Regina Brett, a Plain Dealer columnist I like, loses my admiration every time she goes off on her feminist rants. Today, she wrote a column entitled "American Women Can Relate to Palin" in which she says:
"...what kind of mother is Sarah Palin?
The kind people all over America can relate to.
A mom who joined the PTA to make the public schools better.
A mom who is sending her own son off to war. (How many governors, senators and Congress members have sent theirs?)
A mom who chose to have a baby others would have rejected as imperfect.
A mom who asked if we knew the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull, then pointed to her face and said, "Lipstick."
A mom who married a fisherman/oil field worker who never finished college and looks clumsy in a suit.
A mom raising a flawed family, the kind we all have.
Women can relate to her. I know I can. It doesn't mean I'll vote for her, but I'm excited that she's one of our choices."
The kind people all over America can relate to.
A mom who joined the PTA to make the public schools better.
A mom who is sending her own son off to war. (How many governors, senators and Congress members have sent theirs?)
A mom who chose to have a baby others would have rejected as imperfect.
A mom who asked if we knew the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull, then pointed to her face and said, "Lipstick."
A mom who married a fisherman/oil field worker who never finished college and looks clumsy in a suit.
A mom raising a flawed family, the kind we all have.
Women can relate to her. I know I can. It doesn't mean I'll vote for her, but I'm excited that she's one of our choices."
I wrote back:
"I'm a woman who will never understand feminism.
That Palin did not abort her Down Syndrome son is what it is. That's what being Pro-Choice is about, having a choice. This does not make her a saint or a martyr. Cutting the budget for Special Needs Education in Alaska by 62%, which Palin did, is something to talk about. Not everyone has nannies and stay-at-home husbands to help them with special needs children.
Feminism, as I understand it, is about equality, not quotas. White women have benefited the most from Affirmative Action. And that this cute, feisty, unqualified woman could benefit from the Hillary Factor, instead of far more qualified women (Kay Bailey Hutchison comes to mind) is insulting to me. I don't vote with my vagina.
I'm far more impressed with Joe Biden, who put Family First, Country Second when he chose parenting his motherless sons (one of whom, Beau, is also headed to Iraq) over being a Senator.
I like your column, but you're gonna have to explain this feminism thing to me. Sorry."
That Palin did not abort her Down Syndrome son is what it is. That's what being Pro-Choice is about, having a choice. This does not make her a saint or a martyr. Cutting the budget for Special Needs Education in Alaska by 62%, which Palin did, is something to talk about. Not everyone has nannies and stay-at-home husbands to help them with special needs children.
Feminism, as I understand it, is about equality, not quotas. White women have benefited the most from Affirmative Action. And that this cute, feisty, unqualified woman could benefit from the Hillary Factor, instead of far more qualified women (Kay Bailey Hutchison comes to mind) is insulting to me. I don't vote with my vagina.
I'm far more impressed with Joe Biden, who put Family First, Country Second when he chose parenting his motherless sons (one of whom, Beau, is also headed to Iraq) over being a Senator.
I like your column, but you're gonna have to explain this feminism thing to me. Sorry."
Check out her column and holla at her to let her know Palin is nothing to shout about: rbrett@plaind.com
Ugh, there I go with white women again. I like white women! I put it in there because everyone thinks Blacks have ridden the Affrimative Action train to Cosbyville and that's not true.
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7 comments:
"i don't vote with my vagina" - CLASSIC
What I wrote to her:
Regina,
You were right – this is one of the columns that people are going to have a lot to say about!
The one thing I completely agree with you on is that Democrats, liberals, feminists, and Obama supporters in general are sinking pretty low when they question Palin's ability to be both a mother and a stateswoman. For years, we have been on the side of women's rights. We've been championing women in the workplace and reproductive choice. But now we are beginning to sound awfully hypocritical and question the very things we believe in. Shouldn’t Sarah Palin be home with her new baby? Is she putting political aspirations over family? If Sarah Palin were really a good mother, her daughter wouldn't be pregnant! You cannot, on one hand, advocate for women to be able to choose in what manner they grow their families, and then deride a woman for being a "hockey mom" to five children. Where do we think Sarah Palin should be – at home, baking cookies and drinking teas?!
