Well, there are feminists and there are feminists. Is she a feminist like the Wyoming women who got the vote in the 19th century, or is she a sapphic, man-hating gender-fem, a "Feminazi"? </Rush>
Too, there were "progressives" in the GOP back in 1904: they supported Theodore Roosevelt for re-election. Four years later, they bolted the Party and went Bull Moose.
The "progressive" tag was picked up lying in the street by Stalinists in the 1940's, and it has meant sub-rosa, crypto-Stalinist hardcore types ever since then -- the people who nominated George McGovern and Barack Obama, f'rinstance. (And McGovern himself was a delegate to the "Progressive" convention in 1948 that nominated Henry Wallace, Stalin's man, for President. So what did that make McGovern?)
So is Palin a "progressive" in that sense? I seriously doubt it!
Some information on the “Progressive Republicans” movement:
Excerpt:
Open Letter to My Fellow Republicans
We, the Undersigned, as long-time, loyal Republicans, supporters of the Partys candidates and its core values of smaller, more efficient government, individual liberty and personal freedom condemn in the strongest possible fashion the circumstances and actions of so-called conservatives who have driven Senator Arlen Specter and many of our best and brightest from our Party. We also call on every member of the Party to take action to bring our Party back from the brink of irrelevancy.
We call for the RNC leadership to take this opportunity to begin an honest, frank, open and, most importantly inclusive soul-searching exercise, to determine what has been driving individuals out of the Party and to create a comprehensive strategy to reverse this trend.
(snip)
Signed,
Travis G. Johnson (Reston,VA - Founder, Progressive Republicans)
(snip)
http://progressiverepublican.info/category/columns/
“Progressive Republicans” also support: amnesty, government funded birth control. Jack Kemp was interested in Progressive Republicans.
To be completely candid, I haven't the faintest idea what Gov. Palin means when she says, "...all of us that consider ourselves progressive --you know at the same time we can be conservative-- we're gonna shatter the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America.
All I can say is that I think the comment was foolish on its face.
However, in deference to the many FReepers who have come to view her as the second coming of Ronald Reagan, I can say that RR also suffered from what author Nicholas Wapshott termed RR's, "verbal incontinence."
As to her "Feminist" side, (Her association with the "Feminists for Life" group) I will say that, IMHO, Gov. Palin is fast becoming the poster person for the folly of women working outside the home.
Flame on, fellow Freepers.