Yesterday I was in the presence of the "Life of the Party" — not Diddy or Lohan, it was the name of the convention event for the Republican National Coalition for Life. Expecting keynote speaker Sarah Palin, who'd been booked long prior to her ticket selection (Right to Life has its finger on the pulse?) the group sampled the ham carving station, bopped to the oompah-oompah band, and made short work of the notion that Sarah Palin's recent announcement that her daughter is pregnant has anything to do with her fitness to be Vice President. This group is fiercely Right to Palin, all the way.
According to my tablemates, the choice of Palin has galvanized the party in a way no other choice would have. That notion was solidified by the line up of speakers which included legendary ERA opponent Phyllis Schlafly (who at 80-something looks incredible. She sat on the edge of the stage before the event, graciously taking pictures with everyone and couldn't have been nicer.)
Phyllis announced that Palin wasn't able to attend, but that she had a surprise replacement: Laura Ingraham. Ingraham commanded the stage and made a pointed case for Palin to the cheers of the crowd. To see what she said, read more.
In regard to the notion that Palin isn't popular, Ingraham said, "The people who know her best, give her an 80 to 90 percent approval rating on a regular basis."
And she furiously went after the recent media coverage of Palin saying,
You think a certain way, because the people who have all these stamps on their passports who are so much smarter than we are, if you believe those things. . . what we see now is all these journalists, and all these people on the left — boosters of the Obama campaign — which is pretty much everyone at MSNBC. . . they're all for equal rights for women aren't they? Women who weren't aborted. They're for women's empowerment, and for women succeeding in men's professions. Oh, really? Then why, oh why, are you treating this woman, Sarah Palin, like dirt?
She concluded to the roaring crowd, "If Sarah Palin were pro-choice, there would be no articles on the front page of the New York Times. . . There's no bigger threat to the elites in this country than a woman who's strong and who knows her conservative convictions."
Not everyone in the room was in favor of the message — see what happened when a Code Pink protester took the stage with the legendary Phyllis Schlafly. Watch two seconds into the video as tiny dynamo Phyllis slams down the mic so the woman can't be heard. Everyone around me yesterday dug that move. The crowd then burst into spontaneous song, "God Bless America," while the protester was swiftly dispatched.
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After the second group of protesters hit later on in the program Phyllis said, "Well! They don't have an argument so they just have to make a scene."
What do you make of Laura and Phyllis' arguments?
Liz Carine
Pearce ll Fionda
Hogan
I'm guessing one of the regular commentators on Citizen got out for the day.
1well i think that she has her points, and they can be valid to some extent but i think that sometimes she's a bit too extreme for me.
she is right - that if Palin were pro-choice instead, then there wouldn't be so much hype around her - people would be a bit more accepting about things - but that's not the case. Palin's holding her position and that's at least staying true to her beliefs - VP candidacy or not.
i have to say though that i don't feel like they are fully treating Palin 'like dirt' - the 'other side' that is. i think that they are raising points that are debatable about her - in the same manner that they could do for Biden - yet no one's choosing to do that yet. i think that it's still too early in the campaign for anyone to really throw the punches that they are - but it's better to get it started now then to think that you've got smooth sailing and then get whacked over the head. i think that something will be said against the Obama team, it's just not happening right now since there's more to talk about with Palin.
2She thinks if a daughter of a political figure publicly announced her choice to have an abortion, she'd be applauded? "Hailed"? People who are pro-choice do not celebrate abortions. I don't think this kind of dialogue is productive.
3The Pro-choicer in me is not enthused. That's "awesome" launching into "God Bless America" while shutting down opposing views...YIPPEE for American.
And I agree torgleson, no one celebrates abortion, it's the celebration of having the right to CHOOSE. Oh, and apparently weak willed women are the ones that opt for the choice of abortion. No matter what side you are one, both decisions are tough, hard, and strong-minded.
4"They're for women's empowerment, and for women succeeding in men's professions. Oh, really? Then why, oh why, are you treating this woman, Sarah Palin, like dirt?"
