There's an article in Salon about Sarah Palin not giving in to the "victim status" many Republicans have ascribed to her, saying that attacks by the Democrats are unfair and sexist. While it's good that Palin isn't reducing herself to that over-simplistic vision of why Democrats have a problem with her, plenty of Republicans are going along with it.
It makes me LIVID. The Democrats en masse have been so respectful towards her. They haven't questioned whether her femininity might keep her from being a good VP, they instead attacked the fact that McCain would not have picked a MALE candidate with Palin's qualifications. They haven't attacked her daughter for being pregnant at 17, they instead attacked the fact that abstinence-only sex ed is incompatible with EVERYONE'S children, even self-professed Christian "hockey moms'". Instead of petty personal attacks, the Democrats have targeted hypocrisy in the Republican party. Only a simpleton would equate the two.
Of course you get the idiots who say she's "obviously" just an airhead due to her ex-beauty queen status, and you get the ones who say that "obviously" she's a bad mother for having a child with Down Syndrome/accepting the VP position given that fact/"allowing" her daughter to get pregnant. But these sentiments aren't anything the Democratic party is standing behind. These criticisms are coming from people who railed against Hillary in favor of Obama because of her vagina. They're misogynists towards EVERYONE, regardless of their political stance. And liberal bloggers, at least the feminists, have made it a POINT not to devolve into petty sexism against Palin just because her political affiliation differs from their own.
And can you imagine if Obama had a pregnant unwed 17-year-old daughter? The racial overtones would just be the cherry on the shit sundae in their discussion of how progressives raise immoral, irresponsible children.
I'm not saying what the Republicans are doing here isn't EFFECTIVE. It certainly is. Because sensationalism in this country has clout over rationality. How sad is that?
Stuff like this leaves me with no faith in humanity. I don't know if "escaping to Canada" would work. Idiocy is universal. Maybe I take politics too personally, but it makes me want to lock myself in a room and cry and cry and cry.
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