McCain Campaign Plays Gender Card, Accuses Democrats of "Sexist" Attacks on Palin

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

“I am appalled by the Obama campaign’s attempts to belittle Governor Sarah Palin’s experience," said RNC Victory 2008 Chair and senior McCain adviser Carly Fiorina today in a statement. "The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has made in his life. Because of Hillary Clinton’s historic run for the Presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Governor Palin.”

Is attacking Palin for inexperience sexist?

The vice presidential running mate has served for two years as governor of a small state, than before that 10 years as a mayor of a small town.

Surely one could argue that the comments about Palin's pulchritude, the questions about what kind of mother she is -- those are comments that could raise an eyebrow if not ire.

But inexperience?



Read more: http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/mccain-...

---

Cue the video.

ABC News' Eloise Harper reports: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in a video interview with Newsweek, posted on YouTube, discussed the coverage of Sen. Hillary Clinton. In an interview that appears to have taken place during the Democratic primary, Palin criticizes Clinton for her response to media scrutiny she received while on the campaign trail.

Palin says, "When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or, you know, maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, man, that doesn’t do us any good. Women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country. I don’t think it’s, it bodes well for her -- a statement like that."

The presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee says that Clinton should just "work harder" and "prove yourself to an even greater degree that you are capable."

Palin explains, “I think she does herself a disservice to even mention it, really. I mean, you’ve got to plow through that. You have to know what you’re getting into which, I say this with all due respect to Hillary Clinton and to her experience and to her passion for changing the status quo.”

The Alaska governor concludes, “It bothers me a little bit, hearing, hearing her bring that attention to herself on that level.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/did-pal...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEUG0XZ9OpY

[SocratesInSpirit]

1. And so it begins....

Lord, I hate these people.

[Richardo]

2. Wait a sec: We ran Hillary for President and *we're* sexist?

[C_U_L8R]

3. If it were a man with such a skimpy resume

one, he probably would never be considered in the first place
and two... he'd be the absolute laughing stock of the nation.

Vice Admiral James Stockdale anyone...

[Name removed]

5. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Randomthought]

6. Oh Please!

Troopergate! AIP!

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[FVZA_Colonel]

13. She got a man fired because he refused to bow to her political will.

That's corruption pure and simple.

[Indenturedebtor]

31. Oh please stop with the spin... you're on a Democratic site and we don't speak idiot here

No one is attacking the daughter, but the hypocricy of the mother speaks for itself. She claims to be a big proponent of "family values", and to have solutions to offer the nation on education, teen pregnancy, etc.

Well guess what... she homeschooled her kids, and one of them is pregnant at 17. How did that abstinence only education work?

Furthermore they're offering up her experience as a mother as "executive" experience. Well if she's such a great mother then why the hell is she going to spend 15 hours a day 7 days a week on the campaign trail with a newborn?!?!?

Her judgement, priorities, experience, and character are called into question so easily it's rediculous. There's nothing sexist about that.

[Liberal Veteran]

8. Welcome to DU!

Please try the pizza....it's the bomb!

[Contrary1]

12. No, Dim One...

The left has been attacking Palin non-stop for CHOOSING to have a down syndrome child, and not believing all women should have a right to make their own choice.

[superconnected]

15. Excuse me. Appalling has said she is anti abortion and wants to

overturn roe vs. wade. She and MCsame publically vowed to do that the day he announced her last week.

Bringing up ms. anti abortions preggers unwed 17 yo is fair game when she wants to stop womens rights over their bodies. Who's really sexist there, uh, palin and mccaine.

Palin has a little baby and she's pretty old to have a little baby. Makes one wonder if she believes in Birth control. Was her daugher denied it?

The people of america have a right to know. Expecially the Women whom the anti-womans rights activist -sarah palin, plans to affect.

[Bob Dobbs]

23. Transpraent agenda much?

Ejection in 3, 2, 1

[Ghost Dog]

24. Dust to dust. Adios.

[superconnected]

7. SEXIST ATTACK WHEN THEIR FIRST VOW WAS OVER TURN

ROE VS. WADE AND PUT WOMENS RIGHTS BACK 40 YEARS.

Oh, excuse fucking me.

I'm not the one with the pregnant 17 yr whose mother doesn't believe she has a right to choose to have the child or not. I'm not an older woman with 5 kids - including a baby who needs to answer whether she believes in birth control or not, let alone if her unwed pregnant daughter was denied it.

It's like a kkk man yelling out to end black rights and then accusing the people questioning him of being racist.

