Posted on 09/26/2008 3:24:39 AM PDT by acsuc99
WASHINGTON -- If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream -- away from Sarah Palin.
To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president -- and possibly president -- is to risk being labeled anti-woman.
Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.
Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick -- what a difference a financial crisis makes -- and a more complicated picture has emerged.
As we've seen and heard more from John McCain's running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn't know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.
Yes, she recently met and turned several heads of state as the United Nations General Assembly convened in New York. She was gracious, charming and disarming. Men swooned. Pakistan's president wanted to hug her. (Perhaps Osama bin Laden is dying to meet her?)
And, yes, she has common sense, something we value. And she's had executive experience as a mayor and a governor, though of relatively small constituencies (about 6,000 and 680,000, respectively).
Finally, Palin's narrative is fun, inspiring and all-American in that frontier way we seem to admire. When Palin first emerged as John McCain's running mate, I confess I was delighted. She was the antithesis and nemesis of the hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood -- a refreshing feminist of a different order who personified the modern successful working mother.
Palin didn't make a mess cracking the glass ceiling. She simply glided through it.
It was fun while it lasted.
Palin's recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.
No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I've been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I've also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.
Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there's not much content there. Here's but one example of many from her interview with Hannity "Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we're talking about today. And that's something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this."
When Couric pointed to polls showing that the financial crisis had boosted Obama's numbers, Palin blustered wordily: "I'm not looking at poll numbers. What I think Americans at the end of the day are going to be able to go back and look at track records and see who's more apt to be talking about solutions and wishing for and hoping for solutions for some opportunity to change, and who's actually done it?"
If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself.
If Palin were a man, we'd all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she's a woman -- and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket -- we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.
What to do?
McCain can't repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP's unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.
Only Palin can save McCain, her party and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.
Do it for your country.
I don’t Palin should drop out for “personal reasons”, because everyone would correctly interpret it as McCain admitting a big mistake. However, I *do* think he made a mistake. Palin is not presidential material, even though she enthuses lots of social conservatives for hunting moose, sharing their religion, having a large family, and in general, being “just like them”.
Mitt Romney, for example, is a lot smarter and better informed than Palin. He understands economic issues better than McCain, and would be useful right now in negotiations of the bailout package. Conservatives have become so wrapped up in identity politics (mimicking the Democrats) and “anti-elitism” that they pass over better qualified candidates who have taken some positions they disagree with it.
What's frustrating though is that Parker for the most part been in support of conservative thought.
Apparently not anymore.
Gotta run.... students coming.
Biden is the real scary VP choice. He has never been correct on any foreign policy issue for nearly 35 years. Sarah is new but why should she kow tow to MSM media gotcha stuff. Parker should know this. She should interview Palin. She should hit her with problems and issues that really might hit her both as VP and as a McCain replacement. Enough of the gotcha stuff. C’mon Parker, ask for an interview and ask her real life questions. BTW, Palin is still bringing the BASE together. That may be very important is a real close election. My gripe is that the Pubs won’t allow her to campaign alone in battleground states John cannot visit.
I've seen her explain the energy policy in an 11 minute interview done awhile ago on NBC. She did the best job I've seen in showing a good grasp of the energy situation we are placed with.
And who do we compare her to? Barney Frank? Nancy Pelosi? Harry Reid? Chucky Schummer? Charlie Rangel? I trust her instincts far greater than these mental midgets.
I haven’t (and won’t) read this entire article. I’m very comfortable (estatic, even) with Palin being VP, which is the office she is actually running for. She will get all the experience she needs learning under John McCain. And I am certainly more comfortable with her being President than either Obama or Biden. These pinheads seem to forget that this woman is the governor of the nation’s largest state and that she has the highest approval ratings of any sitting governor.
And another thing. If something happened to McCain and she suddenly became President before she was really ready, she can point someone like Condelezza Rice as VP. Or maybe Dick Cheney (the constitution only bars him from being re-elected to VP) or his equivalent, much as Obama has tried to do (albeit laughingly) with Biden.
Ivory Tower Republican.
I wonder if any of these Palin nerviosos have any idea what would happen to the last pillar holding up the McCain ceiling right now - the Grassroots, Conservative base - if Palin were dropped from the ticket.
Morons, every one.
I have seen many Hussein supporters on these threads pretending like “sad” conservatives.
