...or Hatred? I'm not quite sure.
Of course, I watched the promoted showdown between two media darlings, Oprah v. Palin. In the left corner, we have Oprah; and in the right, Palin. And instead of a knock out heavy weight fight, I got a "friendly-dancing-around-the-ring" round! Out of curiosity, and boredom, I found my way to Oprah's message boards. I found more than I had expected! I anticipated the "don't-cha-know" stay at home mom's, Sarah Palin supporters, rehashing Obama's birth certificate and pallin' around with terrorist talk. Which, I think I saw one or two. But instead, Harpobear, the community moderator had to step in frequently to remind the Palin-Haters to keep the discussion "respectful".
Which leads me to my point. I am completely baffled at the absolute disdain, despise, detest, and even hatred some people have regarding Sarah Palin. Although I find her relatable, practical, and entertaining, at this point I would not vote for her. In the same sense, I consider Hillary Clinton a very intelligent, driven, and accomplished, and would not vote for her. But I do not spew venom when talking about her, the way some liberals do when discussing Sarah Palin. Most especially the women! And in my quest for understanding, I stumbled across a few blogs, articles, and discussions. But they can have the same disagreements with other politicians (namely men) without the same vitriol. So what makes her such a target?
I googled "I Hate Sarah Palin", which brought up t-shirts, bumper stickers, and other merchandise. I also found several blogs which created lists for why the liberal women hate her. I found ridiculous reasons such as "she was a beauty pageant contestant" and "she married her high school sweetheart". The only substantive issues women had with her were completely policy based. She's pro-life, pro-guns, pro-traditional marriage, pro-energy (which equals anti-earth), pro-death penalty, etc.
Here was a fabulous explanation, which seems pretty accurate: "She is the embodiment of the anti-choice, the opposite of every choice that lefty elites have ever made (wife, mother to five, rural, conservative) That everything she is is the antithesis of everything that liberal urban elites are, so it's not just enough to say, 'I disagree with you,'; she has to be repudiated and crushed." (Hugh Hewitt) Jim Garaghty continues, "To the left, I think, she embodies a sort of comfort with ignorance that they think characterizes most/all conservatives. If liberals are right that Palin really is ignorant, and moreover, completely comfortable with that ignorance, and moreover still, thought she ought to be Vice President of the United States, they have perhaps ample reason to dislike her. On the other hand, if they dismiss Palin because she looks pretty or talks funny or doesn't read the same newspapers they do, that goes to their being snobs."
So is the anti-feminist? Is she the absolute antithesis of everything that feminism has tried to accomplish? I would argue that she is a perfect example of it! You can have a beautiful family, adoring husband, and still be a strong, confident woman with a career you created. Is anyone else completely puzzled over all of this Palin-envy, especially by her fellow females?
13 comments:
I like her A LOT. I think that she is a good, honest woman. She is trying the best that she can and hardly makes excuses for her mistakes. I have to say that I would definitely consider voting for her because she is the most REAL person I have ever seen run for office.
A BIG issue I have with her is the fact that she resigned as governor. I don't care if you are a lame duck, you finish the job you were elected to. I would rather hear someone say, "I never give up, no matter what the odds are", instead of "They were preventing me from doing my job". Look at President Bush, I would almost have preferred him resigning instead of sitting as a "lame duck". I think that is when he did the most damage! (i.e. bailouts)
And from the beginning, I argued that President Obama didn't have enough experience, and I feel that this lack of governing experience is one of the many reasons he has made what I view as bad policy decisions (or lack of decisions, ex: Afghanistan). If this is what lack of experience looks like, Palin isn't qualified yet.
I agree to a point. But I think that she is definitely a go getter. I was initially shocked that she resigned. But I totally understand why she did it. She litereally couldn't get the job done because all of her time and Alaska's resources were being tied up with "ethics" issues and law suits. I truly believe that she did what she felt was best. Having said that, I doubt she would even run in 2012. And, I said that I would "consider" voting for her. Romey is still my top pick.
My problem with her Oprah interview was her attacking the McCain camp, blaming them for pretty much everything bad that happened to her during the campaign.
Those who don't like her will say she is playing the blame game, pointing the finger, throwing the McCain camp under the bus.
Those who like her will say she is setting the record straight, putting her side out there, etc.
Seeing how the McCain camp started dumping on her even before the campaign was over, with their "annonymous sources" they opened the door. Would she have written this tell-all if they didn't open the flood gates, who knows.
I haven't read it, and don't plan to in the near future. But from what I have heard from several news orgs, the campaign only takes up about 20 pages (some reports 12, some I've heard around 30) of a 400+ page book. But this is the majority of the press coverage. And I never heard her bag on McCain. When I've listened to interviews, I've taken it more as "this is the game of politics" not a "pity party express". She's owned up to what a bad interview the Couric one was. I guess because I don't see her as the feminine satan incarnate (sarcasm), I didn't hear her complaining just giving her side of the story.
