Posted on 10/21/2008 7:23:11 PM PDT by joinedafterattack
HENDERSON, Nev. -- Extolling the virtues of equal pay and opportunity for women, this afternoon GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin framed her White House quest in terms of feminist values.
"I have a question for the women in the audience," the Alaska governor began her speech here at the Henderson Pavillion, underneath an arching white tent. "Are you willing to break the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America?"
Palin surrounded herself onstage with two higher-profile defectors from Sen. Hillary Clinton's camp -- Lynn Rothschild, a member of the Democratic Platform Committee, and Elaine Lafferty, a former editor-in-chief of Ms. Magazine -- along with Shelly Mandell, the president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women, Linda Klinge, the vice president of Oregon's NOW chapter and Prameela Bartholomeusz, a small business owner and member of the Democratic National Platform Committee. The L.A. chapter of NOW has endorsed Palin's bid.
"Our opponents think they have the women's vote all locked up, which is a little presumptuous," she said, as the crowd's roar of approval drowned her out. "A little presumptuous, and only our side has a woman on the ticket."
Palin went on to suggest Obama discriminated against women employees in his own Senate office, as opposed to GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
"I know one senator who does pay women equal pay," she added, referring to McCain.
While she credited feminists with the enactment of Title IX -- saying, "We owed that opportunity to women, to feminists who came before us" -- Palin quickly emphasized that Americans who embraced a different ideology could also push for gender equality. "A belief in equal opportunity is not just the cause of feminists. It's the creed of our country."
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
"I have a question for the women in the audience," the Alaska governor began her speech here at the Henderson Pavillion, underneath an arching white tent. "Are you willing to break the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America?"
Palin surrounded herself onstage with two higher-profile defectors from Sen. Hillary Clinton's camp -- Lynn Rothschild, a member of the Democratic Platform Committee, and Elaine Lafferty, a former editor-in-chief of Ms. Magazine -- along with Shelly Mandell, the president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization for Women, Linda Klinge, the vice president of Oregon's NOW chapter and Prameela Bartholomeusz, a small business owner and member of the Democratic National Platform Committee. The L.A. chapter of NOW has endorsed Palin's bid.
And while Palin has spoken repeatedly on the stump about shattering the "glass ceiling" with her candidacy, this afternoon she lashed out at Democratic nominee Barack Obama as a hypocrite who fails to treat women -- including Clinton -- as equals.
"When the time came to make a decision, Barack Obama couldn't bring himself to pick the woman who got eighteen million votes in the primary," Palin said of Obama's vice presidential pick, comparing it to the discrimination women face in the workplace every day. "The qualifications are there, but for some reason the promotion never comes ... You've got to ask yourself, why wasn't Senator Hillary Clinton even vetted by the Obama campaign?"
"Our opponents think they have the women's vote all locked up, which is a little presumptuous," she said, as the crowd's roar of approval drowned her out. "A little presumptuous, and only our side has a woman on the ticket."
Palin went on to suggest Obama discriminated against women employees in his own Senate office, as opposed to GOP presidential nominee John McCain.
"There is a difference between what Barack Obama says and what he does," she declared. "Out on the stump, he talks about things like equal pay for equal work, but according to Senate records, women on his staff get just 83 cents for every dollar that the men get. What is with that? Does he think that the women aren't working as hard? Does he think they're 17 percent less productive?"
"I know one senator who does pay women equal pay," she added, referring to McCain.
Within minutes of Palin's remarks, Obama senior advisor Anita Dunn issued a statement saying, "Senator Obama has fought for equal pay for an equal day's work, while Senator McCain has suggested that women don't get equal pay because they need more education and training. While Senator Obama has proposed a plan to help working women, the McCain-Palin campaign offers just more negative attacks and distortions."
An Obama aide who asked not to identified said that women on McCain's staff earn more comparable salaries to men on staff because they occupy more senior, high-paid posts in the Arizona senator's office, not because Obama discriminates against women.
Like McCain, Palin backs a statute of limitations on equal pay lawsuits like the one exemplified in this year's Supreme Court ruling on the case of Lilly Ledbetter, who sued Goodyear over the fact that her employer had discriminated against her for years without her knowledge.
Instead, she said if elected she would pursue policies such as flexibility in labor laws so women could engage in more telecommuting and would push for a tax code "that doesn't penalize working families."
"Working mothers need an advocate, and they will have one when this working mother is working for all of you," she said, as the crowd cheered.
A former high school basketball player, Palin then launched into a detailed discussion of Title IX, a 1972 law that banned discrimination in any educational program or activity that receives federal financial assistance. The law applies to a broad range of activities, but it has helped ensure high schools and colleges provide equal funding for sports programs and other measures in which men and women participate.
Palin said that she had benefited from Title IX, and for women of her generation, "Over time, that opened more than doors to just the gymnasium. It allowed us to view ourselves, and our futures, in a different way."
While she credited feminists with the enactment of Title IX -- saying, "We owed that opportunity to women, to feminists who came before us" -- Palin quickly emphasized that Americans who embraced a different ideology could also push for gender equality. "A belief in equal opportunity is not just the cause of feminists. It's the creed of our country."
Toward the end of her remarks Palin seemed to echo the theme that Clinton touted as First Lady: that women across the globe deserved the same rights that American women enjoy, including freedom for sex trafficking and honor killings. "If I am elected, these women will have an advocate and an defender in the forty-seventh vice president of the United States," she told the audience.
Crowd size? Anybody know?
You go, girls!
Agreed!
I read somewhere that John McCain pays his staff equal pay and the Zero has a huge problem with equal pay for his Senate staff. If true - another opportunity wasted.
Any freepers have anything to say to me?
I hate Peggy Noonan, Kathleen Parker, I never heard of Buckley's son b ut him too
And the Fox All Stars.
The liberals hate her because they fear her.
Palin should relentlessly challenge Biden to another debate - whether he accepts or not , he loses . Pass this on ...
I'd ask that the last conservative out of the GOP please turn off the lights, but I do believe that I'm making the request rather too late....
Well, its in the article above from Sarah’s speech today.
The local news is reporting 7,000.
I would say that they are on that stage not because Sarah agrees with them but rather because they agree with Sarah (or maybe they’re scared to death of Obama). I gather the McCain campaign is trying to make a push for women voters who perhaps sided with Hillary Clinton during the primaries. They’re going for those women who are not a abortion-focused as many dem women are. Obviously those women will vote for Obama.
We’re trying to win an election to save the nation.
You've a beautiful name. Always has been one of my favorites for the fairer sex. :^)
Feminism and Obama are twins.
I haven’t been voting Republican all these years and withstanding Feminism to now capitulate by voting for a Feminist VP. Palin is as elite in her Feminist ways as any elite living in Washington DC today. And so is John McCain.
I like Sarah but was disappointed to see her say she supports Title 9. Maybe she’s just echoing the McCain campaign. We’ll see in the future. This thought just occurred to me. Title 9 is the fairness doctrine for college athletics. Many mens programs have suffered due to title 9.
LOL. Thank you.
In a “cookie cutter” type of job, I agree with equal pay for equal work, and equal opportunities, for equal qualifications.
But when you get into management, or multi-responsibility situations, you might need someone with a less or different qualifications but a different “mind set”. Gov. Palin, herself, ran into this with the Commander Monaghan. How do they intend to quantify the issues of equal work and equal qualifications? Lawsuits? I’ve always wondered that.
Did I explain that correctly? LOL
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