HELP! I’M SUFFOCATING UNDER AN AVALANCHE OF GOP CYNICISM
The Republicons have finally discovered sexism. But they’re using it as a tool, a shield to protect their newest political myth (Sarah Palin), and a club to beat off the advances of the opposition with. For example:
- No criticism of Palin’s lack of experience allowed. Why? It’s sexist to treat a woman’s accomplishments dismissively. (Except if she HAS none, it’s not so sexist after all.)
- No fair mentioning that she demonstrates hypocrisy where her family and her family values are concerned. Why? It’s sexist to say a woman can’t work and have a family (which isn’t what anyone is saying, so this is a strawman — or woman — to boot).
Joe Klein noticed too:
Steve Schmidt has decided, for tactical reasons, to slime the press. He wants the public to believe that there is an unfair–sexist (you gotta love it)–personal assault going on against Palin and her family. This is a smokescreen, intended to divert attention from the fact the very real and responsible vetting that is taking place in the media--about the substance of Palin’s record as mayor and governor. Sure, there are a few outliers–and the tabloid press–who have fixed on baby stories. That was inevitable….the flip side of the personal stories that the McCain team thought would work to their advantage–Palin’s moose-hunting and wolf-shooting, and her admirable decision to have a Down Syndrome baby. And yes, when we all fix on the same story, whether it’s a hurricane or a little-known politician, a zoo ensues. But the media coverage of the Palin story has been well within the bounds of responsibility. Schmidt is trying to make it seem otherwise, a desperate tactic.
UPDATE: AND WHAT ABOUT THAT GLASS CEILING?
The Governor doesn’t exactly look like her new handlers put her in a position to punch through ANY glass ceiling here, does it:
Palin - Bush - McCain
CAN’T PUT MY FINGER ON IT – UPDATE
It might be that undercurrent of “Look how special I am, and you WILL agree with me about that” behind every smile. IOW: narcissism.
Now, narcissism is a special case because it confers on its “victim” an inability to get it about how others see them, how their words and actions impact someone else, etc. It also confers a lack of personal responsibility, or rather a lack of seeing the need for that for yourself.
Newt Gingrich is my favorite narcissist because he’s such a perfect, overwrought example. Remember the time he’d made several outlandish statements to the press, such as that we need more orphanages and that Susan Smith (the woman in south Carolina who drowned her two little boys on the way to trying to kill herself and initially blamed it on a fictitious black man) was the Democrats’ fault, etc. The comments themselves sparked quite a bit of public outrage, but instead of seeing how stupid his ideas were or at the very least noting that they were ideas better left to himself, he blamed the media. Yes, to Newt it was the media’s fault that people were outraged by his ideas. Classical narcissism.
Let’s see how Palin handles her narcissism. We’ve gotten a glimpse so far, actually, and that sense of entitlement I’ve spoekn about figures in prominently, I believe. (I probably should’ve tumbled to it from the start.)
GRATUITOUS PORN
Note that I’ve had to add a new category. Seems mere Gratuitous SEXISM isn’t enough. We now have Gratuitous Porn. Actually, it’s been there all along, I just haven’t recognized it as such (and don’t spend that much time looking for it either). In any case, some of what’s being posted online about Palin (and her family) actually goes that embarrassingly far. It’s really beyond disgusting and frankly I don’t want the guy responsible censored, i want him jailed. Alas, the age of consent he invokes probably clears him from anything like child porn charges, but it’s still exactly that smarmy.
He’s a misogynist I’ve identified for his misogyny before, Rude Pundit. He can’t limit himself to just sliming the female adult in the equation, but instead goes after the pregnant daughter in lurid, pornographic detail, and the shamefully misogynist poster at DU (Commie Pinko Dirtbag) was just thrilled to be able to quote the pornography in some, s detail and, sadly, get away with it. I wish DU admin could be made to understand how utterly depraved and demeaning to them it is to allow this type of “discussion” at DU.
Bristol Palin’s vagina, which may or may not be topped by a tuft of pubic hair shaved in various shapes, is important to our national discourse for obvious reasons. Her vagina, however tight or loose it may be, reveals how degraded conservative moral beliefs actually are…
It’s almost amusing that Rude Pundit thinks he has the moral authority to judge any one or anything else in the world as ‘degraded.” And a note for porn lovers, including child porn lovers hiding behind age 17: some of the rest of his post is actually even worse.
MORE UTTERLY PREDICTABLE “PROGRESSIVE” SEXISM
Here’s a thread you know is going to be bad: To further define Sarah Palin, we need a unified nickname.
Fortunately, one of the worst offending posts, which included this image photoshopped to include the acronym MILF (and/or VPILF in the deleted post), was removed. Here’s how it appeared (and still appears) elsewhere:
An equally disgusting (if not more so) image posted in response by seemslikeadream was inexplicably allowed to stand. Did the moderator not get it? Not find it sexist? What? And what’s the point of this wet nurse post by the same DUer? And why isn’t the nursing practices of any woman, including this VP nominee, considered inappropriate (sexist)? It’s just not germaine to anything. In this day and age there’s no need for a wet nurse, and to my knowledge there aren’t very many wet nurses in this country, slave wage or not. Ridiculous, and ugly.
And then there’s the follow-up to this thread which, again, you pretty much know, given the premise, is going to get sexist and ugly: Official Nickname Poll: What is the best nickname for Sarah Palin? but it isn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.
Then there are the category of sexist name-calling. No doubt about it, objectively she’s a real lightweight, but that doesn’t give anyone the right to make that into a sexist slur. Doing so doesn’t add weight or importance to the criticism, but rather serves to detract from weight or importance, and puts the onus on the poor manners and obvious sexism — which involves lack of objectivity — of the criticizer instead. Here’s DUer paparush:
This Bimbo is the iceberg against which Titanic-McCain will grind itself.
When called on his sexism, he defends himself thusly (if you can call it a defense rather than a further indictment):
Bimbo is more friendly than the other terms I was going to use.
Nice guy, huh? Insightful too. Finally, when krkaufman notes that that “Doesn’t say much about your lexicon, then. We might remember that gender-specific attacks are amongst the most unproductive one could mount,” paparush reveals that like the Republcons, he considers sexism just another perfectly viable tool to use against the opposition:
Way too touchy feely. This election is war. No prisoners. Take the gloves off or lose.
CLUE: It’s NOT a viable tool at all. In a warfare analogy, since paparush invoked that, sexism is analogous to biological warfare. Sexism hurts everyone, even those who use it. Sexism is a key undergirding of the entire system we live within. We will never defeat the forces of oppression and repression unless we also defeat sexism (and racism and homophobia and….. you get the idea).