My curiosity is just in how polarizing she is, especially among women. I don't hear her saying anything different than other politicians, maybe not in the same slick way. What makes her that much more aggrivating?
She comes off as ignorant. I have no idea what she is like personally. For some reason, for some people, that air of ignorance in a politician is endearing and makes people think they are "honest." (I know many people who felt that way about Bush.) I am not saying she IS ignorant, but in my opinion she made a fool of herself time and time again when she was campaigning -- it was embarrassing. Who wants somebody like that representing our nation? For me, it had nothing to do with her being a woman (although I don't feel like she is good representation of an educated, well-spoken woman).
As far as feminism is concerned: in some ways I agree that she is a great embodiment of what women can accomplish, although (as was mentioned above) she QUIT!
Mostly, I don't think any of her "qualities" actually qualify her to be a good politician. I dismissed Palin NOT because she is pretty, has five children, or because she married her high school sweetheart; I dismissed Palin because it was painfully obvious that she didn't have a clue what she was talking about.
(For the record, I am NOT a Clinton fan either. Although I do feel she has lots of experience, is motivated, educated and knowledgeable.)
Susan, I think that you touched on something I read quite a bit of. Many libs see her as the female version of Bush. But if we label Sarah ignorant, or Bush ignorant because of stupid stuff they say, let's include V.P. Biden. I would be curious to see if we took the campaign interviews, he would have just as many or more "Biden gaffs" as "ignorant Palin remarks". And again, this is beating a dead horse, but if she is unqualified to be VP, President Obama is unqualified to be Pres. She served longer as gov. before entering national politics than he served as Senator before he entered.
And I might have to wash my mouth out after uttering this, but I would much rather have Clinton than Obama at this point. The Clinton's were almost more fiscally conservative than Pres. Bush, and far more than Pres. Obama. And they were democrat centrists, and I feel like Pres. Obama is playing to the extremes more than mainstream, where most American's are.
I have 3 problems with Palin, here they are:
-She isn't taking personal accountability for the Couric interview. So what if Katie was badgering her or making her look bad? If she hadn't done it somebody else would have. It's her job as a successful politician to show herself in the most flattering light possible, even when the ugliest question is asked.
-She often leaves the N's off of the ends of her words. That sounds SO uneducated. Let's just leave that to the likes of Khloe Kardashian, OK?
-She won't stop commenting about the things that her idiot ex-almost-son-in-law keeps saying! This is driving me nuts! If what he is saying is a bunch of lies then ignore him and have a lawyer sue him for slander! We all can see how dumb he is, but participating in this is making her look dumb too.
Otherwise I think she is just OK. She cleans up nice. I wonder if she knows how to fly fish? I always wanted to learn to fly fish...:)
I would much rather have BILL Clinton in office than Obama. It seems people easily forget that it was Hilary running, not Bill. I do not fool myself into thinking that Hilary as president would have been anything like Bill as president.
It is insufficient to merely compare time in public office as sole qualifiers for the presidency. To argue that Palin served longer in public office than Obama did before entering national politics, and therefore is more qualified, is an invalid argument.
I think I had an "AH-HA!" moment regarding Sarah Palin and how liberal women view her. For those who are liberals, see if I'm on the right track.
Sarah Palin for liberals = Nancy Pelosi for conservatives.
See my thinking? Although I respect Nancy as the first woman speaker, that is about it. I COMPLETELY disagree with almost all of her positions regarding policy, and when she speaks, it just gets under my skin. The way she spoke about tea party goers might be as offensive to me, as the way Sarah Palin commented during the campaign about Pres. Obama palling around with terrorists.
Am I on the right track? And maybe with that understanding, I can kind of grasp why Palin gets under Liberals skin. Do as many libs like Pelosi as much as conservatives like Palin? Just curious.
Sarah,
I think your Ah-Ha moment made me have my Ah-Ha moment. I like Sarah Palin for what she stands for and for the issues she continues to defend and not make excuses for (pro-life, pro-family, pro-capitalism, etc.). I CAN NOT STAND Pelosi. She has to be, quite possibly, the most irritating person I have ever had to suffer through listening to (even though I did find Bush quite boring and had to change the channel often during his presidency--even though I supported him for the most part). She seems like such a self-centered, deceitful woman. I do not agree at all with the issues she supports. So, yes, I agree. Liberals must look at Palin the way that conservatives look at Pelosi.
To Susan, I agree that comparing experience can in someways be seen as an invalid argument. However, I do not find that the case with Obama and Palin. First, Palin has directly affected change in Alaska, while Obama's record going into his presidency was pretty non-existent as a Senator. He really didn't do much. He just talked a lot and voted little. Even if you don't like Palin's actions, at least she played an active role which is more than can be said for Obama. But, that is my opinion. America chose differently, I am grateful for democracy.
Sara, here's another blog you may find interesting: http://drdanrowe.blogspot.com/
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