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.
So what happened just prior to Kathleen's "major transfrmantion"..oh yea, Sarah shook hands with a bunch of really...really high profile guys and even hugged a few. ABC News flattered her with a shower of great photo ops and carefully title their article "Palin "takes" NY. Can you say jealously on the left and now jealousy on the right? I knew you could.
Kathleen will get over it....well maybe not, but that's tough.
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).
Those “relatively small constituencies” are only about
686,000 more than Obama has ever dreamed about.
Parker is off base by a mile here.
“Gee that sounds like a description of Obama to me!”
That’s my exact reaction. And frankly, the author is right in characterizing these statement by Palin. There’s just not that much “there” there. But it read like a typical Barack Obama transcript.
It’s one of the things I miss about Romney. That guy had a very pragmatic, usually well-organized and structured way of addressing the issues, his conservative bona fides left out of the picture so as not to go too far off course here.
Anyway, Obama never faces this sort of criticism when he says things like, “We shouldn’t even be in this mess in the first place....” and then never explains exactly how we’re going to get out of it. He just rambles.
Any criticism of Palin’s experience can be easily thrown over at Obama. That’s one of the reasons I suspect they picked her for the VP spot, and I think it’ll turn out to have been a smart choice indeed. Basically, there is more executive experience at the bottom of the republican ticket than at the top of the democrat.
That explains everything. Allahpundit was also a Romney worshiper and has been posting negative Palin stuff over on Hotair.com ever since Palin was named.
Thats why I have great respect for Hugh Hewitt. He was a huge Romney fanboy but didnt allow him being passed over for the VP to make him bitter like some others.
Her Wikipedia bio indicates she appears on the Chris Matthews show. That should tell you all you need to know about Kathleen Parker, faux conservative.
I for one have never heard of her and, once she enjoys her 15 minutes of fame from Chrissie, Olberman and the rest of that pack, she will disappear again. Is Townhall so hard up they have to print junk like his? No wonder Mary Katherine Hamm left.
By the way, Kathleen, Sarah Palin has managed to get elected to the City Council, Mayor, drive a state Party Chairman (who was doing party work at taxpayers’ expense) out of office, drive an ethically challenged Attorney General from office and defeat a sitting governor and former governor to become the first woman governor of the largest state in the Union. All while raising five children. What have you done with your life other than to print your miserable little columns and wallow in obscurity? Oh, I forgot. you go on the Chris Matthews show.
To paraphrase Mark Levin, “Get off the web, ya big dope.” Your 20 second liberal clock has expired.
Her pompous and tedious writing style reminds me of Peggy Noonan.
Waiting for the Kathleen Parker column about obama's lack of qualifications. Sometimes character is more important than experience (lending comes to mind).
O.K., Ms. Parker, let's talk about a certain junior Senator and former community organizer from Illinois and what he knows about economics and foreign policy then.
Why is this not being written about the danger of having a stealth marxist and an incompetent idiot running on the dem ticket.
I read MOST of this trash bag's article, but I must confess the nausea set in before I could finish. If this is supposed to pass for objective journalism, young lady, you just failed, no passing grade for you! This lightweight nitwit is supposed to be a “conservative”? Please!
When was the last time Obama had to answer questions as hard, and/or obtuse, as ANY of those on the venues she mentioned? The short answer: HE NEVER HAS! Some of the questions Couric asked were so stupid and capricious, she may as well have asked what size shoes McCain wears, then maybe what is Cindy's favorite brand of toilet tissue?!!
Drivel. Just drivel! I will be giving Townhall a piece of my mind when I tell them to cancel my email subscription!
Parker misses the all-important bottom-line:
Its what a politician does, not what they say:
obama:
says:’I represent the people, hope, change’
etc empty suit talk
does: represents the left
Palin:
says ‘I am for fiscal restraint, helping folks’, and “empty suit stuff”
does: exhibit fiscal restraint, supports traditional values
Palin DOES what she says NObama does NOT
I would have picked Gov Mark Sanford. He was governor for much longer and also served in the House during the Newt years
but he also slipped during a Wolf Blitzer interview. I’m more interested in whether he or she will do the right thing than how they perform during an interview.
And I’m sure those on the left feel the same way since they have no problem when Obama or biden slip up.
Clearly out of her league? Where the hell has Kathleen Parker been? I thought her answers to Gibson and Hannity were clear and concise, even with Gibson's smarmy attitude.
Has Parker not even looked at the absolute baffoonish Obama and Biden?! My Goodness... we are not dealing with rocket scientists when it comes to the democratic ticket!!!
Parker continues to disappoint. She's become useless!
They all ramble with the exception of a very few. Yet Palin get’s crucified for it.
This broad, on the other hand, I don't know what, if anything she's got going for her. To much Kool Aide tends to have that effect.
“she was always a romney for VP fan”
I have seen a very few other female columnists who also write negative stuff about Palin but absolutely swooned over Romney. I really believe some of them had a crush on him and are taking their frustration out on Sarah Palin.
Romney would have been a terrible selection, would have ruined the morale at the convention and would probably have led to McCain either losing the election or winning by only a razor thin margin. Sarah Palin personifies authenticity. Mitt Romney is so inauthentic that it is embarassing. The American people know the difference between the real and the ersatz. His lack of prior electoral success is evidence of this handicap. McCain was wise to pass over him.
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