Kids Are Off Limits: Political Hypocrisy?

The kids are "off limits". That's what we've been told when it comes to the election, but I don't agree. I think that the kids should be off limits, but they most certainly are not. I agree that the media should mind their own business when it comes to the candidate's children or other private family matters, but it is unfair for the candidates to say that their kids are off limits, while simultaneously exploiting them.

If the media is not allowed to criticize Sarah Palin because her 17 year old daughter Bristol got pregnant, then Palin (and the rest of her party) should not be allowed to parade her around praising her decision to choose life. I don't care if Bristol is pregnant. It will not influence my vote whatsoever in either direction. I do not think that Bristol's pregnancy makes Sarah Palin a bad mother or bad candidate. Although I do think it's interesting, considering Palin's stance on abstinence only sex education. I also do not think that the fact that Bristol chose life (or, you know, her mother chose for her) makes her a good role model or her mother a good mother or good candidate. I do question parents who would let their teenage child get married so young, pregnant or otherwise (although it's not exactly clear when Bristol and her baby daddy Levi Johnston will tie the knot so that point may not be valid).

If the media is not allowed to publicly scrutinize candidates' children, then the candidates should not be allowed to parade them around as photo opportunities and little campaign props. I cringe every time I see the Palin family pass that poor baby around like they're playing hot potato. He's four months old... he should be home asleep with one of their nannies, not at the Republican National Convention. If Palin is allowed to brag about her son Track's military enlistment, why can't the media talk about his arrest for vandalism? (Or the suggestion that he only enlisted as an alternative to jail time. I'm dying to find proof on this one, so if any of our readers have it, please let us know!) And while we're on the subject, I think the fact that he enlisted on September 11 is just completely ridiculous and offensive on so many Giuliani levels.

Now the mistakes of a candidate's children do not necessarily mean he or she isn't a good parent and it has almost nothing to do with his or her qualification to hold public office. However, the same is true of their accomplishments. If Sarah Palin wants to take credit for Bristol "choosing life", then she has to take credit for Bristol getting knocked up in the first place. If Bristol's out-of-wedlock pregnancy is not our business, then she and her boyfriend should not be having photo ops with John McCain.

You could almost make the argument that Sarah Palin is being selfish and being a bad parent merely for running for Vice President. I am not one of those people who thinks that a woman shouldn't have a career just because she has kids. Although the vice presidency is a little more than just a "career" and I do worry about any parent handling that workload with an infant, let alone a special needs infant, regardless of whether that parent is male or female. I think it's perfectly fine if Sarah Palin's husband, Todd, decides to become a stay-at-home-dad or if the Palins hire a ton of nannies. But one does have to question what kind of parent can thrust their children into the limelight while they're dealing with the stress of being a pregnant teen. You'd think that a decent parent would want to spare their children the stress and invasion that comes with being the children of a presidential/vice presidential candidate. Not to say that candidates shouldn't have kids, but Bristol is in a totally different situation than past political kids have been in. I do think that by parading Bristol and Levi around, instead of actually giving them the privacy everyone says they deserve, Palin is putting her political career before her daughter's well-being.

I was watching Bill Maher's show recently and he brought up something to ponder... What if it was Barack Obama who was parading around his unmarried, pregnant teenage daughter and her boyfriend? How hard-core would the Republicans bash him for that? They might criticize him for glamorizing teen pregnancy. There'd definitely be talk about his stance on sex education. They would likely be making claims about his inability to control his children, let alone the country (not unlike how it was suggested that Hillary Clinton couldn't run the country if she couldn't even control her husband). Any conservative who claims none of that would happen (at least somewhat) is a damn liar. I will go on record as saying that.

Sean Hannity recently made the claim that there is a "general rule that children of candidates ought to be left alone" and said "I don't remember Chelsea Clinton being attacked". Um, what? You don't remember that? I sure do. I remember John McCain making a crude joke about why a teenaged Chelsea Clinton was "so ugly". Chelsea was also called a "dog" at age 13 by Rush Limbaugh and more recently MSNBC correspondent David Shuster suggested she was being "pimped out". (Basically Chelsea wasn't off-limits during her father's presidency and she wasn't off-limits during her mother's campaign either, so um, Sean Hannity, fuck you).

