Geraldine Ferraro on Palin…
August 29, 2008 by PUMA Pundit
Geraldine Ferraro, the first Vice-Presidential candidate of a major political party (Dems ‘84) feels that Sarah Palin’s candidacy will draw a lot of Hillary’s supporters who feel that Dean, Obama and the Media gave Hillary (and women) a raw deal in this election cycle to support the McCain/Palin ticket..
Here’s the vid:
FERRARO WAS PLEASED ABOUT MCCAIN’S PICK IN SARAH PALIN…
Hillary worked for years to get were she is. Then this Palin person rides in on the back of Mccain and claims and i quote “We Can Shatter That Glass Ceiling Once And For All”
She acts like she accomplished what Hillary did.
I don’t understand it. I thought the point of supporting Hillary is that you loved what she stood for, not just because she is a woman. If you vote for Mccain just because he has a female running mate, or just because you want to get back at the DNC what’s the point. It just makes women look weak-minded and petty. PUMAS make me ashamed to be a young feminist.
How about we voted for Hillary because we thought she was the best candidate?
GrandPUMA
But didn’t you think she was the best candidate because of her platform. Hello?
So GrandPuma were you in it for Hillary?
It is an insult to Hilllary and her supporters to assume they (Palin) are interchangeable. Palin’s positions are 180 degrees from Hillary’s. Hillary and Bill made it pretty clear- are you in it for the people they fought for?
get serious
hikop are you a MAN or just an Obamabot? Palin you dare compare Palin’s coattails to Hillary’s??? Palin started off in the PTA< went on to be a councilwoman, then mayor, then ethics commissioner for the ALaska Oil and Gas commission, then defeated an INCUMBENT repub governor in the primary and on to win the governorship BY HERSELF. No governor/president coattails to help her. Heck, her husband is a commercial fisherman and oil field worker. Maybe she got the “Deadliest Catch” coattails?
No thank you, she got where she is so far on her own, not as anyone’s concubine.
I disagree with Kathleen completely.
A woman is a woman is a woman.
All we should care about is that we have a woman on the ticket.
Some people say that Palin will support a Supreme Court Justice who will give the court the leverage to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Well, you know what? Maybe it is TIME to overturn Roe v. Wade.
There will be people who criticize Palin on womyn’s issues. GIVE ME A BREAK! She is a woman - her issues ARE womyn’s issues!!!!!!
I am proud of John McCain in picking Sarah Palin and I know the wind is out of the Obama camp. Obama was too agorant to pick Hillary as VP and he and his staff did everything possible to discredit her this is justice. Yahoo Yahoo his big movie star empty suit affair has come to a close. This little woman is a fighter from what I have read and while small town as they will protray her she will fool them all. Look at how the Obama people talked about Geraldine Ferraro one of the all time great woman of our modern times. I cant but think Hillary and Geraldine are both proud. Yahoo Go Sarah!
Call me if McCain wins, women still make 2/3 of what men make, abortion is totally illegal, even for rape, and we have been in Iraq so long that even OUR kids and grandkids are going to war…..
What McCain & Palin have in common with Hillary is that they get things done for the electorate. We may not get all we want, but we will get some. Remember Bill Clintons candidates X & Y quote.
Biden will have influence only if Barky lets him.
For those of you that have issues with Palin: Guess What? She’s not running for President! John McCain and Barack Obama are. If the GOP thinks I’m gonna vote for McCain just because they put a woman on the ticket, then shame on them. But if they think I’m gonna vote for McCain because he actually has experience and the PRESIDENTAL canidate he is running against does not, they’re right.
And picking a VP who is not from the Bush sector of the party, who happens to be a woman, sealed the deal. Even if she wasn’t a woman I would still be happy with the choice of Palin as VP.
Sad, such well intentions from all of you being exploited by McCain’s campaign strategists. If too many of us fall for this trickery I am going to be so disappointed. Voting for McCain who is historically anti-woman’s rights in every way because he put a woman on the ticket. Sad. Sad. Sad. and Ignorant.
