Palin Agrees: Our Children are Off Limits!!!
July 27, 2009
by Amy Siskind
|This blog pieces is reposted in light of Sarah Palin’s speech yesterday.
Yesterday, Sarah Palin officially stepped down as Governor of Alaska. There has been a whole lot of conjecture in the media and across the blogosphere as to why Sarah chose this path.
To me, the most telling part of her speech yesterday was this one phrase:
Mrs. Palin also took aim at the media, saying her replacement, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, “has a very nice family, too, so leave his kids alone!“
Please read on – we want to encourage women to run and we want to keep our children off limits. Please join The New Agenda in this battle!
Would you give $18 to get women to 18%? I’ll explain at the end.
Now there has been a whole lot of speculating in the media about why Sarah Palin resigned as Governor. From pregnancy, to being a “kook” and “bizarre”, to a scurrilous (and non-existent as it turns out) FBI scandal.
But I saw things differently. When I watched Sarah Palin speak last Friday, here’s what I saw: a mother who had finally had enough of the attacks on her children. I looked into her eyes – mother to mother – and I could see her pain.
John Coale, who has helped Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin in their political careers told the Washington Post regarding Palin:
…she couldn’t ignore the hits on the kids. She said, ‘It brought out the mama grizzly in me.’ She acted like a mother grizzly bear when her cubs were being attacked.
And we all know that the Letterman comments on her teenage daughter were bad enough to cause a national outrage by hundreds of thousands of women and men in this country. But even worse are the attacks on Palin’s baby Trig (check out Judy’s collection here). The repeated use of the words “retard,” “retardation” to attack Palin’s son.
My dear friend Merrell is an interesting litmus test. She is a lifelong Democrat. Was originally a Clinton supporter, then switched with ease to Obama (“we have to stick with the party”) – and didn’t care for Palin in 2008. Yet Merrell, like myself, was saddened that Palin’s resignation and also instantly understood that the reason was the attacks on Palin’s family. Merrell’s comment on the HuffPo pieces: “Didn’t we stop using the word retard two decades ago? What’s wrong with these people?”
Exactly. What ever happened to common decency and manners? And when do we as a society finally say no more. When will we speak out collectively and say children are off limits. Well, to be more precise, children of female candidates are off limits – no one in the MSM would dare to attack a male politicians family.
Because here’s the problem, for every Sarah Palin that drops out because of attacks on her family, there are hundreds or thousands more that simply decide not to run. I wrote about this last month during the Letterman episode in a piece called The Other Side of Letterman: Why Women Don’t Run for Office :
I am troubled by the way the double standard with which our media treats female candidates. But I am OUTRAGED by the way our media views their children as open game. Can you imagine Letterman referring to President Obama’s or VP Biden’s daughters as prostitutes or in any sexual context? Can you imagine the national outrage?
I have spoken out about the double standard of how female politicians are treated repeatedly. To me, that is why we have a shockingly low representation of women in government (the US is ranked 84th in the world in women in politics in a recent IPU study). Skip to 8:10:
The New Agenda will continue to speak out about this double standard every chance that we get in the national media. This double standard is yet another untold story about the obstacles that women face in the media. If you can believe it, on this very blog, folks are commenting that no, they weren’t aware of any attacks on Palin’s children. HELLO???
Which bring me back to the beginning: Would you give $18 to get women to 18%? What does this mean? We need to get women beyond 17% in the Congress and Senate. Hat tip to Caren Turner who said forget $17 to get women above 17%, we need to start moving forward and having higher expectations!
To make lasting change, this is what we must do: We need The New Agenda to continue to grow and have a national organization that will speak out for ALL women! We need hundreds of thousands of members. We need to be a media go-to voice that can speak out bravely and boldly against the sexism and double standard that women face in politics.
