Friday, September 12, 2008

Sarah Palin. Sigh.

I know, I know, you're mad. You're mad that we start this amazing blog and then we don't update it for a few weeks. It's my own fault! (This is Lindsay, by the way.) I was the one that started this thing, wrote a few posts, and then Elle and Alisha saved me by putting up amazing, funny and too true posts. They're both gone now, and the guilt is starting to set in for not blogging for awhile. I PROMISE things will be different during the school year. I think.

So, let's just jump right in. Since we last posted Mr. John McCain has added a VP running mate and it is none other than that govenor of Alaska none of us know well enough, Sarah Palin.

I don't even know where to start about how frustrating a selection this is, though I can tell you we've had many a discussion about what a backwards step her selection is for women. (Joe Biden can thank us for that soundbite.) I have a guy friend who told me the other day that he thinks the selection of Palin will energize the Republican party, because all of Hillary's former supporters will hop on the GOP bandwagon, throwing aside their beliefs and ideas to vote for someone who has two X chromosomes.

To him I say: watch this.

To everyone else I say: Voting is one of the most important things you can do, and can we please put someone in the White House who won't take back everything we and our feminist sisters who came before us have worked so hard to get?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sarah Palin as the VP candidate on the republican side attempted to do two things and failed at doing them both. First, Sarah Palin of course reached out to women in way that Mr. McCain certainly could not. Second, Palin has a history of being an extremely conservative republican. Her stance within the Republican Party helped to reach out to the more conservative republicans in the U.S. instead of reaching out to women and conservatives, Palin brought more scandal to the Republican Party than votes. She made mistakes that made her look unprepared to be vice president. The mistakes also reflected poorly on the American women she was supposed to be representing. After her Alaska scandal and her poor interview on national television, Palin forced some of her female followers to go from hopeful to disappointed.

Unknown said...

I honestly don’t even know where to start when it comes to Sarah Palin. Yes, the election is over and we won’t have to even think about her for another four years, if at all, but McCain picking her as his running mate is just too outrageous to forget. Whoever thought she would sway all of the Hilary supporters to vote for McCain clearly does not understand feminism. What kind of feminist would vote for a pro-life, anti-gay rights candidate? Not only that, the McCain campaign didn’t allow anyone to interview her at first because they didn’t think she was capable of answering tough questions. She wasn’t a respected member of the campaign, she was a pawn to help McCain win over the evangelical population and the Hilary supporters. What if McCain had died? It gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.

Anonymous said...

Originally When McCain made Sara Palin his VP I was scared that all the Hillary voters would change over and vote for them. Which by the way is, to me, very unethical and the wrong way to go about voting. And if that would have happened I would have lost respect for all the backers of Hillary, because like you said that would have been a step back for women.

And now that Obama is in office he ended up appointing Hillary to secretary of State, which is a huge honor and a step forward.

From: said...

Hi, I am in Elle's womens studies class. I went to the link posted on this site but was unable to view the video.

I know that the election is over and that Obama has won. But now, looking both forwards and backwards, does your opinion still remain the same?

Who is to say that McCain and Palin would have rescinded all that women activists have gotten thus far? What leads you to believe that Palin is a step backwards for women? She does have a vagina and did manage to rock the country when McCain appointed her as his running mate.

We had a lecture in class a few weeks ago about women in government, and our TA (who was giving the lecture) happened to mention the unequal numbers of men vs. women in government. I wrote this on my note card for the day that it should not be considered sexism, or gender discrimination, against women that there are more men that women in the senate, house and in more powerful positions. We should all vote for who we think is the most qualified.

And so my comment now comes full circle, into...complete nothingness really. So, now seeing what our president has done and plans on doing, do we regret putting him in office? Has he, will he, take away more than what you claim Sarah Palin would have taken away?

Lara Burrows

Anonymous said...

I remember reading that McCain had chosen Palin as his running mate and I just had to stop before my forehead met my desk in a union of frustration (this was, of course, after I took a few minutes to figure out who Sarah Palin even is). Coming from a socially conservative and politically moderate family, I am very much the black sheep with my liberal ideas, and any attempts I made to discuss this choice with my family resulted in grumbles, mumbles, and whatever’s. Your friend was definitely not the only person to think Hilary supporters would jump on the McCain bandwagon just to see a woman have the possibility of becoming President (should McCain have croaked in office, and I think he might have, and the world would have been doomed). It was something I had to reiterate time and time again for my family and friends—having a vagina does not a good politician make.

-Julie Brown

Nick Maslen said...

I think that John McCain’s choice for a Vice Presidential candidate was a poor choice. Sarah Palin is a snooty and inexperienced politician from Alaska, where there is hardly any politics to begin with in the first place. She had somewhat high approval ratings for her town that she was mayor of, but many of her decisions were looked down upon by the rest of the US. I think that she was a poor choice as a Vice Presidential candidate. But as we all know, John McCain did not win the election by a long shot and so we don’t have to worry about Sarah Palin working to make mistakes as the Vice President. An entire article was dedicated to her by TIME magazine and it seemed like the majority of the stuff written about her were shots that looked to bring her down and turn people off into voting her as the next vice President.

Nick Maslen

Anonymous said...

I would have to agree. I think that if McCain had won we would have been completely screwed if something had happened and Palin took office. I think that the main reason he picked her was to get women's votes even though the majority of women I know were not swayed by this. Even my dad who is a die-hard republican said that her in office would be scary and that even though he believes that Clinton has a lot of baggage, he would rather see her as vice president over Palin. The way she presents herself is in a way that practically says she does not believe in equality when it comes to men and women.