BECAUSE SHE HAS JUST BEEN HANDED THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE NEXT IN LINE FOR THE PRESIDENCY, AND NO ONE KNOWS WHO SHE IS, NOT EVEN MCCAIN.
When women use "sexism" when it DOES NOT APPLY, it is a form of CRYING WOLF.
5It lessens the impact and perceived credibility of women who raise the alarm in the future.
I don't think wanting to know more about this woman and her credentials is a form of sexism. Biden didn't get this same treatment because most people are familiar with him, it is only logical. People have known him for 30 years. McCain met with her 1 time before making his choice.
There are plenty of other ways to express opposing views. How does disrupting and intruding on someone's conference do that?
6I don't agree with person who made the disruption, it's their party and their convention!
But I also don't agree with blanket, generic accusations of sexism that don't apply.
7"OPPORTUNITY TO BE NEXT IN LINE FOR THE PRESIDENCY, AND NO ONE KNOWS WHO SHE IS" - Swap out She for He and we're talking about Obama at this point last year.
And McCain knew about her baggage before he selected her, so I don't know why you say that he doesn't know her. Though I suppose if you think that one's personal life should be a consideration in whether or not they get a job, then we'll have to retract a whole lot of equal opportunity laws and reform all of politics as a whole.
Wanting to know more about who Palin is and what her credentials are is not sexism, that is right. However if you've read even 1/3 of the comments on ANY Palin thread in the last 5 days you'll notice that barely ANY comments are in regard to qualifications as a POLITICIAN, they are only in regard to her qualifications as a MOTHER. THAT is SEXIST.
Unless we want to start a dialogue about what a bad father Obama must be for putting his childern in the spotlight by featuring them in People magazine, US Weekley, and bringing them onstage.
8In fact, I think you'd be hard pressed to find news outlets covering Palin's qualifications to be VP. The seem to be focusing only on her qualifications as a mother. That is sexism.
9You're right Brendel, she didn't need to disrupt, I guess I just didn't like that the crowds burst into God Bless America, when clearly it should have been Ray Charles' America The Beautiful...I mean, this is after all a crowd of ladies
10"I think you'd be hard pressed to find news outlets covering Palin's qualifications to be VP. The seem to be focusing only on her qualifications as a mother."
I disagree with this so strongly!!!!!!!
What channels have you been watching?
Saying she was mayor of a city that only has 6,600 people in it is not sexist.
11Saying that she governed a state that only has 600,000 people in it for less than 2 years, is not sexist.
Seriously Jill?? I mean, REALLY? What channels have YOU been watching? You are honestly trying to say that the media hasn't been focused on Palin's family since her nomination was announced?
Those last 2 statements are not sexist that is correct, but those aren't the statements the media is trying to push. They are pushing her personal life... I mean geez, I even heard a pundit on CNN ask point blank "Don't you think she should be home with her Down Syndrome baby?"
And thats not sexist????
12"Swap out She for He and we're talking about Obama at this point last year."
That is an incorrect comparison. Obama had already co-authored and passed Nuclear Non-Proliferation legislation. Has Palin handled an International arms race before?????
Obama helped pass legislation that gave healthcare to 150,000 children, Ethics Reform, President of the Harvard Law Review (Keep in mind that 6 SUPREME COURT justices came from this group.) Has Palin ever been apart of such an esteemed group of Constitutional experts, people who are at the experts at the way our country works and the laws that govern us?
Illinois has 20 times the number of people Alaska does.
Not to mention, she has a BIG earmarks record (more than a $1000 worth of earmarks for every person in her town!). She was FOR the Bridge to Nowhere. She is under an ethics investigation. She sent to Sen. Ted. Stevens a proposal this year for 31 earmarks totaling $197 million — more, per person, than any other state.
It is not sexist to question her credentials.
13>Swap out She for He and we're talking about Obama at this point last year.
