Palin is on the ticket with John McCain. Last night was historic.
Some feminists miss that point.
They miss is because they see their mission statement as: Prostitute for the Democratic Party.
It's why the country's longest running movement has accomplished so damn little at the top.
Sarah Palin gave an incredible speech last night.
She walked out on stage with most of America not knowing her. She walked out on that stage after a year of some of the most vile sexism the country's seen. She held her head high and, had she merely given a so-so speech, some might have called it a win.
Sarah gave an amazing speech.
She had the audience cheering, she had them laughing.
Pay attention alleged feminist 'leaders,' she commanded the stage. COMMANDED the convention.
She walked out there and demonstrated that a woman can do it.
There are some very embarrassing things being said and written by feminists today.
Those women need to hold their tongues long enough to self-reflect on what they've done to publicly applaud Cynthia McKinney's historic run this year as the Green Party presidential nominee?
The answer is they haven't done s**t.
See, all this garbage about Sarah's politics is revealed as garbage.
Sarah's not pro-choice. Sarah's not a lot of things. But it's not about that. It's about the feminist 'establishment' prostituting themselves for the Democratic Party males yet again.
Many years ago, one of today's tongue waggers promised Sondra Locke that she was going to personally speak to Steve Ross and she was going to take care of this and that and . . . She never took care of s**t. But it was time to shore up Clint Eastwood's 'feminist' credentials shortly after, wasn't it? And didn't the bad shoot-em-up In The Line of Fire get (wrongly) praised as a feminist statement?
That moment says a great deal about feminist 'leaders.' Clint or Sondra? They chose Clint.
Applaud Sarah today for the wonderful job she did or hiss in the most stereotypical tones? Hiss. Because the feminist movement this year has demonstrated little interest in women. It has a lot of interest in helping out men in the Democratic Party.
Women in this country are not idiots. We're certainly not the idiots our 'leaders' think we are.
We can take pride in Sarah's moment and that doesn't mean that those of us who wouldn't normally vote the GOP ticket are suddenly going to.
Sarah's nomination is a feminist moment. Sarah claims feminist status (Feminists for Life) which we'll let someone else judge and someone else bicker over whether or not she qualifies as a feminist. But it was a feminist moment and it was a very important feminist movement.
Women shared power in the Republican party up through the seventies (at least on par with women in the Democratic Party, though some would argue that women held more power in the GOP than in the DNC). Then came the assaults on women's rights. Republican feminists would repeatedly tell non-Republican feminists throughout the 80s and well into the 90s that they think about leaving their party but they're fighting to reclaim it.
Sarah presents that opportunity.
It may or may not happen.
But women just took a step back up the ladder in the Republican Party.
When the possibilities for women rise in the most conservative element of the country, the possibilities for women across the country rise.
That's not an argument to vote for her, that's not an argument to vote against her.
That's acknowledging that without the centuries old feminist movement, last night wouldn't have happened and that's acknowledging that, after last night, a huge shift took place that will register for many years to come.
Sarah Palin walked across the Xcel Energy Center stage last night and into history.
If you didn't grasp it, Rudy G had to argue a feminist point last night.
"How dare they question whether Palin will have enough time to spend with her children while vice president?" asked Rudy. "When do they ever ask a man that question?"
That's a feminist movement success. Did Giuliani mean it? Who the hell cares?
Did you hear the roar when he said it?
Help us out, because the actions of some 'leaders' today are confusing us: Olympia Snowe, friend or foe?
We kind of thought the women's liberation movement had decided Snowe was a friend or a 'friendly.' Palin's nomination doesn't help Snowe? Doesn't help other Republican women like Snowe?
We're not voting for McCain and intend that to be the last time we have to include that statement. We've said it over, we've made it clear.
Guess what, doesn't mean we can't applaud the historical moment. Doesn't mean we can't enjoy portions -- many in fact -- of Sarah's speech.
