I wonder if it's really progress when a woman gets a job simply because she's a woman.
As the media scrambles to get more info on Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, I take issue not with her capabilities but the fact that her sex and positioning alone put her above other worthy contenders both women and men.
Would a guy who was mayor of a city with 85oo strong and lead as governor for 18 months be tapped to be a VP contender?
Of course not. He wouldn't even be in the running.
Even if the VP selection was limited to Republican women, it's Palin's image and the spin of her story, that of a young driven mother of five with one kid headed for war and another with Downs Syndrome, that's stronger than her national credentials.
She's not even an advocate of the core issues that define the woman's movement, including equal pay and reproductive rights.
While she might be a great lady, smart and capable, none of that was a deciding factor in the decision.
The selection is an insult to women everywhere.
Palin's in for quite a ride. The political buzzards are swarming and I wonder in the hype of it all if she has any idea what she's just walked into.
Palin is charged as running as a maverick, waving the banner for working women while supporting a candidate who's proposed policies mimic the much maligned Bush administration. She benefits from the women's rights movement while simultaneously undermining the very rights the movement's fore bearers fought for. And she's about to go under one heck of a microscope.
It reminds me of Obama's Senate bid when the Republican party nominated Alan Keyes, a African American serial candidate who didn't even reside in Illinois but was propped up as a worthy opponent. I suppose the hope was that he'd split the black vote. Keyes probably figured that if nothing else, he's build some solid relationships in the party. That never happened. He only embarrassed himself.
Palin is expected to woe women. While she's no Keyes, she is a political pawn.
And that's not progressive.
As the media scrambles to get more info on Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, I take issue not with her capabilities but the fact that her sex and positioning alone put her above other worthy contenders both women and men.
Would a guy who was mayor of a city with 85oo strong and lead as governor for 18 months be tapped to be a VP contender?
Of course not. He wouldn't even be in the running.
Even if the VP selection was limited to Republican women, it's Palin's image and the spin of her story, that of a young driven mother of five with one kid headed for war and another with Downs Syndrome, that's stronger than her national credentials.
She's not even an advocate of the core issues that define the woman's movement, including equal pay and reproductive rights.
While she might be a great lady, smart and capable, none of that was a deciding factor in the decision.
The selection is an insult to women everywhere.
Palin's in for quite a ride. The political buzzards are swarming and I wonder in the hype of it all if she has any idea what she's just walked into.
Palin is charged as running as a maverick, waving the banner for working women while supporting a candidate who's proposed policies mimic the much maligned Bush administration. She benefits from the women's rights movement while simultaneously undermining the very rights the movement's fore bearers fought for. And she's about to go under one heck of a microscope.
It reminds me of Obama's Senate bid when the Republican party nominated Alan Keyes, a African American serial candidate who didn't even reside in Illinois but was propped up as a worthy opponent. I suppose the hope was that he'd split the black vote. Keyes probably figured that if nothing else, he's build some solid relationships in the party. That never happened. He only embarrassed himself.
Palin is expected to woe women. While she's no Keyes, she is a political pawn.
And that's not progressive.
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