such thing.

    I''''m a progressive, sticking up for a republican.

    ***?! How did that happen?
    Posted by destardi1



    You are? I don''t think so! Quote some of your postings showing you to be a "progressive".

    I say youre a Bushit Shill.

    Prove me wrong, if you can.
    Reply to this comment
    by ubrew12 September 13, 2008 8:29 PM PDT
    Every four years, Republicans can be guaranteed to make three claims:
    They are anti-big-government
    They are anti-abortion
    They are anti-public-schools
    Yet, even when in COMPLETE ownership of our Federal Government for 6 of the last 8 years, with the complete authority and ability to pass laws changing all three, what do they do? NOTHING! Then they hit the campaign trail every four years, and complain about how the ''washington insiders'' need their ''home-town'' recipe for dealing with 1)big-government, 2)abortion, and 3)those evil public schools.

    Face it, Repubs: if they actually dealt with these three ''evils'', how on earth would they get elected? How on earth would they get the chance to cut taxes on the richest 1% of Americans, and create a $10 trillion debt behemouth that threatens to drown your children??
    Reply to this comment
    by ubrew12 September 13, 2008 8:38 PM PDT
    Republicans tell themselves stories about how they believe in ''small government'' for basically one reason: a feeling of moral superiority over something they wouldn''t change even if they could.

    I had been trying to figure out HOW republicans could overlook the opportunity to ACT on their ''small government'' credentials with SIX YEARS OF TOTAL CONTROL of our Federal Government: and cut spending (not just taxes, SPENDING). And the answer that kept staring me back in the face was:

    they don''t mean it.

    They complain about it loudly to anyone who''ll listen, but they LIKE the services government provides just as much as the rest of us. Its just a lot of fairy-tale nonsense, and this country won''t heal until they are forced to own up to their disease.
    Reply to this comment
    by jmurrieta11 September 13, 2008 8:40 PM PDT
    A few years ago, Dan Quayle blasted a character on a TV show for having a child while unmarried.

    "Immoral! Liberal Degeneracy!" The Right Wing Culture Warriors shouted.

    But they''re all quiet as little church rats when their wingnut darling Bushpilot Barbie''s brat gets preggers at age 17, knocked up by Mr. Backwoods Redneck.

    Is there any more phony liar than a Bushit / McClone Neocon scum?
    Reply to this comment
    by jmurrieta11 September 13, 2008 8:50 PM PDT
    So when was Sarah Palin in Iraq??

    Never!!

    McClone = LIAR, speaks with forked tongue.
    Reply to this comment
    by rafterman1 September 13, 2008 9:06 PM PDT
    ===Why kill the baby? If you want to kill someone, then kill the rapist, the baby may turn out to be ok. God can cause good to come out of ANY bad situation.===
    Posted by JohnR77

    Because that woman will still be alive and will be reminded every day when she looks at that child that she was savagely raped. That child will be a living reminder of one of the worst events of her life and no one with a shred of decency would condemn that woman if she decided to abort a rapists'' baby. Outlaw abortion, even in rape or incest, and you will see women raped twice - once by the criminal and once by the government.
    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 9:08 PM PDT
    ---"Sam the cat: What about your response to the fact that she was for the bridge to nowhere until she was against it? Then of course, she took the money.
    I''''m glad you''''ve decided I''''m black (I''''m not by the way) but what does that have to do with Palin''''s hypocrisy? Only a Republican calls white "black" and lies the truth."---
    Posted by lhwrites

    You''re lying. You don''t fit the profile of a white person supporting Obama.
    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 9:10 PM PDT
    ---"I knew it was because he''s black and you''re a racist."---
    Posted by WogerWabbit

    Doesn''t that by logic make you sexist for not voting for a woman?

    PS I voted for Obama in the primaries, so there goes your theory. However mine still holds.
    Reply to this comment
    by rafterman1 September 13, 2008 9:11 PM PDT
    ===When "liberals" for uhbama create websites called retardedbaby.com, SORRY but I''''VE LOST ALL RESPECT for the uhbama wing of the dem party.===
    Posted by destardi1

    Shall I post links to some of the websites where they show Obama hanging from a tree, like in a lynching? McCain supporters are A-OK with you though, huh?

    But that''s OK. Hillary got shafted, so go ahead and vote against your own priciples. Because I didn''t realize that "progressives: like you were for tax cuts for the rich, unlimited drilling, banning abortion and more war in Iraq. Becasue that''s what you get if you vote McCain.



    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 9:17 PM PDT
    Posted by burfnyc

    So in sum Barack is superior based on:
    1) College ranking - equal to George Bush
    2) Con Law professor - who then voted for FISA
    3) US Senator - 23 years the junior to McCain
    4) And ran an election - but was voted on before the election

    Those are after the fact rationalizations. For example isn''t John McCain''s graduation from Annapolis more relevant to being a CIC in a time of war, and doesn''t having 8x the US Senate experience necessarily by logic trump a 3 year US Senator? He also ran an election, and decimated his competition a lot more efficiently than Obama.

