In a comment sent out by the Arizona Republican's aides, adviser Carly Fiorina said she was "appalled by the Obama campaign's attempts to belittle Governor Sarah Palin's experience. The facts are that Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has made in his life. Because of Hillary Clinton's historic run for the Presidency and the treatment she received, American women are more highly tuned than ever to recognize and decry sexism in all its forms. They will not tolerate sexist treatment of Governor Palin."This post writes itself. It really does.
UPDATE: In case you're wondering about Biden calling Palin "good-looking," here's the remark, in context. The guys are just flailing, now.
UPDATE #2: Here's video:
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
The thing about us Republicans is that we're way more cynical than you guys. This time, though, we may have been too cynical for our own good. Then again, polling on Palin isn't that disastrous - but I suspect that when you see, for example, 45% in the CNN poll say that she's qualified, those people are almost all diehard Republicans.
Any criticism of Polin not being qualified misses the point. McCain has spent the last two months talking about Obama's inexperience, only to turn around to pick a VP who is by most standards less experienced than Obama. No need to criticize Palin, just go right after McCain.
Maybe I'm wrong on this, but Palin has also made more executive decisions than McCain. And the last executive decision McCain made was picking Palin. What does that say about his executive abilities?
Shakesville makes the case better than Fiorina does.
I dunno. I wouldn't really call Biden's remarks chuavinist or misogynistic, but the attention to Palin's looks is clearly due to her gender, and there are absolutely ways that you can demean women by complimenting them on their looks. I'm not convinced that Biden is guilty of it so much as he is caught up in a general national obsession with Palin's appearance. But there is definitely some sexist rhetoric flying around right now, and if I were a Republican, I'd be yelling about it too.
That said, I find it really hard to get worked up about the Biden thing compared to everything else I've heard in the last few days. This morning the Metro carried an extremely stupid editorial criticizing Palin for being "overachieving." Seriously?
On Friday, I shouted at God for not allowing McCain to select Lieberman or Romney. I told him that it was high time I got to laugh and tell jokes. But apparently God gave me so much more than I could have imagined. Unless....is it at all possible Palin get dropped then Lieberman or Romney picked after all? I am certainly not worthy of such bounty.
Discussion of Palin is interesting but ultimately besides the point. Historically, voters vote based on the presidential nominee and the VP choice is something more important to pundits. I don't see any reason things will be different this time.
Sounds like Carly is bitter/jealous McCain passed her over for the VP nod. Heck, Even she's more qualified (& she caused HP to implode!)
Freddie, I think it is important this time when the #1 guy is 72 years old & has had melanoma 3 or 4 times. Just saying.... I'd be concerned Palin would become the freaking President of the United States! (And, yes, I know TNC doesn't like the word 'freaking')
I, as an American woman, appreciate McCain's aids' cues as to when I should recognize sexism.
I appreciate it almost as much as I appreciate them expecting me to applaud them for choosing someone with my genitalia for vp. Which is to say, I don't. Not at all.
oh for goodness sakes, Biden's reference to Palin's appearance and youth is a dig at his own appearance. He also makes reference to Obama's appearance and youth, again as a light hearted dig at his own age and appearance.
@Jonah: "[T]he attention to Palin's looks is clearly due to her gender . . ." I disagree. The attention to Palin's looks is due to the notability of Palin's looks. If McCain had picked Romney, Biden would be making jokes right now about how Romney has better hair than Fightin' Joe does. If McCain had selected a female VP nominee with unremarkable looks (say, Meg Whitman or Olympia Snowe), we wouldn't be talking about this.
I think the more interesting question is whether Palin's looks had anything to do with her selection.
Jonah, what are you doing reading the Metro? "Ahem, all I read is crap and the level of discourse is crappy." Well let me say, I'm surprised. I've been sticking to TMV, Ta-N, and TPM and the level of discourse has been pretty good. I wonder why our experiences have been different???
Wait, but doesn't that make Fiorina a whiner according to Palin? Or does that only apply to Hillary?
Not so rough, fellas!!!
ty, I disagree, but I suppose it's a matter of opinion.
janine, good point. All the good papers here are weeklies, so I developed a Metro habit out of boredom on the other days of the week. But, yeah.
> Carly Fiorina said she was "appalled by the
> Obama campaign's attempts to belittle Governor
> Sarah Palin's experience. The facts are that
> Sarah Palin has made more executive decisions
> as a Mayor and Governor than Barack Obama has
> made in his life. Because of Hillary Clinton's
> historic run for the Presidency
Good heavens. Seriously, there are Sunday’s talking points. Doesn’t the former CEO of HP have a blackberry, or something?
