The Palin Trap
By Creature
It's comments like this that are part of the "Palin Trap" the McCain-Rove team were counting on:
Joe was being self-deprecating, but that doesn't change the fact that the comment was sexist. McCain and Rove are giggling to themselves this morning as they watch their handiwork unfold.
While I mocked the Palin pick on Friday and while I still believe John McCain has gambled with the nation's security for political gain, I do not underestimate the threat of the Sarah Palin. If 50 million people can vote for George W. Bush twice, then there is no telling what they will fall for this time around.
(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)
It's comments like this that are part of the "Palin Trap" the McCain-Rove team were counting on:
“There’s a gigantic difference between John McCain and Barack Obama and between me and I suspect my vice presidential opponent,” Biden said at an outdoor rally Sunday, getting ready to hit the GOP ticket for their economic policies.
“She’s good-looking,” he quipped.
Joe was being self-deprecating, but that doesn't change the fact that the comment was sexist. McCain and Rove are giggling to themselves this morning as they watch their handiwork unfold.
While I mocked the Palin pick on Friday and while I still believe John McCain has gambled with the nation's security for political gain, I do not underestimate the threat of the Sarah Palin. If 50 million people can vote for George W. Bush twice, then there is no telling what they will fall for this time around.
(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)
Labels: 2008 election, Joe Biden, John McCain, Karl Rove, sexism
posted by creature at
11:21 AM
3 Comments:
Very good point, Libby. And Biden needs to be careful. He was trying to be funny, but it comes across not just as sexist but as condescending -- or, at least, that's how the media and the GOP, often one and the same, will play it.
And I would add this: McCain picked someone who is difficult to criticize. It would be easy to go after, say, Romney or Giuliani, but any criticism of Palin will be spun by the media and the GOP as condescension and sexism. In a way, she's criticism-proof. If that was part of what McCain was going for, it was a fairly wise move. I think her utter lack of experience, along with questions concerning her judgement, tip the balance against her, but we all know how the media love their simplistic, GOP-friendly narratives. If she's portrayed as an outsider and reformer, as a "real" American with "all-American" values, the negatives may not register. Basically, we can't count on the media to tell the truth or to offer analysis of any serious kind.
And, again, the problem here is that anyone who criticizes her looks bad: sexist and condescending but also aggressive and unfair. Come to think of it, what McCain is counting on is both feminism and counter-feminism. The former, in that he wants to attract women (including disenchanted Hillary supportrs) by having a woman on the ticket and therefore looking openminded and friendly to women's issues. The latter, in that he wants to capitalize on the fact that women are still treated differently, that is, more lightly, especially by the media, so that any criticism of Palin will actually benefit them, of course, Palin is hardly a feminist herself.
So McCain's message is this: Look, I'm not like Obama, who screwed over Hillary. I picked a woman. Not an old white guy like Biden, but a young, attractive woman who has no ties to Washington. But don't criticize her, or else we'll charge you with sexism. (And to all you social conservatives and theocrats in the base, don't worry, she's one of you. A woman, but not a threatening one, not a feminist.)
It's called having your cake and eating it too. And Obama and Biden -- and, indeed, all of us -- will have to be careful how we respond.
By
Michael J.W. Stickings, at 3:11 PM
Micheal
Good points, yet there is ample (and in only about 48+hrs!) to hit and riff on her about ...
The Bridge To Nowhere
Dissing the VP Job
Not knowing what the VP does
Dissing Hillary as "whining"
Getting booed on Day 2, for exploiting Hillary's run/woman/glass ceiling
TrooperGate
Add in generic Alaska jokes, the NRA, Moose Stew (think Woody Allen's classic bit "I shot a moose once ..."), beauty pageants, ties to Big Oil ...
And, what's still waiting to be sifted out, The Immaculate Conception
McCain - The Gift That Keeps Giving!
Peace
JTD
By
13909 Antiques, at 3:27 PM
It's easy to conjecture about public reaction to criticism, but my local, far right newspaper is filled with disgusted comments and not all of them from Democrats. This is the first time I've seen that happen.
By
Capt. Fogg, at 5:09 PM
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