But since then he's been on every news outlet every day. I don't thin at this point anyone can reasonably say we don't know enough about Obama. I think I know more about him than I know about my own mother.
Regarding news outlets focusing on Palin as a mother, it seems like blogs and people who comment on blogs are focusing on it. Real news coverage is better. I heard Robert Siegel take five minutes just to get McCain's communications director to say if Palin had ever even been out of the country yesterday afternoon. (She has visited Alaska National Guard troops in Germany and Kuwait and has also visited Ireland.)
14I think the experience point is mute right now anyways. John McCain has loads of experience, Barack Obama does not. Thats why he picked Biden. So if McCain wants Palin, then I say fine. Its a more even playing field now more than ever.
Though lets not forget that Palin has more executive experience than anyone else on either tickets, meaning that she was the one who ultimately has to make the final choice that affect people in her constituency immediately. She never got to vote "Present" over 100 times.
15I don't think people asking if she should be at home with her child is appropriate, but that is not what I have been hearing the most about.
James Carville held up a picture on CNN of the "town hall" where she was mayor. He said it looked like a bait shop in Louisiana, it was very small and appeared to be in a strip mall.
The woman who was on the panel with him said, "that is sexist".
That is the kind of response that I have been seeing a lot. Anytime people talk about her qualifications they are told it is sexism.
16I saw that, too, Jill! It was so weird.
Carville: Palin doesn't have any experience with national issues or foreign policy
Strange Lady: That is demeaning to women! Demeaning to women!
Carville: wtf?
I saw an interesting comparison of the town of Wasilla and the state of Alaska to Obama's campaign. Obama's campaign has like 100 times the employees, 100 times the budget. It's not really a substantive argument regarding "executive experience," but it was interesting.
17I am from a town of 600,000 people. We were considered to be small.
Her whole state had 600,000 people in it. To me, "executive experience" DOES vary with location. If you take the mayor of Miami, yes, I am sure they had a lot of work to do with very serious issues. But the fact that her "executive decisions" impacted less than 1 million people for less than 2 years, I would say that there are probably a lot of executive experiences she hasn't had yet.
And if she was so qualified, why would McCain be touting her experience of being "commadner in chief" to the Alaskan National Guard? That is NOT the Governor's job. That is an appointed position, which was appointed before she came into office.
According to Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, adjutant general of the Alaska National Guard, the entire operation is under federal control, and the governor is not briefed on situations.
18No one is arguing Jill that its sexist to critique her credentials, I mean read my commenst will you?
Nuclear Proliferation is the only bill Obama every authored and its brought up constantly as this sort of be all end all factoid that somehow justifies him to be president. I disagree. One bill does not make you have "handled an arms race".
Ethics reform? Really? Palin's own husband quit his job at BP when she started to govern because of the conflict of interest. Conversely, Michelle Obama got a 130% raise when her husband passed legislation that would give her hospital more money. Obama also sought 3.4 million dollars of earmarks for clients of Joe Biden's lobbyist son.
Palin doesn't NEED to be a part of your so-called esteem experts because she actually DOES what is constitutional without considering her own politics. She has vetoed legislation in Alaska becuase it was unconstitutional even if she AGREED with it. To me, ACTIONS speak much, much louder than WORDS.
And if population is so important to you as a qualification, then you should have voted for HRC since I think NY state has a higher poulation that IL.
As for earmarks - In his first three years, Obama requested nearly $1 billion in earmarks -- that's more than 34 times the number of earmarks Palin secured for Wasilla.
19Hey at least she's actually DONE something with/for the military! She even managed to visit them when she was in Germany... instead of going shopping in Berlin.
20I just don't understand how Romney wouldn't have been a better pick for the fight of moderate voters. I understand taking a chance on someone you KNOW, but he met her once before offering her the job! That just seems so rash to me. I have seen Administrative Assistants go through a more challenging interview process.
21We can sit here and argue about this all day but we'll never agree. You'll copy and paste things, I'll copy and paste things, but at the end of the day, your opinion won't change and neither will mine.
