Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Opinion

Sarah Palin: What's Sexist and What's Not Sexist?

September 10, 2008 04:31 PM ET | Bonnie Erbe | Permanent Link | Print

Women can be sexist, too, you know, just like persons of color can be racist. As the media debate whether Gov. Sarah Palin's public treatment is sexist or not, take this punch, socked to Palin by a woman, that's as clearly out of bounds as a husband slapping his wife in the face in public.

As related by The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus today:

My colleague Sally Quinn put it most provocatively. "Is she prepared for the all-consuming nature of the job?" Quinn wondered. "When the phone rings at three in the morning and one of her children is really sick, what choice will she make?"

Has Quinn ever asked the same question of a man running for vice president? Of course not, nor would she. What if the answer is, Sarah Palin would take the call at 3 a.m. and jump on any plane to anywhere in the world, confident that her husband would care for the sick child? To pose the question is to promote idiotic and sexist media viewpoints, while ignoring the much more important flaws in the Palin candidacy.

What's at issue is her extreme views on the environment, on religion in government (as I've written about earlier), and about women's reproductive rights. Here's an example of nonsexist, legitimate questions raised by a member of the so-called liberal media:

The Palin administration has allowed Chevron to triple the amount of toxic waste it pours into the waters of Cook Inlet. This, even though the number of beluga whales in the bay has collapsed from 1,300 to 350—the point of extinction—because of pollution and increased ship traffic.

Get with it, ladies of the press, or you diminish our credibility and our role.

Tags: sexism | Sarah Palin

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Reader Comments

2008 ELECTION

PEOPLE OPEN YOUR EYES THIS ISNT ABOUT A CAUCASION WOMAN VERSES A BLACK MALE I HAVE HEARD WAY TO MUCH ABOUT THE SEXISM OF THIS ELECTION LETS GET BACK TO WHATS BEST FOR OUR COUNTRY IF MCCAIN WERE ELECTED AND HE COULDNT TAKE OFFICE FOR WHATEVER REASON THAT LEAVES US WITH PALIN AND DO YOU TRULY FEEL OUR COUNTRY WOULD BE AND STAY SAFE WITH HER AS OUR PRESIDENT I HAVE CHILDREN IN THE MARINE CORPS. AND I DONT BELIEVE PALIN IS QUALIFIED TO RUN THIS COUNTRY IN A WAY THAT HELPS PROTECT OUR MILITARY! WE NEED TO LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE AND REALLY LETS QUIT MAKING THIS ELECTION ABOUT SEXISIM OR RACISIM!

Palin and about women's reproductive rights

It's interesting you mentioned about women's reproductive rights. How about those unborn children's rights to live and be loved?

It's hard to tell what's true and what's not true about what we read and see about all these politicians. Given a choice between someone who truly loves this country (Republican -- McCain/Palin) and someone who doesn't (Obama), I'd vote for the one who loves this country no matter how different the Republican views are from mine.

Here is a great resource about Sarah Palin - the most comprehensive page of information on her record and policies available on the Internet ... including videos of her saying her proposed $30 billion pipeline is the “will of God,” her saying a month ago she doesn’t know what the vice-president does, and her complaining four months ago that Hillary Clinton was whining about “sexist” media coverage -

http://dailysource.org/palin

It has in-depth research, audio clips, videos, and links to hundreds of articles, including many from newspapers and TV stations in Alaska. It has rare footage, including her telling the ‘08 convention of the Alaska Independence Party, whose aim is to give Alaska a vote on seceding from the U.S., to “keep up the good work.”

The level of research is tremendous. The site’s editors and volunteers include an Emmy-award winning CNN reporter, the former operating editor of the Christian Science Monitor’s web site, the former head of NPRs News Blog and the Executive Director of the Online News Association -

http://dailysource.org/

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About Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report and hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. She also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for Scripps Howard News Service.

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