Women On Palin

Marianne Schnall has a great piece on the Huffington Post featuring several renowned women’s voices on Palin and the election. While I get frustrated by the fact that politicians and the media pretend to care about “what women want” during an election year, and then quickly dump us after we get them elected, I do appreciate hearing several women’s perspectives on important issues.

Despite what the media initially reported, women are not at all flocking to the McCain-Palin ticket just because Palin is a woman. In fact, quite the opposite is happening. Palin is driving women to speak up for what’s at stake. Several blogs have popped up featuring women against palin.

I know that some people genuinely like Sarah Palin, but is it enough to make them vote for her? As her ignorance on the issues becomes increasingly obvious, will women continue to flock to Obama or other third party candidates? Or will the fact that she performs so poorly make women feel sorry for her and rally behind her? I must admit, that after the Couric interview I have begun to feel bad for the position Palin finds herself in. The McCain campaign’s treatment of her is incredibly sexist (Free Sarah Palin!), shielding her from reporters and only using her as a pretty face for photo ops. But will women recognize the sexism and rush to support Sarah Palin? I don’t think so. She hasn’t earned it.

 

Media Blackout: McCain-Palin in Hiding

First, there’s Sarah Palin. She has yet to hold a press conference and take questions from the press. It’s been almost a month since she was anounced, her popularity is plummeting, so what are they waiting for?

Today I read this: “Palin Bans Reporters from Meetings with Leaders” (AP)

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, on Tuesday banned reporters from her first meetings with world leaders, allowing access only to photographers and a television crew.

CNN, which was providing the television coverage for news organizations, decided to pull its TV crew, effectively denying Palin the high visibility she had sought.

I’m not sure of the strategy behind this approach. Sarah Palin has only given us a few memorized lines, which continue to be repeated though they’ve been debunked as lies. It seems like you’d want to give us some new meat to chew on, some substance, so that we could form some ideas about you other than the fact that you’re a liar. Help us to move past the bridge to nowhere and the pitbull in lipstick. We have no choice but to assume that there truly is no substance behind the few, shallow details we’ve been given about Sarah Palin.

And now McCain is avoiding the media, too.

As of this writing, it has been 39 days and 22 hours since Sen. John McCain last held a news conference (despite having promised to hold weekly Q&A sessions with the press if he’s elected). According to the Democrats, it’s been 24 days and 11 hours since his running mate, Sarah Palin, held one. (WaPo)

There’s even a website to help us count.

Something very strange is happening here. The McCain campaign is shunning the media, who has consistently been his biggest ally througout the years. Seems to me that making the press angry will only encourage them to scrutinize you more, follow-up with tough questions, and maybe even try to get back at you for treating them so poorly.

Good luck, John McCain and Sarah Palin. You’re going to need it.

 

McCain Opposes Equal Pay for Women

New Obama ad features Lilly Ledbetter. If you don’t know about this remarkable woman, please read:

Of all the appalling decisions the Roberts Court issued last year, one of the worst was the 5-4 ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, which gutted the equal-pay provisions of the Civil Rights Act and overturned a decades-old employment-law precedent.

The plaintiff, Lilly Ledbetter, worked for nearly two decades at a Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden, Alabama. She brought an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint against Goodyear after she discovered that for years she had been paid less than male co-workers with the same job. The justices ruled that employees can only file a wage-discrimination complaint within 180 days of when the payroll decision was made.

Continue reading here. (TAP)

In April, John McCain skipped the vote on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, claiming that had he bothered to show up he would have opposed it. He said women need more “education and training,” and that the lawsuit “opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems.”

In his most recent change of heart, this week McCain claimed he supported equal pay for women, going as far as to say that he would take people to court who discriminated against women. Sorry, John, those women don’t have the right to pursue fair pay in court thanks to you and your colleagues. Guess who they’ll be voting for.

 

3 Ways Palin is like Bush

There are probably more than 3, but James Fallows’ piece at The Atlantic really rang true for me. He discusses three traits that Bush brings to decision-making that have been disastrous for our country.