I think questioning her qulifications is always a fair question, as it is with Obama. But perhaps I find it less important in VP than a President.
But again, we'll never agree so lets have some coffee!!
22Hey Romney was my pick!
23"Palin doesn't NEED to be a part of your so-called esteem experts because she actually DOES what is constitutional without considering her own politics"
Really? Why is she under investigation for ETHICS VIOLATIONS then?
24i suppose he doesn't have the joie de vivre that Palin has!
25Laura Ingraham :shudder: Scary stuff...
26Can you name politicians who haven't been under investigation ever?
Troopergate is such BS and remember this is AMERICA where you are INNOCENT until proven guilty. Remember? If that was part of a pattern of behavior, that would be one thing, but its clearly not so I'm fully confident that she will be found innocent.
27Oh, here's the video! Carville and Congresswoman Botwin from Minnesota (she was onstage at the RNC last night, in the yellow dress)
Carville's actual comment is that his problem with Palin is "not what kind of mother she is and not what her values are,it's that she's uniquely and supremely unqualified for the office which they've selected her to run for and it's kind of unfair to her.
She protests about how demeaning to women that is (huh?) and then says some stuff about Palin putting on her own coat instead of riding coattails (also huh?).
When Carville says, "Let me explain..." she says "Thanks for explaining to me...do you think that I'm less than intelligent, too?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rj2dMb6fecY
28>If that was part of a pattern of behavior, that would be one thing, but its clearly not so I'm fully confident that she will be found innocent.
But it is! She also fired the director of the library and the police chief in Wasilla for "not supporting her fully" or something.
29And lets not forget that the guy accusing Palin of using her governorship to fire him had a record of wrongdoings and tried to kill his father in law and tasered his own stepson.
So I'm gonna go ahead and say that I'd put my money on him being in the wrong.
30Torg I have not heard that from anywhere, where are you getting that info?
31I work for a small municipality - less that 10,000 people - cleaning house by a new mayor is nothing new. Not here and I would bet not anywhere. The Sheriff does it, the mayor does it. Not a new concept.
32To me Palin has two things going against her. One, preaching abstinence for everyone else while your own daughter gets pregnant. I don't care that her daughter is pregnant, but if you're preaching personal responsibility and the necessity of keeping your legs closed to other people's children and can't enforce it in your own family you don't really believe your own propaganda. Or you should stop telling people that "abstinence works". And please don't tell me this was planned. If it were, they would have gotten married first. Second, she was in a beauty contest. I know that sounds sexist, but by the same token if Obama were a male model I would feel the same way. It just shows such a weird value system based on superficiality and, well, pure sexism. I think having a VP who tried to win a contest where she was judged on her ability to look pretty is embarrassing. It's also something I'd expect from the Italian parliament, not the second most powerful person in the world.
I thank you.
33And I would have done anything to get that guy fired too. He does not deserve to wear a badge. So if it turns out that she did pull strings to have that child abuser fired - good for her. Makes me like her more.
34http://www.adn.com/sarah-palin/story/510219.html
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1837918,00.html?imw=Y
http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=9003
35I posted links, but they were flagged. In the meantime, search Palin, Library, and Police on google news and find plenty of info (from reputable news sources like the Alaskan Daily News and Time, not liberal blogs.)
36Also the problems and investigation into the fired trooper started a year before she was elected governor.
This guy had a history of abuses including racism, illegal hunting, tasering the kid, and wasting govt resources. All of these were under investigation before Palin was even elected.
And lets not forget that the source of the complaint is the guy that Palin beat out for office.
37torg - will do!
and rac - she used the money from the beauty contest to pay for college. so i don't fault her for that, there are much much worse ways to pay for college.
