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Sarah Palin is hardly the most sympathetic figure, given her fanatical heterosexism and her militant, Christian fundamentalism. However, I can't help notice a pattern of sexist treatment of her by John McCain and his campaign.
The Republican presidential nominee's campaign set the tone early.
Look at this headline:
Sarah Palin, Laura Bush, Cindy McCain meet in Minneapolis
WTF?????
Sarah Palin's husband should have been meeting with Ms. Bush and Ms. McCain. Talk about inappropriate and disrespectful!
The blatantly sexist behavior by the GOP during the RNC didn't stop there. The fact that Palin and her own speechwriters did not have anything to do with the writing of her own RNC acceptance speech tells us a lot about the contempt with which she is being treated by the "Keating Five" McCain campaign.
It also was painfully obvious during her interview by ABC News' Charlie Gibson that Palin was expected to regurgitate talking points rather than actually express herself. This resulted in her having to make a fool of herself on Iran.
GIBSON: What if Israel decided it felt threatened and needed to take out the Iranian nuclear facilities?
PALIN: Well, first, we are friends with Israel and I don't think that we should second guess the measures that Israel has to take to defend themselves and for their security.
GIBSON: So if we wouldn't second guess it and they decided they needed to do it because Iran was an existential threat, we would cooperative or agree with that.
PALIN: I don't think we can second guess what Israel has to do to secure its nation.
GIBSON: So if it felt necessary, if it felt the need to defend itself by taking out Iranian nuclear facilities, that would be all right.
PALIN: We cannot second guess the steps that Israel has to take to defend itself.
I actually had a bit of sympathy for that heterosexist bigot under the circumstances.
Despite McCain's transparently obvious mental difficulties, it is Sarah Palin that his campaign is protecting in the upcoming Vice Presidential debate. From the New York Times 9/20/08: (hat tip to Progressive Eruptions)
The Obama and McCain campaigns have agreed to an unusual free-flowing format for the three televised presidential debates, which begin Friday, but the McCain camp fought for and won a much more structured approach for the questioning at the vice-presidential debate, advisers to both campaigns said Saturday.
At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.
McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.
Last, and creepiest, is the behavior of the candidate himself. "Keating Five" McCain hugs Palin way too long and way too closely at public appearances. What we have is a doddering old man sexually harassing someone he chose to be a weak heartbeat away from the presidency. It really is sickening.
The disrespectful treatment of Palin is backfiring on the GOP. It sends a message that McCain and his own people don't take her seriously. How can they expect the voters to do so under these circumstances.
The GOoPers have no logical answer as to why Palin hasn't be able to face the media in an unscripted format--i.e., take questions from them and answer them.
I put the question to the Goopers all the time:
If Palin is qualified to be vp and possibly the president, then why is she being shielded from reporters? If she's so brilliant and qualified, why has the McCain campaign kept her off the Sunday morning talk shows: Meet the Press, Face the Nation, This Week, where every single other vp candidate has faced questions and answered them?
The Goopers have no answer.
I do.
Palin is too incompetent to face unscripted questions because she is woefully unqualified.
Period.
Hi.
I agree with you about how sickening it is to watch McCain hug Palin - it's inexcusably inapropriate. BUT she's allowing herself to be used as a pawn, so it's difficult to hold sympathy for her.
I had experiences of sexual harrassment at a couple of jobs while I was in college, that involved uninvited fondling and touching. I didn't allow it. I quit. At that time there was very little else that I could have done or had time to do. Palin has put herself in this position and seems to be gobbling it up. She's as much responsible for the sexism as McCain and she does a very big diservice to women by doing so.
As far as not letting her say anything - I agree with shaw kenawe. It's not about her being a woman, it's about her being incompetent. Yes, I'm sure the GOP views women largely as incompetent, especially if they're good-looking and I'm sure this figures into things as well, but largely she is not fit to be a vice-presidential pick, regardless of her gender.
That's how I feel.
The majority of left-wing attacks against Palin seem to be totally misogynistic. Gay men on blogs even resort to calling her a "cunt."
shaw: It is difficult to know if Palin really is that incompetent when we haven't actually seen her answer questions in an unscripted manner. There is a significant chance that you are correct, but the McCain campaign's behavior is basically forcing everyone to assume that is the case.
pagan sphinx: I generally see the harassers as more responsible for the reason that many women aren't in the economic position that they can quit their jobs, though Palin certainly could in this particular case.
An incompetent Palin certainly does not let McCain and his campaign off the hook for sexism. There are other women in the GOP with more qualifications who have considerable experience dealing with media. The choice of Palin shows that McCain sees women as largely interchangeable.
Also, McCain says bizarre and inappropriate things all the time, yet the campaign doesn't keep him under wraps. McCain is ill informed on foreign and domestic policy. Despite being in the Senate way too long, serious questions should be raised about his incompetence. The campaign is more worried about a woman VP candidate going off track than a male presidential candidate doing so.
joey7777: Painting people you disagree with using such broad generalities while using a hidden Blogger profile certainly undermines any credibility you might have. The lack of links or any other support to back up your claims further diminishes what you have to say.
Also, are you aware that "Keating Five" McCain called his wife the C word in front of a reporter?
Well, I can't control what other language other left-wing bloggers use. I don't use that kind of language against anyone; even those I vehemently appose.
With that out of the way, I do see some of of your points, Libhomo. But regarding sexual harassment: I see my own situation with sexual harassment quite more extreme than Palin's. I was a struggling college woman. She is fully employed and only wants the job for power reasons.
Again, I stand my ground that she's allowing herself to be used. And she is NOT being fondled innapropriately as I and many women were and are. Allowing herself to be used as a pawn is a diservice to all women. If the McCain campaign doesn't care, then she should! I'm certainly not going to rally to her defense in any way, shape or form.
Sorry.
McCandy is a highly dangerous, radical, rightwing ideologue, who harbors racist and homophobic views.
Her attempt to ban library books (Daddy's Roommate, per the NYT's interview with the librarian she fired for refusing to ban the book) is enough for me to throw the kitchen sink at her and I have absolutely no sympathy or empathy for any aspect of this lunatic creep.
BTW, off McCandy for a moment.
Let's discuss Todd Palin for a moment. He's the real power behind the lipstick.
Ever notice how he's ALWAYS, in every picture of either the Old Coot or McCandy at a campaign stop?
Does anyone recall seeing Tipper Gore behind Clinton at a campaign stop? Lynne Cheney behind Bush at a campaign stop?
It's bizarre and inappropriate for Todd Palin to ALWAYS be there. He's not running for office, and to my knowledge, never underwent a national security clearance yet, he has access to information that should only be privy to national candidates.
Hey libhom : Go to the JoeMyGod blog and look over all the comments under any post about Palin. Or....continue living in a fantasy world.
I don't think Palin is capable of second guessing many things!
Perhaps the GOP shouldn't have second guessed Iraq, either. What a double standard.
IS that for real, McCain called her the c word?? What a prick.
Chandira: That's why I included the link. I was shocked when I found out McCain did that, and very little that person could do would shock me.
You're absolutely right. They're treating her like a brain dead Barbie doll.