Sussing Out My Opinion on Sarah Palin
*sigh*
My first instinct is to pity her. She’s been put in a tough position. The McCain campaign picked her solely because she personally fits and appeals to a certain demographic. This is an example of the worst kind of wrongheaded Affirmative Action that its critics claim happens all the time. (Did you know that every time an unqualified black person gets hired over a qualified white person, a kitten dies? Totally true.) (I don’t need to explain further on Affirmative Action, do I?)
Maybe she’s not inherently incapable of being the vice president/president, she just doesn’t know enough yet. She’s clearly unprepared, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s an idiot.
It looks terrible that John McCain has to accompany her on an interview to help her defend herself. Anything the McCain campaign does to mitigate the risk of letting her speak freely with the media and the public makes it look like they’re being sexist in their treatment of her.
[Barbara Walters voice] However… [/Baba Wawa]
She didn’t have to accept the nomination. Her personal ambition got her in this mess in the first place. There’s a clear record of her political career in Alaska and it does not look good. Cronyism and incompetence galore.
If there were a man running as the Republicans’ VP candidate with the same background and (lack of) knowledge and experience, he’d be getting equally crucified. It might be even worse (though that’s hard to imagine). (And they might win! Argh! My stomach hurts.)
It hurts my heart that this woman with, sadly, a pretty good chance of getting into office totally should not be there. Is it a win for womankind that she’s getting the heat just like a man would? Or a loss for womankind that she’s in this position in the first place? Whatever it is, it’s lose-lose.
As SNL pointed out in sketch featuring Tina Fey’s brilliant debut as Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton should be livid.
Sarah Palin’s Greatest Hits: “All the best moments of Sarah Palin interviews, starring Sarah Palin, Charlies Gibson, Katie Couric, Sean Hannity, and special guest appearance from John McCain himself.”
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:44 am
Great take on Palin. It becomes more and more obvious after each interview that she was chosen because she’s a female. Not a qualified female but simply a female. The McCain campaign could have chosen a more worldly and knowledgeable woman from my office. It is sad that she could very well be president in a short amount of time because there are so many others who would do a far better job and be much less of an embarassment to the country.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:35 am
In true beauty queen form she uses a lot of words to say exactly nothing of substance.
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:28 pm
I don’t feel the slightest bit sorry for her. She got herself into this–she didn’t have to say yes to McCain.
And not just Hillary Clinton, but all women should be livid over this. They only picked her because she’s a woman and will (hopefully, on their part) appeal to their base. But I don’t think that’s working out so well for them. My grandma, who is definitely the sort of person the Palin pick was targeted at (older woman, very religious, socially conservative, white, southern, low info voter, etc.), was a Hillary supporter and she’s unbelievably insulted by McCain picking Palin.
It was really funny listening to her rant about it on the phone the other day–imagine Blanch Devereaux from the Golden Girls going off on a political rant about how McCain must think she’s stupid and that all women are exactly alike, etc. I just about died laughing.
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Your grandma is Blanche Devereaux? That is so awesome.
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Ha ha.
She does remind me very much of Blanche, though. Imagine a very, very southern old woman with the drawl who is very, very vain and just a bit catty, but overall a fun person to be around.
October 11th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Well said!!!