The truly toxic combination of traits GW Bush brought to decision making was:

1) Ignorance
2) Lack of curiosity
3) “Decisiveness”

That is, he was not broadly informed to begin with (point 1). He did not seek out new information (#2); but he nonetheless prided himself (#3) on making broad, bold decisions quickly, and then sticking to them to show resoluteness.

We don’t know for sure about #2 for Palin yet — she could be a sponge-like absorber of information. But we know about #1 and we can guess, from her demeanor about #3.   Most of all we know something about the person who put her in this untenable role.

Her claim that she didn’t blink when McCain asked her to be VP scares many people. It’s admirable to be smart enough to know when you’re in over your head on something.

John Dickerson at Slate has a similar observation:

Finally, like Bush, Palin does not appear to let her unfamiliarity with the material hold her back. She was at pains throughout the interview to demonstrate her decisiveness. This makes political sense: What better way to reassure people about her ability as a leader than to look decisive?

But by repeatedly asserting that she will “not blink,” Palin was eerily Bush-like. She offered a black-and-white worldview of bold decisions made quickly and changed reluctantly for fear of showing weakness. Sound familiar?

Bush would never admit he was wrong about anything. He was so quick to jump to conclusions. What’s wrong with Palin saying that she consulted with friends and family, did some research, and then came to the conclusion she was up for the job? Her false sense of confidence despite her increasingly obvious ignorance is exactly like Bush.

Not to mention the secrecy (private email account for government business), warmongering (Russia?!), fear of science (no stem cell research, but lots of creationism), disdain for the constitution (refusing to cooperate with investigations, subpoenas), etc.

*   *   *

Dear McCain-Palin supporters,

Do you really want 4 more years of George Bush’s policies? Please help me to understand your reasoning. Are you happy with war, greed, and ignorance?

Sincerely,

Noticed

*   *   *

UPDATE: Oh, and then there’s that whole executive branch connection to Cheney. (ThinkProgress)

 

CNN Calls McCain-Palin on Their Lies

Reporters are beginning to do their jobs. When candidates repeatedly make claims that have been debunked already, they’re calling them out on these lies. Tucker Bounds has repeated his lies so often that it’s almost as if he actually believes them to be true. Sarah Palin admitted that the “thanks, but no thanks” claim is a stretch. But then she turned right around and put it back in her stump speech.

What I don’t understand is why they are lying about simple facts that are so easy to fact-check, such as whether or not Palin has been to Iraq. CNN hits the nail on the head on this one. The lies are designed to appeal to the base, who are conditioned to believe the candidates and hear what they want to hear. So their latest strategy is to bank on the fact that people are “blinded by love?”

 

Palin Ignored Rampant Rape, Domestic Abuse

Sarah Palin is the governor of the state with the highest rate of rape per capita. Rather than being part of the solution, she is part of the problem. (ABC)

Alaska leads the nation in reported forcible rapes per capita, according to the FBI, with a rate two and a half times the national average–a ranking it has held for many years. Children are no safer: Public safety experts believe that the prevalence of rape and sexual assault of minors in Alaska makes the state’s record one of the worst in the U.S. And while solid statistics on domestic violence are hard to come by, most–including Gov. Palin–agree it is an “epidemic.”

Despite the governor’s pro-family image, public safety experts and advocates for women and children struggled when asked to explain how Palin’s leadership has helped address the crisis. And current and former officials from Palin’s administration confirmed that an ambitious plan to tackle the crisis has apparently sunk into doldrums after arriving at the governor’s office.

“She’s really done a lot of work on oil and gas, but when it comes to violence against women and children. . . we haven’t been on her radar as a priority,” said Peggy Brown, executive director of the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. The Juneau-based group is an umbrella organization for shelters and anti-violence programs around the state.

By ignoring and underfunding the problem, not to mention charging women for their own rape kits, she sends a clear message to her constituents and women all over the country just how little she values our safety.

State troopers respond to most domestic violence calls outside of Alaska’s major cities, but they’re too short-staffed and under-funded to do it well, according to Robert Claus, a recently retired trooper.