Please donate $18 if you can today – or more if you can afford it. Sending out a press release costs money. Maintaining media lists costs money. Maintaining and updating our website money. Professional for accounting, lawyers, etc. cost money. We need your help. We are spreading our wings to become a national organization – and when we are there, let me tell you this: WE WON’T PUT UP WITH THIS SH*T!!!
A bit off topic, but did you read this from Justice Ginsburg on abortion? Yikes, this is appalling…I had no clue I supported choice because I wanted to eliminate certain parts of the population. What is this woman thinking? She just set choice back 100 years.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07.....&_r=1
JUSTICE GINSBURG: Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae — in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion. Which some people felt would risk coercing women into having abortions when they didn’t really want them. But when the court decided McRae, the case came out the other way. And then I realized that my perception of it had been altogether wrong.
Nor will they dare attack Malia Obama for her wearing an anti nuclear t shirt(twice) while on the current first family tour in Europe. There will be no cries of ” Fair Game”, so I think conservative female candidates” families get treated the worst
Bruce I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one. This is not an issue of political party. The MSM does it to women on the left too (Hillary for example). The MSM does not have after the children of Republican male politicians.
Amy, I am in complete agreement with you but I am skeptical of getting a national organization that would be able to address sexism, regardless of political party. The resignation of Sarah Palin revealed a deep rift even among Hillary supporters, like myself who I thought would naturally recognize the sexism that led to her decision. We as women need to come together to achieve a common goal, but can we? After reading various blog posts and comments this past week, I sadly have my doubts.
Which blog posts led to your doubts? I don’t recall anything negative in the blog posts. Comments, I can understand, but the women who made those comments have the same doubts you do. Please don’t let them bother you. We just have to keep pulling through this; a part of overcoming our doubts is in working together despite party affiliation. I am optimistic, and I am waiting for TNA to become more active.
imustprotest – it’s going to be a process. Be patient. We’ll get there. But we must keep speaking out again and again.
Karen,
How would you suggest we become more active? Always open to concrete suggestions.
Karen,
It was posts and comments, but I don’t want to single out blogs in a critical way, they do have a right to their opinion, and it is their blog after all. I just felt discouraged reading them and I am glad to come here and find such optimism! Please keep speaking out in the rational and eloquent way you have been doing. For my part, and for the sake of my young daughters’ future!, I’ve made a small donation. Thank you for all of your efforts!
Hi, I’m sorry this is off topic, but I cannot resist.
Is this what a feminist looks like?
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/.....52547.jpg/
Mea culpa: the picture might be doctored. Please, don’t post the comment. Sorry about posting it. After all that talk about Obama being the feminist, the picture hit a nerve.
And if this comment goes through, you can take it out so it doesn’t confuse people.
Thanks.
Amy- I disagree- no way anyone will touch the Malia t shirt issue. To me the obvious question is does this reflect the policies of her parents, but do we have the right to question Malia’s views, joke about them, ? Is she now “fair game”?We both know, no one will criticize it, joke about it etc.Not Letterman, Stewart Dowd etc. No one- that is why I feel conservative women and their children bear the brunt of the attacks.
I realize I am the male here and I have no right to tell you what to do, but I have been in the movt since 1971 so I have some perspective and that is that women have not yet unified to support women candidates- The always let a political agenda other than breaking the glass ceiling to take priority be it reproductive rights, “Change we can believe in” or what have you. The number one item on the agenda ought to be to elect women , hold your nose if you dont like some of her issues( ie Palin for example) but vote for anyway. This past week I ave see numerous posts on this site to the effect” I will never vote for her because…”( and) insert a reason. That is to me wrong thinking. You should vote for her despite those reasons and not use someone else’s agenda as a reason not to support her. You ladies are the majority- if you act in unity you are unstoppable- dont let issues other than the breaking of the ceiling take priority- once you get a majority in the house, senate, and a woman in the white house, then discuss the other issues but not until then
I know you’re a new group, and I don’t know what resources you have available and what you can do at the moment. Essentially, I would like to see more of what you have been doing but to a heightened extent – more actions alerts for instance.
