It's Not Sexist To Talk About Palin As A Parent
| Thu Sep. 4, 2008 11:22 AM PDT
Last night during the GOP convention, Rudy Giuliani suggested that the media interest in Sarah Palin's family soap opera was the product of blatant sexism. It's a compelling argument because women in politics are indeed subject to the old double-standards. But in this case, I think Palin's family dynamics are a legitimate issue. Her parenthood reflects on what Republicans kept harping on last night: character. How Palin has conducted herself as a parent speaks volumes about what kind of a human being she is. It's also a fair line of inquiry for someone thin on experience who wants to be a heartbeat away from the presidency--and one not reserved for women.
Earlier in the campaign, pundits questioned John Edwards' decision to run for president when his wife was suffering from cancer. Lots of voters found it disturbing, and the issue only died after Elizabeth Edwards herself insisted forcefully that it had been her choice to continue the campaign. Likewise, it's not sexist to wonder why Palin couldn't be bothered to take even a few days off work to get to know the new, premature special needs baby that she didn't abort. Even most men these days take a little time off to meet their newborns. It's not like she was going to get fired.
More telling about Palin, though, is how she has handled her 17-year-old daughter's pregnancy. Palin has said that her family is simply dealing with the types of challenges faced by millions of other families. But in times of crisis, most families tend to close ranks, to create a protective bubble around their vulnerable children. What to make the "hockey mom" who instead turned her daughter's troubles into tabloid fare? Unlike Elizabeth Edwards, Bristol Palin is not old enough for informed consent; her mother hasn't said whether she had a say in all this. But I suspect that if a man had chosen to jump into the national spotlight at the expense of his child like this, the family-values crowd might have eaten him alive. Instead, conservatives are swooning, and those of us who aren't are just sexist.
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Submitted by Kevin Pierce (not verified) on Thu Sep. 4, 2008 12:25 PM PDT.
NAME THAT OPPORTUNITY
NEWSWIRE--Republican women are complaining that media coverage of Governor Sarah Palin is sexist.
The equal rights quandary hangs over her star;
Young mom and political newbie:
Worse not to be chosen for what you are,
Or to be?
www.newsandverse.com
Light verse, ripped from the headlines
Hey,
YES, you are sexist...!!!
And the things that probably bothers you the most is that here daughter DID NOT have an abortion. It really rubs you lib's the wrong way when a young man and women decide to get married and have a child, instead of murdering a baby, like you WANT her to...!!!
You people are sick..!!!
BIll
OBAMA'S DILEMMA AND CHRISTIAN HOLY WAR AGAINST HERETICAL ABORTION
Government sanctioned child-sacrifice by women, Roe vs. Wade, is subversive to the traditional humane and Christian culture of the America People. This perverse legislation was instigated and popularized in America by defeated Marxist refugees, originating from Nazi Germany and Marxist Russia, notorious for their subversive contempt for Christianity, the nuclear family, patriotism, and the Constitution.
Along with the growing political shift towards the Christian pro-life movement, Obama is supporting Born Alive Infant Protection Act legislation, while continuing to pragmatically accept Roe vs. Wade. Not until the time that united Catholic, Protestant, and Mormon congregation leaders lead crusading battles against the condemned heretical supporters of pre-meditated murder by abortion, can Roe vs. Wade finally be politically overturned by the supreme will of Christian America.
In the wonderfully escalating Cultural War, the leading Neo-Con and Neo-Lib abortionists shall ultimately be destroyed by whatever Constitutional means necessary, for their notorious roles in causing the sacrificial killing of over 40 million American children.
Hey jeugenen,
You don't have to worry about overturning anything. The abortion doctors have already been scared off, and those that are left are far and few between.
It is pretty much a states right issue anyway.
Before long the Supreme Court will kick it back to the states and only the MOST liberal will keep it, and they will feel the SHAME of the country.
Unless it is for rape or incest, then it will be up to the family to decide..:-)
Bill
Most of the discussion of this issue remains clueless on how we should deal with the double standard applied to career women. Refreshingly, Ms Mencimer comes close to explicitly acknowledging that she "gets it". The sensible and equitable answer to this issue is not to stop asking these questions of women but to also become consistent and systematic about also asking them of men. This serves to remind both men and women that they should be giving some thought to how an unbalanced work and family life is problematic. Moreover, pressing men on these issues calls attention to the fact that many (most?) men are not bearing their share of household and child rearing duties. When will we learn that equity for women should mean an improvement in all our lives . Allowing women to also "take a pass" on these questions diminishes the importance we place on our families and our children and ultimately reduces the quality of all our lives.
"It really rubs you lib's the wrong way when a young man and women decide to get married and have a child"
You are such an ass Bill. Right, libs *never* 'decide to get married and have a child'. And by the way, this particular young man and young woman didn't 'decide to get married and have a child', they got knocked up and mom decided to have a shotgun wedding. This marriage was brought about not because a young man and woman decided to get married, but because abstinence only works when it is actually practiced.
And I may be wrong, but it seems to me that it's you cons who have the bigger problem with "a young man and women" getting married. I thought the "sanctity" of marriage was between a man and *a* woman.
