GRIEGO: Palin pick brings with it a boatload of assumptions

[True_Blue]

GRIEGO: Palin pick brings with it a boatload of assumptions

By Tina Griego, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Sunday, August 31, 2008

My God, the assumptions thickening the air around Sen. John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate could gag a person.

First comes the idea that her gender alone will draw still-angry Hillary Clinton backers to the Republican ticket. Yes, she appealed directly to those voters in her introductory speech to the country, referenced the 18 million cracks in the hardest, highest ceiling, made the you-go-girl, we're not through, yet, rallying cry.

But no more than three seconds should pass before the obvious hits: Sarah Palin is a hard-right social conservative who represents almost nothing Clinton does. Hillary Clinton stands for far more than being female, and you couldn't look at her on that stage last Tuesday night and not know you were looking at commander-in-chief material. Any Clinton backer who says he or she will now vote for the McCain-Palin ticket was never a Clinton backer at all.
more. . .
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/aug/31/griego-palin-pick-brings-with-it-a-boatload-of/

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Several excellent points in that article...

But, you tell me with a straight face that the same conservative talking heads who are praising Palin for the commitment she has just made would not be the first to bleat and blare into their microphones about the, shudder, scandal of a Democratic mother with a Down syndrome baby working 14-to-16-hour days on the campaign trail.

Assumption: Republican mothers, brimming with virtue, run for their country. Democratic mothers, blinded by ambition, run for themselves.

There are thousands of mothers and fathers of children, yes, many of them with Down syndrome and other congenital disabilities, who love their children with all their hearts, who will tell you parenthood is a blessing and who still support the right to abortion.

The difference between Gov. Palin and us is that we believe the choice we made - that she made - was a personal one and that we the people, the state, cannot assume control of another person's body.