38I was talking to my friend who is an "undecided" voter (though in my mind, is leaning more towards McCain), and she's said that she doesn't see anything regarding Palin's qualifications as a mother...just keeps hearing about her inexperience as a VP candidate. I agree with her...I don't think I've seen anything relating to her qualities as a mother (or a "bad mother", if that's how some people are portraying her?). I guess I'll have to wait for those "STAY AT HOME AND TAKE CARE OF YOUR KIDS!" signs aimed at Palin, akin to those "IRON MY SHIRTS" signs that Hillary got to see.
39"I don't care that her daughter is pregnant, but if you're preaching personal responsibility and the necessity of keeping your legs closed to other people's children and can't enforce it in your own family you don't really believe your own propaganda. Or you should stop telling people that "abstinence works". And please don't tell me this was planned."
Amen, rac. Also, don't tell me McCain knew about Bristol's pregnancy all along. Puh-leeeeeeeze.
40When the Palin pick was first announced I wasn't too happy because I always though the best argument against Obama is his lack of experience. And we kind of just threw that away.
I dunno, I saw some pollster guy saying last night that the American people tend to build behind the underdog and that all of this intense scrutiny over Palin could end up backfiring and getting McCain/Palin elected because the public percieves that they are being treated unfairly.
AND! I saw a dem. strategist say that she thought that 30% of the clinton voters will pick McCain because of the Palin pick! I thought that was pretty shockinG!
41I like that she's a mother, personally.
42em why would you think that mccain wouldn't know? i mean if palin knew i think she would have told him because it would have come out eventually and i'm sure she would have wanted to be sure that mccain would be on her side when it did come out. i don't think she would have recklessly put her child in that position you know?
43I just don't think that McCain would have picked her due to the media scandal (which is so UGH, btw...seriously) that came out because of Bristol's pregnancy. Like, say Obama was going to pick John Edwards for his running mate, and one week later, the story about his alleged "love child" breaks. If Obama had said that he knew that all along, I would have called BS on him, also. Different examples, I know, but I just don't know if McCain would have picked her had he known that she would be showing up on the cover of US Weekly (again, barf). I also don't really think she would have put her child in a reckless position, but the timing kind of sucks for her daughter and I feel badly that she has to deal with something so personal under such a huge magnifying glass.
44"When women use "sexism" when it DOES NOT APPLY, it is a form of CRYING WOLF.
It lessens the impact and perceived credibility of women who raise the alarm in the future.
I don't think wanting to know more about this woman and her credentials is a form of sexism."
Thank You Jillness! Every time I watch the news lately and some one questions Palin's record or experience, somebody else jumps in and says, "You're being sexist!" Really, if that's the best you can do to defend Palin, you need a new talking points memo.
I don't know if anybody else has noticed this, but on the news, I've been noticing that the same pundits who made outrageously sexist remarks about Hillary are the same who jump to defend Palin by declaring "Sexism!" Just an observation.
45I dont know, on the one hand I see what you're saying Em. But on the other hand, if he had selected her before he knew this news and then went to her to offer her the job and she told him about this pregnancy and he recinded it, that wouldn't be right. What kind of message does that send? Because it probably would have come out eventually.
So in a way, I kind of respect his dedications to selecting who he thinks is right for the job regardless of personal life and his loyalty to those he wants to serve with.
I dunno. I'm split!
46Haha, I hear you, cab. It's a complicated issue.
(Oh, and off-topic, but I was flipping back and forth between the RNC and Food Network last night. I thought of you because Alton Brown was making chiffon cupcakes. Mmmmmmmm.
)
47I made these dark choclate cinnamon scented cupcakes on Monday. The recipe said you should use almond icing, but I dipped them in chocolate ganache instead..... oh man, that recipe is a keeper!
48That sounds absolutely delicious, cab. Everything's better when dipped in ganache.
You're killing me with that description!
49rac: Abstinence is the only sure form of birth control (and STD prevention). I'm sure Bristol was taught that. However, like any other form, it isn't foolproof.
Palin used scholarship funds to pay for her education. Obama took out student loans. I don't consider either option more or less moral or righteous than the other.
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