Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Pat Buchanan: Johnny's got a "new girl"

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Pat Buchanan: Johnny's got a "new girl"

2 comments:

sportsone234 said...: This is the only name on your list that I disagree with. Pat Buchanan is a strong supporter of McCain.

One off hand remark, shouldn't put him on your list.; September 16, 2008 at 7:54 AM
Jstant said...: Actually, the admittedly sexist phrase "Johnny's got a 'new girl'" is the only part of his op-ed that has proven to be accurate. If you want to see sexism in regards to Pailn, look no further than why she was chosen in the 1st place. 50% had to do with her ideology which was meant to solidify the GOP base (translation: keep the far right happy) and the other component of her selection was her appearance (translation: get a milf to keep the huntin', Playboy readin', NASCAR, Joe 12-pack crowd all worked up). Just as McCain found "new girl" Cindy when he returned from Vietnam, he found himself another looker for GOP, although to be fair, apparently she wasn't his 1st choice.
Check out how very off base Buchanan was though in the rest of his analysis...
"a speech that vaulted him from a 2-point deficit early in the week to an 8-point margin. Barack had never before reached 49 percent against McCain"

Well, being that she had experience as a newsreader, it's not surprising that her speech at the GOP convention was the apex of her stint as VP nominee. When left to her own devices, she proved to be shall we say, less impressive.

"By passing over his friends Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge, and picking Palin, McCain has given himself a fighting chance of winning the White House"

When all was said and done, the choice of Palin helped to sink his chances. Her disastrous interviews, which any impartial observer would attest to, were not the kind of "gotcha" questions that she and her defenders have claimed them to be. Mike Huckabee's recent remarks concerning this are a breath of fresh air compared to the myth, spin and revisionist history being put forth by SP and her (largely male, star-struck) defenders.

"But the lady has more executive experience than McCain, Joe Biden and Obama put together."

This is so laughable it doesn't bear a reply. But, hey, what the hell...I'll lower myself and do it anyway, so as not to be looked at as avoiding the question...after all it wouldn't be intellectually honest if I said something like "well, maybe I'm not going to address the points in the article the way some of you readers and bloggers would want, I'm just going to speak directly to the American people, wink-wink..."

I come from a small town in western PA of about 7,000 people. Even if they were governor of the state for a short while (which would not happen, trust me...PA is not Alaska) can you honestly say that the mayor of our town would be more suited to run the country than McCain or Obama? Please...

"from the day she takes office, Palin will get daily briefings and sit on the National Security Council with the president and secretaries of state, treasury and defense.
She will be up to speed in her first year."

As the campaign went on, it became abundantly clear that Palin had no use for real preparation. Like with George W.Bush, she has no intellectual curiousty, only scorn for those that pause to think, learn, and condsider. She basically thought she could just wing it and get by on personality, charm, and looks. She soon found out though, that running for VP wasn't like being in a beauty contest. The big fish in the smallest pond imaginable was suddenly thrown in at the deep end and was revealed to be woefully out of her depth. Even casting aside the disastrous interviews with Gibson and Couric, after the GOP convention, one could fairly claim that her next best moment was her debarte against Biden, where her flacks hailed her as being triumphant, basically because she managed to survive without completely imploding. It's like saying that a prize fighter won because although they took an incredible beating for 12 rounds, they were never knocked out. She hung on to the guy pummeling her and was still standing at the end, but that isn't exactly a victory, at least not in the real world.

"The Palin nomination could backfire, but it is hard to see how."

It did, by merely letting Palin be Palin. She sunk herself, not the media. And then she complains that she was reined in too much. Could you imagine what it would have been like if she were completely left to her own devices?

Until the GOP figures out that they have to serve the people first, and not their party and special interest groups (yes, the GOP has them, just the Dems do), they will continue their slide into irrelevance.; January 15, 2009 at 7:53 AM

What is sexism?

All criticisms of Sarah Palin are not sexist. It would be sexist to expect that she would receive no criticism, or that she SHOULD receive no criticism, because she is a woman. I admit that some of the criticism of Palin may really be the result of ideological bias, or simply sloppy reporting, not sexism. Some of the questions are fair game in isolation (yes, of course, it's fair to talk about Palin's experience in general; it's that she's held to a higher standard than males in the race that's the issue).

