McCain's comments were paternalistic and condescending, both to Palin and to female citizens in general who are expected to somehow rally around Palin simply because she's female and a mom.
One of McCain's problems here is obvious. Palin has done absolutely nothing of substance that qualify her to become Vice President (or god forbid, President). She's barely qualified to be a governor. McCain can't talk about her record, because there is nothing there aside from a couple of glaringly bad judgment calls. Still, setting aside her lack of qualifications, there was still no justification for him to talk about her as if she were a child who'd just done something cute. "Aw, look at little Sarah. Isn't she just the cutest little maverick girl? She's married to a tough man!"
I think that when McCain wrapped up his descriptoin of her qualfications by stating that she is married to a 'tough guy,' he was revealing what he really thinks about women. Sure, they may be cute little mavericks, but what really matters is that they have a tough man around. That was bizarre and insulting.
I'll tell you what bothered me even more than this though. It was when McCain stated that he was categorically "proud of the people who come to my rallies. I am not going to stand for anybody saying that the people who come to our rallies are anything other than patriotic citizens" Yeah, he's categorically proud of the people who show up and yell "kill him" or "terrorist" about Obama. How horrifying and sad to see McCain sacrifice all of his principles --not to mention common sense and dignity -- in order to serve his ambition. If one of those lunatic fringe kooks ever actively attacks Obama, I will put the responsibility squared on McCain. He embraced the lunatic fringe and called them patriots. He should be profoundly ashamed of himself,and moderate Republicans everywhere should stop and reflect on the fact that McCain equates them with the crazy fringe.
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Date: 2008-10-16 07:09 pm (UTC)One of McCain's problems here is obvious. Palin has done absolutely nothing of substance that qualify her to become Vice President (or god forbid, President). She's barely qualified to be a governor. McCain can't talk about her record, because there is nothing there aside from a couple of glaringly bad judgment calls. Still, setting aside her lack of qualifications, there was still no justification for him to talk about her as if she were a child who'd just done something cute. "Aw, look at little Sarah. Isn't she just the cutest little maverick girl? She's married to a tough man!"
I think that when McCain wrapped up his descriptoin of her qualfications by stating that she is married to a 'tough guy,' he was revealing what he really thinks about women. Sure, they may be cute little mavericks, but what really matters is that they have a tough man around. That was bizarre and insulting.
I'll tell you what bothered me even more than this though. It was when McCain stated that he was categorically "proud of the people who come to my rallies. I am not going to stand for anybody saying that the people who come to our rallies are anything other than patriotic citizens" Yeah, he's categorically proud of the people who show up and yell "kill him" or "terrorist" about Obama. How horrifying and sad to see McCain sacrifice all of his principles --not to mention common sense and dignity -- in order to serve his ambition. If one of those lunatic fringe kooks ever actively attacks Obama, I will put the responsibility squared on McCain. He embraced the lunatic fringe and called them patriots. He should be profoundly ashamed of himself,and moderate Republicans everywhere should stop and reflect on the fact that McCain equates them with the crazy fringe.