“The training says you always respond to domestic violence with two people, [but] for most of my career that hasn’t been possible,” said Claus, who lives on the remote island he patrolled for 15 years. “So how do you go down the list and do what you’re supposed to do – separate the people, transport one person while taking care of the kids and victim? You have to pick and choose. We haven’t seen the money to do that.”

Why would Palin choose to be part of the problem rather than part of the solution?

• Of the 74.7% of Alaskans who have experienced or know someone who has experienced domestic violence and sexual assault, 66.5% tried to access services in their community orencouraged others to do so.

• 28.6% did not access services or encourage others to do so because there were no services available at the time. (ANDVSA)

Was she distracted by Troopergate?

Whatever the excuse, it’s not good enough. Yet another example of how “A woman candidate is not the same thing as a woman’s candidate. Sarah Palin does not speak for me.” (Buy the shirt at feministing)

 

What’s McCain Hiding About His Health?

Watch Brave New Films‘ video about the secrecy surrounding McCain’s health records and several doctors’ views about the importance of full disclosure. Sign the open letter requesting that McCain release his medical records to the public.

UPDATE: Leighton Woodhouse agrees that

John McCain’s health is the most underreported, underdebated, and underappreciated risk factor in a potential McCain presidency.

 

Promoting Loyalists: How Palin = Bush

Shortly after McCain announced Palin as his running mate he began to tout her experience as the commander-in-chief of the Alaska National Guard. But then it seemed that several people in Alaska were insisting that she didn’t actually have any authority or responsibility when it came to the Guard.

There was the pressing interview by Campbell Brown in which McCain spokesperson Tucker Bounds couldn’t name any actual national security experience Palin had.

As VetVoice reports:

Sunday 31 August 2008: Major General Craig Campbell, Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard, tells the AP that:

he and Palin play no role in national defense activities, even when they involve the Alaska National Guard. The entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.

The quote is used against Palin throughout the media for several days.

Wednesday 3 September 2008: Major General Craig Campbell does significantly more damage to Palin’s credibility in this piece in the Boston Globe:

And while the Alaska National Guard operates a launch site for a US anti-missile system at Fort Greely, about 100 miles south of Fairbanks, the Alaskan governor is not in the site’s chain of command and has no authority over its operations, according to Maj. Gen. Craig E. Campbell, the adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard who commands the roughly 3,800 state militia members.

Then all of a sudden, just 2 days after the statement above, Maj. Gen Campbell flip-flops. He goes on Fox to talk about how well Sarah Palin commands the National Guard:

National Guards are state military forces run by governors, and Sarah Palin does it great.”

Hmm…I wonder what made Campbell change his mind?

Could it be the promotion he received 2 days after his positive comments?

Lt. Gen. ( Alaska ) Craig E. Campbell, the adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard and commissioner of the Department of Military & Veterans Affairs, received his third star, signifying Governor Sarah Palin’s support of the Guard and her commitment to reinforcing the cooperation between federal and state military assets.

Palin took the opportunity to promote Campbell ahead of any pending emergency that may occur with the upcoming fall storm season. This allows Alaska to have more of a say in times of state disasters.

“This is about Alaskans serving Alaskans.  The promotion is a statement that the Alaska National Guard is the state military force responsible for responding to state issues, at the direction of the Governor,” Governor Palin said.  “The decision to promote the Adjutant General to Lieutenant General is based on a fundamental states’-rights stance, for which Alaska has a strong historical position.”

Silencing dissent. Promoting loyalists. Remind you of anyone…?

 

McCain-Palin: Extreme & Dangerous

Most Americans are pro-choice and even more support abortion rights in the case of rape or incest.

Watch this video and join the campaign to meet the real McCain/Palin, though their extreme anti-choice stances aren’t getting much play in the media. Is it any wonder, Palin is more popular among men than women?

Do we really want a President and a Vice President who are so out of touch with what the majority of Americans believe? Again?

 

Obama Blasts McCain & Media