    Aren''t you by your (ROTFL) logic therefore necessarily compelled to conclude that McCain is therefore necessarily the superior candidate?

    Of course not because after the fact rationalizations aren''t the same as rational logic. You can''t possibly conclude that Barack is more qualified than McCain and he''s at the top of the ticket.

    It was a trick question because Dems keep forgetting who''s running for President - the majority of people don''t.

    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 9:25 PM PDT
    I think elitism''s become such a key issue in this election because that''s the way Barack''s managed to persuade people that somebody with a year and a half in the US Senate makes him qualified to be President unlike anybody else with a year and a half of relevant experience.

    Don''t you all think you''re smarter, and more morally superior to others even as you can''t restrain yourself from trying to destroy Palin as the competition?

    You say Senator is superior to Governor although Senators only get elected to President once every 50 years. You say one and a half years of US Senate experience is superior to 26 years.

    When Barack said it was never about him it was always about you, he was talking about how he was able to make the sale . . .
    Reply to this comment
    by paulstewart9 September 13, 2008 9:25 PM PDT
    Well, this is the antithesis of the article by James Pinkerton over at Fox. Somehow, this one rings more true.....

    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 9:27 PM PDT
    ---"Somehow, this one rings more true....."---
    Posted by PaulStewart9

    ''Somehow'' . . .
    Reply to this comment
    by nursehope September 13, 2008 9:35 PM PDT
    Isn''t Obama half white? Which side should we make dominant? By the way, the Times just printed a great article that exposes Palin. Cronies up the wahzoo in Alaska, and missing in action from the capitol, most of her term in office. I predict she''ll be going back to Alaska soon, for good!

    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 9:49 PM PDT
    pt 2

    For women in this campaign, the stars aren''t all lined up and history has shown that if the shoe were on the other foot, other underrepresented groups would be just as torn between the parties as we women are this time around.

    What has me fed up is the challenges from people who act like that history of underrepresentation ''ought'' to be a non-issue even though they themselves are exactly in the same boat as me, not in this particular election but in the bigger picture.

    If a white female Dem won the nomination and passed over a black that could have helped her win for a white person, and it was Powell or Condi and Jindal running as the Repubs, would blacks really still be voting for the Dems in the same numbers? No blacks would swayed by the chance to make history?
    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 9:49 PM PDT
    pt 1

    ---"Well I am black. That means nothing to me as far as voting is concerned. I vote with who represents my philosophy for government and whose platform I most agree with. I am voting for Obama as I would have voted for whichever Democrat won the nomination. If Obama was a repub and won that party''''s nomination (that will never happen in the GOP), I would not vote for him! I think anyone who would vote for someone because of gender or race is shallow and is an uninformed voter. But vote for who you may as that is your right."---
    Posted by Tonyd_31

    Thanks for that very generous post Tonyd - I''ll try to give you as much respect and courtesy back as you''ve extended to me.

    All of us who have been underrepresented in higher office have tended Democratic in the past, and I''ve pointed out that what history has shown is that people have also shown a tendency to vote for people of the same race, age, and gender, even demonstrating a willingess to cross party lines because the identification is so strong.
    Reply to this comment
    by cyndilu9 September 13, 2008 9:54 PM PDT
    I''m so tired of hearing about this Sarah Palin woman from Alaska. This article is the first to rip right into that clever Republican hypocracy that they drudge up every 4 years to take over our government and make our lives harder.

    America - please do not vote Republican again...it''s embarrassing at this point. They call Obama "elite" because he thinks through situations and has some intellectual capacity. But this woman is beyond reproach because she is a gun toting, bible thumping new governor? Please - no woman can do it all....and she scares me.

    Obama / Biden lets make it happen for the people this time!! Don''t fall for the right wing tricks again.....the swift boaters are getting antsy.
    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 9:55 PM PDT
    PS And by the way I did in fact vote for Barack over Hillary in the primaries because I really didn''t believe a person''s color or gender mattered in how they carried out their job. Watching him pass over Hillary when it would have enhanced his ability to win made it obvious to me that he wasn''t as open to me as I was to him.
    Reply to this comment
    by tbweb September 13, 2008 9:56 PM PDT
    `If there were an Olympics for hypocrisy, the Republican Party would have more gold medals than Michael Phelps.`

    Exactly! It was Sen. John McCain himself who attacked Sen. Hillary Clinton`s Health Care Plan as `putting lipstick on a pig`! But we all know Republican doctrine is `do as I say and not as I do!`. Republicans are special, Republicans are exempt, Republicans are above the Law, the Rules don`t apply to Republicans only to the rest of America! LOL
    Reply to this comment
    by samthetvcat September 13, 2008 10:03 PM PDT
    You know what''s heartbreaking for me is that I understand the sense of like that for a Dem like me to cross the aisle to realize my dream, that maybe I''m working against the dream of somebody else in this historic election. I GET that, and I''m really sorry that it''s come down to that.

    What else can I say . . .
    Reply to this comment
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