The proper response:
"Sexist? I'll tell you what's sexist ____ (Insert GOP Surrogate's name Here). That John McSame--McCain that is, expected to attract supporters of Senator Clinton with his reckless selection of Governor Palin BECAUSE she is a woman. A woman with positions like _____(insert some of Palin's Christianist and extreme positions). Position Senator Clinton has opposed for her entire career in public life!" (End on Outraged tone.)
Damn that Bitch Fiorina to hell!
Note: I have referred to that spokesperson as "that Bitch Fiorina" in all contexts for about 8 years, since her actions ruined a brilliant, beautiful, progressive, caring company in HP and turned it into a heartless husk.
First things first: lay off Olympia Snow! For a woman of a "certain age," she's getting it done.
Freddie, unless you're John Kennedy choosing Lyndon Johnson, a VP can't help you win but a choice that turns into a disaster and leads people to question both your sincerity and your seriousness might help you lose.
Think about this. When male governors have been nominated for President in the past and attacked for a lack of foreign policy experience, their campaigns haven't resorted to touting their command of the state National Guard or the proximity of their states to international borders as a proxy for readiness to be Commander in Chief. McCain has to do this because readiness to lead compared to Obama has been his entire argument. That argument has not not only been undercut but the desperate attempt to keep it alive by claiming that she has experience only makes it worse.
It's a bit like a criminal who, stopped by the cops and believing wrongly that he's been caught in the act, saying "I didn't do it" over and over.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/09/02/palin_scrubbing_car_wash.html
Personally, I would assume that a potential future president would be able to run a car-wash. You know, those high-pressure, complex, executive jobs... But perhaps I just have excessively high standards?
I wouldn't really call Biden's remarks chuavinist or misogynistic, but the attention to Palin's looks is clearly due to her gender.
Mitt Romney and John Edwards were mocked for their good looks. Game show host. "I'm so pretty...."
The Republican strategy is emerging as:
Reporter A: What about Palin's a) links to this secessionist group, b) stunning earmark success as mayor, c) bridge to nowhere lie?
Surrogate: Oh how dreadful that you should a) express such a sexist sentiment b) drag her pregnant daughter into this.
But apparently God gave me so much more than I could have imagined. Unless....is it at all possible Palin get dropped then Lieberman or Romney picked after all? I am certainly not worthy of such bounty.
If this happens I hope both you and the Focus on the Family folk who prayed for torrential downpours in Denver (did they also pray for the natural gas pipeline?) will seriously consider god's messages to you.
Then again, polling on Palin isn't that disastrous - but I suspect that when you see, for example, 45% in the CNN poll say that she's qualified, those people are almost all diehard Republicans.
And I would be willing to bet this is the high water mark for this question.
"I wouldn't really call Biden's remarks chuavinist or misogynistic, but the attention to Palin's looks is clearly due to her gender."
You do realize that Biden previously had commented that Obama was better looking in a similarly humorous manner.
And if that wasn't enough, Bush commented that Obama was better looking in a similarly humorous manner.
Too bad these men can't stop making what apparently are clearly homosexual advances...
You know, if they were smart they'd hold off on going after Biden for this one, considering that he's likely to make a bigger gaffe than saying she's better looking than him.
It doesnt matter to me what she has done. Obama has ran a successful campaign for 24 mos.and engaged in a grueling primary race and won the nomination with over 18M votes. He earned it.
She was simply appointed. Not the same to me.
Carly Fiorina needs to shut her yap. She's a bitter, frustrated woman who resents the fact that she wasn't chosen to be McCain's running mate.
Sarah Palin is simply not ready for primetime and she'll be joining the Not Ready for Primetime Players on SNL the day after she and McCain get trounced by Obama and Biden.
Say goodnight Sarah. You are about to become a footnote to history.
Me: Then again, polling on Palin isn't that disastrous - but I suspect that when you see, for example, 45% in the CNN poll say that she's qualified, those people are almost all diehard Republicans.
Tiparillo: And I would be willing to bet this is the high water mark for this question.
Me: Not sure. I suspect she'll have a surprisingly good speech tomorrow and that they'll do a great video package for her. Her press availability's definitely going to be highly restricted. Then it all comes down to the debate with Biden. The people at 538 say she's a surprisingly good debater. I think there's really more upside than downside here. How much worse can her press get?
