This is appalling.So let me understand this: The free-wheeling rules of the vice presidential debate have been altered so Sarah Palin won't be "at a disadvantage" when going up against Joe Biden. Instead, the vice presidential candidates will be doing a Q&A session with the moderators, rather than directly challenging each other.
HOLYMOTHEROFJESUS!
This is infuriating. It's infuriating that the McCain campaign fought for it, and infuriating that the
Commission on Presidential Debates agreed to it.
Would they have altered the rules for, oh, I dunno...Hillary Clinton? Heeeeeellllll no.
Hills was expected to play in the same sandbox as da boyz, as is right and proper for
anyone seeking to win an election. Not only that, Hillary would've slapped the shit out of anyone who
dared suggest that the rules be altered to spare her widdle female feelings.
I don't care if the office you're seeking is for animal control officer or president. If you can't handle a free-wheeling debate with a political rival about issues that you are expected to know
because you have to have that knowledge if you're going to do the damn job, then you shouldn't be running for that office. At all.
Changing the rules of a (and let's be really, really clear here) nationally televised vice presidential debate because you know your female candidate wouldn't be able to handle the heat isn't just a clear sign that she's unqualified for the job, it's a clear sign that she's
the token Barbie doll.
*grumble growl stomp stomp stomp*
Jesus, if Palin can't handle
Joe Biden in a free-wheeling debate, how the hell will she be able to handle
anyone in the shark tank known as Washington politics? And God forbid if McCain drops dead (a not unrealistic fear given his age), how the hell is she going to handle other world leaders?
Let me explain this very clearly: If you need to protect the "little woman" from herself because she's so pig-ignorant about national and international issues
then maybe you got the wrong little woman.Would Republican women
Sen. Olympia Snow,
Sen. Susan Collins,
Sen. Elizabeth Dole,
Sen Kay Bailey Hutchinson, or any of the other prominent female Republican office holders put up with this kind of fuckwittery?
Hell, no. They'd come out swinging in that debate, as is right and proper. Why? Because they're actually
qualified to seek higher office, that's why.
I swear, Sarah Palin being put in the vice presidential slot for the Republican ticket is like some crazy funhouse mirror definition of feminism. It isn't just inconceivable. It's
incoherent.Look, feminism is pretty simple when you get down to it: It's the radical notion that women are people, too. And that given a level playing field (which we
don't have), women are just as capable, just as intelligent, and just as strong as men. And when we do the same work as our male colleagues, we deserve to reap the same rewards. We also want the same protection under law as men get — whether it be from assaults on our person or assaults on our ability to fully participate in society.
Now, different schools of feminist thought may differ on how to get there, but we all pretty much want the same thing: full equality.
This is not that hard to understand.But dumbing down a
debate because Sarah Palin wouldn't be able to hack it in the traditional format?
Jesus. It feels like a slap in the face.
And now that I'm done ranting, here's a funny video from SNL that pretty much sums up everything I feel about the crazy inside-out nature of this latest weirdness.