Looking Back on Palin

I was rummaging through some old blogs looking for a quote when it occurred to me how quickly we forget the past. Stuff seems terribly important at the time, then a month goes by and it's like it never happened. Think Enron, Myanmar, the Washington sniper, or Hillary vs. Obama. All of that angst and angry rhetoric: poof. Gone from the conversation.

Anyway, I stumbled upon some blogs I wrote about Sarah Palin. In all of the blogs I wrote in defense of her, I never said she would be a good vice-president. In 2008, that always made my friends stop in their tracks. They would say she'd be a horrible VP, and I would say, "When have I ever said she would be a good one?" They'd pause and say, "But you defend her all the time." And I would reply, "Sure. As a woman in politics receiving unbelievably harsh treatment for being a woman, I am on her side completely."

They would shake their heads to clear the cobwebs, ignore my point, and get back to telling me about a woman's right to choose or some such.

Sad fact is, most of the friends and occasional enemies that argued with me about Palin were women. Palin really struck a nerve with the ladies on both sides of the border. So-called feminists treated her extremely badly during last year's election. That's the main reason I came out of 2008 believing I am a bigger feminist than any of my female friends. In fact, I think I'm the only true feminist among them.

In any event, I stumbled upon this blog from September 13th of last year. In it I saw a quote from Cintra Wilson at Salon, from an article she wrote on September 10, 2008.

I read it over and was disgusted by the vitriol coming from her keyboard. Back in September it simply struck me as hypocritical and lame. Now I see it for what it was: utter fear, hatred, and bigotry, by a woman towards a woman.

Did feminists really write stuff like this last year? Yes they did. Quite a lot of it, too. Like most "commentary" on Palin, Wilson's piece didn't raise any eyebrows. She wasn't dragged onto The View to explain herself, David Letterman didn't use her as a punching bag, there was no outrage and no calls for apology. It was what it was: perfectly acceptable. Looking at it now, the date suddenly seems interesting. Wilson wrote it on September 10. The anger and fear of 9/11 were long gone from her mind. So was the goodwill and solidarity of 9/12.

Here's the bit:

I confess, it was pretty riveting when John McCain trotted out Sarah Palin for the first time. Like many people, I thought, "Damn, a hyperconservative, fuckable, Type A, antiabortion, Christian Stepford wife in a 'sexy librarian' costume -- as a vice president? That's a brilliant stroke of horrifyingly cynical pandering to the Christian right. Karl Rove must be behind it."

Palin may have been a boost of political Viagra for the limp, bloodless GOP (and according to an ABC/Washington Post poll she has created a boost in McCain's standing among white women to a 53 over Obama's 41). But ideologically, she is their hardcore pornographic centerfold spread, revealing the ugliest underside of Republican ambitions -- their insanely zealous and cynical drive to win power by any means necessary, even at the cost of actual leadership.

Sarah Palin is a bit comical, like one of those cutthroat Texas cheerleader stage moms. What her Down syndrome baby and pregnant teenage daughter unequivocally prove, however, is that her most beloved child is the antiabortion platform that ensures her own political ambitions with the conservative right. The throat she's so hot to cut is that of all American women.

Of course, they'll never be done with Palin for being a woman. I was looking for a photo to put up with this blog and found this piece from the LA Times, dated 7 hours ago:

Newly released academic research suggests that Sarah Palin's sexiness, while great for selling copies of Vogue magazine and political buttons about the hottest governor from the coldest state last fall, may actually have hurt her vote-getting ability, which seems to be what elections are about.

AOL News also covers the story, with the headline Sarah Palin Too Pretty to Attract Voters. The First Post has it as Sexy Sarah Palin needs get ugly to win in 2012.

Researching a woman's sexiness in order to decide her political viabilty. Tell me, my dear feminist friends, what you think of that?

In other news, the Chicago Sun-Times reports, "First Lady Michelle Obama's bare arms fashion continues to fascinate and make us all realize we need to do more on upper body strength."