So I say to the candidates, yes, your kids should be off-limits... but if you yourself are going to bring them into the spotlight and exploit them for your own benefits, then all bets are off and we can say whatever the hell we want about them. I still don't think we should just be blatantly cruel (you know, like John McCain was to Chelsea) but we should be allowed to refute the squeaky-clean "super family" facade that the candidates put forth to strengthen their public image, if they aren't actually 100% true.

I think there's been too much hypocrisy in this campaign already.

Women Speak at the RNC

When we did our Women Speak at the DNC, we just presented the videos with very little commentary, so we're going to do the same here. Totally obvious disclaimer - posting a video of a speech doesn't mean that we agree with all (or any!) of the views expressed in that speech.


Laura Bush




Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP




Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay




Anne Beiler, Founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels




Representative Mary Fallin of Oklahoma




Captain Leslie Smith, Army (Ret.)




Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle




Cindy McCain




Sarah Palin




You can also check out itunes, which has audio and video of a lot of the DNC and RNC speeches in their podcast section.

Why I Should Be Vice President

A lot of people keep giving us all these reasons why Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice President and then a lot of other people are giving all these reasons why she isn't qualified to be Vice President. For example, Sen. Lyda Green (you know, that senator that Sarah Palin thought it was hilarious to refer to as a "cancer"), president of the state Senate and a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla had this to say about Palin's qualifications:

"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?" [StarTribune]

We could probably (and will probably, at some point) give a long list of reasons why Palin should not be a Vice Presidential candidate... but not right now. This is my list of why I should be a Vice Presidential nominee. You know, just in case any of those third party candidates haven't chosen their running mates yet. (Or in case Obama or McCain change their minds).

• I'm a woman.

Duh! All this time that Hillary Clinton was running for the Democratic ticket, a lot of conservative wackos made a big deal about how a woman shouldn't be president because we women are, of course, way too emotional. (We even get PMS!) And we should totally just keep our silly heads out of politics because we have real things to do. But I realize now that it's not all women who should stay out of politics... it was just Hillary Clinton. Now all of a sudden, thanks to Sarah Palin, being a woman is a pro, not a con. Well, that's great for me, because being a woman is my #1 qualification too.

• Not just a woman, but a mother. (That also means I "chose life").

Apparently, being a mother makes you super-qualified to be a Vice President. I never realized this. The ability to change diapers and kiss boo-boos and make peanut-butter sandwiches will totally come in handy in the White House. (At least maybe that diaper thing will... McCain is pretty old). There have always been parents in office, but I never knew that being a parent made you qualified for office!

And like many women in the U.S, including Palin's own daughter and possibly Palin herself (she did give birth to her first child only 8 months after her elopement) I also became pregnant unexpectedly. Translation: Unexpectedly = out of wedlock. And just like Palin and her daughter are being applauded for choosing life, I also chose life. (I'm very strongly pro-choice, but I did end up choosing life for myself). I was lucky enough to be able to have a choice. But I didn't get pregnant because of abstinence only "sex education" (like young Bristol probably did)... I got pregnant the old fashioned way! Lots of booze and faulty condoms. And I drove to the hospital when I went into labor, instead hopping on a long flight. So hopefully that won't hurt my chances too much.

• I "think outside the box".

According to the Daily News, giving her children "offbeat names [like Willow and Trig] suggests Palin is an outside-the-box thinker who desperately wants to give her kids an edge." I also gave my kid an unusual name. I won't reveal what it is on here, but let's just say it's not quite as silly as naming your kid after your favorite sport (Track) but it's definitely uncommon.

I think it's fair to make the claim that I'm not 100% conventional.

• I have a Bachelor's Degree.

Apparently that's all you need to be VP! Sarah Palin has only a Bachelor's degree in Communications/Journalism (she minored in Poli-Sci) from a third-tier college, the University of Idaho. That's practically me! I have a B.A. in Women's Studies (which was heavy in Poli-Sci coursework and gives me particular insight to all those boring "women's issues" we care so much about) with a concentration in Creative Writing.

