True to form, Gloria Steinem published an Op-Ed in the LA Times today taking the Republican Party to task for trying to appease/win over women by giving Sarah Palin the VP nod:
Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing…are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president.
But…It won’t work.
Thank you! It won’t work, because we aren’t idiots. Palin and McCain together at the RNC looked like they’d never met, didn’t have a damn thing to say to each other, and betrayed what’s probably true - that there’s really no reason whatsoever for them being on the same ticket other than her posession of a pair. Of ovaries.
Steinem goes on to also call bullshit on the asshole former Hilary supporters who are now claiming that they’re going to vote for McCain/Palin “in protest”:
To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, “Somebody stole my shoes, so I’ll amputate my legs.”
Honestly, that claim from former Hilary supporters might be one of my biggest pet peeves of this election so far. First of all, it’s not a protest if only you and like five of your friends know you did it. Second of all, protesting by voting into office someone who disagrees completely with pretty much everything your precious candidate stood for (and I was a Hilary supporter, too, so nothing but love for her)? Really nice way to pay your respects. I’m sure Hilary appreciates the shit out of you.
Anyway, Steinem finally places blame where blame is due:
The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can’t tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom.
Although I would say the culprit is the entire party, who has been in the pocket of those ideologues for what, eight years or so?
2 responses so far ↓
1 Vincent Kirk // Sep 5, 2008 at 1:13 pm
You rock. And so does Steinem.
2 Lysa // Sep 8, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I think the GOP pulled a heck of a publicity stunt. Whilst the Dems were thinking “oh what a stupid way to pander to women who loved Hillary” or to women in general, I don’t think that was their intent at all. In fact, any strategist (including this armchair pundit) would see a million miles away that the Hillary supporter would never go for Palin. They KNEW that. (But they found 3 supporters, just to uphold their claims).
No, they picked this woman because no one can stop talking about her. Any news is good news so the saying goes. She’s basically the Britney Spears of the political world - will she fail? will she die? will she garner the sympathies of those who feel she’s being picked on?
Picking this woman had the opposite effect on me (an undecided, moderate woman). Instead of saying yay, great choice, I’m thinking, why are they trying so to hard to push me away?
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