I agree with Bruce, go for the political power – if a woman at any level has solid qualifications to hold an office, vote her in. Women seldom get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Power, so why the heck not? Common sense and plain old logic says women in Power could do no worse than the current, male dominated system going now. I don’t know how many times at small, local elections I have voted for someone running for some petty position simply because he was a Veteran because I knew nothing else about him. How could we go wrong voting on the basis of qualified gender??
You people still don’t get it. We don’t hate and ridicule Palin because she is a woman. We hate and ridicule Palin because she is white trash.
I am in total agreement with these tenets:
* if a woman at any level has solid qualifications to hold an office, vote her in whether or not the man running against has better qualifications – meeting the minimum standards of the job is the prerequisite
* if a woman at any level has as good as qualifications of the man she is running against (even if they are not solid qualifications), vote her in – the women candidate will at least bring diversity and a different perspective
* If a woman at any level does not have good qualifications to hold an office but the man she is running against does, vote for the man – vote in the best interest of the constituents
LVL the problem with #3 is it is far to subjective. Obama was an organizer,back bencher in a state legislature, and one year US senator when he began-not qualified in my book- but others disagree. A woman running was a former oil and gas commissioner,mayor and governor and some women determined er unqualified. One poster ere eve pointed to Obama’s harvard degree as proof of his qualifications while knocking the woman’s state university degree. All to subjective to me- I think this subjectivity will always fall against the woman and in favor of the man in the MSM- it is a slippery slope. Better to simply support the woman ad break the ceiling if you ask me- your way is doomed to failure-
Did the troll hate Bill Clinton who was also working class?
It’s sexism because:
Romney, Huckabee, Bush, Cheney, Gingrich, Kristol, Jindal, Steele are also pro-life Republicans but do not get the same vitriolic, hateful attacks.
Bill Clinton was working class but did not get this kind of hate.
Romney, Huckabee and McCain were bigger threats to Obama but didn’t get this kind of hatred and vitriol.
Many women are attractive and do not get this kind of hatred and vitriol.
The Clintons were also victims of sexism, frivolous lawsuits and left office in debt. It took two best-selling books for them to get out of debt.
Hillary and Sarah were victims of leftist sexism and were taken down.
RE: LP Obama picture. It isn’t doctored, but some people are saying that the video of the event puts it in a different context.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8049121
Thanks JP and Bella Donna…we have a post going up this story later today.
Of course we hated the Clintons for being white trash, because when I think of white trash I see two Yale Law grads with a single child. You know, as opposed to a family with barely any academic credentials, a bunch of kids, and a teenage mother.
And the reason we didn’t vote for Hillary in the primary wasn’t because of snide comments by Chris Matthews, but because we wanted to punish her for supporting the Iraq war.
Surlybastard, not voting for Hillary based on her political beliefs and record is perfectly valid. No one in this organization would argue with you on that. Did you stand up for her against the sexist attacks, or did you at least find them offensive and troubling for society? Does the end justify the means?
Your comments are a shining example of the tolerant, open-minded, compassionate, anti-hate, anti-stereotype mentality that supposedly liberalism is all about (I know, I considered myself one for most of my life). Hmmm.. isn’t our president the son of an unwed teenage mother? Oh, but it’s ok because he went to an Ivy league school (as did George Bush). Obviously the standards by which you choose to hate vary depending on the situation.
surly- hate and ridicule is never acceptable- attack someone’s issues but not the person- the lefts( a position you seem to agree with) sexist ridicule of Palin to me shows how tolerant they/you truly are of diverse ideas. An Ivy league education ought not be the demarcation of who is” trash”, no should the circumstances of a child’s birth. To me the phrases ” ghetto”, “white trash” do not advance the dialogue- except to show the elitism of the person using it. I am a Beverly Hills” brat” and a product of the state university system( UCLA) what does that make me? Elitism I know so very well, and your note smacks of it. Academic credentials, number of children, job title , those are your criteria.Elitism through and trough.