No one tells me who to vote for thank you I am as independent as they come and the DNC has brain washed most for Obama with the help of the media. This girl is a breath of fresh air vote how you want this is america. Obama is the biggest flawed candiate I have ever seen in my 62 years. Oprah, Spike Lee, Cnn, NBC, Rev Wright, Bill Ayres cast away the glitz and glamour …I like the under dog no McCain does not completely stand for all of my beliefs but he sure compared to the other candiate is much more on my middle american views from drilling on down. Are you forgetting what they did to Hillary the analysts they have started tonight on this woman she is small town, she is this and that ..mostly woman talking against her already…and I disagree with them they say most disgruntle Hillary supporters will not vote for McCain are they in for a surprise!
To bthoover,
Are you serious? What you wrote is just discrimination clothed in a distorted sort of uber-feminism! Tokyo Rose was a woman and she gleefully read the script that was put in front of her by her Fascist buddies. Phyllis Schlafly is a woman. Heck, Typhoid Mary was a woman! To paraphrase Clinton supporter, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), she (Palin) may have the same ‘parts’ as us, but that doesn’t mean she is a friend of womens issues.
Just because you possess two X chromosomes doesn’t mean you are qualified, anymore than having a Y chromosome. What if I wrote, ‘a man is a man is a man’ and that is why we should vote for him? You’d be all over that argument, screaming sexism to the rafters. Yes, by default, Governor Palin’s issues are women’s issues. But the salient point is which side of those issues she chooses to place herself. It’s reasoning like yours that diminish the credibility of feminists!
Isn’t it just like the Republicans to drag out a pretty, beauty queen as a mouth piece for the far right wing of their party and parade her around? I can hear the ‘good ole boys’ now, “Gee, she’s purdy! I wouldn’t mind looking at that for four years!” And if that isn’t bad enough, she then uses Senator Clinton’s ‘glass ceiling’ analogy in the speech they wrote for her. How stupid do they think American women are? McCain and his Rovian cronies didn’t pick her for her qualifications or her “Plan for a Better America.” They had a shopping list…Catholic, pro-life, mother, gun advocate, non-threatening to men (if you know what I mean?) for the conservatives and a WOMYN for PUMA!
I just learned she was Second Runner Up for Miss Alaska. That does it. I cannot support her. I only trust a Commander in Chief who was First Runner Up or higher. Do people really believe this woman can be compared to either Hillary or Obama???? Having a B.A. in journalism from the University of Idaho does not take the smarts that it takes to be Editor in Chief of the Harvard Law Review. Haven’t we learned our lesson from eight years of mediocrity?
I love Hillary — as we all do — but McCain choosing Sarah Palin is insulting and offensive. It’s political pandering, plain and simple, and just goes to show that McCain doesn’t really care about women’s issues whatsoever.
1. Sarah Palin believes that abortion rights should NOT be granted even to rape or incest victims.
2. Sarah Palin believes Creationsim should be taught in school.
3. Sarah Palin believes that Global Warming is not man-made. Just what we need, another politician in the White House that doesn’t believe in science.
4. Sarah Palin was a Pat Buchanan supporter, and wanted Mitt Romney to win the primary.
5. Sarah Palin has absolutely no experience in foreign policy whatsoever. If something ever happened to McCain, I’d be very, very scared.
I was thinking about voting for McCain, but after this mockery of a choice, NO WAY, NO HOW, NO MCCAIN!
I am now voting for Obama & Joe Biden, the man who drafted the VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT.
Also, Sarah Palin called Hillary and her supporters “WHINERS” just a few weeks ago. I don’t know about you, but that’s not someone I can get behind. McCain has shown his true colors, and I am insulted.
People can say or do whatever they want. Keep in mind that if you vote for McCain and he wins, he’s president for 4 years. In that instance we aren’t getting out of Iraq any time soon(more American deaths for Bush’s war), women’s rights? guess what kind of judges he’ll nominate?, and so forth. But hey, as long as you get to punish Obama and the DNC….no harm done, right?
