Bill O’Reilly Can’t Use Teh Google?

Courtney Martin, of the Women’s Media Center and Feministing, took on Bill O’Reilly yesterday. In his segment, he defended his comments against journalist Helen Thomas, but quickly got off topic. O’Reilly accused women’s groups of staying silent on the issue of sexism against Sarah Palin, arguing they were hypocrites for only recognizing sexism against women whose politics they agree with.

Now, if Mr. O’Reilly had taken just 10 seconds to google his guest Courtney Martin, he would have found that not only has she spoken out against the sexism Sarah Palin faced, she even called out Bill-O himself for sexist comments regarding Ms. Palin.

Shakesville has a list of over 25 examples of Sarah Palin sexism. The Women’s Media Center also ran pieces covering sexism against Sarah Palin, including this one from Campbell Brown on CNN.

O’Reilly says that if Martin in fact did speak out against the sexism that Sarah Palin faced, he would apologize. We won’t hold our feminist breath. But seriously, do some research on your guests. What you’re doing is not journalism.

 

Where Are the Female Ah-Nolds?

Marie Cocco (Alternet) argues that unlike California’s governator, women “will never burst into high political office without a lick of experience.” She also notes that experienced women don’t do much better.

The glass ceiling remains firmly in place — not cracked, as Hillary Clinton insisted as she tried to claim rhetorical victory after her defeat in the Democratic nominating contest. It wasn’t even scratched with the candidacy of Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee — unless you consider becoming an object of national ridicule to be a symbol of advancement. As divergent as these two women are ideologically and temperamentally, as different as are their resumes, they both banged their heads — hard — against the ceiling. Both were bruised. So was the goal of advancing women in political leadership.

Continue reading here.

Women make up seventeen percent of our Congress. 17. That’s not even halfway to half way.

Marie Cocco concludes:

Yet American women are a majority of the population and a majority of the electorate. They earn more than half the bachelor’s and master’s degrees, a level of educational achievement far exceeding that of women in developing countries. There must be some reason we don’t do any better than women in impoverished, rural regions of the world where cultural norms oppress women.

Maybe it is because our culture isn’t so different after all.

 

Vote Pro-Choice

Check out NARAL Pro-Choice America’s great new get-out-the-pro-choice-vote ad!

Still undecided? Read more about McCain and Palin’s disregard for women’s health. And John McCain’s extreme anti-choice record.

Read more about Obama on reproductive health issues.

And finally, VOTE!

 

Palin Doesn’t Know If Abortion Clinic Bombers Terrorists

Perhaps she was following McCain’s lead.

On multiple occasions throughout his career, McCain sought to limit the government’s ability to punish violent anti-choice fanatics by:

– Voting against making anti-choice violence a federal crime. As the Jed Report notes, McCain voted in 1993 and 1994 against making “bombings, arson and blockades at abortion clinics, and shootings and threats of violence against doctors and nurses who perform abortions” federal crimes.

– Opposing Colorado’s “Bubble Law.” McCain said he opposed Colorado’s “Bubble Law,” which prohibited abortion protesters from getting within 8 feet of women entering clinics [Denver Post, 2/27/00]. The law was later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

– Voting to allow those fined for violence at clinics to avoid penalties by declaring bankruptcy. NARAL Pro-Chioce America notes that McCain “voted to allow perpetrators of violence or harassment at reproductive-health clinics to avoid paying the fines assessed against them for their illegal acts by declaring bankruptcy.”   (ThinkProgress)

I am apalled by McCain and Palin’s ignorance. They have run a disgusting campaign that condones and encourages hateful speech, and now hateful action. Many people have died due to abortion clinic violence and these acts should be recognized and prosecuted for what they are, acts of terrorism. Palin said it herself in this clip, “harming innocent Americans…would be unacceptable.” Yet her unwillingness to call this violence what it is makes me question whether she believes the rule of law should protect all people equally, even those of us who disagree with her extreme anti-choice ideology.

