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Labels: Politics, Women in Ministry
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At 8/30/2008 05:00:00 PM, 
LMcC
Actually, her name has been floating about as VP since before the first primary. She was first considered as a balance for Giuliani. Conservatives and libertarians have been paying attention to her for a few months, hoping she'd get picked but never thinking it would actually happen. (McCain having become a Southern Baptist in recent years definitely worked against picking her. I was almost certain it'd be Romney.)
What she lacks in length of experience, she has made up for in taking action and standing up even against leaders in her own party. She has courage and brains, and she's not a Washington insider. She does have more executive experience than anyone else on the tickets, she has experience in energy issues, and she's feminist without being an extremist who gives feminism a bad name.
She's definitely someone to watch, and I think she'll surprise us all pleasantly.
It was absolutely *fascinating* to listen to the double-standard that was spewed in my direction today about Sarah Palin and her VP nod.
Clearly, people who wouldn't otherwise vote for McCain had absolutely vehement opinions (as in "What the h*ll was McCain thinking?") about nominating a woman who is a (gasp!) mother with small children at home who might (double gasp!) have a chance at being president should McCain win and then have a heart attack.
I finally had to speak up and say, "But she's doing what we've all been told for YEARS by the liberal feminists that we NEED to do! She's leaving her children in daycare like we've been told we ought to do and going to work. Why is it unacceptable for her but not for us?"
The response was deafening silence.
At 8/31/2008 07:23:00 PM, LisaColónDeLay
I found it interesting that she defines herself as a "conservative feminist". I didn't know there was such a thing. : ) (officially) I saw a march 2008 interview...She said in Alaska (b/c it's RUGGED there, she hasn't run into gender issues when doing her exec. jobs in gov. but some agism, b/c she started in her 20s, and also some would ask (read: men) if she could do her job with young children, or how could she. The interviewer said, "Do you still get those questions?" And she said good naturally, "Believe it or not some Neanderthals still ask sometimes!"
She's likable, seriously. Maybe it was pandering -- I can see it could be. But I'm curious to see how she does in the debates. She's a scrappy tough cookie from humble roots. She doesn't take crap.
At 9/01/2008 07:34:00 AM, Don't I Know You?
"conservative feminist" is what many of us who grew up in the 60's and 70's began calling ourselves when we embraced the idea of women's equality in the world, then realized that "feminism" was just another agenda which felt that it could only make its point by becoming inflexible and extreme. That left little room for the reality that women live incredibly flexible lives that center on extremely realistic issues such as...staying home can be a good economic choice; there is an intangible but real value in forfeiting mommy-hood for career; that mothers who put their kids in daycare are not be definition bad; that one can be strongly pro-life and still vote pro-choice with a clean conscience' that "equality" and "gender" can be put together in the same sentence without devaluing anyone, etc.
ok, i speak as though i'm speaking for a movement. in reality, i'm speaking for the many men and women with whom i've spoken over the years.
The attempt to destroy Sarah Palin has begun -- only because her brand of feminism is unacceptable to those who report the news. :(
I am sad about this. I haven't decided if I will vote for the ticket she's on, but she represents much of who I am and what I believe. And I find myself feeling a bit like "sisters in arms" as I read about her.
I find the attempt to destroy her and her family (specifically her 17 y/o daughter) to be incredibly distasteful and unkind. If Palin had a different political bent (i.e., not conservative), those who are trying to destroy her wouldn't have a single bit of criticism of her or her daughter's out-of-wedlock pregnancy; she would be touted as "brave" and "courageous," instead of what's she's facing.
So much for "the end of the politics of personal destruction." :|
It makes me incredibly sad.
I was actually thrilled when I heard McCain had picked Palin because I'm a politics junkie who loves a good fight, but also because that means for the first time ever we're going to have someone in office who isn't a white male. My politics don't line up with most of Palin's, but I've been really dismayed about how the whole conversation has focused on her parenting ability--and what that says about the assumptions we still make in this country about the roles of mothers and fathers. We'd never have this discussion about a man, even one with a Down's Syndrome baby.
I think it's fair to say that this election is exposing a lot of bias in our country's pysche, although I don't always think it's fair to brush it off to liberal media values. It's always easier to see bias when it's not your own--and this country is composed of folks with vastly different values and ways of seeing the world.