[scarletwoman]

9. The fact is, McCain picking Palin was a sexist act in itself -- does anyone seriously believe that

a MAN with such a thin resume -- with no reputation on the national stage -- would have been chosen?

The choice of Palin was all about pandering, her first speech invoking Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton (even though they had to later scrub that part due to booing) made that abundantly clear.

sw

[superconnected]

11. Him picking appalling and wanting to throw womens right back 40 years

with her volunteering to help was pretty sexist in itself.

[NashVegas]

20. I'd Been Saying All Weekend Palin Was Chosen To Draw Sexist Attacks From the Netroots

No one wants to hear it.

DU and KoS have responded exactly as predicted. There was a small contingent of thinking people who begged DU not to pursue pushing the "Bristol is Sarah's baby mama," rumors and "what kind of mother," crap which were and are inherently sex-based attacks.

Troopergate was enough to sink her with blue-collar Republicans and law enforcement demos, alone. Firing people who won't fire people she wants fired is enough to draw a clear line between Palin and Bush / Cheney.

[scarletwoman]

26. I'm with you. I was up to hiding over 30 threads by Sunday evening, after giving up on trying

to persuade people to drop the "babygate" shit. I repeatedly pointed out that there were (and are!) plenty of other points to attack her on, that deal with her strictly as a politician and not as a female.

It DOES piss me off no end.

Oh well...

sw

[EFerrari]

30. I'm so glad I read this exchange because I've been NAUSEOUS

all weekend, reading this stuff.

[NashVegas]

32. And Now

Over in GD: Pee, an 88-count poster is asking people to predict who will be the first RW talking head to use the "N" word. Remember, on DU sexism = okay, racism = bad. Of course we all agree racism = bad, but we all have different ideas on that other one and what constitutes it, don't we?

IIRC, we had our disagreements in the primaries, but ya better believe the RW was watching (if not driving) the dynamics at play and are driving it home now. They aren't trying to siphon Democratic female votes to their side, they're trying to simply drain them from the Obama campaign.

[WriteDown]

46. Crisco....

You and I are on the same wavelength. This was a ruse from the start.

[rayofreason]

42. Actually, yes.

McCain also looked closely at Jindal of LA, but Jindal is not as strong a candidate and he is only 36. Palin was an insurgent candidate in Alaska and has taken on the corrupt Republican leadership. Jindal has taken on corrupt Democrats, which is not as convincing a story. It is easy to blast corruption on the other side - harder to do so on your side. And to be honest, this is one thing that nags at me about Obama. Chicago politics is dirty as hell with lots of mob money, but he has always been a "team player" and has never called anyone out for malfeasance. I don't think that he is corrupt, but I worry about the Chicago machine around him.

All this indicates that McCain wanted someone who was seen as a reformer, an outsider. That also explains the Lieberman buzz since is he is now the ultimate outsider, having no home in either party. But Lieberman would have thrown the base into a frenzy (Can you imagine of Obama had picked Lieberman?? The shit would fly!!!). So if Palin were a man, he still would have been on the short list. That Palin is a women makes her even more attractive, but the narrative of "outside, maverick, reformer" was the overriding theme. Just as the fact that Obama being an African-American is viewed as a real plus (I certainly think so), but that is not why he won the primary. It was primarily organization and message on the positive side, and Hillary-bashing on the negative side, that brought him victory.

Consider 2 other candidates for president (not VP!) - Howard Dean and Jimmy Carter. Carter served 4 years in the state senate (1962-1966) an one term as governor (1971-1975). Dean served 10 years as governor, but neither had any reputation on the national stage. Were serious issues raised about their ability to be in the top slot? Anything like the questions being raised about Palin, who is only to be the VP, not the POTUS? One can argue with a lot of positions (creationism?) but that is not what I see. I see questions being raised that are never raised for men. Has any male candidate been asked "Aren't you neglecting your children by running for office?" And the threads attacking Palin and her family on DU have been nothing less than shameful.

What bullshit. Hillary was right. And on this issue the McCain campaign is right as well.

Fortunately Obama has stepped forward to declare this kind of crap out of bounds and said he'd fire any of his staff he found involved.

[liberal N proud]

14. Has anyone mentioned the fact that she is a woman?

Past saying her I have not seen one thing attacking her for being a woman. NOT ONE.

He has the Former POW card and she has the Gender Card to get them out of any tight spots.

[NashVegas]

34. How Can You Not Understand

That impuning her for going back to work so soon after the child was born, for choosing where it would be born, and finally for spreading false rumors that it wasn't hers at all are inherently sex-based attacks?

You don't have to scream "omg it's a girl!" when you've got DUers running around talking about 'vagina voting.'

