My Bias
I’m going to write about Sarah Palin, McCain’s pick for vice-president, but first let me write about myself for a moment.
This is a recitation of my own relevant biases:
1. I am an inveterate radical feminist. My thinking is so radically feminist that I’ve been thrown off of radical feminist boards for being too radical. That is not a joke. I’ve even had death threats leveled at me from other radical feminists after I insisted that male-to-female transsexuals should be accepted as women into the radfem tribe. I am the feminist equivalent of those people who break into labs to free lab animals. I am the feminist equivalent of those people who chain themselves to old growth redwoods knowing full well that the most it’s likely to do is net them a face full of mace and an arrest for trespassing. I value women to the extent that I have to force myself to turn my thoughts back to the idea that men should also have rights in the new world order despite their years of taking advantage of a bias against women that they help to perpetuate. Being a radical feminist means valuing women, yes, but it also means believing that all people are equal, all deserve respect.
2. I am not an Obama fan. I am not particularly taken with the man who Oprah has called “The One” partly because of the feminism thing and partly because the rabid devotion that people have to Obama frightens me. I don’t see hope in that rabid devotion, I see the seeds of intolerance. I’m also not an Obama fan because I am a Clinton fan. (I know that those things are not necessarily mutually exclusive, but in the case where only one gets to move forward in the game, I favor Clinton.) When Clinton conceded the race, it reminded me of all those years that women and blacks worked together in the struggle for the right to vote and in the end it was black men who got that right first. Women were left behind, not getting the vote for another fifty years. (Ask why that is. Ask why that still is.) And, you know what else? I’m That Woman. I’m That Woman that was so angry when Clinton conceded the race that I decided to vote for McCain. And it was partly the attitude of Obama’s cult toward women like me (telling us to “Get over it!”) that further pushed me away from Obama.
3. Given a slightly different set of circumstances, I would likely be casting my vote for McCain. If McCain had kept up the maverick talk, I would’ve voted for him. I would’ve voted for him even knowing that he was one of the Keating Five. (Hell, all politicians are corrupt, even the ones who fight corruption are corrupt). I would’ve voted for him even knowing that he tossed over his devoted first wife after she was disfigured in a car accident for his heiress
So even knowing all that, I would’ve voted for McCain. Right up until he picked Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Welcome, Moose & Squirrel
What to do after Palin is elected:
1. After Roe V. Wade is gutted so that safe, affordable abortions are unavailable to women:
Start a women’s collective. Learn how to perform safe abortions like the women of JANE did. They were not doctors, but performed more than 12,000 safe, affordable abortions prior to Roe V. Wade. It can be done. It has been done.
The Abortion Counseling Service of Women's Liberation (ACS), unofficially known as "Jane," formally organized in Chicago in 1969, when abortions were illegal in Illinois and throughout most of the United States. Its aim was to counsel women and assist them in receiving safe abortions. Many of the members had been assisting women in locating abortion services since the mid-1960s. Initially Jane volunteers screened underground abortionists, attempting to ensure that they were competent and reliable. Frustrated by this process the group soon learned how to perform abortions themselves. They only charged women for the costs involved and performed the services without charge if the woman was unable to pay.2. After creationism becomes a subject in science classes:
The organization operated until the spring of 1973 when legal abortion clinics opened in Illinois after the United States Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision made abortions legal during the first two trimesters of a woman's pregnancy.
If you are a biology teacher/instructor/professor at the university level, make sure that students understand that if they refuse to learn about evolution (citing religious beliefs) or offer creationism as an alternative to evolution, they will fail your course. That will effectively put the kibosh on their plans to become doctors, nurses, school teachers--or any profession that requires a degree that in turn requires the most basic science course, which most degrees do.
This is especially important for you to do if you have tenure and cannot be easily removed from your post.
3. After gays and lesbians are stripped of their rights:
If you are gay or lesbian and know about gay and lesbian politicians who oppose gay rights or support those who oppose gay rights, or if you know gay and lesbian family members of those in power, out them. I don’t say this lightly. I know that it has potential to cause great pain and embarrassment to some. But do it anyway. If politicians and their voters are so keen on maintaining their own privacy, then they need to respect yours as well.
4. It’s time to start considering revolution.
Because Clinton Said, Part I
I’ve become, over the past couple of months, a bit addicted to The New York Times online. It all started when I began reading Dining Journal, Frank Bruni’s NYT blog about all things restaurant and food related in New York. From there, it was a quick slide into the Dining & Wine section--then into the larger Style section, then the Arts section. I began checking the front page from time to time, and then it became the only coverage I followed for the Olympics, and then the Democratic National Convention.
Ah, the good old DNC.
The DNC got a lot of coverage by the Times. In fact, it was wall-to-wall there for a while. Sadly, most of it seemed to be about the Clintons, and how they were fucking everything up. Now, me? I love the Clintons. I love me some Bill Clinton and I love me some Hillary Clinton. I love Clinton so much that I ranted and raved all over the internet against the Obamaniacal supporters who were engaging in the the kind of blatantly misogynist rhetoric previously largely confined to the Republican party. I mean, it was bad. When the Obamaniacs began calling for Clinton to concede the race, scornfully calling for the eighteen million people who had voted for her to “Get over it,” I was so angry that I told David, “If Obama gets the nomination, I’m voting for McCain.”
