Tag Archives: Sarah Palin

Clinton Aides Say Treatment of Palin is Sexist

Clinton Aides Say Treatment of Palin is Sexist.

Sarah Palin found some unlikely allies Wednesday as leading academics and even former top aides to Hillary Rodham Clinton endorsed the Republican charge that John McCain’s running mate has been subject to a sexist double standard by the news media and Democrats.

Georgetown University professor Deborah Tannen, who has written best-selling books on gender differences, said she agrees with complaints that Palin skeptics – including prominent voices in the news media – have crossed a line by speculating about whether the Alaska governor is neglecting her family in pursuit of national office.

“What we’re dealing with now, there’s nothing subtle about it,” said Tannen. “We’re dealing with the assumption that child-rearing is the job of women and not men. Is it sexist? Yes.”

Among the eyebrow-raising comments in recent days:

  • Democrat Joe Biden, in what he intended as self-deprecating remark, observed, “There’s a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent. … She’s good looking.”

  • Liberal radio host Ed Schultz used the words “bimbo alert” to refer to Palin, and the Huffington Post featured a photo montage of Palin with the headline, “Former Beauty Queen, Future VP?”

  • CNN’s John Roberts recently pondered on air: “Children with Down’s syndrome require an awful lot of attention. The role of vice president, it seems to me, would take up an awful lot of her time, and it raises the issue of how much time will she have to dedicate to her newborn child?”

“There’s no way those questions would be asked of a male candidate,” said Howard Wolfson a former top strategist for Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Barbara Risman, a leader of the Council on Contemporary Families and a sociology professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said she hoped that Palin and the uproar over her coverage would prove itself to be a cultural milestone: “I think it’s really important, from this day forward, that we all ask about every candidate’s work life and home life. It’s sexism otherwise. … We have to be careful not to ask her questions that we wouldn’t ask a male candidate.”

“The Most Macho Speech of the Evening” : The New Agenda

“The Most Macho Speech of the Evening” : The New Agenda.

“That’s what one of the CNN people called Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention tonight, and Amy Holmes, a conservative commenter for CNN said, She balanced toughness and femininity very well—something Hillary Clinton got a lot of flack for.

It’s clear from the above comments that gender is still a central issue in the campaign.

What struck me as notable tonight was my impression that she could be right here in my living room, talking to me (in fact, her accent reminds me of my Aunt Linda) and, as Anderson Cooper noted on CNN, talking to small town America was the thing that won George Bush the White House.

Average Americans will listen to her and feel like they know her, and in a way they do—she’s our neighbour, our sister, or the woman we chat with when we’re in line at the post office. We get Sarah Palin. She’s one of us. And she’s sharp, too. The speech had some funny lines. My favorite: That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.

It was a great introduction to Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential candidate.”

One of AdvancingWomen’s favorite lines was “What is the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull?  Answer: Lipstick.

Which brings to mind Eleanor Roosevelt’s famous saying:  ” A woman is like a tea bag. You don’t know how strong she is until she’s dropped in hot water.”

Another noteworthy comment was McCain’s observation, regarding Sen. Obama’s claim that he had more experience than Palin: “Sarah Palin has 24,000 employees in the state government” and was “responsible for 20 percent of the nation’s energy supply.” He added that he was entertained by the comparison of her experience to that of Mr. Obama and that “I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America.”

Sexism & Sarah Palin – WomenCount || Blog

Sexism & Sarah Palin – WomenCount || Blog.

“It started Friday afternoon with John Roberts on CNN, and then in a slow build over the weekend it became clear what the leading sexist charge would be against Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin: Is it appropriate for her to accept the vice presidential nomination given the magnitude of her current family responsibilities? …

The obvious retort is whether anyone would ask the same question of the father of a four-month-old with Down Syndrome and a pregnant teenager. We think not.

Stamping out sexism is about shifting the culture. It will be good for America to watch Sarah Palin on the campaign trail – bouncing from parenting to politics. That’s how most women function – multi-tasking, leaning on friends and family, and waking up each morning and doing it all again.”

AdvancingWomen.com thinks the media should stand down from their sexist harassment and disparagement of VP Nominee Sarah Palin. We are in complete agreement with WomenCount that “It is important to distinguish between the broader issue of sexism and the ideology of an individual.” It is irrelevant whether Palin is conservative or progressive on social issues and values. This is America.  Palin has every right to put forth her candidacy and make her case. Whether we choose to vote for her or not is each person’s choice.  But it should be every woman’s choice to defend Palin’s right to take the public stage and not have to endure a barrage of sexist criticism and gender biased innuendo.  Until the day comes when a women can enter the political arena and participate on a level playing field, every woman should say “What they did to Hillary Clinton, what they are doing to Sarah Palin, they do to me as well.”  So, to those in the media who, like Rip Van Winkle, may have slept through the women’s movement, wake up!  Time to move on and be fair to all of us.