At 9/07/2008 08:19:00 AM, Anne
Yes, politics just got more interesting, or more scary, depending on your view of Ms Palin. Perhaps the parenting issue comes up more because of the quantity of her offspring, and the rapid return to her job after giving birth to her last baby with Down Syndrome. Most of us can't imagine returning to work three days after giving birth, and I wonder if that schedule itself didn't influence some of the comments.
Personally I have been dismayed by the speech Palin gave at the RNC. I thought it mean-spirited, and full of lies or distortions. I've signed a petition at matthew25.org about it in fact. Yes, it was someone else who wrote her speech, but she's responsible for every word she agreed to utter.
If Sarah Palin became President one day, I may have to move to Canada. Yes, obviously I disagree with much of what she believes in.
At 9/08/2008 09:49:00 PM, LisaColónDeLay
If she goes back to work too soon after the baby, then she's a "bad mom" if she takes to long, then she "can't do her job AND have kids" ....
This is a common issue for working moms. I lost three big clients when I had my daughter, and two when I had my son two years prior. If you have to take time off, sometime people don't understand. But what can you do? That's business. Everybody has an opinion.
Yes, politics gets rather feisty, and she was. I didn't take the speech as "mean" considering how much she was hammered all week. She seemed surprising upbeat and good natured coming out from that cruel media (and generally Obama friendly) firestorm.
(Sad to say...but things will likely get quite ugly and negative both in both camps in this election very soon. That is how each side knows to win best.)
Anne, I hear Vancouver is gorgeous.
It was Palin's comment during the RNC.."I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities," that showed her lack of awareness about how a lot of social change happens in our country. She discounted the hard and real work of committed people who dedicate their lives to social justice, human rights, and basic equality, not for political gain, but for a better way of life for everyone. Her comment was not only offensive, it showed just how out of touch she is.
I disagree. Are you involved in politics? Some community organizers are great. Some work hard. Some work a little. Some have a some responsibilities. Some have little or none. Others just stir up trouble in neighborhoods. We had some here that tried to "help".
I've also been curious to know just what responsibilities Obama had. I've been to his website. I read about how he helped out of work steel workers. That was really nice to do, but I still don't understand how this helps make him good President material.
I am not in politics. I do commit a great deal of my time to pubic service; truth be told, I am in my third year of my formation to become a nun. Most of my work is what I consider "triage"...I help run programs to feed the homeless, I also help run a ministry to get prostituted women out of the cluthes of the sex industry. I do not get paid for the work I do, I do it because I see there is a need and I am called by God. The men and women I work with are ordinary people... This is where I think Palin and McCain lack awareness. I am not working with some alien people unrelated to the rest of humanity. These people are you and me, they are our sisters, mothers, fathers, uncles, friends... When we fail to recognize those struggling around us, we fail period.
Community organizing is about understanding the needs of everyday people, and you do that by sharing a meal, talking to neighbors, attending community meetings, getting informed, walking the talk. I find it difficult to believe that being a mayor of a town of 9000 people, who think and look like you, can prepare you to run a nation of diverse people. When Palin refuses to recognize the importance of public service, she fails to recognize that community organizing happens when government has failed to see the struggles of everyday people.
Community organizing is about taking initiative and uniting communities, so that they can address their problems and make the government respond to the needs of everyone. It's difficult work, but the reward of bringing people together outweighs that effort. If you have never been a part of such a process, then you cannot fully appreciate the value of Obama's experience.
Palin's speech at the RNC was divisive...something I am not looking for in a leader.
hey, since we're being anonymous here, working in the community, or community organizing, is necessary and important. However, it is not about "making the government respond to the needs of everyone" any more than a community of 9,000 is by definition a homogeneous group of people who march in lockstep with their leadership.
Pay attention, real attention, to the challenges and demands faced by every leader from local government and upward. Governing bodies have to make real decisions about real problems, and they have to do it with real money and real resources, both of which are real limited. That's why the contemporary focus on public-private partnerships is widely recognized as a real step forward: Because somewhere along the line, leaders, whether elected or self-appointed, in charge of millions of people and dollars or only thousands, are operating in a slice-of-pie environment where the balancing act between solutions which serve the greatest good don't bring unacceptable levels of harm. It is not as easy to accomplish as it is to criticize.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/july-dec08/palintalk_08-29.html