Quasi-political rant

[sc_angel72]

So, my disclaimer here is that I'm not getting into whether or not Sarah Palin is qualified to be the VP. I'm still doing my own research on her background in politics, because I take everything the news & print media says with a BIG grain of salt, because the days of unbiased reporting are long, long past.

Comments

[thistle_verse]

Palin scares the shit out of me, and I don't want her anywhere near the White House. This is based on her politics, not her gender. I agree that we've seen some rampant sexism come out after she was announced as the VP candidate. And I too find the focus on her daughter's pregnancy to be extremely distasteful. I was a very young mother as well, and simply the way it's painted as a huge "stain" of some sort gets my back up. But you know what? It's that kind of attitude that is rampant among the religious base she represents. I find the way she's using her daughter's pregnancy and her own last one to somehow trumpet her anti-abortion stance just as distasteful. She likes to crow about how wonderful it is to choose to carry a pregnancy and parent, but really? She will do everything she can to take that choice away from all of us. I think she's a nut and totally unprepared, plus her politics, "morality," and world view seem to be pretty much the opposite of mine. It's a shame we're seeing some of that sexism. I'd like to see her

[neveridle]

You know what, though? I've been thinking that the one silver lining in all this is that maybe at least a few people out there on the right who have been so down on teen mothers will see this situation and say, "Hey, wait a minute, that CAN happen to one of us." and maybe lighten up just a little bit. /eternal optimist.

find the way she's using her daughter's pregnancy and her own last one to somehow trumpet her anti-abortion stance just as distasteful.I haven't seen her do this. The only comments I've seen from her stated that they were proud of her daughter's choice, and given her political stance, I would think that any other comment would be hypocritical. But then, I'm coming from the POV where I think it's actually refreshing to see a conservative walk the walk, as opposed to my own Catholic anti-abortion mother who offered to take me for an abortion the minute I told her I was having a pregnancy scare as a teenager

[thistle_verse]

I don't think her views are out of line with her party, either. But I do hate to see her using the phrase "choice" when describing her daughter's situation given that she doesn't want any of us to have a choice. And I see what you're saying about the teen mothers thing, but I still see how it's phrased..."no one can control their teen 100%," "even Christians make mistakes," etc. I've seen those and variants all over. It's still a stigma you have to overcome. I don't think she's a hypocrite aside from her stupid "choice" comments. And I agree that she walks her walk. But her walk scares the shit out of me. Trying to fire a librarian who refused to remove her list of banned books? Oh hell no.

XO

[neveridle]

Now, I guess I saw the choice comment as her acknowledging that her daughter was 17 and that abortion is legal, despite what Palin herself would prefer. I kind of got the impression that the "choice" was made before the daughter even told the parents, and that's what they were happy about.

Oh, I totally agree about her politics. I watched part of her speech last night and thought, "Now THOSE are the reasons to take issue with Sarah Palin" and I can't quite figure out why everyone is so hung up on her home life. I still think this is a big plot by Karl Rove to get the Democrats so busy fighting over their own hypocrisy (Um, hello? What happened to the party that used to welcome working mothers and support unwed mothers?) that McCain and Palin can slip by on a really frightening platform.

[littlezink]

I've evidently missed the latest round of bash the candidate, and from what you've said, I'm probably glad that I have. Once again a woman has to be judged on whether she's a good mother and a good candidate, when men are not judged by the same standards.

The majority of my issues with Palin are entirely based on the fact that her stance is exactly opposite mine on what I consider to be each of my core political beliefs. Media aside, I don't think that she has the experience to be considered a viable candidate for the office over the other candidates vetted for the position, which is particularly annoying since McCain has hammered others so often for their lack of experience. For me personally this selection came off as a transparent attempt to lure female voters to the Republican ticket.

[sc_angel72]

Oh, I agree that the decision to put Palin on the ticket was very politically motived. If the VP were picked purely on who would be the best to run the country if something happened to McCain, I think the choice would have been Lieberman. But the GOP needed to energize their ticket to have any hope of edging out Obama.