A leader feels the need to bring shoes into the matter today and we have to ask why the hell that happened? We can think of many serious issues to discuss and many ways to address Sarah Palin. But if 'shoes' is how we reach 'leaders,' take a breath, hon, and take a seat. See, women can admire another woman's shoes. We can applaud them. We can say they look great. We can speak of the slimming nature and other healing powers. Doesn't mean we're going to rush off and buy a pair, doesn't mean we'd ever want to wear one.
See, we decide what we put on our feet. We decide what feels comfortable. But just because we'll never wear a certain pair of heels, just because we would never feel comfortable in them, doesn't mean we can't enjoy them on someone else.
We're pro-choice. We're always going to be pro-choice. With our votes, we don't support those who attack abortion rights. (Among the reasons we won't vote for the sexist Barack Obama.) But we can applaud Sarah for a wonderful speech, for owning that convention last night and for all the messages she sent about what women can do both last night and throughout history.
It's a damn shame feminist 'leaders' can't do the same.
But it's a damn shame feminist 'leaders' think American women are stupid -- not just stupid, mind you, but damn stupid. That's why this garbage is showing up today in newspaper column after newspaper column.
'Leaders,' why don't you f**king get honest.
CounterSpin and FAIR practiced non-stop sexism. So did The Nation. Want to get honest about how many of you NOT only refused to call them out but also gave cover for them?
Bill Moyers wouldn't have been able to avoid honoring gender (or booking so damn few women) without a lot of feminist 'leaders' declaring him a 'friend' and off-limits.
In fact, there's this whole social networking going on at the top that has NOT ONE DAMN THING to do with feminism.
'Leaders,' you're out of touch with the grassroots feminists. Want to be a Democratic Party prostitute? Go for it. Just don't expect to be listened to. The grassroots have had it with a number of you. They have had it with the repeated selling out of feminism by our 'leadership' and they have had it with 'leaders' showing up after the latest sell-out to put a cherry on top and insist, "Eat up, girls."
Repeating, had any of you brave 'leaders' bothered to cover Cynthia McKinney (no, Feminist Wire Daily, running ONE brief is not covering) then you might not seem like old, tired, peddlers for the Democratic Party. But that's how you look today. So Sarah's not worth your applause and Cynthia (and Rosa Clemente) and . . . Golly. The only one worthy of your praise is a bi-racial man.
It's really funny that the feminist movement argued women should be able to make their own decisions but so many feminist and women's geared outlets refuse to trust women enough to make those decisions. Apparently covering Cynthia McKinney for instance (a woman whose historic run deserves coverage) is nixed because women might vote for her? Is that how it's working out?
So 'leaders' have decided their job is to play gatekeeper on basic information? 'Leaders' have decided that women must be sheltered from information? Wow. What will the 'leaders' offer next? A revival of the sleep cure?
We laughed frequently during Sarah Palin's speech. (All in places she intended to garner laughs.) We thought she did an amazing job. And yet we weren't at all surprised by the sexism that immediately followed as male gas bags weighed in. We were saddened to open newspapers this morning and see women joining in. You'd think they'd find the time to call out the rank sexism on TV last night but that would require them being useful to women and too many 'leaders' are serving the Democratic Party and not the feminist movement.
Now we know the argument. "If the Dems lose imagine what will happen!!!" Guess what, gals, women will rise up or they won't. And that's how it has to be. You're attempted to run the movement on training wheels for the last few years. Kick off the training wheels. Start trusting the grassroots. They don't need to be protected. They need to see leaders willing to fight.
The feminist movement is not the Democratic Party. It's past time leaders grasped that. It might lower their own profiles to a degree if they admitted it, but it's past time they got honest or else left the feminist movement.
Women are strong. Women are smart. We can make up our minds. We can applaud Sarah Palin loudly. Some applauding will vote for her, some won't. But it's dishonest to act as if Palin didn't change the structure last night.
We covered the DNC convention Sunday at Third. We cover the RNC this Sunday. Staying with presidential politics, Joan notes this from Team Nader:
Citizen Kate Meets Public Citizen Number One
I arrived in St. Paul, Minnesota this afternoon, home of the Republican National Convention. I am in town to shoot video of tomorrow's Open the Debates rally.