It’s ridiculous to vote for a woman JUST BECAUSE SHE IS A WOMAN! Again I reiterate she doesn’t even respect Hillary she called her a whiner.
I spend winters in the high mountains of Colorado and there is nothing quite as frightning as seeing Puma tracks in the snow when you’re alone. You realize they are close by, but you don’t know ecactly where. Obama and Biden should also be frightned that Mccain (a scum bag) has picked a running mate that could make history. I believe we should all look at Sarah Palin objectively and perhaps if someday she were to be President, then it would shake the political foundation to it’s knees. I’m sure Palin’s up to the job just by her experience of being a Mother of five, and a governor who doesn’t take crap from political hacks.
Just because she is a woman doesn’t mean Palin will be a good president.
BTW I can’t wait till they start sending Hillary out to take on Palin. You know she could tear her apart with pinkies in a debate (metaphorically speaking…although).
I can’t imagine any woman that voted for Hillary could possibly vote for McCain/Palin. Hillary stood for so many issues of critical importance to women. Palin stands for the ultra conservative–she makes McCain look progressive. Can a Hillary supporter ever consider putting in office a woman that is pro life, believes that creationism should be taught as science, is pro guns, pro drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Area? Its the issues that matter. The next President can take away Roe v. Wade and equal pay for equal work. Let’s vote for the party that is truly pro women–vote for the Democratic candidate. Hillary didn’t work this hard for us that we go Republican. Honor Hillary by voting democratic and get the word out to every woman that you know. Palin doesn’t represent us.
I am utterly shocked that the PUMAs are even thinking about voting for McCain. If he wanted to get the “woman” vote, he had some great choices like Olympia Snowe, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Elizabeth Dole.
He picks the hot chick. What a shock.
How could you possibly support this guy?!
THINK ABOUT IT!!! Pat Buchanan, when hearing of Palin as the Rep. V.P. choice, said, “She’s the ‘princess’(catch the diminutive term) of the Conservative Right!”
I am so excited… Obama will rue the day he passed over the best candidate for VP in the Democratic Party… was he that insecure to give HRC up?
Anyway, it matters not anymore…. Palin is going to Washington to break that glass ceiling once and for all! We wll have our day afterall!!!
You go girl!
I just cannot believe this website. I actually signed up for wordpress do to some of these posts especially from the people running this site. Hilliary and Obama are essentially the same candidate on many issues. So now you are thinking of supporting a polar opposite opinion and going directly against what Clinton stood for. How is that logical at all? Doesn’t this make your organization or whatever you would like to call it legitimate. You are now supporting right wing ideologies because Hilliary didn’t win? This should be embarrassing to all woman. The fact that you are supporting someone primarily for their gender should insult everyone as this is more of a form of sexism than i have ever seen.
There is one more important issue that those of you who think electing McCain is such a ’swell’ idea may not have taken into consideration. McCain will have the power, if president, to veto any legislation that Senator Clinton will be working very hard to push through. Since he does not have to answer to the Democratic party, there is nothing stopping him from doing so. As a matter of fact the Republicans would probably applaud him for sticking it to a Clinton again. Do you not remember how voraciously the Republicans went after the Clintons when they were in the White House? If the Democrats win significant majorities in both the House and the Senate, the only thing stopping Senator Clinton from moving her agenda forward is a presidential veto! WHY, WHY, WHY, if you say you support her SO much, would you do the one thing that will stop her work and ultimately her legacy from being successful?
Yeah WasHRCnowPalin our glass ceiling will be broken and what will have to show for it? A woman’s choice to choose will be gone, no gay marriage, no universal health care, a higher deficit, a higher mortgage rate, and an economy in the shitter. But as long as we get there right?