But yes, the "bash the candidate" was particularly ugly and vicious per her family. I think after the speech last night, that's played out. Now they're finally starting to bring up her politics instead of her uterus!

[sc_angel72]

I totally understand what you're saying about the "superwoman" issue. For me, I guess I didn't look at it that way. Supposedly her husband is very, very hands on, and the issue of her letting go the governor's staff had everything to do with practicing what she preached: She was seriously tightening the budget belt for the state, so she started with the things she as governor could manage without.

Personally, I don't get the sense that she thinks being superwoman is the way women should be. I perceive it more as she wanted both -- the family and the career -- and she and her spouse found a way to achieve that, which is a freedom all women (with or without a spouse) should have. And believe me, I'm really sensitive to the lack of government support for working moms, especially being a single one, but I don't know that she'll hurt our cause. Still I'm reserving judgement on declaring her the "future of the GOP" (as someone called her last night) until I find out a lot more specifics about her politics.

[neveridle]

OMG, this has been one of my biggest hot buttons this week. I hate, hate, HATE that the entire discussion of whether or not she should be VP has come down to her uterus and not her politics. FFS, there are a TON of things the left can take issue with regarding her political affiliations. The hipocracy is insane. (Yet I haven't seen ONE negative comment about how Obama used his 7 year old up there on that stage during the DNC to cover his faux pas when he said he was in the wrong city.)

And short of outright neglect and abuse, you can't blame ANY parent for how their kid acts at 17. Teenagers just *think* differently.

I can't stand Palin's politics, but the whole intense scrutiny of her PARENTING is pissing me off to the extreme. I am so, so, so glad that I made up my mind to vote third party a long time ago, and don't really feel emotionally tied to this race.

[sc_angel72]

Don't hold back, Ril. Speak your mind. *g* You know I lean more conservative, so her politics don't scare me so much, but yeah, hot button is right. And the double-standard in general. You know, rip her to shreds over her politics. That's fine, that's as it should be. But don't go after the family and don't slam her for things that your own candidate is "guilty" of as well. It also irritated the snot out of me that there was a huge focus on her husband's DUI that took place at the same time as Obama admittedly was abusing cocaine. (Can you use it without abusing it?????) Like I said, stick with politics and it's all game. Otherwise -- ugh.

Hey, how are YOU, though?????? I miss talking to you regularly! How are the hellmonkies????

[neveridle]

OMG, that DUI talk was just ridiculous. 1984. FFS.

I'm good! Busy like crazy, broke as hell, but good! Hellmonkeys are fantastic. But equally busy. OMG, I miss you too. Especially every now and then on a Friday night if I get five minutes to sit down and flip through the channels and I pass by SciFi. How are you and yours, love???

[larielromeniel]

I think my only question about Palin as a parent is her taste in names. Trig? Track? Good gravy.

:-)

[sc_angel72]

Hee!! They are some unusual choices, aren't they?

[wendymr]

And Bristol - which in some circles in England is slang for breasts.

As for Palin herself, while I agree that I wish all candidates could be judged on their political platforms alone (which, for me, includes forgetting about their race as well as their gender, and their positions on issues which IMO should be people's personal choice), her politics make me shudder and the rumours of potential scandal to be uncovered in Alaska make me worry. If the rumours are untrue, great. If not, then that very sexism that's still out there may make it a long time before another woman gets this close to the White House in her own right :(

[sc_angel72]

I guess it's a good thing they didn't name one of their other daughters Fanny, huh? *snicker*

On the political front, I had a friend tell me earlier today that he wished the candidates could only "speak" via the printed word except when they're specifically debating the issues, because he's tired of the personality battles taking place of the real issues. I couldn't disagree with him. No matter what your preference is in politics, I think image has become the monster that's eating what we really need to know about these people we put in place to run the government.

Whoever ends up in the White House, I hope they really can affect change. This country is becp,omg the modern embodiment of the fall of Rome, only we're destroying ourselves a lot faster.