Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin cast herself as the heir to feminism’s legacy in her first visit to Southern Nevada on Tuesday, saying if Democrat Barack Obama were serious about respecting women, he would have chosen Hillary Clinton as his running mate.
“Our opponents think that they have the women’s vote all locked up, which is a little presumptuous, since only our side has a woman on the ticket,” Palin said.
“When the time came to make a decision, somehow Barack Obama just couldn’t bring himself to pick the woman who got 18 million votes,” she added. [...]
“For the women in this audience and across the country, are you ready to break the highest, hardest glass ceiling in America?” the Alaska governor shouted to thunderous cheers during her 25-minute speech.
Of course, thanks to Palin being on the ticket, Republicans have developed a keen new respect for women, right?
Outside the rally, where a line stretched around the block for hours before the event began, protester Karoline Khamis wore a burgundy ball gown and plastic tiara and held a sign reading “Rape Victims Deserve a Choice.” Palin opposes abortion rights even in cases of rape and incest.
Khamis, a 30-year-old former rape victims’ counselor, said the costume was a “tribute” to Palin’s experience as a beauty queen. As the line of Palin fans streamed past, she and the dozen or so other pro-Obama activists on the corner of Green Valley and Paseo Verde parkways were the target of plenty of remarks, some more polite than others.
One man, Khamis said, yelled that he could tell she was a rape victim by what she was wearing, then quickly disappeared when she tried to engage him.
The calculation in deploying this softer, gauzier speech was savvy, if transparent. Picked by Sen. John McCain as a candidate who would draw independent women, polls show that Palin has instead become a drag on his candidacy, a polarizing figure and the least popular of all four of the major nominees. Her qualifications – less than two years ago she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska — rank as voters’ top concern about McCain’s candidacy, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. [...]
Although there was plenty of political carnivoria in the crowd, with shouts of “socialist!” and Nobama T-shirts, the event featured some surprising atmospherics, as well. Sitting behind Palin were Linda Klinge, vice president of the Oregon chapter of the National Organization for Women, as well as the wealthy heiress and Democratic activist Lynn Forester de Rothschild. [...]
The problem for Palin, and, ultimately, McCain, is that the public doesn’t see the Republican Party as a credible messenger on behalf of equality or policies important to women. Obama is beating McCain among women by 15 percentage points, according the Hotline/Diageo daily tracking poll.
Obama is beating McCain among women by 15 percentage points, according the Hotline/Diageo daily tracking poll.
I’ve tried to suppress the painful memories of the 2004 results, but if I recall correctly, Kerry led Bush among women by only a few percentage points. It appears projections of PUMA political clout are only matched in accuracy by Mr. Bower’s fund-raising prognostications.
Regarding Palin’s wardrobe malfunction—honest to godz, how is it possible to spend $150K on clothes in 2 months? You’d have to spend something like $2,500 a fucking day! I hope that story gets the wall-to-wall coverage it deserves. It’s outrageous.
I hope that story gets the wall-to-wall coverage it deserves. It’s outrageous.
Yeah, it is. According to Morning Joe’s producer they were getting flooded with emails about it ... all of them outraged at the amount and several of them angry with Mika for defending it.
The GOP are still pissed they had to toss all those anti-Hillary ads they’d already had done when they thought she’d get the nomination and you know, I really think that Palin thinks she’d still be on this ticket if Hillary had got it! Silly old moose.
Anyway, I just found this on the net, have you seen it before? Cracked me up.
And wasn’t Palin the one who accused Hillary of “whining” during the campaign?
Jesus, what is the deal? Between this revisionism and Bachmann’s attempt to walk back the comments everybody saw on “Hardball,” you’d think that the GOP hard right doesn’t think anyone owns televisions or computers. (Then again, one generally requires opposable thumbs to operate those tools effectively, so maybe they are, as always, playing to the base!)
Comment by Kerry Reid on 10/22/08 at 10:22 AM
I hope that story gets the wall-to-wall coverage it deserves. It’s outrageous.
Someone over at Daily Kos said you’d have to live in a cave to not be aware of it by now! Rachel had a few choice words about it last night. “I kind of wish I could be a maverick too!”
Considering that I’ve only seen her in about 8 or 9 different outfits (yes, that’s right, women check out each others’ clothes), and it appears she’s mix matching some of the black and white stuff, I’m guessing about $20k per look. I guess if you’re standing next to Cindy McCain on stage you can’t shop at Target like some people we know (and admire).
By the way am I the only one who has issues about her dragging all her kids (well, not, oops, Bristol) on stage at all these rallies?
By the way am I the only one who has issues about her dragging all her kids (well, not, oops, Bristol) on stage at all these rallies?
Yeah, it’s just plain wrong. It’s even worse that she lets them roam around signing autographs at the rallies, too. But those awful, awful parents the Obamas are keeping their girls in school living as normal lives as possible and away from the crowds. Shame on them!
(p.s. when is the mean liberal press going to start asking questions about Piper and Willow being out on the campaign trail instead of back in Alaska?)
