Shock waves went through the American public this morning when McCain announced his choice for VP candidate was none other than Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin.
Some might say that it's a wise choice - an appeal to women who feel disaffected by Hillary's loss in this past election.
But I'm sorry, does McCain really believe that by adding a former runner up in the Miss Alaska pageant to his ticket he can win this election? Does he hope to appeal to women simply by adding XX chromosomes to his ticket?
I'd like to think that whatever our frustration, women today are too smart to vote for someone who is currently under investigation for corruption in her home state. I'd like to think that women today are too worried about the economy to vote for someone under whose Governorship has seen unemployment in Alaska has consistently risen. I'd like to think that women today are too smart to vote for a candidate who is a staunch opponent of reproductive rights, and who has supported some of the most restrictive anti-choice bills in the country. Or for someone who has been described as our nation's most prominent advocate for drilling the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge - a tactic that has been called a short term band-aid for our country's oil dependence at best and a natural disaster in the making at worst. In fact, Palin is so concerned about giving oil companies free rein in Alaska that she sued the federal government in an attempt to remove Polar Bears from the endangered species list.
No matter how you feel about Sarah Palin's achievements, a vote for her as Vice President is still a vote for McCain - a man who's publicly opposed pay equality, reproductive rights, and commonly makes very public disparaging comments about his wife. Picking a young woman as his running mate doesn't make McCain any more in touch with the economic woes of our country, any less explosive of a person and it won't change McCain's stance on keeping us in a failing Iraq war.
Instead I can only think that it's John McCain's low opinion of women that led him to make this choice. He's chosen a woman with little to no experience - over many more qualified candidates - in a desperate attempt to sway women voters he's otherwise scared off. McCain, what do you take us for, an idiot?
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid of Sarah Palin. .
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/8961
Weekly Feministing Newsletter
Feministing RSS Feed
McCain looked like a 'dirty old man' standing next to her in Ohio. Pandering aside, she seems to be an impressive individual. Emily's List and NOW are fuming. Why watch American Idol when politics is the best reality TV on the market!