David was shocked. I mean, he was mouth-hanging-open shocked. He couldn’t believe that I would spitefully vote for a man who promised four more years of Bush policy because I was angry at Obama’s supporters, but I was that angry. The way I see it, I’ve lived under Bush’s policies for eight years, but I’ve lived under a system of misogyny all my life. (And don’t fucking tell me that this is a “post-feminist” society when women make seventy cents for every dollar a man makes.) Four more years of Bush? What do I care?
It wasn’t until Hillary Clinton--and, hell, Bill, too--spoke at the DNC that I changed my mind. I did change my mind about voting for Obama, but I was still angry at the Obamaniacs who papered the Times websites with comments about how stupid Clinton supporters were and how we should just get over it. I sent off an angry letter to the Times suggesting that the sanctimonious Obamaniacs needed those eighteen million Cinton supporters so they’d better zip it when it comes to the subject of how they think Clinton supporters should comport themselves when welcoming the The One Obamessiah. I added that though I am now planning to hold my nose and vote for Obama, it wasn’t because I think Obama is the best man for the job or even because McCain is an odious troglodyte, but because Clinton told me to. I’m voting for Obama because Clinton told me to. Period.
And as simplistic as that sounds, that’s my decision.
A day after the DNC, after Hillary and Bill Clinton stepped up and did their duty, and after Obama accepted the nomination, the old trog McCain was up to his maverick ways picking a
Seriously?
Okay, here’s the thing that many women and all Republicans have in common: They both think that all women are stupid. They think that women are stupid children with the logical thinking skills exhibited by, say, rocks. Dumb rocks. They think that Clinton supporters are going to be so pissed off at the Obamessiah Party that they’re going to look at this bit of Alaskan fluff and mistake her for Hillary Clinton.
Because Clinton Said, Part II
No, what people see when they see Palin is a woman with five children and all the problems that they themselves have with their children: A teen who is sneaking around, having sex and getting pregnant. A son who is not bright enough to go to college but who is bright enough to go into the military. A little handicapped baby who she is obviously resentful of, but who she is trying to love regardless. And the one in the middle--girl, I think--who is the classic forgotten middle child.
They see her as being from a small town, small as the town they got stuck in--or, much to their relief, but that contributes mightily to their feelings of guilt and shame--didn’t get stuck in. They see a woman who is married to a man who is not very bright, but who is well-meaning, who she has to yell at all the time to take out the garbage. They see a woman who is plain, plain, just like themselves, but who gets up every morning and who plasters on the war paint and who goes to work, day in and day out.
And all of that? Is a lie. It’s all by design that she comes off that way.
But I guess my real point is that after I saw all that, I was finished with McCain.
By that point, Clinton had spoken, telling the eighteen million people--men and women--who voted for her in the primaries that she wanted them to throw in with Obama. Obama had accepted the nomination with a speech and a party that, to his credit, he invited everyone, all three-hundred million of us. And more than seventy-thousand of us showed up--and more than thirty-eight million of us watched from home.
And still, I was not turned into a screaming, wailing, crying Obamaniac. Why?
Partly because I didn’t know anything about Obama except that he won the nomination. Okay. I knew he was half-black, that his white mother was a single mother who had to, at one point, rely on welfare. I knew that he was incredibly well-educated and probably that was because he had earned scholarships or had gotten student loans. I knew he had two daughters. (And I can’t even remember their names now. Alia? Sasha? I think that’s right.) I knew he was well-traveled. None of those things were strikes against him. But it wasn’t enough for me to throw my lot in with his fans who were still screeching and squawking for us Clinton-supporters to “Get over it! Get over it!” and assuming that we were going to move seamlessly from Clinton to Obama.
But I’m not stupid. Through my anger, I hung onto Clinton’s request to back Obama.
What I May Or May Not Have Said To The New York Times
[From bits and pieces of several emails, comments, and letters:]
I'm a registered independent female voter in a swing state. I am everything McCain needs to win this election.
He's going to lose.
Not only has Palin spit in the face of all the people like me who believe community involvement and organization, and who believe in separation of church and state, but she followed that up with another spit wad aimed at those of us who believe that elected officials WORK FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. That means that we want answers and we want information delivered not via speeches and proclamations, but from OUR PRESS.
We also still believe what Thomas Jefferson told us during the forging of this country of ours: The press itself and freedom of the press are crucial to our democracy. We so believe this that we're even willing to put up with the Rush Limbaughs and the Bill O'Reillys of this world.
Palin's a joke. She's a hot mess of a joke. Don't even laugh at her. It will only make her think you find her acceptable in any way, shape or form. Palin is the feminist version of an Uncle Tom, recruited by the Republican party to be a professional victim.
COME ON, NYT! DO YOUR JOB and VET this candidate. I hate having to rely on US Magazine to do this.
Right now, Palin is not talking to Americans, she's talking DOWN to Americans. We still believe, we Americans--and especially Americans like me (registered independent, female, ethnic minority, swing-state resident, McCain's last hope)--that the press is a crucial part of our democracy.
By not answering questions from the press, not only has Palin shown that she is a sulky little celebrity (a la Paris Hilton), but that she has absolutely no respect for the voters she and McCain need to win this election. All that experience with firearms hasn't prevented her from shooting herself in the foot.
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