Wednesday, September 03, 2008

DowdScum on Palin

I almost never read anything that goes from Maureen Dowd's fingers to the keyboard to either print or fingers, figuring it didn't originate in her brain, but I followed a link from Real Clear Politics to a NY Times op-ed piece by Dowd concerning Governor Palin. Dowd has hit a new low, I believe, by accusing the Republican party of playing the sexist card when her comments drip of it. Here are some excepts.

...the comely, crackling form of Sarah Palin. ...[o]nly four days into her reign as John McCain’s "soul mate," or "Trophy Vice," as some bloggers are calling her, on the ticket known as "Maverick Squared," Palin, the governor of Alaska, has already accrued ...Troopergate and Broken-watergate ...a lawyer ...a future son-in-law ...described ..."sex on skates", and a National Enquirer headline about the "Teen Prego Crisis" with 17-year-old daughter Bristol.

...Republicans have been defending Governor Palin ...saying ...while she has no foreign policy experience ...she has a lot of domestic policy experience as a supercharged P.T.A. and hockey mom.

As more and more titillating details spill out about the Palins, Republicans riposte by
simply arguing that things like Todd’s old D.U.I. arrest or Sarah's messy family vengeance story will just let them relate better to average Americans....

Even as they push Sarah Barracuda as the glamorous but tough hunting and fishing mom who can juggle it all ..."who knows how to properly field dress a moose" they rant at reporters who wonder how she will juggle it all and question some of her judgments.

At a ...rally Ms. Palin left Bristol baby-sitting Trig, who has Down syndrome... while... still absorbing the shocking news that she was about to turn into tabloid roadkill ...she’s getting married sooner rather than later.

When you make a gimmicky pick of an unknown, without proper vetting, there's bound to be a sticky press conference sooner or later....

The political unknowns ...want that tantalizing brass ring, so they're not always completely forthcoming about their skeletons, if they're lucky enough to be ineptly vetted. This is ironic, since the nominee who gets blindsided with these crises--Did McCain really know that this Palin reality show was about to pop and swallow his convention-- is presenting them to voters as the most trustworthy people to inherit the nuclear codes. [emphasis added]

...Republicans are pulling out the sexist card.

Hillary cried sexism to cover up her incompetent management of her campaign, and now Republicans have picked up that trick. But when you use sexism as an across-the-board shield for any legitimate question [emphasis added], you only hurt women....

Dowd needs to get a clue. American tradition is for older siblings to help out with younger ones. Todd Palin's DUI was before he and Sarah were married, but even if it weren't, how does that in any way affect how SLP would govern? It doesn't. The pregnancy of her daughter has no bearing. The moniker of her future son-in-law doesn't. These are not "legitimate questions", and Dowd is no reporter. When she repeats the sexist trash of blogs and low-life magazines she only hurts women.

As for who is most trustworthy to "inherit the nuclear codes", the questions asked about Governor Palin's family have no bearing on that. And, I remember that Obama, at two different times when he was asked about votes he made in the Illinois legislature that seemed out of character for him and the policies he promoted, said "I pushed the wrong button." I believe I would rather have a modern frontier woman as VP than a lazy, wrong-button-pushing establishment candidate as prez.

I've come around.





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