(By the way, Joe Biden double-majored in history and political science at the University of Delaware and then got a Juris Doctor from Syracuse Law; Barack Obama's law degree is from Harvard; both Hillary and Bill Clinton have JD's from Yale. Just FYI).

• I'm at least borderline-hot.

I've never officially been in a beauty pageant, because I think those things are super lame and generally sexist (although I did win "best hair" in high school). I may not be a supermodel, but I'm a little bit of a MILF and I think Rush Limbaugh would at least consider me a "babe".

• I laugh at totally offensive, inappropriate stuff too.

Of course, I'd never call someone a "cancer" (especially not a cancer survivor, geez) but I think that this blog at least proves that we're not exactly 100% politically correct all the time. So I think that my insensitivity and in-poor-taste sense of humor should be a plus. (I also like the word "cunt", so maybe McCain should be on my side too. I wonder how they feel about "slut").

• I'm no stranger to scandal.

Just like Palin, I've got some controversies in my background check too (including that whole premarital sex thing). Like Palin, I've smoked some weed back in the day and like her I did inhale... and I have also been accusing of abusing my power in the past. And I too used to think that Alaska should separate from the U.S. (Actually, I'd love for all of the red states to just sail off into the ocean and just leave the ).

• I'm totally inexperienced, but that doesn't really matter.

I've got plenty of experience "running things" (I run my own family business and I co-run this blog with my lovely 'sisters') but I don't have nearly enough political experience to try to become President. Unless I take the long route to the presidency (you know, like by being VP to a very old guy with a chance of a skin cancer recurring). And like Sarah Palin, I don't know what the VP technically does either.

Also, I'm a bonafide member of the PTA, like Sarah Palin was, so if I can deal with PTA politics I can totally handle Washington. (Plus my neighborhood has more than twice the population of the town where Palin got all her "executive experience"). Of course I don't have any foreign policy experience, which is something they really slammed Obama for... but I guess that's not a requirement anymore.


Maybe I'll have to wait til 2012...

5 Palin Statements We're Totally Over Already

We're reading and watching and listening to all of the Sarah Palin coverage and discussion and blogging and commenting and responding and whatevering that's going on. And it's slowly driving us crazy. Below are the top five repeated-over-and-over statements that we're the most sick of right now.


1. "If she can raise five kids, of course she can handle being VP, or even president if she has to!"

We have all the respect in the world for mothers. (Some of us are mothers.) And we think that the hard work of lots of moms out there is definitely unrecognized and undervalued in our society. But that doesn't mean that being a good mother automatically qualifies you to hold one of the most important and powerful positions on the planet. Listen, I watched the Olympics, and I love and adore Debbie Phelps and think she seems like a smart, insightful, awesome working mom. I'm just not writing her name in on my ballot in November.

2. "She's a former beauty queen!" [Also includes all versions of 'she's totally hot!', "she's a babe" (shut up, Rush Limbaugh), and especially 'VPILF'. That needs to die a quick death for so many reasons.]

Remember the campaigns of 2000 and 2004, when it seemed like every single mention of George W. Bush in the news opened with the phrase "Bush, a former cheerleader..."? No? Because it didn't happen, because Bush is a man. Remember all of the focus over the years on very important issues surrounding Hillary Clinton, like her changing hairstyles, and the dedication of the media during her presidential campaign to chasing the big story of her fondness for pantsuits? Yep. Because if you're a candidate, your looks are a very important issue worthy of discussion...if you're one of those Vagina-Americans. When it comes to Sarah Palin, or to any woman running for office, there's a lot to talk about, but the way she looks should not be anywhere on the list. That is, unless male candidates and the men in the media want us to all start talking about questionable comb-overs and hideous shirt/tie combinations. You know who you are.

3. Every variation on "just because she has a vagina..."

Don't get us wrong - we think all of the people who are saying that women aren't going to/won't/can't/shouldn't support Palin (or switch from supporting Clinton to supporting Palin) just because we're all vagina owners are absolutely correct. We're just sick of hearing the same phrase every three seconds. Our vaginas are tired! (Well, not really. They're total attention whores.) Let's at least get creative and use all of the womany body parts that are at our disposal. Let's start talking about how we're not going to support Palin just because we've all got Fallopian tubes. And how insulting it is that John McCain thinks that women are stupid enough to blindly support him now just because he picked a running mate who doesn't have an Adam's apple and neither do we. We're not voting with our ovaries!

