Oh, goody.
G.O.P. Women Call Palin Criticism ‘Sexist’Huckabee has a statement calling the criticism of Palin's family sexist. Huckabee. has. the. moral. highground. This should never, never have happened. And it wouldn't have happened if the Dean-Reid-Pelosi Democrats hadn't handed the Republicans this issue on a silver platter. If they hadn't already tacitly sanctioned sexism as a campaign tactic.
Rosario Marin, a former United States treasurer, said she was “absolutely incensed, offended, insulted” that stories had addressed Ms. Palin’s infant son, Trig, and his Down Syndrome, suggesting, she said, that someone with a child with special needs should not seek the vice presidency. “Shame on them,” she said of the media’s portrait of Ms. Palin.
“Who better than her to understand the challenges we have as career women trying to balance career and family?” said Ms. Marin, who said she, too, was the parent of a child (now grown) with Down Syndrome. “They would never dare to say that about a man.”
"Let me be as clear as possible. I think people's families are off-limits, and people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president...How a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn't be the topic of our politics, and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that's off-limits." Senator Obama, September 1, 2009The party is lucky Obama did the right thing, quickly and unequivocally. But I am left wondering how I'd feel about this election if Obama had made this statement not just about the unfair attacks on Governor Palin, but about the misogyny hurled at Senator Clinton. If Obama had said - and released a statement to reinforce - that criticizing or mocking Senator Clinton because of her ostensibly "shrill" voice, her appearance, her status as the wife of a former President and other gender-related characteristics were every bit as off-limits as racially-based insults, I wouldn't feel so dismissive of his campaign rhetoric.
"Let me be as clear as possible. I think gender-based insults are off-limits, and someone's marriage is especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Senator Clinton's performance as Senator of New York, her performance as First Lady, or her potential performance as a president... Comments about a woman's physical characteristics or how she deals with issues in her family, that shouldn't be the topic of our politics, and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that's off-limits."It was a simple thing, really, that he needed to do. Make the statement he made about attacks on Governor Palin, but on the topic of gender-based insults and slurs of Senator Clinton. Right after New Hampshire would have been a good time to do it.
2 comments:
Aw...give the guy a break, afterall, he did take the time earlier in his campaign to come out strongly with "MY wife is off limits!"
And Rudy Giuliani got to stand up there at the convention and talk about how no one asks men how they are going to balance being a parent and being VP. Of course, shortly thereafter, CNN panned to someone on the floor wearing a "Hoosiers for the Hot Chick" button with her picture on it. It's enough to give us all some significant cognitive dissonance...
All I have to say, though, is Palin can clearly hold her own, and I'm looking forward to seeing her debate Biden now. She brought it tonight - I disagree with her on just about everything she said, but she hit hard and had some very good zingers.
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