Yes, mt.lion there will be people on their knees if Governor Palin, God forbid, should ever become president. The last of the middle class will be on its knees begging not to be evicted from their homes. Women in desperate need of pregnancy termination will be on their knees in their doctor’s offices. Parents will be on their knees in hospitals begging for care for their uninsured sick children. Children will be on their knees in front of ‘exclusive’ charter schools begging for chance at an education. You and I will be on our knees in front of a semi-automatic being held by some street thug. And we ALL will be on our knees praying for a Democratic president, all of us except the privilege few super wealthy & connected Republicans. They will be living in guarded, gated communities in the minute, nontoxic areas of our country left untouched by big corporations searching for places to drill for those last drops of oil! That is we we survive the holocaust of global warming that she doesn’t believe is happening!
Pardon me. I’m on Eastern Standard Time and I’m a tired middle- age woman. The last line should read - That is if we survive the holocaust of global warming, that she doesn’t believe is happening!
whosez,
Broadbrushing is not compelling…. let’s be realistic… Obama caved in to the same Washington insiders who put him ahead of HRC. The Democratic Party has offered lip service to women by this move.
Now McCain has taken a “controversial” and “perilous” step according to the Obama camp… he appointed a inexperienced woman! Democrats are questionaing McCain’s judgment for appointing a woman and that woman has more experience than Obama!
Go Palin!
WasHRCnowPalin,
First, it wasn’t “Washington insiders” who defeated Senator Clinton; it was the fact that she failed to get more votes than Senator 0bama. As I have said in other posts, Senator Clinton is an incredibly accomplished woman, first lady, senator, mother, etc. But, she did not run a good campaign, particularly in the early stages, which allowed Senator Obama to build a significant lead. Add to that the mixed feelings many Americans have about the Clintons — justifiably or not — and it all added up to not enough voters willing to support her. The DNC actually went out of its way to not prevent her from continuing, even though it was clear she could not get the votes to secure the nomination. No conspiracy here. No secret deal with “insiders.” None.
And to mtn.lion,
As to your desire to shake the political foundation to its knees, what do you really mean by that? It seems to me that our system has been shaken enough. We’re hated throughout the world and McCain would just be more of the same, but with the opportunity to do things like radically transform the Supreme Court for a generation. I realize actual policy issues may seem like pesky details, and that it is probably more fun to play at being a revolutionary — but there will be serious consequences to your efforts if you succeed (just think about Ralph Nader). So, I’ll ask some of the same questions I have posted in other threads (which have yet to be answered): What do you really belive in? What do you want a President to actually accomplish? Is there ANY man you would vote for? Is there anything that would cause you to vote against a female candidate?
Second, the only comparison to be made between the qualifications of Senator Obama and Governor Palin is the brevity of each of their public careers. However, I would argue that Senator Obama’s acedemic record, his choosing to work on behalf of Chicago’s poor, his winning a Senate seat in a major state, and his masterful management of one of the most impressive campaign machines in a long time (since President Clinton’s), all argue that he is more accomplished than she is. I would also argue that if the two of them stood next to each other on a stage and simply talked about issues, their values, and the state of the world (and what to do about it), all serious debate would cease as to their relative merits.
There’s a good reason you didn’t hear from Ferraro between 1985 and the present, she is not a very important politician and has no idea what she is talking about.
That’s not sexist, its just a specific fact about this specific politician (Ferraro).
WasHRCnowPalin,
Here is a very narrow, realistic stroke for you. For me it is NOT that she is an inexperienced woman. It is that she is a FAR RIGHT WING CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN…SCARY, VERY SCARY!
I had classmates back in my university who thought like some of you P.U.M.A. supporters (”a woman is a woman is a woman”). But that was 19 years ago and we were all pretty clueless then…
I voted for HRC and still prefer her over Obama. And I’ve always liked McCain, especially before his pandering to get the conservative vote. Palin sounds like a fine person, but her positions are utterly 19th century. Anyone who thinks her joining the McCain ticket will accomplish anything other than attracting the far right vote is simply ignorant… and in denial. I guess my history professor was right — sometimes you go so far left that you meet the right.
Congratulations P.U.M.A., you’ve met the enemy and she is YOU!
PUMA is a scam. This is really a McCain site.
The whole thing is nonsense. There are a couple of whack jobs on here who claim to be disenfranchised Hillary supporters, but they’re lying.