4. "Even if you don't agree with her on the issues, all women should be applauding this historic moment!"

We've seen a lot of comments like this, and while we get the idea behind them, we think a lot of people are taking it too far. Of course, we recognize that the nomination of the first female Republican VP candidate is historic, and we hope it opens the door for lots more women to run for office and have their campaigns taken seriously. (Although we also hope that the Republican women who might choose to run are a little more moderate than Governor Palin.) But we just can't get behind some of the statements we've read about all women "celebrating" or being "thrilled" by this. If I'm a woman who believes that John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin was little more than an act of pandering, and who further believes that Palin's positions on the issues make her a candidate who isn't going to do anything good for women if she does become VP, I'm going to have a hard time working myself up to "thrilled" for a candidate who stands against almost everything that I believe in. We think we can recognize the historic element here without celebrating any kinda of "victory".


5. To round out the list, we're going to go with the statement actually made by Governor Palin that we're most sick of, both because the news channels have replayed it 10 billion times and because it's ridiculous.

"Hillary left 18 million cracks in the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America. But it turns out the women of America aren't finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all."

No. Sarah Palin didn't run for president. She was chosen by a man to join his ticket. She didn't travel the country and campaign and debate and convince 18 million people to vote for her. Nobody outside of Alaska has voted for her for anything. Sorry, Governor Palin, but you don't get to take any credit for Hillary's work, and you don't get to invoke the glass ceiling when you've said in the past that Hillary shouldn't acknowledge the sexism that she faced in her campaign because you perceived it as "whining". You don't get to say that you are somehow going to finish the job that Hillary started, because you are not Hillary Clinton. Cut it out.

Sarah Palin: Celebrity?

By now I think we've all heard John McCain call Barack Obama a "celebrity". There's no specific reason for this that we can determine, except that Obama's popular and lots of people like him. (What a jerk.) He's even compared Obama to Britney and Paris. Well, we hate to break it to Senator McCain, but we think he might have made a big mistake and accidentally chosen a "celebrity" running mate.

A few key pieces of evidence:

~Hmmm. A history with beauty pageants. Likes guns. Public service job that involves people's security. What is this, Miss Congeniality 3?

~She's been profiled in Vogue, and People magazine has already reported on what kind of designer shoes she likes to wear to work. Can a guest spot on Gossip Girl be far behind?



~Her kids are named Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig. Sounds like they'd get along great with Apple, Suri, Sunday Rose, and Zuma, doesn't it? She's also been the target of her very own baby bump watch with the rumors that circulated about the circumstances around Trig's birth...but it turned out to be more of a Lynne Spears sort of thing.


We'll keep monitoring the situation, but you should probably keep an eye on your running mate, Senator McCain. If you catch her listening to Rihanna or talking about appearing on SNL (she's obviously a Tina Fey fan), you might want to give Mitt Romney a call.

Dumb Things Guys Say: Sarah Palin Edition

Sarah Palin has talked a lot in the last week about how "the women of America aren't done" and how voting for a McCain/Palin ticket would shatter the ultimate glass ceiling "once and for all". Well, here's one example of the woman who is asking for our support being slightly less than supportive of a fellow female politician, State Senate President Lyda Green, during an appearance on a radio show.





[Audio clip from Huffington Post. The full interview can be heard here.]

If you can't listen to the clip, please enjoy:

Part 1:
DJ: Does Lyda have children?

Governor Palin: She has three kids.

DJ: Does she like them?

Governor Palin: [laughs]

DJ: I mean, this woman, she is, I'm tellin' ya, and I know you can't say it, Governor Palin. I know you can't, but we can. She is a cancer, and she is nothing but a very jealous woman.

Part 2:
DJ: Well I'm going to say what I wish you could say. Lyda Green is a bitch...

Governor Palin: [laughs again]

DJ: ...and she needs to go away, because she is a cancer on the progress of the state of Alaska.

Part 3:
DJ: If Lyda Green's seat is empty, fly me down, because I know it's gotta be a big cushy one.

