So, Salon.com…

I mentioned them before, and there are so many examples of new journalistic atrocities that I hesitate to even bring them to my reader’s attention.

However, this piece by Rebecca Traister struck me because of it’s introspection, unique  among the screedy panic. She professes to hold long cherished feminist beliefs, but takes stock about how this female is different:

 I’m…startled by how Palin herself is testing my own beliefs about how I react to women in power.

Good…baby steps…

My feelings about Palin have everything to do with her gender — a factor that I have always believed, as a matter of course, should neither amplify nor diminish impressions of a person’s goodness or badness, smartness or dumbness, gravitas or inconsequence. Why are my rules changing?

AHA! Is this the psychological breakthrough moment? Is this moment of honest introspection going to lead to greater acceptance and healthy broad-mindedness?

Wait, she goes deeper into her conflict:

In this strange new pro-woman tableau, feminism — a word that is being used all over the country with regard to Palin’s potential power — means voting for someone who would limit reproductive control, access to healthcare and funding for places like Covenant House Alaska, an organization that helps unwed teen mothers. It means cheering someone who allowed women to be charged for their rape kits while she was mayor of Wasilla, who supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution, who has inquired locally about the possibility of using her position to ban children’s books from the public library, who does not support the teaching of sex education.

Let it out, Rebecca. That’s it! define what you find so contradictory. By acknowledging how very different this feminist’s beliefs are from your own, you can more thoroughly accept the diversity of females and therefore female empowerment…!

Palin’s femininity is one that is recognizable to most women: She’s the kind of broad who speaks on behalf of other broads but appears not to like them very much. The kind of woman who…achieves her power by doing everything modern women believed they did not have to do: presenting herself as maternal and sexual, sucking up to men, evincing an absolute lack of native ambition, instead emphasizing her luck as the recipient of strong male support and approval. It works because these stances do not upset antiquated gender norms.

oh…I’m so disappointed. Rebecca, Rebecca…Nobody said you had to be maternal and sexual, if you don’t want to be. But please understand, many women choose to be those things because they want to all by themselves. I know that your university’s masters degree program told you otherwise, but that was just an ivory tower not where real people live.

It’s not sucking up to men to follow your natural inclinations. And it is every woman’s right to speak up for what she believes is right. It’s every PERSON’S right to speak for what they believe. Even if it’s not what you believe.

You know what the music means…I’ll see you next week. We’ll talk more about how other people can have different opinions than yours and it’s still okay. And you can tell me more about your dreams.

My new friend Bethany, an Obama supporter and now commenter on my blog, brought up the point that Hillary was also mocked as a woman vying for power in politics. The below is my response to her. I realized I rambled on too long to bury  this response in the comments section:

Yes, I agree that sexism is rampant.

But the disparity is staggering…Hillary got dished on, but not to the extent that Palin is getting.
It’s been barely two weeks, and already they have Palin dolls in sexualized schoolgirl outfits?

And this from Salon: http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/09/09/mistress_palin/

The MSM (main stream media) is tipping their hand…Letting the broader public see the
usual chatter that is reserved for in-crowd-behind-the-palm-snide-snickers to be shared when the mikes are off.

[let’s pause and let this travesty sink in for a moment…Palin, her political power entirely sexualized. Can you imagine if this were a column sexualizing Obama, for example?  The racist stink off such a column would befoul the area for at least a 100-mile radius.  But who is taking Greg Kamiya aside to explain that he is an emabarassment to the freedom of the press?]

This post from Lileks is what I mean: http://lileks.com/bleats/archive/08/0908/091008.html
He is usually a mild-mannered homebody with a love of retro music and city history. But Mallik’s column was just too much for him.

I am not saying that every democrat is as bad as Mallik and Kamiya. But, to paraphrase Jesus, a little
leaven goes a long way. And these outrageous accusations toward Palin (not even fact-based…’Dominatrix’?!) are piling up really high.

So…I don’t ask that everyone I meet agree with me.

But maybe I should amend my guidelines for “How to have an open-minded discussion” …#9 in
particular…to include “Snobbery” along with sexism, racism and violence as a stopping
point where someone is morally obliged to speak out.

At what point do compassionate democrats start to feel guilty by association?

Oh, one more thing. This is hardly a new train of thought for me. Check this post from
three years ago:
http://writtenbymurphy.com/wonderblog/?p=626

“Conservatives have a bad history with The New York Times,” she said, looking at my press ID, still smiling and still very friendly. “How can I be sure that you won’t take my words and twist them to suit some agenda that you already have?”

 

Part of the  Palin thing…A big part in my mind…is for us conservative-types being able to point at how she’s being treated and stereotyped. We can point and say:

“See? SEE?”

Yes, the Main Stream Media has a bias. And it’s influencing the broader culture’s tone. I’m personally tired of it. I have a right to put forth my opinion, too, once in a while. Even if I don’t agree with you, nameless-person-i’m-trying-to-talk-with.

But I try to do it with respect. I wish I got more back.

So…Watched the Republican convention this week. I have long felt leanings toward the republican party, but I’ve not been inspired to pay that much attention.

Until now.

So I watched, and I was duly inspired. And then I hit the internet hard to see what other people thought. I read the columnists and the head bloggers.

And then I read the comments.