Obots have holes in their brains and can’t think critically for a second.
I was comparing Bill Clinton and Sarah Palin. Both have working class backgrounds but only one was subjected to a freakish level of hatred and vitriol.
Obots are also ahistorical and political neophytes. They do not remember what the Clintons were up against. They do not realize it’s hard to live up to all that progressive talk.
And 84 out of 85 of Hillary Clinton and Obama’s Iraq votes were identical.
When Clinton, Edwards and Obama spoke at. Yearly Kos 2007, it was obvious Edwards and Obama couldn’t live up to their promises. Clinton was more honest and realistic. That’s why I never liked Edwards.
[...] pointed out previously on blogs written for The New Agenda (Our Children are Off Limits!!! and Dear Neal Conan and NPR, Is This Really Normal? ) the attack on Palin’s son Trig have been [...]
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It is my contention that Sarah resigned, not only to protect her family, but also because the national democratic leadership ordered the dems in the Alaska state house to undermine and hamstring her work as governor as much as possible. Being an astute politician, I believe Sarah recognized that the dems in the Alaska State Senate and House were not going to let her continue to be a successful governor and she was not willing to let them define her by making her look like a failure, nor waste the taxpayer’s money and time, while she defended herself against the constant, bogus attacks against her ethics as governor. This smacks of Chicago-Way politics coming to Alaska! The best way to play is to first, not play by their rules, but make your own! Guys do it all the time.
Sarah definitely caught them off guard and left them speechless when she resigned, which was great political manuevering, IMO. These guys play rough and they especially play rough with any woman who has the right stuff to build the kind of base support that could eventually launch her into the White House. The power elite are deathly afraid of this woman because she has the kind of charisma and fearlessness necessary to take them on and go the whole 9 yards. Otherwise, they wouldn’t give her the time of day.
Sadly, Hillary was forced by the DNC power players to not rock the boat, or else. I’m certain Hillary has absolutely no choice but to give her full throated support to obama, if she wanted to stay in the game. I hope someday, her patience will pay off and obama will self-destruct and catapolt Hillary to the forefront.
However, in the meantime, I totally respect and admire Sarah for first, taking on her own party on corruption issues (when was the last time a dem did that?), resigning from the Energy commission because of systemic wrongdoing and now, leaving the governor’s office to chart her own course! That’s exactly what a leader looks like and if she were a man, I’d bet the farm the media would recognize such political courage with admiration and respect.
Of course, since Sarah is not from the Ivy League crowd nor is an elitist but “one a true servant of the people”, all of Washington underestimates her. But I don’t. I have great faith that Sarah will rise and prove these naysayers wrong and will be the kind of formidable political force the American people are gravely in need of at this particular time in history.
If we women are smart, we will stop saying we will only support her when it’s a matter of “sexism”, but really take a step back and take a good hard look at a woman who was, after all, willing to appoint an pro-choice judge to the Alaska Supreme Court, even though she is pro-life. Don’t fall for the media BS about Sarah being narrow minded in her governing style, because all of the evidence indicates that not to be so. She is much more than meets the eye and I have great hope that she will change how women rise in politics forever.
I believe Sarah deserves that from us.
Has anyone noted that all of Sarah’s closest advisors are women? I think that says a lot about her “feminist’ credentials.
They came for the Down Syndrome people, but I was not a Down Syndrome person . . . .
Governor Palin went to New York and Texas in April and commandeered the news cycle. She announced her resignation as Governor on the 4th July, and again commadeered the news cycle. Last weekend with her stepping down speech, she commandeered it again. It struck me that far from allowing herself to be at the mercy of events and media, Sarah Palin played the American and International media like a vituoso violinist. She is only starting.
Sent in my $18. Go get ‘em.
Thank you Babs for your support!
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