Bet they’re really Rush Limbaugh — he’s been acting all upset that Hillary lost.
Don’t bother posting here.
I am SHOCKED at all the sexist comments made at Governor Palin.
NO, she is not Hillary, but Hillary is NOT ON THE TICKET.
Are you going to vote for Obama who threw Hillary under the bus?
I HOPE NOT!
McCain is REACHING OUT to PUMA voters. Unlike Obama, who’s supporters are still gloating on the blogs saying shut up about Hillary, we won you lost.
I’m McCain/Palin all the way now.
NOBAMA!
PUMA!
Mccain is reaching out to PUMA voters by offering them a candidate who the only thing she has in common with Hillary is they both have vaginas? He’s not reaching very far then.
Use your head Palin is an obvious ploy.
And Obama supporters, like HEAR ME ROAR above, are in denial. They think this is all make believe.
And Big D, Hillary got more votes than Obama. Obama was selected, NOT elected.
Lets put Obama and his supporters back in the real world where you WORK TOGETHER to meet goals, not throw people under the bus, and then expect them to support you.
If you can’t vote for McCain, either don’t vote, write in Hillary, or vote 3rd party, but PLEASE do not vote Obama. He doesn’t WANT your vote anyways, his actions have proved it.
And like Guest pointed out, McCain nominated the first ever female VP candidate.
She is a republican, but a woman.
Obama robbed women of their first woman president in Hillary. Just for the sake of HISTORY he should have made her VP.
But, in Guests words, Obama kept Hillary off the ticket BECAUSE she has a vagina.
Governor Palin is not a PLOY she is the VP.
NOBAMA!
PUMA!
McCain/Palin 08*
Somehow, I think a lot of these Palin supporters are actually Republican moles. The lame attempts to promote Palin as a Clinton alternative are laughable…
Jazzy HAP wrote:
“And like Guest pointed out, McCain nominated the first ever female VP candidate.”
Uh no, that would be Geraldine Ferraro way back in 1984. It took 24 years longer for the Republicans to do it, and only as an attempt to pander to women voters.
John McCain, sensing an opportunity, offers you ‘a deal with the devil’ and incredibly some of you are actually going to take it.
If McCain wins this one, don’t blame men for lack of progress for women, blame yourselves for being so easily manipulated into voting away your self-interests.
Jazzy HAP,
Make believe? Who’s fairytale are we talking about here? The REPUBLICANS have been USING Senator Clinton’s words for their own devices since he chose Seator Biden. If Sen. Clinton had been chosen they would have been all over her like a pack of hyenas! Now the REPUBLICANS (who screamed inexperience about Sen. Obama) picked a woman who has not even completed her first term as governor. The Republicans have many experienced, accomplished woman to chose from to PANDER to the PUMA vote. However Sen. McCain chooses Governor Palin, whom he has only met once! HE doesn’t LIKE Kay Bailey Hutchinson! Not enough EYE-CANDY for him? Was she and those other qualified Rep. women too moxy for him; not willing to defer at every turn to ‘Father Knows Best’? Haven’t we had enough puppets in the White House? Don’t you think the ‘powers that be’ in the Republican Party think that if she should have to take over the presidency, she would be easy to control, with her inexperience and her far right ‘Stand By Your Man’ views?
The Republicans have used and are using Senator Clinton’s words in ads that she has publicly denounced and they are USING Governor Palin to suck in women who are desperate to see a woman on the ticket, ANY TICKET! To quote the Beatles, “She’s gotta ticket to ride, and she don’t CARE!” You’re on a JOY RIDE honey and the jokes on you!
P.S.
If you’re shocked at the sexism…research the words Sen. McCain has used in reference to women!
Pardon me, should read Senator Biden.
Are you old enough to remember Vice Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, Jazzy HAP? Check out the sexism aimed at her by the Republicans of the time!
Pardon me again, should read ‘Whose’ (not Who’s). My post #41 is a perfect example of letting your emotions rule your head. Usually before I post anything I reread and reread it. However, some of you make me SO frustrated by your eagerness to swallow this purely Republican ploy that my hands shake in anger. Forgive me my emotions and I will try to understand yours. However, I will NEVER agree with your reasoning!