[Captiosus]

16. Questioning qualifications

is sexist now? I saw that interview on CNN today multiple times and nowhere does Obama bring up her gender. Which means Carly Fiorina is playing the sexist card, not the democrats.

Then again, how can anyone take anything Carly Fiorina says seriously, given her record over at HP-Compaq?

[HopeHoops]

17. BREAKING: McCain Nominates Person in Coma for VP - Blames Obama for Whining

Good freakin' blow-me-a-snot-sandwich grief. Can't the GOP handle ANYTHING without calling for mommy?

[JaneQPublic]

18. When has the Obama campaign belittled Palin?

As I recall, when asked about her, Obama simply said she had a compelling life story and it was great that a woman had been chosen.

Remember when McCain accused Obama of playing a race card and demanded he take it back? Well, turnabout's fair play. Obama needs to accuse the McCain campaign of playing the gender card and demand they take back their accusation.

[NashVegas]

21. When People Who Claim to Be Acting On Obama's Behalf Engage In Shit Shoveling

Some of it is going to fall on Obama.

[babythunder]

35. Name one

person working under Obama who attacked Palin personally..... yea didn't think so. At least if your going to complain have your facts straight.

[NashVegas]

37. "Claim to Be Acting On Obama's Behalf" Does Not Equal "Working Under"

As one of those would lead people to assume someone was literally in the Obama campaign's employ.

There are plenty on this site who claim to be the former, I haven't seen anyone claim to be collecting a paycheck.

That's a really poor attempt at a straw man argument / word parsing.

[babythunder]

41. Do you want

to control what people say? Enough already with this some people feel that this is a worthy path to follow down maybe you don't fine that's your prerogative but stop trying to police other people's thoughts on this subject. Again NO ONE IN OBAMA's camp has made even a blip about Sarah Palin's personal affairs.

[superconnected]

19. Questioning a women against womens rights is not sexist.

And since MCsame stepped up and said he's also against womens rights, am I sexist for questioning him if his kids end up unmarried and preggers too? I mean since he's vowing that they can't do anything about it and all.

[EFerrari]

22. But attacking her teenage daughter is.

And aren't you proud that McCain can accuse you of sexism and be right?

Congrats!

[superconnected]

25. They are not attacking her teen age daughter.

They are questioning the parent who says she will over turn roe vs. wade about having a preggers 17 yo unwed daughter. I have seen nobody attack the kid.

There is nothing sexist about questioning palin, because of her stance on removing womens rights to choose over their own body. The only sexist thing I see is not asking Palin enough.

I need to know if she - at 44 with an infant, and with her preggers 17 yo daughter, believes in birth control at all. Since shes' said she will turn womens right back 40 years, I don't see that as a sexist question.

[EFerrari]

28. Oh, please. There was just a thread locked in GD about Bristol's vagina.

There's a thread out there now about her boyfriend.

I bookmarked the thread about her gift registry.

You bet there's been enough offensive cr@p to go around.

That you don't see it is your problem.

[superconnected]

39. Oh please, do you think I'd be hanging around on GD.

I guess there you would find a thread like that.

[EFerrari]

47. That's a good point, actually. n/t

[superconnected]

40. BTW what's mccain doing on GD? I thought he was speaking about dems in the press.

[noamnety]

27. McCain asked his advisor to make the statement on his behalf

because he was too busy lobbying against equal pay legislation.

[UpInArms]

29. ...

[DogPoundPup]

33. Gender Card??? McWhiner plays the GENDER AND RACE CARD but that's OK

[EFerrari]

36. "They did it first, Mom!"

[meow2u3]

38. Who's calling whom sexist, McGold Digger?

This is coming from a shallow guy who unceremoniously dumped his disfigured first wife to marry a booze bimbo, beauty queen trophy wife with loads of money to boot. And he has the unmitigated temerity to call the Democrats sexists?!

[Jade Fox]

43. You know what's sexist about this Palin deal?

If she were a man, she would never have been chosen and put in what must now be a very uncomfortable position. The GOP used her for her gender, so that makes them the exploiters.

But Palin didn't have to say 'yes' to their offer, so she is NOT any sort of victim.

[True_Blue]

44. Actually I think it's women that are attacking her the most

She's a traitor to her own gender.

[GinaMaria]

45. Attacking her? get real

If McReactive had done his homework, he wouldn't be in this position. The press and the bloggers are scrutinizing everything this candidate has said or done. The way McIdiot should have done in the first place. InSane knows it's not an attack. This is the price you pay when you don't vet a Veep hopeful. Did he really think that bloggers and reporters wouldn't start digging for more information? There didn't appear to be a whole lot of digging needed. The crap was right beneath the surface. Does this man know he's running for POTUS? He's not new to this maybe he just forgot how things are done? There's no way to slice this where McLame doesn't look incompetent.

