Sep
8

Gloria Steinem on Sarah Palin

filed under 2008 election, politics

Gloria Steinem recently published an article in the LA Times entitled ‘Palin: wrong woman, wrong message‘ In a piece that was published under ‘opinion,’ which I find to be a mistake since a lot of women are unanimously agreeing on the fact that Palin is indeed the wrong woman for potential vice presidency and she is definitely touting the wrong message across America. Why do I think this? Well, let’s leave it to Gloria Steinem herself to clear up the Sarah Palin myths people are buying into when they believe that Palin is a good candidate for women and set the record straight for the media who believe that women who support (and supported) Hillary Clinton for president would be so simple-minded and jump at the chance to get a woman (any woman!) into that white house and vote for McCain simply based on his vice presidential pick.

Great points in the article (that you should definitely read in its entirety):

  • This isn’t the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It’s about making life more fair for women everywhere.
  • To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, “Somebody stole my shoes, so I’ll amputate my legs.”
  • Palin has been honest about what she doesn’t know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, “I still can’t answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?” When asked about Iraq, she said, “I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq.”
  • She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she’s won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200 rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain’s campaign as a tax cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax.
  • McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.
  • She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women’s wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves “abstinence-only” programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers’ millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn’t spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.

I’m not going to quote the entire article, but these points were way too important to not note here. Read the entire article here.

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    I suppose that since Gloria Steinem said it it must be true ?
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    I didn't say that. Gloria Steinem is simply relaying her opinion of Sarah Palin, hence why it was written under the 'opinion' category. However, the points she brought up are true and have been cited on several different sources and because this article opened my mind even further on the issues and the reality that an unqualified woman is dangerously too close to reigning over me. I posted it because I think it's worth reading and if you don't think so then don't read it. If you were open to a different viewpoint and other people's opinions of something then you wouldn't be writing off the opinions of others. You're really wasting your time with the whole "No, you're wrong and this is why I'm right about everything" game you've been playing.
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    It’s not about whether I am right or wrong – it’s about facts and provoking people to think. I am not opposed to others views, I actually cherish and respect them. The points “she brought up are true” are questionable. Expressing my opinions on a subject, just as you do, is not an inference of who is right or wrong. I don’t play games, nor do I consider myself right about everything. Given my age, I have been wrong about many things and 10 years from now I will have found that there is even more I have been wrong about.

    “This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need.”


    “Unqualified woman”

    Governors that became president:

    Andrew Jackson
    William Harrison
    William Taft
    Thomas Jefferson
    James Monroe
    John Tyler
    Martin Van Buren
    Andrew Johnson
    Rutherford Hayes
    Grover Cleveland
    William McKinley
    Theodore Roosevelt
    Woodrow Wilson
    Calvin Coolidge
    Franklin Delano Roosevelt
    Ronald Reagan
    Jimmy Carter
    Bill Clinton
    George W. Bush

    I won’t bother to list Vice Presidents – because the issue appears to be related to whether Palin is qualified to assume the duties of president.

    “Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling.

    “She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality”
    I can not find any supporting evidence of this claim.

    “She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools”
    “Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both."

    “disbelieves global warming”
    Not at all – she, like others, question the human contribution or not to global warming. Given that there are significant numbers of scientists and climatologists that support both notions, it’s hard to hold this against anyone. It’s not a question of whether global warming exists; it’s a question of why and how that is in disagreement worldwide.

    “she opposes gun control”
    So?

    “supports government control of women's wombs’
    Is pro-life, yet has never enacted any legislation to force her belief on others.

    “she opposes stem cell research”
    She opposes the expansion of only one small segment of stem cell research - embryonic stem cell research.

    “approves "abstinence-only" programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions”
    "Explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support” – she supports comprehensive sex education which includes abstinence.

    “she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air”
    Wolves are a predator species, and if their population is allowed to expand too fast, they will wipe out Alaska's population of moose and caribou. The state needs to keep close track of the wolf population, which is why they are offering a bounty for each head.

    “didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation”
    http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Sarah_Palin_Edu...

    “she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act”
    He has reasons to oppose the act and he is not alone.
    http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s...
    http://money.cnn.com/2007/06/04/magazines/fortu...

    “supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska”
    Yes

    “she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve”
    As do many Alaskans
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    It is insulting that the Republican Party thinks they can substitute any old woman, so long as she is female, and we Hillary supporters will change our allegiance. It's about the ISSUES!!! And Palin is about as polar opposite as you can get on all of the issues that are important to women. Does McCain think we are that stupid? And how irresponsible can you be, Sen. McCain, in choosing a running mate with no experience? That's not being a maverick, that's being reckless with your country's future.
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    I'm not sure they're actually aiming for the miffed Hillary supporters, despite all the talk to the contrary. There are a lot of women out here who REALLY don't like Hillary Clinton (or her husband for that matter) who wouldn't have voted for her even if she was running on both republicrat tickets. They're proposing an alternative that's likely to appeal to a different kind of woman altogether because it doesn't make any sense at all that they honestly would expect Hillary supporters to jump on a Fundamentalist's bandwagon, female or not.

    She's the first female Fundamentalist Republican VP nominee, not a Hillary replacement. Liberal women interested in voting a female into office ought to look into Cynthia McKinney.
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    I for one was getting really tired of politics before Palin jumped on the scene. She, at least, is adding a little spice to this election.
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    Well, I have read a few articles (on this website) on Sarah Pallin, and I have confirmed by thoughts of her. Now before I go any further, I am a guy! Anyways, it kind of shocks me when I hear women who wish to vote for John McCain, simply because his running mate is a women. The one that outrages me the most is the pregnancy issue. The fact that a woman is not allowed to abort her OWN child, and has to listen to the government, well that is outrageous. USA prides itself on being a democratic nation, yet it is doing certain things stripping the rights of people. The most shocking thing though if that a teenage girl is raped by someone (who could be older or even related to her) she is unable to abort the child. A woman such as this has done nothing wrong, she is just a victim and has to live with the consequences of some pervert. This is why I also believe that McCain should not be president. And finally, vote Obama, for McCain and Pallin want a more, yet America cannot afford it. America is 13 trillion dollars in debt, wasting billions of dollars (and lives) on a war in Iraq. America DOES NOT belong in Iraq, Iraq never did anything to America, all the government wants is oil, and they are ruining the lives of the Iraqi's by invading THEIR country.

    Dinesh
 
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