But, they are allowed to stay?
Weird because alot of good conservatives have been banned from FR for much less.
I’ve seen a few trolls zapped. Just search for the keyword zot, or zotbait or trolls or viking kitties and you’ll see some recent ones. What you write is interesting, though. Almost deserving of its own thread if you can come up with some good examples.
“Given what Sarah Palin has had to put up with, the fact that she’s taken it all with grace and is still standing says a lot. I really don’t know who else could possibly take this abuse and not break down or lash back. I admire her strength, and stand by her all the way.”
Well said!
Kathleen Parker, you are writing as an IDIOT (though I've liked some of your stuff before). Governor Palin is not running against your ideal VP candidate, she is running (WITH John McCain as the #1 on the ticket) against the exceptionally vacuous and inept Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
It is ludicrous to criticize Governor Palin like this without a point-by-point comparison with Biden and also Obama. Especially on POLICY, not just on verbal presentation or campaign-speak in a couple of interviews.....
Our choice, Kathleen Parker, is not between Governor Palin and your ideal candidate, it's between McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden. By so viciously seeking to undermine Governor Palin, you only help the socialist left toward victory. Tell me about how Biden OR Obama is so superior to Palin (NOT) and then this column could make sense. Otherwise, it is just narcissistic dreck from a lightweight columnist who seemingly wants Obama/Biden to win.
Oh, Please...... You don’t have a choice of Mitt Romney now. The alternative to McCain/Palin is Obama/Biden. Take your pick. One of those two tickets will be elected in 5+ weeks.
Are you advocating for Obama/Biden or not?
People sniping at Governor Palin ought to first think hard about whether or not they are trying to get Obama/Biden elected, because that’s what it comes down to.
I don’t know how “Presidential” Governor Palin looked in those two interviews b/c I would not bother to lend my eyeballs to the charlatans at ABC or CBS. I do know that I find it just about unthinkable, as in projectile-vomit unthinkable, to have Obama and Biden in the WH. Palin would have to be really really bad to be as bad as Obama andd Biden. I have not seen any indication yet that she belongs DOWN on that level, even if she may not meet some people’s ideal fantasy of what is “Presidential”.... Bill Clinton, AlGore, John Kerry, and John Edwards, as well as Obama and Biden, certainly fall far below what I consider “Presidential” so I will gladly take Governor Palin over any of them.
Unfortunately, this election is not about Sarah Palin or the treatment of Palin. If you think it is, you’re fighting the wrong battle. Sarah Palin needs to be doing more of what she did at the convention right now, repeatedly, everywhere possible, not hiding from cameras, doing photo ops at home or abroad: in other words, she should be obsessive about getting McCain votes. Right now, aside from doing that, she isn’t important and won’t exactly be dominating the headlines on November 5th, regardless of how the election turns out. Events are going to overtake the president elect, not to mention the vice president elect.
I think Sarah has been great, and the few foibles there have been have been fully exploited by the MSM.
The MSM hides Barry's foibles and denigrates you if you suggest there were any.
However, Sarah is certainly presidential material. She shows a consistency that Romney and McCain could only dream of, to principles. She hasn't waffled or “gone over to the bad side” in the course of her political life. Even better, she understands why she believe what she does and she follows through.
Mitt Romney may be smarter, but he's a much worse person with questionable bona fides when it comes to being in political office.
Sarah wins, hands down. For you to see it otherwise says much about you. Strangely, you appear to believe Reagan was a good president, but he attended a small Christian college for his four-year degree, so you must think he wouldn't be qualified to be president or vice-president if he were around today, right?
Speaking of that, Obambi has been using a teleprompter mounted in his watch on the trail.
I wonder if they will sneak that in to the debate tonight.
we love her because she is one of us....
NOT ONE CANDIDATE....NOT MCCAIN...NOT HUSSEIN....NOT BIDEN ...HAS ANY EXPERIENCE AT BEING A VICE PRESIDENT...NONE.....
Sarah Palin has answered far tougher questions than Hussein has answered in 2 years...he's never been put on the spot, never had anyone interview him who isn't bowing down , never , never , never....
my prediction.....Sarah Palin will be a wonderful and capable and likeable vice president who will do more for foreign relations and bridge building than anyone preceeding her not named Reagan....you'll see..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.