Dear John McCain,
I noticed that you've picked Sarah Palin as your running mate for the 2008 election. Well, that's awfully nice of you.
But, honestly: do you think you can win women over simply by choosing a person who happens to have been born with a double X-chromosome? I'm confused as to whose votes you're gunning for. Are you trying to be more "diverse"? Let me give you a tip here: you cannot compete with Obama's diversity. So don't try. And choosing a woman because she's a woman, not because she's a competent running-mate, well, it worries me about your ability to lead the country.
I'm sure Sarah Palin is very nice lady, aside from the fact that she is a pro-lifer, a christian conservative, a gun-fiend, and by all accounts, mostly likely a total and complete hater. (Hater, def: A bigoted asshole).
But then again, I guess you'd have to be pro-life to run with someone who supports an all out BAN on abortion in EVERY STATE. Oh, but he does allow for abortion in cases of rape and incest. GEE, THANKS! Aside from her politics, which of course, I disagree with, she's inexperienced, McCain! Less than two years as a Governor and a controversial one at that! You know what this looks like. It looks like you grabbed the nearest female and slapped the VP hat on her. Oh wait. It looks that way because that's exactly what you've done.
Look, I know you aren't as stupid as some conservatives I know.
But why alienate your base?
I mean, for chrissake, women can't clean house AND be Vice-President! Who will make sure the kids don't go gay?
Clearly, McCain, you are not playing for keeps. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have come to stand for two groups of oppressed Americans, and they fought damn hard and well to get where they are today. When Hillary Clinton decided to run for President, she was fulfilling a life-long dream of hers, because she believed she could actually do something to make this country a better place.
And yeah, women's rights DO completely stem on our reproductive rights. If a woman has no choice in carrying a fetus for nine months, much less taking care of it for her entire life, she's not a woman. She's not even a person. Without that choice, we have nothing. So be honest. You couldn't give a rat's-ass about women's rights. I find this to be a purely political move, and yes, I find it insulting to all the women who have busted their ass to protect women's rights.
In the future, stick to your fucking guns.
Yours,
Jessica
15 comments:
I'm struggling to figure out how this nomination in any way helps McCain.
It's almost as if he's trying to sabotage his own candidacy. Wacky!
Excellent job. I'm too tired to come up with anything more profound.
mccain never had a base. the religious right were never in his camp and his wacky maverick moderate style never allowed for a core constituency except for those equally wacky maverick independents who lean right. but his VP choice makes sense: he's not pandering to women, he's courting the religious right who were lukewarm to his campaign. sarah palin is a young, working class political outsider with a religious conservative viewpoint, charisma and an interesting life story. plus, he wins some votes of disaffected women.
take away the sex/gender dimension and this choice is no different from obama's: what does a green, forward-thinking, multicultural political outsider like obama have in common with joe biden?
it's a shrewd move by the mccain camp (who knew that they had it in them?). moving forward, i'm hoping that this brings out the best in barack obama and that a healthy discussion about identity, issues and common values ensues.
attacking mccain and his new VP choice seems like a gut reaction. i think that a substantial discussion of the issues and the underlying principles of the candidates will reveal just how wacky mccain and his vision of america is. it's our only hope.
well said!
This angers me as a feminist in almost every way! If hell freezes over and somehow McSame/Palin win this thing in November, you can expect to hear for generations to come about how the GOP is the pro-women party. Never mind that this woman stands diametrically opposed to almost every issue that is important to the Hillary Clinton-type voter, especially reproductive rights and healthcare. I'm going to grit my teeth and hope that American women won't be duped into voting for this ticket simply because the VP candidate also has a vagina.
Yick.... she is bad news to any woman who wants the right to control her own body and her own life... she is a gun loving religious, home schooling bigot who thinks God created the world in seven days.. and we are not the products of that evil evolution.......who knows? she may even think the world is flat..... way to go McCain great selection! and when she couldn't force the firing of her sister's ex husband she fired his boss and is now under investigation this is getting good!
This post and its witty illustrations made me laugh out loud. Soooo true, everything you say.
i think maybe you left out a picture that may somehow have helped make your point. maybe it's just me, but every time I see that picture of palin, I think of this:
http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/060713/14235__flo_l.jpg
i think that makes me shallow, but you'll forgive me.
L: i know!
B: i wrote it in a fit of rage, so i'm surprised it's coherent.
T: you love to disagree with me, and that's great. you're right that mccain never had a base. but, in this election, he certainly does. hardcore republicans and conservatives will vote for him simply to vote against obama. which means he cannot afford to alienate that vote, politically speaking--that's what i mean when i talk about his base.
he may win votes from conservative disaffected women, but as you can see from the backlash and even the comments on this page, he wins nothing but resentment from moderate to liberal women.
the fact of the matter is you can never and should never take away the sex and gender dimension as far as i'm concerned. i'm a woman and i need a president who will protect my rights, many of which are relate to the fact that i am female and can give birth.
biden is a traditional rock, i think he chose biden because some liberals tend to balk at obama's inexperience. but biden is a experienced, capable politician. as we can see from palin's record, she is not.
for me, this election isn't about unifying the party system. it's about fixing this country and pulling us out of the fucking gutter. picking a VP who's as conservative as George Bush but oh, as an added bonus has a vagina doesn't sit well with me. and it shouldn't sit well with anyone after what we've been through internationally and domestically.
i'm all for discussion.
i also stand by my gut.
S: thanks for reading!
M: Bless you. The GOP hates women and has never moved from their stance of "family values," placing women in the kitchen. Simply because they've chosen a woman in a purely political move doesn't change anything. It doesn't change how they refuse to see women as anything but pawns and baby-makers.
Anon: So she's corrupt, too? What a surprise!
ML: thank you, i'm glad you liked the illustrations :)
Jen: hah! omg.
Spot on!
While I can't say I am less tired, I have simply adjusted better and am prepared to comment.
Now I don't want to though. The very idea of having to think about what it might mean to place in line for the presidency a person who claims the war in Iraq is "a task from God", who wants to limit the ability of women to own their body, and who has fought to ensure nearly every rare and threatened creature in Alaska has absolutely no protection is frightening.
Thinking about who this person is, about her place on the party line she seems so willing to tow when it comes to guns, sex education, global warming, I am abashed as an American.
And the more this goes on, the more it becomes too much like an episode of Jerry Springer. Her unwed and pregnant daughter? If it weren't for the expectation that the VP nominee will be pushing the abstinence only falsity, this isn't news. Neither is the fact Jamie Lynn Spears sent her a sympathy gift.
Of course the major striking point, the one that may sever me from reason and rationale for all time, is the image criss-crossing the internet of Palin, in flag bikini, holding a rifle. The sad truth is I expect there a number of people who might not otherwise vote to be swayed by this, and I am not prepared to live in that world.
Go Jessica!
thanks, guys!
BH: great point about people dragging things down to her level, with the photoshop nonsense, etc. don't get me wrong, i resent the hell out of her, but at the same time that's just in poor taste. (will that stop me from reading the blogs that say trig palin is actually bristol's baby? absolutely not).
There was this great article on the Jezebel website last week titled "Please Stop Making Me Defend Sarah Palin." It was pretty funny and I recommend that you read it. Also, Tina Fey just did the most hilarious and spot-on impersonation of Palin on SNL. The video is up on Huffington Post.
snobber.blogspot.com is very informative. The article is very professionally written. I enjoy reading snobber.blogspot.com every day.
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