NOW PAC: Palin May Be a Woman but Isn't Strong on Women's Issues, Endorses Obama

[LakeShow]

NOW PAC: Palin May Be a Woman but Isn't Strong on Women's Issues, Endorses Obama

http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/culture/2008/03/03/JGarofoliBlog200x200.jpg

The National Organization for Women Political Action Committee endorsed the Obama-Biden ticket (http://www.now.org/press/09-08/09-16.html)today. Not a huge surprise -- Obama and Biden usually get high marks from NOW for their Senate votes.

But it was a blow to the McCainiacs, who are counting on their Veep-nominee, Gov. Sarah Palin, to attract female voters. Trouble is, a lot of organizations don't compile ratings for governors. And when Palin was asked to supply answers to the nonpartisan Project Vote Smart's "National Political Courage Test" -- basically her positions on the issues, she refused (http://www.votesmart.org/npat.php?can_id=27200) -- she didn't. Or, as Project VoteSmart says on its website (with their capitals):

"Governor Sarah Heath Palin REPEATEDLY REFUSED TO PROVIDE ANY RESPONSES TO CITIZENS ON ISSUES THROUGH THE 2006 NATIONAL POLITICAL AWARENESS (http://www.votesmart.org/npat_about.php)TEST WHEN ASKED TO DO SO BY key national leaders of both major parties including:

John McCain, Republican Senator

Geraldine Ferraro, Former Democratic Congresswoman

Michael Dukakis, Former Democratic Governor

Bill Frenzel, Former Republican Congressman

Richard Kimball, Project Vote Smart President"

Not that Palin would score well with women who are pro-abortion rights (she opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest.) Plus, she supports McCain's opposition to legislation requiring equal pay for women.

Yes, she has huge fans among anti-abortion rights advocates but while she was mayor of tiny Wasilla, AK, the city billed victims (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jfTm-bOoREGlDJnQXYG9I2CDN-wQD934SK0G)of sexual assaults (and their insurance companies) for the cost of rape kits and forensice examinations. Wasilla's police chief said the kits, which cost between $300 and $1,200, would be a burden to taxpayers.

McCain scores very poorly among women's organizations who rate the candidates. Here's an sampling from the nonpartisan folks at Project VoteSmart:

2007: In 2007 American Association of University Women gave Senator McCain a grade of 0.

2007: Senator McCain supported the Federally Employed Women (on 10 percent of their issues in 2007)

2007: Based on a point system, with points assigned for actions in support of or in opposition to League of Women Voters's position, Senator McCain received a rating of 17.

2005-2006: Senator McCain supported the interests of the American Association of University Women 20 percent in 2005-2006.

2005-2006: Senator McCain supported the interests of the Business and Professional Women USA 33 percent in 2005-2006.

2005-2006: Senator McCain supported the interests of the Federally Employed Women 30 percent in the 2005-2006.

2005-2006: Senator McCain supported the interests of the National Organization for Women 13 percent in 2005-2006.

[jochhejaam]

Good thread for this article from the WSJ



Why Feminists Hate Sarah Palin
OPINION SEPTEMBER 15, 2008
By CATHY YOUNGArticle

Left-wing feminists have a hard time dealing with strong, successful conservative women in politics such as Margaret Thatcher. Sarah Palin seems to have truly unhinged more than a few, eliciting a stream of vicious, often misogynist invective.

Too strong for the cause?
On Salon.com last week, Cintra Wilson branded her a "Christian Stepford Wife" and a "Republican blow-up doll." Wendy Doniger, religion professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, added on the Washington Post blog, "Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman."

You'd think that, whether or not they agree with her politics, feminists would at least applaud Mrs. Palin as a living example of one of their core principles: a woman's right to have a career and a family. Yet some feminists unabashedly suggest that her decision to seek the vice presidency makes her a bad and selfish mother. Others argue that she is bad for working mothers because she's just too good at having it all.

In the Boston Globe on Friday, columnist Ellen Goodman frets that Mrs. Palin is a "supermom" whose supporters "think a woman can have it all as long as she can do it all . . . by herself." In fact, Sarah Palin is doing it with the help of her husband Todd, who is currently on leave from his job as an oil worker. But Ms. Goodman's problem is that "she doesn't need anything from anyone outside the family. She isn't lobbying for, say, maternity leave, equal pay, or universal pre-K."

This also galls Katherine Marsh, writing in the latest issue of The New Republic. Mrs. Palin admits to having "an incredible support system -- a husband with flexible jobs rather than a competing career . . . and a host of nearby grandparents, aunts, and uncles." Yet, Ms. Marsh charges, she does not endorse government policies to help less-advantaged working mothers -- for instance, by promoting day-care centers.

Mrs. Palin's marriage actually makes her a terrific role model. One of the best choices a woman can make if she wants a career and a family is to pick a partner who will be able to take on equal or primary responsibility for child-rearing. Our culture still harbors a lingering perception that such men are less than manly -- and who better to smash that stereotype than "First Dude" Todd Palin?

Nevertheless, when Sarah Palin offered a tribute to her husband in her Republican National Convention speech, New York Times columnist Judith Warner read this as a message that she is "subordinate to a great man." Perhaps the message was a brilliant reversal of the old saw that behind every man is a great woman: Here, the great woman is out in front and the great man provides the support. Isn't that real feminism?

Not to Ms. Marsh, who insists that feminism must demand support for women from the government. In this worldview, advocating more federal subsidies for institutional day care is pro-woman; advocating tax breaks or regulatory reform that would help home-based care providers -- preferred by most working parents -- is not. Trying to legislate away the gender gap in earnings (which no self-respecting economist today blames primarily on discrimination) is feminist. Expanding opportunities for part-time and flexible jobs is "the Republican Party line."

I disagree with Sarah Palin on a number of issues, including abortion rights. But when the feminist establishment treats not only pro-life feminism but small-government, individualist feminism as heresy, it writes off multitudes of women.

Of course, being a feminist role model is not part of the vice president's job description, and there are legitimate questions about Mrs. Palin's qualifications. And yet, like millions of American women -- and men -- I find her can-do feminism infinitely more liberated than the what-can-the-government-do-for-me brand espoused by the sisterhood.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122143727571134335.html?mod=special_page_campaig n2008_mostpop

[Creepn]

jochhejaam,

I didnt read the full article but it seems like the gist of the article is scolding a new generation type of women for not fully accepting Palin. Palin is an old type of woman with her conservative ideals. She wouldve been accepted long ago but not in this time and day.

[Crookshanks]

jochhejaam,

I didnt read the full article but it seems like the gist of the article is scolding a new generation type of women for not fully accepting Palin. Palin is an old type of woman with her conservative ideals. She wouldve been accepted long ago but not in this time and day.
That's not the gist at all. In fact, it's the old school hard line feminists that have taken such a strong disliking to Palin. What the author finds interesting is that Palin embodies so many of the things feminists have been fighting for - yet they are now hating her for it!

[Creepn]

K I just read the article and your right. My conclusion would have to be that they just don't like her as a person then. Maybe they think she is fake since she used to model her body for prizes, wears make-up, and dresses up in fashion design clothing in which some would interpret as trying to be appealing. Some would go as far to say that her beauty is the thing that risen her to the top. And now this woman is viewed to be as the poster woman of a "supermom". If these are old school feminists, those type of things would irk them.