 

Ellen Responds to Sarah Palin

With humor and sincerity, as always…

I don’t know if you saw this, but vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin said she’s in favor of a federal ban on gay marriage. Basically, she wants to change the constitution. So if you’re wondering — I’m sure you are — how I feel about this, I don’t like it. I don’t like it. I don’t agree. … And I don’t know what people are scared of. Maybe they think that their children will be influenced, and I got to say — I was raised by two heterosexuals and they did not influence me.

If you live in California, please vote no on proposition 8!

 

Wasilla Project: Rape Kit Controversy

From The Wasilla Project, this video is the first of a four-part series.

Media Matters’ Eric Boehlert also discusses how the rape kit controversy has not been de-bunked, contrary to what some in the mainstream media would have you believe.

In fact, Palin had a direct role in charging rape victims for exams.

Stay tuned…

 

I Don’t Know People Like This

They really don’t seem to like questions.

The Sarah Palin mob: thanks to blogger interrupted

 

More Hate in the Gutter

Now I know the McCain campaign has become desperate. They are getting slammed on the economy, so they’ve resorted to a last ditch attempt to smear Obama’s character. A few things about that: 1) the Wright/Ayers/terrorist claims are old and tired, 2) they promised to run a clean, respectful campaign, so they just look like pitiful liars, and 3) these smears only work with people who were already voting for McCain.

Today they seem to be reaching out to this voter, and others like him. It’s sad. But at some point we must draw the line.

So today at a rally in Florida, when Sarah Palin started talking about Barack Obama someone in the crowd yelled “kill him!” Seriously? I hope that person got singled out by the Secret Service and questioned, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

Is that really how you want to win? And is this really someone we’re going to elect President? Someone who stands by while his fellow American, his fellow colleague from the Senate gets called a “terrorist” and he says nothing. A man who has his own questionable associations, but allows his running mate to accuse Obama of ‘palling around with terrorists.’ Come on, now. We deserve better than that. And our grandchildren, who are going to inherit this mess that this kind of shamelessness created, deserve better than that.

 

Palin Misquotes Albright: Damns Most Women to Hell

Today at a rally in California, Sarah Palin managed yet another misquote of a famous source. This one came off of her Starbucks cup (otherwise she probably wouldn’t have known who Madeleine Albright was).

The statement came after Palin had recounted a “providential” moment she experienced on Saturday: “I’m reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, okay? The quote of the day… It was Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State [crowd boos] and UN ambassador. … Now she said it, I didn’t. She said, ‘There’s a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t support other women.'” (HuffPo)

But that’s not what Albright said. The actual quote is, “There’s a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t help other women.” So she was only one word off, and some might argue that ‘support’ isn’t too different from ‘help,’ right? Maybe, but do you really want to suggest to the women on the fence that you believe they should be damned to Hell if they don’t vote for you? And is she suggesting that women should vote solely based on her gender and not on the issues that are important to us? Someone should tell her that she’s pushing independent women toward Barack Obama.

Madeleine Albright responded:

“Though I am flattered that Governor Palin has chosen to cite me as a source of wisdom, what I said had nothing to do with politics. This is yet another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth, and all the more reason to remember that this campaign is not about gender, it is about which candidate has an agenda that will improve the lives of all Americans, including women. The truth is, if you care about the status of women in our society and in our troubled economy, the best choice by far is Obama-Biden.” (HuffPo)

 

Joe Sixpack is a Woman

…and I’m not talking about Sarah Palin.

We seem to be using this generic term to refer to the “common voter,” like John Q. Public or Jane Doe.

But we are forgetting that more women than men have voted in every election since 1964. So why is it that when politicians try to associate themselves with the average voter, they don’t acknowledge that she’s a woman?

Women are not a special interest group; we are the majority! And on election day, we show up.

Women Voters in the U.S. by Kellyanne Conway