Gloria Steinem on Palin.

[icarus]

Ah, Gloria Steinem. I don't always agree with you, but this time you are so very right.

Palin: Wrong Woman, Wrong Message

It's insulting. A woman with close to zero experience nominated for the vice presidency? The Republicans want a second first lady.

Palin's experiencing her political honeymoon right now. But wait till people find out about her book banning, her view that the Iraq war is a "task from God," and the $22 million debt she left in tiny Wasilla.

Comments

[bramble-rose.livejournal.com]

You know, I wouldn't mind Palin so much if she weren't just a tool to get the far right vote. McCain should have stood his ground, I lost a lot of respect for him as well. Like Ms. Steinem pointed out, those two have nothing in common. I can't think of any situation where he'd consult her or even give credence to her opinions.

Palin's fiscally incompetent.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I do mind her. Gloria Steinem didn't address Palin's limited, but truly awful history.

First, her petty, small-minded personal grudge matches.

She fired a librarian for not banning books that Palin wanted her to ban, then faced a public outcry and recall vote. She did the same thing again as governor and is embroiled in litigation as we speak for firing someone else.

Second, her ultra right-wing beliefs.

Iraq is a "task from God." She doubts that global warming is man-made. She believes creationism should be taught in schools. She's for abstinence only sex ed. I boggle at her extremist views, and I'm anti-abortion. (As the Dalai Lama put it, he "only supports non-violent forms of birth control.")

Third and worst, her fiscal incompetence.

She took a solvent city, ran on a campaign of infrastructure building, and left the city $22 million in debt. Then instead of building a sewage system, she built a sports complex, left the city millions in debt -- and the complex was built on land they didn't even own, so it cost the city millions more in litigation. She redecorated city hall--twice--and then borrowed huge amounts of money for roads that could have been paid for out of the budget if she weren't out of control with vanity projects.

She increased government expenditures 33%, and raised taxes 38%. 38%! That's a huge increase. And she still left them deeply in debt.

So she's untrustworthy, ultra right wing, and financially incompetent -- on top of having barely any experience to speak of. She is the worst part of the McCain ticket.

[zzanthalinn.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much for all these links to commentary on Palin. They've been very helpful, and I've forewarded them to my family (all sisters).

Palin scares the bejeezus out of me.

I keep thinking "Palin [accidential] Presidency = "The Handmaid's Tale"" for some reason.

She *is* an insulting choice. And while not a McCain supporter, I had thought better of him.

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Half the people on my friends-list are calling her Serena Joy--which, in view of The Handmaid's Tale, is absolutely perfect.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Excellent article -- thanks for the link.

Angie

[reedfem.livejournal.com]

The possibility that this woman could end up as the VP scares the shit out of me. What scares me more is how many of the women (and men) I've spoken to around here think that Palin is fabulous and refuse to even listen to anyone who disagrees.

Freakishly scary.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I find that very strange and worrisome, too. On the other hand, people know absolutely nothing about her so I'm hoping it's just her political honeymoon period.

[reedfem.livejournal.com]

It started after her convention speech. I get the feeling that many of them think she actually wrote that, or even made it up at the podium. *sigh*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Mmm. I don't know. Her numbers were actually fairly high before the speech, too. The more conservative (I don't mean Republican, I mean conservative) people on my f-list empathized with her when she got blasted for her teenage daughter's pregnancy.

She's inexperienced enough that she can prove to be a very big liability. The Republicans are gambling here. They're hoping her lack of a track record and the political honeymoon will last two months until the election.

I think her popularity will wane.