[and-justice-for-all]

48. What delusional nonsense...

"The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has made in his life" questionable and very unlikely. PTA does not count and neither does working for a militant secessionist organization either.

If you were to put Palin's decision making on a scale with Obama's, Palin would lose her ass. Obama, has down twice as much in his life than Palin has. Palin, is very much lacking in the appropriate skills needed to do the biggest job on the planet; just because she is anti-everything, does not make her a viable candidate.

Pointing out the facts and belittling are two very different things, she will be cross examined as all candidates are. So Carly Fiorina needs to get a clue.

[0rganism]

49. Damn, this is what I was afraid of

Even if Obama/Biden didn't take the bait, it looks like a lot of other Democrats will.

Palin is a major liability who would happily self-destruct on her own without our help. Even the corporate-controlled media can't put together a biopic fluff piece about her without tripping over a potential scandal.

Attacking her, even on legitimate political grounds, is at best a waste of effort better spent elsewhere.

[DogPoundPup]

50. Analysis: McCain camp plays sexism card for Palin

Source: Yahoo

ST. PAUL, Minn. - John McCain's campaign could be panicking or politicking with its claim that sexism lies beneath any questions about Sarah Palin's past.

They say they're not panicked — that the Alaska governor's spot on the GOP ticket is secure — so that leaves room for just one conclusion for now: McCain's political team is playing the gender card to appeal to women, and bashing the media to solidify support among conservatives.

Hours before Palin's high-stakes address to the nation, McCain was trying to inoculate his untested and embattled running mate against criticism.

"This is part of a very clever strategy to lead the Democrats into a trap that will end up with them dumping on Gov. Palin and paying a heavy price," said GOP consultant Rich Galen.

The chorus began at dawn Wednesday when senior adviser Steve Schmidt released a statement declaring that the campaign would no longer answer questions about its background check of Palin, a little-known governor whose every blemish is being paraded before Americans.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080903/ap_on_el_pr/cvn_pal...

[Teaser]

51. "that leaves room for just one conclusion"

yeah, if you're Fournier.

a hint, Ron: they could also be lying.

[depakid]

52. Thanks for pointing out that it's a Fournier article- I almost wasted my time reading it

[mwb970]

53. Didn't Palin accuse Hillary of "whining"...

...when she complained of sexist coverage in the media? Goose, gander?

[Alcibiades]

54. What a cunning plan!

"We will no longer answer questions. Look, over there, something shiny!"

Seriously, McCain really could have knocked this one out of the park by picking Romney, who is scary (could help win MI, shores up McCain's admitted ignorance about the economy). Instead, he picks an obscure governor who has not completed a full term who has no national profile, a record of running up deficits and a history of questionable firings. All part of a cunning plan!

No wonder they are not taking any more questions. Maybe they are high on Rush's drugs?

[HopeHoops]

55. Sexism says "because she's a woman", racism "because he is black (or whatever)"

I don't care if McCain's VP was male and looked like Mr. Clean - we are talking about lack of qualifications, scandals, separatist party associations, investigations, abuse of power, family ties to Big Oil (Todd is owned by BP) and general traits of a Republican candidate here!

I STILL say they planned all along to pull a Harriet Miers. But for the sake of the country, I hope she tells them to shove it up their well oiled rears and refuses to step down. The GOP thinks women are stupid enough to "vote vagina" as Samantha Bee on The Colbert Report announced. I'm sure they could have found someone less qualified for the position, like Jeb Bush for example, but they needed a woman to make their point. They are using her and her family, but somehow I don't feel sorry for her - not sure why.

[melody]

56. He has got to be joking LOL!

Women are so aware of being jerked around like that, it's not even funny. They'll see he's a hypocrite who is using that to cover his ass from nominating Elmera Fudd.

[CBHagman]

57. Remember Newt Gingrich's epithet and that GOP woman who...

...point-blank asked McCain, "How do we beat the b___," referring to Hillary, I don't think the GOP has a leg to stand on if they think they're suddenly the champions of women. While Speaker of the House, Gingrich, according to his own mother, referred to Hillary by the B-word. Whereupon Hillary graciously received Mrs. Gingrich at the White House. Handsome is as handsome does, and if you're going to be a jerk and a hypocrite, don't provide your mother with the evidence.

As for McCain, lookee here:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLQGWpRVA7o

[radfringe]

58. sexism is the new POW

any question, inquiry, or investigation regarding palin is now sexist...