Governor Palin: [more laughter!]

DJ: I would be honored to sit and listen to you give your state of the state address. Anytime that you think that there's going to be some open seats, if you'd like to have Mark and I come down and listen to you talk, we would do that any day of the week. We would be honored.

Governor Palin: We'd be honored to have you guys.


Yeah, I'm always "honored" to be in the presence of guys who think that it's acceptable and funny to refer to a woman as a fat jealous bitch and a cancer. And what makes the DJs comments about Lyda Green being a "cancer" even classier? Ms. Green is a cancer survivor. Charming.

Sarah Palin Link Roundup

We know that just about everyone has been talking (and blogging) about Sarah Palin over the last few days, so we thought we'd just do a link and quote roundup and also highlight some of our many many many disagreements with Ms. Palin's positions on issues at the same time.



Reproductive Rights

~Palin reportedly has described herself as "as pro-life as a candidate can be". From her 2006 campaign for governor:

This summer, in a candidate survey by the anti- abortion Alaska Family Council, Palin answered "Yes" to the question: "Would you support legislation and/or a constitutional amendment to clarify that the state constitution does not contain a right to abortion?"

As to what she'd do as governor, Palin said, "I would side on the side of life if legislation were passed by the people's representatives in the state of Alaska, the Legislature, but ... there is no law that I could sign in office that could ever supersede the Supreme Court's ruling."

~Member of the group Feminists For Life.

~"The candidates were pressed on their stances on abortion and were even asked what they would do if their own daughters were raped and became pregnant.

Palin said she would support abortion only if the mother's life was in danger. When it came to her daughter, she said, 'I would choose life'."

~So, Palin supports abortions only to save the life of the mother. No exceptions for mother's health, rape, or incest. Katha Pollitt explains what that really means:

Here's the reality: Palin is a rightwing-Christian anti-choice extremist who opposes abortion for any reason whasoever, except to save the life of the girl or woman. No exception even for rape, incest, or the health of the woman. No exception for a ten-year-old, a woman carrying a fetus with no chance of life, a woman on the edge of suicide-- let alone the woman who is not ready to be a parent, who is escaping domestic violence, who is already stretched to the limit as a single mother. She wants to force over one million women and girls a year to give birth against their will and judgment. She wants to use the magnificent freedom the women's movement has won for her at tremendous cost and struggle--the movement that won her the right to run those marathons and run Alaska -- to take away the freedom of every other woman in the country.

~As part of her "pro-life" stance, Palin also opposes stem cell research.


Gay Rights

~"Palin said she's not out to judge anyone and has good friends who are gay, but that she supported the 1998 constitutional amendment [banning gay marriage]. Elected officials can't defy the court when it comes to how rights are applied, she said, but she would support a ballot question that would deny benefits to homosexual couples. "I believe that honoring the family structure is that important," Palin said. She said she doesn't know if people choose to be gay."

We'd love to meet some of these gay friends of hers. We tend not to be friends with people who don't believe that we deserve legal rights.

~In December of 2006, Palin vetoed a bill that would have blocked the state from giving benefits to partners of same sex couples. The bill was a response to a state Supreme Court ruling that denying benefits to same sex partners of state employees was a violation of Alaska's constitution. Some people have been pointing to this veto as an example of how she's 'not so bad' on gay rights. However, her office announced that she only vetoed the bill because the state attorney general advised her that it was unconstitutional and would be fought in court.

The Governor's veto does not signal any change or modification to her disagreement with the action and order by the Alaska Supreme Court. It is the Governor's intention to work with the legislature and to give the people of Alaska an opportunity to express their wishes and intentions whether these benefits should continue.

Right after vetoing that bill, Palin signed another one that would put the issue to an advisory vote on the ballot for the next elections.

Palin reiterated her opposition to benefits for same-sex partners, and hopes the public vote will persuade legislators to vote for a constitutional amendment barring them.

From Bilerico:

Cost of the referendum: $1.2 million
Cost of the benefits: $313,562
Stirring up homophobia in Alaska: Priceless

Creationism/Evolution

~Palin believes that Creationism should be taught in schools.

