VP Rant
I spent the majority of Friday in a car driving from Washington, DC, to New York, frustrated beyond belief. Not because it took us 6+ hours to drive up north when it usually takes us 4, but because I was stuck not being able to write this rant until now, and by now, you've probably already heard it all, but I'm going to write it anyways.
As a woman, I'm absolutely aghast at who McCain picked to be his vice presidential nominee. As a woman, I'm insulted beyond words that he truly believes that he could win the female vote simply because he chose someone who doesn't have a penis. Does he think that low of me and the millions of other women who voted for Hillary? Is it really true that the majority of women don't care about anything else? They don't care about the environment, gay rights, gun control, and oh, shall we not forget, women's issues? Does he really believe that women vote based on sex alone, when it's been shown that women vote based on party preference and most women are Democrats? There's a reason for that, and it's not because they're voting for other women.
The women McCain is obviously pandering to should be offended. And if they still had qualms about voting for Obama simply because of how the Democratic primary ended, this choice should override all of that. If the word of God came down from heaven and told me today that this would be the only chance in the next 100 years that a woman would be this close to the presidency, I still wouldn't vote for her.
It's that simple. I have a brain. And I use it. Like many other women. And it's quite obvious that besides for biology, Sarah Palin is a far cry from what Hillary Clinton represented to those who voted for her.
As a woman, I'm absolutely aghast at who McCain picked to be his vice presidential nominee. As a woman, I'm insulted beyond words that he truly believes that he could win the female vote simply because he chose someone who doesn't have a penis. Does he think that low of me and the millions of other women who voted for Hillary? Is it really true that the majority of women don't care about anything else? They don't care about the environment, gay rights, gun control, and oh, shall we not forget, women's issues? Does he really believe that women vote based on sex alone, when it's been shown that women vote based on party preference and most women are Democrats? There's a reason for that, and it's not because they're voting for other women.
The women McCain is obviously pandering to should be offended. And if they still had qualms about voting for Obama simply because of how the Democratic primary ended, this choice should override all of that. If the word of God came down from heaven and told me today that this would be the only chance in the next 100 years that a woman would be this close to the presidency, I still wouldn't vote for her.
It's that simple. I have a brain. And I use it. Like many other women. And it's quite obvious that besides for biology, Sarah Palin is a far cry from what Hillary Clinton represented to those who voted for her.
Labels: politics
posted by elanit | 8:50 PM
5 Comments:
As a Republican, I'm thrilled about the VP pick. Gov. Palin, while having been in office less time than the other 3 candidates, does actually have executive experience, and being a conservative, she will help McCain with reaching conservatives.
I have long argued that 3 days as Governor > 30 years as Senator from an experience POV - Senators are only known for talking, not for running something.
I don't think that McCain expects to win the Clinton Democrats by picking Palin. However, she is a strong candidate in her own right, having successfully run as a reformer in a corrupt environment, and I think she's someone whom people will like more as they learn more about her.
Yes, Gov. Palin is very, very different from Sen. Clinton: I imagine that the two of them agree on love of country and probably not a whole lot else. But so what? She's a Republican! Was there anyone Sen. McCain could have picked who would make you personally vote for him? If not, then you're not the target audience.
I think that David makes many valid points. Frankly, if McCain is pandering to anyone, it is to the right wing conservatives. She is a strong choice for the GOP party. I think that you (and everyone else) thinking that he picked her only because she is a woman is insulting. Do you really think that because she is a woman that she doesn't have some very good qualities? I know that you do not.
As I wrote elsewhere, McCain's choice of Palin was for two reasons: she gets the conservative base excited because of her conservative credentials and because of her double X chromosomes. mate were for two obvious reasons: her extreme right-wing views to get the conservatives excited and because she has a double X chromosome. It's just as simple as that. What the end of the primaries until the convention showed was that a ton of women Hillary voters were angry at how things ended and at how their candidate was treated. So much so, that the McCain campaign ran an ad during the Dem convention featuring a former Hillary delegate telling the world that her new candidate is McCain. Many Hillary supporters went on the record saying they weren't sure about voting for Obama and McCain wants to do everything in his power to get them to swing his way. Sarah Palin is how he intends on doing it.
I didn't say she has nothing else going for her; obviously she does, she's a governor of a state. But it's not a secret and it's nothing new. The Clinton votes are up for grabs and McCain has every right to want them and make political choices to try to get them. But I suspect it will backfire.
Do you really think Sen. McCain picked his running mate to attract the womens' vote? Your 'obvious pandering' comment leads to no other logical conclusion.
How about this? John McCain picked someone who (a) is young, (b) no one can claim is a Washington insider, (c) has lived by her convictions -- and continues to do so, and (d) won her office on a clean government campaign after refusing to pander to corruption as a government employee.
Instead, it appears that, simply because Ms. Palin is a female conservative, you posited that McCain thinks little of women and how they cast their votes. Per your line of thought, McCain could not have picked a woman for any other reason. How about this: McCain found that the best person to run on his ticket happened to be a woman, and asked her to run on his ticket -- no pandering involved.
MJP
I read you first and then other places. You have in fact said elsewhere that it was for two reasons and I did not see that until I read other blogs. You unfortunately were the first read after the "look at the white trash family with the 17 year old daughter who is pregnant running in a party that is going to use Hurricane Gustav to their advantage" emails from friends (oh, and Shpielcast emails haven't been much better).
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