Here's my proposal: I'll go for criticism of Palin's experience being sexist if Carly will agree that criticism of Obama's experience is racist.
I don't think they'll make the trade.
I love it. Gender issues must be a less-sensitive issue than race issues, because the gender card took about 4 days before it was played. You better be god-damn sure when you play the race card, but you can fuck around with the gender card all you want.
As a side note: what exactly was it when McCain called her his "soul mate"? Yes, that McCain - the adulterous one who left his wife to get with a younger beauty queen. Now, I'm not sayin'... I'm just sayin'.
Oh, and according to this logic, Biden is a not-so-much-closeted homosexual because of the compliments he gave towards Barack Obama. Does anyone really expect the Republicans to play that ang -- oh, wait, they're Republicans.
@Freddie, September 2, 2008 5:06 PM
That's probably because Presidential candidates usually don't make laughably stupid and short-sighted choices for their VP nominee. It's like fantasy football: you can't win the league on draft day but you sure as fuck can lose it then.
Well, I'm a woman and I believe she's an unqualified, relgious fanatic.
That's not based on sexism...just facts.
In other news, Joe Liebermann called 9/11 a natural disaster.
Yeah, guys, I think you can keep him.
Asher is right. Republicans ARE more cynical. In general, this allows them to be more dishonest while pretending to virtue.
This is also why they take their core philosophy from Louis the XV: "L'apres moi, le deluge." ("After me the flood.")
A real values crowd, if narcisism and solipsism can be called values.
RE: Jonah
"I dunno. I wouldn't really call Biden's remarks chuavinist or misogynistic, but the attention to Palin's looks is clearly due to her gender, and there are absolutely ways that you can demean women by complimenting them on their looks. I'm not convinced that Biden is guilty of it so much as he is caught up in a general national obsession with Palin's appearance. "
Maybe. Or maybe it's a legitimate humorous point considering that she was, in fact, a beauty queen, something that the Republican Party has promoted to some extent in introducing Palin to the nation at large. Joe's an old dude with hair plugs. He's essentially saying that he ain't no beauty queen. Look, I won't be at all surprised if Joe says something asinine about Palin at some point in the future, but this wasn't it.
Also, I'm too young to remember, but I would like to know what the immediate response to Geraldine Ferraro's selection as VP was. I realize that Mondale's campaign may have been flailing a bit harder at that point, but can someone enlighten me as to why the similarities aren't being brought up more? Because superficially, the Palin pick looks a lot like the Ferraro pick: while Palin was picked to appeal to women and religious conservatives, Ferraro was selected to appeal to women and blue collar whites. What's the difference, if there is any? And if there isn't, why isn't this meme being pushed?
The real reason for the intense criticism of Palin is not gender, or her qualifications (which are no less than Tim Kaine's, who was discussed seriously as a VP pick for Obama), but class. She is not from the upper middle class, the class that believes it has the right to rule because its members have spent a lifetime cultivating upper-middle experiences and behaviors. Palin is non-U, and doesn't appear to aspire to U-membership. The fact that her teenage daughter is carrying a child to term rather than getting an abortion is evidence of this. Her presence on the national stage offends the sensibilities of many in the media and the ruling class.
She will surprise her critics. Her appeal will be much deeper than they expect.
In an op-ed today in NH's Union Leader, Bob Novak also mentions that Palin is "good-looking." I'm sure Team McCain will be quick to point out the rampant sexism in the media.
RE: Andy
"The real reason for the intense criticism of Palin is not gender, or her qualifications (which are no less than Tim Kaine's, who was discussed seriously as a VP pick for Obama), but class. She is not from the upper middle class, the class that believes it has the right to rule because its members have spent a lifetime cultivating upper-middle experiences and behaviors. Palin is non-U, and doesn't appear to aspire to U-membership. The fact that her teenage daughter is carrying a child to term rather than getting an abortion is evidence of this. Her presence on the national stage offends the sensibilities of many in the media and the ruling class."
Wrong. She's a scandal laden governor of a very small state that essentially operates as a rentier economy. Prior to these 18 months as governor, she was the mayor of a town of 7,000 people. Kaine was mayor of Richmond, population 200,000, then lieutenant governor, then governor; he worked his way up through the ranks. Moreover, this line is really irrelevant, as Obama chose not to select Tim Kaine, quite possibly because he lacked the necessary experience for the job. Try again.
Andy, this isn't about her "appeal" as if she were a fictional character -- it's about her actual, executive record as a dishonest, vindictive, corrupt wingnut.