"Teach both. You know, don’t be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important and it’s so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both. And, you know, I say this, too, as the daughter of a science teacher. Growing up with being so privileged and blessed to be given a lot of information on, on both sides of the subject -- creationism and evolution. It’s been a healthy foundation for me. But don’t be afraid of information and let kids debate both sides."

Sure, let's teach kids "both sides" - the side that is accepted by just about everyone in the scientific community and is supported by lots of evidence, and the side that...uh, isn't.



Global Warming/Climate Change
~Palin doesn't believe that the behavior of humans contributes to global warming.
"In an interview released by Newsmax magazine today, Palin said that while she recognized her state would be affected by climate change, that didn't mean humans are responsible.
'A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location,' she said. 'I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made'."

Censorship?

According to the Frontiersman newspaper, Wasilla’s library director, Mary Ellen Emmons, said that Palin asked her outright if she "could live with censorship of library books.” Palin later dismissed the conversation as a “rhetorical” exercise.



Hillary Clinton
~At a Newsweek forum on women in leadership last March, Palin was asked about the sexism that Hillary Clinton was dealing with in her presidential campaign.

Karen Breslau: When you look at the coverage, when you listen to the conversations, what do you see?

Palin: Well, you know, I think fair or unfair, the...and I do think it is a more concentrated criticism that Hillary gets on so many fronts. I think that's unfortunate, but fair or unfair, I think she does herself a disservice to even mention it, really. I mean, you gotta plow through that. You have to know what you're getting into, which...I say this will all due respect to Hillary Clinton and to her experience and to her passion for changing the status quo also. But when I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or maybe a shaper microscope put on her, I think "man, that doesn't do us any good" - women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country. I don't think it bodes well for her, a statement like that, because again, fair or unfair, it is there. I think that's reality, and I think it's a given. I think people can just accept that she is going to be under that sharper microscope. So be it! I mean, work harder, prove yourself to an even greater degree that you're capable, that you're going to be the best candidate, and that of course is what she wants us to believe at this point. So it bothers me a little bit hearing her bring that attention to herself on that level.

So sexism does exist and Hillary is a victim of it, but if she mentions that fact she's really just whining. She should just work twice as hard to prove herself without ever acknowledging that it is, in fact, unfair. After all, it has never 'done us any good' as women to call out sexism. Just ignore it and it will go away!

Miscellaneous Bonus Fun Facts

~She has her very own scandal back home in Alaska.

~She supports Alaska's policy of allowing aerial hunting of wolves, despite a federal law that bans airborne hunting.

~"Palin has come into criticism recently for using her post as governor to influence a ballot initiative on clean water, which voters also rejected last week. "Proposition 4" would have prohibited or restricted new mining operations that could affect salmon in the state's streams and rivers, and was crafted in order to prevent the development of the Pebble Mine, which if approved would be the largest open-pit gold and copper mine in North America. Toxic runoff from the mine would threaten the Bristol Bay ecosystem, and put drinking water at risk. It is widely opposed by commercial fishers, native populations, and environmentalists in the state. While state regulatory agencies will get the final say on granting permits for the mine, the initiative would have made it considerably harder to move forward.
Just days before the vote on the ballot initiative, Palin stated publicly that she opposed it. "Let me take my governor's hat off just for a minute here and tell you, personally, Prop. 4, I vote no on that," she said. Groups that supported the measure argued that Palin's comments were highly unethical. They also filed a legal complaint against the state government for improperly weighing in against Prop. 4 on the state's website."

~"As for that V.P. talk all the time, I’ll tell you, I still can’t answer that question until somebody answers for me what is it exactly that the V.P. does every day?"

For even more:

• From Feministe: Sarah Palin and the Drink America's Milkshake Party
• Ann Friedman of Feministing at The American Prospect: McCain's Sexist VP Pick
• From Women's eNews: Palin Pick Shores Up GOP Appeal to Women
• From Daily Kos: Palin-tology - 45+ Problems With McCain's VP in Just 35 Hours
• Katha Pollitt says: Sarah Palin, Wrong Woman For The Job
• The blog Mudflats: Tiptoeing Through the Muck of Alaskan Politics has some great 'local coverage'