Big D,
I’m not buying your argument for my vote. If you don’t think Hillary got bumped in favor of Obama by Washington insiders in the Democratic Party….then I’ll sell you Mile-High Stadium.
But even if I buy such the flimsy argument you offer as to why Hillary did not get the top spot… you still haven’t explained why Obama passed Hillary for the second place on the ticket… maybe you can offer an explanation since Obama is content to not to offer any explanation at all.
We will be waiting for your answer…. probably for a long while!
You won’t need to wait at all.
On why Obama didn’t pick Senator Clinton: I can only offer what I believe to be true, as I do not have direct access to Senator Obama and he certainly has not told me why he made his choice!
My speculation as to why he didn’t choose her would include the foillowing: Yes, he probably retains bruised feelings from the primary, and it seems plain that neither of them much like the other. He probably feels they wouldnt make a good governing team. Second, he may think that there is significant baggage associated with running with the Clintons, which includes President Clinton. By “baggage,” I mean the associations people bring to any Clinton candidacy, stemming from President Clinton’s bahavior during the Monica Lewinsky issue. I backed President Clinton during this scandal as I believed it was a right-wing attempt to rally their base around ‘traditional values,’ attack the president and drive up their vote. But, these problems harmed Senator Clinton in the primary and are still among the reasons why she has not cracked 50% in general election polls. he probably doesn’t want to have to get into all that.
Again, I do not know what was behind his choice. I am merely speculating.
As to “insiders” bumping Obama, I just don’t believe that is accurate. The only part of the primaries where it can be argued that insiders played a role was the DNC response to Florida and Michigan. As I have said in my other posts, both candidates agreed to not campaign in those states, and Obama wasn’t on the ballot in Michigan. So I don’t think a strong case can be made for defending the primary results in either state.
I want to be clear that my posts are not meant to be in opposition to Senator Clinton. I am merely trying to state that I don’t believe she lost unfairly. As I have said in other posts, if she had run a stronger campaign in the beginning, we wouldn’t be having this debate right now. But, she didn’t, and Senator Obama won. Thus, it is my belief that if we want our country to move in a direction away from Republicanism, we should vote for Obama.
I agree with you, Big D., though Obama didn’t see fit to explain it to me either. I have to admit (sigh) that I started out as a John Edwards supporter, but I could see right off the bat that Clinton and Obama didn’t seem to like each other much. And the things that Clinton said about Obama, even if done in the heat of battle, I think made it impossible for him to pick her. That anti-Obama stuff that the Repubs put in that commercial (quoting Hillary) would have carrried A LOT more weight if Hillary had been on the ticket. I think the animousity of the primary sunk her chances, not any sexism on Obama’s part.
Big D,
Thanks for your prompt reponse.
What you have described is a fundamental weakness on Obama’s part….. he disenfranchised 18,000,000,000 votes because he was fearful of the Clintons.
If Obama was fearful about that… we’ll give him something to really fear… how about a one way ticket on the bus home?
The Superdelegates are the Washington insiders who threw Hillary under the bus in favor of Obama. We saw the those dynamics as they happened… do not re-write history… and for heavens do not justify Obama’s good old boy pick! I like Joe but not as VP on that ticket!
WasHRCnowPalin,
It is clear that every explanation presented to you will have the same result…you want to punish Obama and the ‘powers that be’ in the Democratic Party. This is not about anything more for you than bitterness. You want realistic…you haven’t seen “good ole boys” until you see the ones that will be cheering when your equal rights as a woman have been taken away by a McCain loaded Supreme Court!
I think Jazzy HAP has dyslexia or something else that prevents her from understanding words. Let’s try that again:
“Mccain is reaching out to PUMA voters by offering them a candidate who the only thing she has in common with Hillary is they both have vaginas? He’s not reaching very far then.
Use your head Palin is an obvious ploy.”
