Somebody Needs Feminism Defined for Them...

[liz_marcs]

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.

Comments

[agilesreader.livejournal.com]

I agree. However, I seem to recall the debates with Kerry and Bush had the same rules. But the exchanges between the two candidates happened anwyway, if I remember right.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

That, I wasn't aware of...although I watched all the debates and it seemed like there was back-and-forth between Kerry and Bush with little or no interference from the moderators.

My point still stands, tho. Biden, while a political rival, is at least a somewhat friendly party. What the hell is she gonna do if she's up against an unfriendly party without a moderator to call time?

There is one reason McCain chose Palin

[tnrkitect.livejournal.com]

Palin was chosen for the abortion issue, and the Republicans are betting on there being a ton of rabid right-to-lifers planning on voting, especially all of the conservative, mega-church going, soccer/hockey moms that identify with her.

End of story.

Re: There is one reason McCain chose Palin

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

That's 50% of the equation, right there. It explains the "why Sarah" part, since a lot of the female Republican office holders aren't ideological "pure" enough for that wing of the Republican party.

The other 50% is the "woman factor" due to Clinton. I honestly think someone in the Republican party really thought that women would jump ship to McCain if they put a woman on the ticket. Had they chosen a qualified woman, that gamble would've paid off.

As the polls shake out now that the Republican convention bump is over, it strikes me that the more those potential switch votes get to know Palin and her record, the less like they are to vote for McCain. All she did was solidify the Christianist base, but she really hasn't done anything for the mushy middle.

Re: There is one reason McCain chose Palin

[seferin.livejournal.com]

Had they chosen a qualified woman, that gamble would've paid off.

Without sounding sexist, are you sure? Regardless of who McCain had as his VP, they would still be anti woman when it came to birth control, wage equality, and similar issues.

Isn't arguing that a qualified woman would attract women voters, doing a disservice to those women, given the candidates opinions, to even be listed on the ticket needed to be anti woman?

Re: There is one reason McCain chose Palin

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

Hope you don't mind me cutting in, I was linked by a friend.

The problem is, most Republican women are too left-leaning (almost entirely on the abortion issue) for what McCain wanted to balance out his own ticket. He needed to attract the people who thought he was too left-leaning, so he had to find a woman even more conservative than he is. Earlier this spring people were all over McCain for being too radical and conservatives who couldn't vote for him. Now they can.

Oddly, the people are are unsure seem to be coming more from the potential Obama voting camp than people who'd vote for McCain. Palin seems to have sold a lot of the Republican base on the ticket, and no matter how much dirt comes up on her, people aren't budging.

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

The very first link needs an "L" on the end -- otherwise it will go to an error page.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Fixed!

The link goes to ontd_political, which has a link to the NYT article that's the source of the post. Unfortunately, you have to register to read the original article (it's a couple of days old). I figured it was better to let people decide whether they want to register to read the article itself.

[entrenous88.livejournal.com]

No, sure, I got there by adding the "L" myself (and already having a NYTimes acct). But that makes sense.

[liz-marcs.livejournal.com]

Heee! I do, too. But more than once I've put in a NYT link and people were all, "Hey! I can't see it!"

So now I test to make sure it isn't behind the wall.

I've got to add, though: ontd_political is pure crack.

[invisionary.livejournal.com]

I think this is purposeful on the McCain campaign's part. They're playing the expectations game. By the time the VP debate rolls around, expectations for Palin will be running so low that as long as she gets through the debate without drooling or setting something on fire, it'll be considered a win for her.

Debates aren't about objectively winning or losing, they're only about how someone performs relative to expectations. For a good example, see the 2000 presidential election, where just about every pundit said that Bush won the debates despite the fact that Gore was clearly better versed on just about every issue under the sun.

[cwwriter.livejournal.com]

Well, you are talking about the party for whom "feminist" is a slur. :P

*sigh*

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

That kind of made me see red as well.

[rubywisp.livejournal.com]

jesus christ. if she can't handle a debate, how the hell can she handle the vice-presidency? wtf.

Actually, it's not sexist

[sylo-tode.livejournal.com]

As some of the other comments say, the debate "format" had been changed for the Chimp because that bonehead couldn't handle debating a news carrier. I don't remember the debates of 2000, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had been changed for those.

It's not because she's female, it's because she's completely unqualified, ill-equipped, and ill-prepared.

[cindyg.livejournal.com]

I can't wrap my mind around the idea of changing the debate rules...and that they were changed so that she wouldn't be "at a disadvantage".

But then, I come from a country where women have been in politics for as long as I can remember - the two most prominent examples being President Cory Aquino and President Gloria Arroyo. Women here run for mayors, governors, Congress and the Senate - and never once would anyone think of changing the rules of debate for them.

Then again, the difference between Palin and our local candidates: familarity with the issues, if not actual experience handling them.

This election is going to be a supersized headache for the American people, I'm thinking!

The sad thing is...

[mhael.livejournal.com]

No hardcore GOPeep will admit this was done for any other reason than to "keep things fair." They'll swallow the truth and belch out the reality manipulation that Palin wouldn't get a fair shake, that the eeeeeeeeevul, elite, liberal media would try and attack her, play "got'cha" politics, blah blah blah blah....

The main problem with this election is the sheer number of GOPeeps who blatantly REFUSE to believe their guy (Dubya) and their Party have completely screwed this country. That they have destroyed almost every bit of power our country had except the sizable military power, which just isn't a factor like it once was before the world moved on and became a true, global society. They're so blinded by their ideology and their guilt over being total dupes, they look for any excuse to bash Obama, praise McCain, and turn their backs on what McCain/Palin lie about, and how their record does NOT reflect what they're promising.

What REALLY angers me, though? Their total lack of responsibility for the mess we're in. Dubya was barely seen at the convention, you hear GOPeeps talk about how reform and change is needed in Washington, but what they never say is HOW IT'S THEIR FAULT THINGS ARE LIKE THIS NOW. No body ever says, "Gosh, if I'd have known things would be like this, I wouldn't have voted for Dubya." They never cop to their own responsibility in all this. They just (once again) turn their backs on reality and imagine Dubya just *appeared* in office, that there was no Democrat in office before, running our country in a decent and prsperous way. No, this mess isn't *their* fault, it's Dubya's, it's Washington's, it's everyone except themselves, who voted the douchebag into office in the first place.

Makes me see fucking red, it does, and the ONLY consolation is that there are FINALLY people on the Right who are waking up and realizing the truth. That Dubya and the Republican majority who ran this country for 6 years have screwed them. That their legacy, and thus the legacy of those who supported them, is one of failure. Economic failure, military failure, security failure, fail, fail, FAIL. And while it tastes like ashes in my mough to hear them say, basically, that *I* was right all along and *they* were wrong, it does warm the heart a bit.

[chriself.livejournal.com]

Thank you for bringing these little tidbits of mind blowing inanity to my attention. Palin offends me on so many levels and just when I thought it couldn't get any more offensive, I'll see your posts. Which make me laugh just as much as they make my head hurt.

[redbrickrose.livejournal.com]

You're so right - and the whole thing is just ridiculous. Everything about the Republican campaign just makes me livid.

[rachel-martin64.livejournal.com]

Two more great Sarah Palin videos:

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1831461

I guess Palin is truly the perfect Republican woman: pretty, stupid and willing to take orders from men.

Did you catch the interview with both Palin and McCain? It looked like Daddy coming to the rescue of his little girl. And now, legitimate questions are being classified as "gotcha journalism."