I don't agree, however, that women should feel excited about the choice of Palin simply because she is a woman and a mom. She is a divisive figure at a time when our country needs to heal. She has absolutely no foreign policy experience and there is a very real chance that she will one day be responsible for engaging the world on behalf of the United States. And finally, she has a history of "dismissing" officials who have opposed her politically. Let's see... fully embraces right-wing agenda, no foreign policy experience, and shuts down opposition within government. Sound like any recent presidential failures we know?
I too was initially excited when a woman became part of a national ticket. I went home and breathlessly whispered in my infant daughter’s ear, "a woman is running for vice president!" But all my hopes were dashed when I learned more about Sarah Palin – her lack of experience and her stances on issues that, I believe, will bar us from moving forward as a nation. What an insult to women. What a slap in the face to the many more qualified Republican candidates (both men and women) who were passed over so that the former mayor of a town of 7,000 could have a very real shot at leading our nation in a time of war and great economic strife. I've always liked John McCain. Even though I believe that Barack Obama has the better vision for our country, I respected McCain's life and service and devotion to doing what he thought was right. But this pick has forever sullied him in my eyes. Never again will I think of him as a "maverick," when he would stoop to such pandering.
Yes, Sarah Palin is a real mom, just like me, but that doesn't mean that I should be excited at the chance that she will be next in line for the presidency. Certainly the Sarah Palin pick proves that anyone can be president, but it doesn't mean that anyone should be.
Thanks for your good work every week!
Lisa-Your commentary started out with a valid point that should shut some people up. On the other hand, your statement, "...the Sarah Palin pick proves that anyone can be President, but it doesn't mean that anyone should be" is not so valid. Sarah Palin is not running for President. I believe it was a VP nomination. If she happens to become President in the oval office, she will still have more experience and more accomplishments at the executive level of government than the 143 day-Senator Obama, and he is running for President. If you want to speak directly about the Presidential nominee then insert his name into your profound statement. Your right when you said,"...we are beginning to sound awfully hypocritical and question the very things we believe in." Obama supporters are also hypocritical for bashing Palin's experience record when they should first scrutinize their Presidential candidate. For them, it has come down to the experiences of the two VPs. They have tried their best to pick apart the opposition, and now they are scared.
I don't think Obama supporters are scared--just a bit incredulous that this unvetted nightmare is actually still here. Let's face it--with 1/10 of her baggage he would have been gone.
Trooper- gate
AIP connection (husband member in standing)
Lying about earmarks. Took 100s of millions
Abromoff & Stevens connections-lied about it.
Almost bankrupted town she was mayor of(put them 20 million in debt-when she started they had 0)
Claims she hadn't thought of the war.
Hired a city manager when she became mayor (they'd never had one) who did all the work.
Tried to fire librarian because she wouldn't help her ban books.
And let's not even get into her personal judgments
that may soon explode in her family values face.
Allegedly . . . .
Obama was in the Illinois legislature for seven years and then a US senator for the past 4. Harvard educated, law review, constitutional law prof.
Job after college Chicago community organizer.
Palin eight years mayor for a town of 9000 people,
eighteen months governor of Alaska, 5 colleges in six years, job after college--sportscaster.
as long as it's a norm in a nation it's important to send sun's to war i will remain quite desperate.
"pro-life", strange consequences it has. emphasis on martial attitudes won't bring peace. it also makes people look silly.
Hello there!
It is soooo interesting that when white families are exposed for having dysfunction, other white people say "oh we can relate" and when black families are exposed for having dysfunction, they are called fatherless, immoral and "broken"...
I like some white women...and I have the obligatory quota of white girlfriends that a "progressive" black woman is supposed to have on display during all of the appropriate white occassions...but sometimes their brand of feminism makes me VERY tired of smelling the cow dung they try to pass off as a delicacy on the table of social change...
{shaking my head}
Lisa
{ahem!! the OTHER lisa! *giggles*}
dont know she geeting all this attention
i figure she may be getting more than her share
granny say dont give a fool attention lol
have a great weekend
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