Read that slower this time and look up the big words.
Thank you Guest. Right about now I needed a good laugh!
whosez,
Punish the Washington insiders who stole this opportunity from Hillary? Moi?
Why yes! Punish those Superdelegates offering only lip-service to women.. change their way of thinking about gender issues once and for all…. the time has come and Obama didn’t have the courage to grasp the hand of a woman and pull her through that glass ceiling the way others did for him. It takes courage to do that… Obama took the easy way out….. with good ol Joe.
John McCain took on a heap of controversy by picking a woman… I will reward courage like that with my vote.
So should you.
Ah yes, reward the courage of that noble feminist John McCain. Or maybe read beyond the US press.
The joke that should have sunk McCain
* Ed Pilkington
* The Guardian,
* Tuesday September 2 2008
* Article history
Imagine the stink that would erupt were David Cameron to stand up in front of a dinner of rich Conservative backers and make a “joke” that implied that Sarah Brown had had a lesbian affair with Jacqui Smith and produced a love child (and an ugly one to boot). Can you imagine British papers deciding to downplay the story because it was in such bad taste, allowing Cameron to carry on with his assault on Downing Street?
Cross the pond and that is exactly what happened to John McCain at a fundraising dinner in Arizona a decade ago. “Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly?” he told a handful of big Republican funders. “Because Janet Reno is her father.”
The remark packed into its 15 words several layers of misogyny. It disparaged the looks of Chelsea, then 18 and barely out of high school; it portrayed Reno as a man at a time when she was serving as the first female US attorney general; and it implied that Hillary Clinton was engaged in a lesbian affair while the Monica Lewinsky scandal was blazing. Not bad going, Senator McCain.
Any one of those elements would seem potentially terminal for a public figure. Yet here he is 10 years later presenting himself as a champion of feminism by appointing Sarah Palin as his running mate.
The puzzle is explained partly by the US press, which barely reported the story. The Washington Post broke it in June 1998 but declined to relate the joke on the grounds it was “too vile to repeat”. Such coyness has long been ingrained in the US media, which has an annoying tendency to regard its readers as wayward children in need of moral protection. That’s one important reason, incidentally, that blogs are doing so well in the US - they have no such scruples and behave in ways more akin to the British than the mainstream American media.
Think of presidential candidate John Edwards’ affair and alleged love child. The refusal of most newspapers to touch the story was ridiculed in the blogosphere for weeks before Edwards himself “legitimised” it by confessing.
After his misogynist joke, McCain said sorry to Bill Clinton (though he made no direct apology to the three women involved) and the incident was all but forgotten. Should he win on November 4, his friends in the press might have some answering to do.
WasHRCnowPalin,
You are a lost cause, and if I have anything to do with it your MISGUIDED cause will loose. I don’t have anymore time to spend on you, I’m due at the Obama for President campaign center to do volunteer work.
Pardon me, lose ,not loose. Angry hands again!
WasHRCnowPalin,
You Said: “What you have described is a fundamental weakness on Obama’s part….. he disenfranchised 18,000,000,000 votes because he was fearful of the Clintons.
If Obama was fearful about that… we’ll give him something to really fear… how about a one way ticket on the bus home?
The Superdelegates are the Washington insiders who threw Hillary under the bus in favor of Obama. We saw the those dynamics as they happened… do not re-write history… and for heavens do not justify Obama’s good old boy pick! I like Joe but not as VP on that ticket!”
My response:
1) Senator Obama didn’t disenfranchise anybody. He ran a better campaign and won the primary. End of story. You can huff and puff all you want, but you are simply inaccurate.
2) I am not “re-writing history.” There are “facts” and there are “feelings.” Both exist, but both do not prove the same things. I understand your anger and bruised feelings, but those feelings do not change facts. whosez was right when she/he said to you: “It is clear that every explanation presented to you will have the same result…you want to punish Obama and the ‘powers that be’ in the Democratic Party. This is not about anything more for you than bitterness.” Amen.