“Chris, everyone keeps saying that the candidates didn’t talk about the issues. But both McCain and Palin did bring up a bunch of issues!”

He is more jaded, having been in tune with politics for longer than I. “People hear what they want to hear. They have an issue in mind, and if the speech doesn’t mention their issue, they say ‘they’re not talking about issues!'”

Hmm…Good point.

But a speech is only so long. And everyone wants the speeches to be full of energy and dynamism. I’m sorry, but issues are not that interesting to listen to. Percentages and statistics make people go for a bathroom break.

So it’s not fair to criticize a candidate for not talking about issues in a speech. Speeches are not the medium for that.

What is?

THE WEB.

So I hit their respective websites. Oh LORD, there is a lot of information there. Both Obama and McCain have put up a ton of positions on various topics. It would take a week to sift through all these.

Knowing that the mention of a topic does not indicate a pro or con position, only that the topic deserved some attention, I made a list of what these guys listed on their websites.

These are taken from McCain’s website and Obama’s website

 Overlapping issues
Economy
Education
Energy (Energy & Environment per Obama)
Ethics (Ethics Reform per Mccain)
Healthcare
Immigration
Iraq
Rural (Agricultural Politics per Mccain)
Technology
Veterans
National Security (Defense per Obama)

Obama unique
Disability
Faith
Family
Fiscal
Foreign Policy
Homeland Security
Poverty
Rural
Service
Seniors and Social Security
Urban Policy
Women
Additional Issues

Mccain unique
Climate Change
2nd Amendment
Judicial Philosophy
Fighting Crime
Natural Heritage
Sanctity of Life
Space Program

There is good overlap, but the differences are interesting. The amount of information on these is staggering. It’s a LOT of reading, and I am somewhat ashamed of neglecting my duty as a citizen because I didn’t start researching this sooner.

The “Faith” issue on Obama’s side was interesting, so I clicked on that. Disappointing. 2 quotes from other people about the importance of a speech he gave, and then a YouTube of the speech.

I believe this is atypical of Obama’s entries, though.

McCain’s National Heritage this was also intrigueing, since Chris and I just got back from Yosemite National Park. He and I want to visit all the National parks in our life together. McCain says he thinks national parks are important, and he also brought up Fish&Game as a tool for conservation. Wetlands and Open Space are something he wants to preserve. Nice.

And the Space Program! Mccain specifically mentioned the Space Program! Exciting, since I will never forget the year I worked for NASA.  McCain is pro space program. For two purposes: advancing reseatch and to keep national pride. huh. I wouldn’t have been so sentimental about national pride, but perhaps as a military guy, he has a keen eye for the practical usefulness of high morale. But as far as the research part, i am SO for that. Two things that came from the space program, without which our lives would be unthinkably poorer:

Microwave ovens

The internet

I started to read their respective takes on the economy, but it was complicated. That will take more time. I’ll report next week what I find.

A choice that was intended to shake up the race did so with more ferocity than McCain ever intended. The mother of five — with one pregnant teenage daughter and an infant son with Down syndrome — has joined a parade of personalities from Anita Hill to O.J. Simpson to Monica Lewinsky to become a cultural flash point.

Um….yeah. I watched the convention last night with an intensity that I’ve never felt about any campaign before. I have never joined a party, but last night, I was ready to go join the Republican party. I know it was stagecraft, but the fact that they were trying to portray themselves as a party that is for small businesspeople and for the right of individuals to make what they want of themselves is very appealing.

THAT is what I want in a government.

So back to Palin. I’ve been researching her like mad. I am delving deep into the online archives of the Anchorage Daily News and searching blog comments just to see what people are bringing up against her.

I’ve been watching TV and listening to the radio, both sides of the middle, to see what people are saying.  There are a lot of accusations and allegations.

But what also amazes me is how wrong people are getting it. I have a good memory for weird facts sometimes. When I’m paying attention (and sometimes even when I’m not) I remember exact figures. And these reporters….getting it wrong…

For example: NO ONE has reported the same number (even rounded) for the total population of the town of Wasilla in the last week. 6,000 and 9,000 and 10,000 are all numbers I’ve heard. Get it right! How hard is that?  Wikipedia  can give you a number.

And then there is all that sexism. Wow. WOW.

I’m off the media.

The current negative rumors I know about Palin:

1. She is a member of the Alaska Independence Party (video)

2. She tried to ban books from the Wasilla Library

3. She really always has been for the Bridge to Nowhere

4. Her baby Trig is really the child of her eldest daughter

5.  She demanded that her sister’s ex-husband  be fired from his State Trooper position, and when that didn’t happen she fired the official who wouldn’t fire the trooper

6. She had an affair with her husband’s business partner (real post)

 Now, that’s what I know so far. The media seems to be rabid about consuming this fresh female meat. There will probably be more things coming out.

Thing is, I’ve looked into these things and made my peace with them. Some of them seem more serious than others. But the fact is, I have come to realize that the people who volunteer to do the hard job of holding political office are people too. And they make mistakes.

I have to be okay with that. It’s juvenile to expect perfection.

I’m still totally inspired by this woman. Not just politically, but for so many things. She gets up in teh morning and lives her life like she has a purpose.

I’d like to be more like her, and when my daughter is born, I can point to Sarh Palin as a role model.