The Palin piling on is a complex cultural stew. In some cases, I suspect ideological and gender bias are working together. A reader has challenged me to define what I consider to be sexism. Broadly, I would define sexism in the political sphere as the following: When the woman is held to a higher and different standard than a similarly situated male, especially but not limited to issues that have no relevance to the race and that tend to diminish the woman's professional accomplishments by playing into gender stereotypes.

Specifically, here is a list of what I consider to be sexist behavior:

Coverage of a female politician that fixates on her physical appearance, pro or con. I admit that male politicians sometimes face this (Obama walking shirtless out of the Hawaiian surf got a lot of attention, and there was a lot of attention about John Edwards' shiny hair). And I think that some women have mixed feelings about this. After all, who doesn't want to be considered good looking? But, for many women, when they are in a professional setting, and supposedly professional media commentators place the focus back on their physical appearance, as a positive or a negative, it feels diminishing of their professional accomplishments. This works both ways, of course. Hillary Clinton has been viciously attacked by some on the right for supposedly not being good looking. That, too, is sexist, especially since unattractive male politicians are generally not held to this standard. If you think about it, good-looking male politicians also find their appearance the topic of discussion in many cases, but that's not true of unattractive male politicians. It's true in both cases for women. Simply put, appearance is not relevant to competence, so why are we talking about Palin's hair and looks?
Sexual-related comments about a female politician.
Blatant belittling of one's intelligence without evidence and in a manner not accorded to male opponents (i.e. saying the woman is stupid, needs a teleprompter, needs a lot of coaching, etc.)
Implying that the woman must not really believe her positions or must be under the intellectual sway of a more powerful male. (This happens in racism too. Consider how opponents argue that Clarence Thomas is a tool of intellectual white men like Antonin Scalia).
Double standards relating to motherhood; i.e., the female politician is asked questions about motherhood that her male counterparts aren't asked about fatherhood. (Why doesn't Palin stay home to take care of the kids? Hillary, why don't you want to stay home to bake cookies and hold teas?) The reverse is also true. It's also wrong for people to demean females who CHOOSE to stay home and raise their families. I personally believe that whether a woman chooses to be a housewife, a career woman, or, like Palin, a mixture of both, is her personal decision and debate about it really isn't relevant in a presidential election.
Slurs that are typically used to demean women but aren't applied to similarly aggressive men; i.e. when attributes that would be praised in a man are reduced to a negative in the woman (b-tch, nag, etc.). The Martha Stewart phenomenon. The tough woman is a b-tch, but the overly emotional woman is too weak to lead (women can't win sometimes!)
The woman is held to higher standards for intelligence/professional qualifications than a male opponent. (Palin is utterly unqualified, but Obama is then not?)
Diminishing of traditional female roles as being silly (the PTA, chortle, chortle, chortle. She was a housewife once, how pathetic, etc.). I don't know about you, but right now I am thinking about the woman, a housewife, who ran my child's Catholic Bible school this summer, and she was quite a force to be reckoned with. I'd love to pit her against Putin.
Emphasis on female roles traditionally seen as silly when discussing an accomplished, professional woman (she was a beauty queen 24 years ago!!!!!!)
Assuming incompetence. (she's a woman, so she won't be a strong leader, etc.)
The woman becomes defined by a single gender-related issue in a manner that males do not (consider how the abortion question is defining Palin, but doesn't define Obama or even McCain.)
Issues that aren't used against male opponents are magnified out of proportion against the woman. (Bristol-mania. I admit this one might be ideological bias more than sexism, but I do think it's caught up in Palin's cultural role as a "mother")
Invasion of the personal sphere and personalization/lifestyle focus of/on the candidate. In other words, covering the woman through the gauze of personality and lifestyle issues, rather than professional accomplishment. (Why are we talking about Palin's prenatal care and amniotic fluid again? It's creepy. Do we talk about Biden's sperm count? I admit that's a really creepy thought, and I do admit that Palin invited some of this by talking about her breastfeeding to People magazine. But still.)

Sarah Palin Sexism Watch

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Pat Buchanan: Johnny's got a "new girl"

2 comments:

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