THE NEW AGENDA to Serve as Watch Dog for Women Candidates

The New Agenda (www.thenewagenda.net), a non-partisan women’s rights advocacy group with men and women members nationwide, recognizes the history making selection of Governor Sarah Palin as Senator John McCain’s running mate. As Governor Palin hits the campaign trail, The New Agenda members will serve as watch dogs monitoring news coverage and statements by political pundits, campaign surrogates and other commentators for any sexist bias.

“We cannot and will not sit idly by while another qualified candidate goes through what Senator Hillary Clinton had to endure. Issues are fair game. Sexist treatment is no longer fair game,” said Amy Siskind, a co-founder of The New Agenda.

The New Agenda members are monitoring the airwaves, blogs, and print reports for derogatory language, misogynist attacks, and denigrating statements. The New Agenda will respond swiftly against any perpetrators of such attacks.

“Our members were outraged that within 24 hours of Governor Palin’s historic candidacy she was dismissed as “tokenism,” she was referred to as a “MILF” (mother I’d like to f*uck), and chuckling male commentators said:” The only thing she didn’t say was who needs some pie I baked this morning?” added Siskind.

The New Agenda members are committed to promoting women’s leadership and ensuring that women candidates are treated with the respect they deserve. We are confident that the media, the campaigns, and campaign surrogates can turn this historic election into one we can look back on with pride.

For more information contact:

newagendapress@yahoo.com

Unity Deferred – Can You Cross Out ‘Hillary’ and Write ‘Sarah’? – NYTimes.com

Unity Deferred – Can You Cross Out ‘Hillary’ and Write ‘Sarah’? – NYTimes.com.

“It turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet!” That was Sarah Palin, the Republican governor of Alaska, as Senator John McCain introduced her to the country as his vice-presidential nominee. “We can shatter that glass ceiling!” she proclaimed.

What’s a woman to do? Or at least, the woman who so badly wanted to see a woman in the White House?

Democrats, who make up the party that has long claimed the bigger pool of up-and-coming women, were quick to dismiss Ms. Palin as not experienced enough to be a heartbeat from the presidency. Mrs. Clinton’s supporters will never back her, they insisted, because she is against abortion rights.

Not. So. Fast.

That underestimated, or at least underappreciated, the raw feelings of many Clinton supporters, and particularly the women among them, despite the almost flawless display of harmony in Denver.

At the very least, Ms. Palin’s selection unleashes gender as a live issue again, just when Democrats thought they had it under control. (This might not be a bad time for Mr. Obama to reconsider that question of retiring Mrs. Clinton’s campaign debt.)

“This puts the issue back on center stage,” said Debbie Walsh, the director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. “There are going to be some really fascinating conversations that are going to come up around gender, in some ways that nobody expected.”

“It’s not about being bitter for Hillary,” she said. Still, “I think the Democratic Party took women for granted in the primary, they didn’t step on sexism when they should have, and I can’t support them.”

Yes, they said, they were troubled by Ms. Palin’s opposition to abortion rights. But Ms. Hoover said she felt betrayed by pro-choice groups, and in particular politicians like Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who were helped into office by pro-choice groups like Emily’s List but came out early to support Mr. Obama over Mrs. Clinton, despite her being the first viable pro-choice woman to run for president.

Ms. Hoover has stopped giving to Emily’s List as a result. “It doesn’t make sense to me that, frankly, Emily’s List didn’t hold them accountable for having been elected on that platform but then not supporting that platform,” she said. “The setback for the pro-choice movement is almost deserved.”

Introducing Sarah Palin, Presumptive Republican Vice Presidential Nominee

Introducint Sarah Palin

Introducinf Sarah Palin

Introducing Sarah Palin -  current Governor of Alaska, and the presumptive Republican vice presidential candidate for the November 2008 election.[1] She is the second female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major American political party (the first was Geraldine Ferraro), first Republican.

Energy Issues

Palin’s tenure is noted for her independence from big oil companies, while still promoting resource development.[10][9] Palin has announced plans to create a new sub-cabinet group of advisors, to address climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within Alaska.[19]

Social Issues

Palin is strongly pro-life and belongs to Feminists for Life.[12] She opposes same-sex marriage, but she has stated that she has gay friends and is receptive to gay and lesbian concerns about discrimination.[12] While the previous administration did not implement same-sex benefits, Palin complied with a state Supreme Court order and signed them into law.[32]

Budget

In the first days of her administration, Palin followed through on a campaign promise to sell the Westwind II jet purchased (on a state government credit account) by the Murkowski administration. The state placed the jet for sale on eBay three times. In August 2007, the jet was sold for $2.7 million.[40]

Shortly after becoming governor, Palin canceled an 11-mile (18-kilometer) gravel road outside of Juneau to a mine. This reversed a decision made in the closing days or hours of the Murkowski Administration.[41]

In June 2007, Palin signed into law the largest operating budget in Alaska’s history ($6.6 billion).[42] At the same time, she used her veto power to make the second-largest cuts of the construction budget in state history. The US$237 million in cuts represented over 300 local projects, and reduced the construction budget to nearly US$1.6 billion.[43]