3) It isn’t fear that kept Obama from putting Clinton on the ticket. As much as everyone here likes and respects Senator Clinton, it is by no means clear that she would have helped him win. Many in America strongly dislike both Clintons, and they had spent a lot of effort attacking Obama in the primaries. Putting her on would possibly cost him support among the general electorate. Making a decision like that isn’t “fear,” it’s a political judgement.
4) I don’t think the controversy about McCain picking Palin was about her being a woman. It was because she was not a recognized name and seemed to come out of nowhere. And before you say Senator Obama did the same thing, I will add that he spent over a year putting himself before the electorate running for President, so he was not a new face by the time people were voting.
WasHRCnowPalin,
A. They’re not childrean, you’re not their mother, you’re not “punishing” anyone.
B. “John McCain took on a heap of controversy by picking a woman” No he didn’t it was her lack of experience that was controversial. Really her being a woman was pretty much a safe bet.
C. I just firgured why you anny me so much. It’s the glass-ceiling. PUMA is drgging gender into this, when no one else haS. Obama hasn’t dragged in color, even when their have been a few off-color remarks. I always thought true feminists don’t need to whine and stomp their foot and complain about a glass ceiling.
Whosez,
While you are down there ask Obama to explain why he diss’d Hillary and 18,000,000,000 of her voters! He still hasn’t stepped up to offer an explanation… fact is, he can’t explain.. the reasons would sink his campaign tomorrow!
Big D,
Must you engage in demeaning my viewpoint too? An embittered woman? No, not embittered… just not going to take it laying down anymore… will stand on principle…
An Obama-Hillary ticket would have swept the election…. and besides, if Obama was afraid of Hillary then why didn’t he put another woman on the ticket? According to your reasoning there must not have been any to pick from?
I don’t buy it Big D. It was the folks pulling the strings that made this decision and it is the same insecure mental cases that are going after Sarah Palin and her pregnant daughter!
Guest,
Then you don’t know the fundamental premise of the battle
Decades ago when this fight began… women, blacks, hispanics, and some native americans came together to change things in America and the workplace… we knew that though we worked twice as hard as a white man for the same pay that would never change until we broke through that glass ceiling… for it was on the other side of the glass ceiling that lasting change could be made… so we determined to continue to work twice as hard and where ever possible lift a few of us through that glass ceiling… let others stand on our shoulders… then those on the other side would help changed the unwritten policies that prevented women and minorities from acheiving equality. Furthermore, the ones who made it through to the other side would reach down and lift others through the ceiling and they in turn would also do the same. So we implemented such things as affirmative action and convinced corporate america that it was in the their interest to be a workplace of diversity.
That strategy only works when folks who make to the other side do their duty to bring others through… Mr. Obama violated the most basic item of the fight… not only did he not pull Hillary through it… he missed the golden opportunity to shatter that ceiling forever! His VP choice set women’s opportunity for that back a decade… at least!
Some folks forget the big picture when they make it through the glass ceiling… as did Mr. Obama.
Now Sarah is that opportunity to break that ceiling once and for all… that also gives Hillary another shot in 4 years.
When you think about these things seriously then what choice do women really have at this point?
Go Sarah!
WasHRCnowPalin
How can you possibly say that you are standing on your principles? Are your principles to degrade women? Are your principles to take women back to the “good ole days of the 50’s” when white men ruled and jews and blacks and women were second class citizens? You aren’t punishing Obama or the Democrats or the Washington Insiders that you seem to hate. You are punishing me, my daughters and my granddaughters. You sound like one of those angry white men instead of a modern woman. I am glad to hear the other voices of intelligence. Stop being p…..d and start using your brain.
cstraton,
There is no going back…. well maybe if Obama caves into the Islamic Fascists we will… but we will go forward now without Obama… he had his chance to do the right and proper thing for women…. he buckled to the Democratic insiders who he was beholden to.. he diss’d Hillary and he diss’d women in America when he did that.
He could have had the election sewn up today. Now he will lose for being weak…. perhaps though it is best that it happens now before he gets into the White House and the phone rings and 3:00 in the morning.