In the midst of riot gear-clad police officers and flag-waving grim reapers mourning the demise of our democracy, I came across a ray of sunshine.
While visiting the offices of The Uptake, I met a woman named Citizen Kate, also known as Kate Soglin of Chicago, Illinois. When she learned that I work with Ralph Nader, Citizen Kate mentioned to me she had recently interviewed Ralph at the Democratic National Convention.
Here is her tongue-in-cheek interview. Thanks for brightening up my trip, Citizen Kate!
Nader Super Rally today:
Ralph Nader Heads to Minneapolis Super Rally
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 at 12:00:00 AM
Media Advisory
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rob Socket 267-974-6097 or Toby Heaps 202-441-6795
FRESH FROM 4,000-PERSON DNC SUPER RALLY, RALPH NADER, MATT GONZALEZ, JESSE VENTURA AND OTHERS RALLY TO OPEN UP THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES
What: Nader Super Rally
Where: Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis
When: Thursday, Sept 4th 6.30pm start
Call Toby Heaps (202-441-6795) or Rob Socket (267-974-6097) for bookings
Fresh from a 4000-person super rally in Denver, the Nader/Gonzalez Campaign team has hit the ground in Minneapolis and will be out in full force over the weekend to focus attention on the need for opening up the Presidential Debates for third party and independent candidates, working towards the crescendo: a star-studded open the debates super-rally on Thursday.
Ralph Nader, Matt Gonzalez, Jesse Ventura, Cindy Sheehan, Rosa Clemente, 98 Degrees band members Justin Jeffre and Jeff Timmons, singer-songwriters Nellie McKay, David Rovics, Tom Neilson and other surprise guests soon to be announced will all appear at the Nader/Gonzalez "Open the Debates" Super Rally September 4 at 7.30 p.m. at the Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
The Nader/Gonzalez independent presidential candidacy will be on the ballot in 45 states, is polling at 5-6 per cent nationally, and a new Time/CNN poll shows Ralph Nader polling 8 percent in New Mexico, 7 percent in Colorado, 7 percent in Pennsylvania, and 6 percent in Nevada -- all key battleground states. Results of a recent MPR News/U of M Humphrey Institute poll found 77 percent of the state's likely voters say they would consider voting for an independent or third-party candidate
For those who can't stream or streaming doesn't help, here is the prepared text to Palin's speech last night:
Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States...
I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.
I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.
And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.
It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.
With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.
But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.
They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.
And maybe that's because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership ... a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.
Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.
He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.
And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. I'm just one of many moms who'll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way.
Our son Track is 19.
And one week from tomorrow - September 11th - he'll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.
My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.
My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. Track is the eldest of our five children.
In our family, it's two boys and three girls in between - my strong and kind-hearted daughters Bristol, Willow, and Piper.
And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the inside, no family ever seems typical.
That's how it is with us.
Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys.
Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.
And children with special needs inspire a special love.
To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.
I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Todd is a story all by himself.
He's a lifelong commercial fisherman ... a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope ... a proud member of the United Steel Workers' Union ... and world champion snow machine racer.
Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package.
We met in high school, and two decades and five children later he's still my guy. My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town.
And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.
My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath. Long ago, a young farmer and habber-dasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency.
A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.
I grew up with those people.
They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.
They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.
I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better.
When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.
Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.
And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.
I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.
We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.
As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment.<>
And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.
But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.
Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests.
The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.
No one expects us to agree on everything.
But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart.
I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau ... when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol' boys network.
Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That's why true reform is so hard to achieve.
But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up.
And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.
I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.
While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for.
That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.
I also drive myself to work.
And I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef - although I've got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending - by request if possible and by veto if necessary.
Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest - and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.
Our state budget is under control.
We have a surplus.
And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.
I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.
I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere.
If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska.
And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources.
As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.
I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.
And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.
That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
The stakes for our nation could not be higher.
When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.
With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.
To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies ... or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia ... or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries ... we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.
And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.
Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already.
But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.
Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more new-clear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.
We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers. I've noticed a pattern with our opponent.
Maybe you have, too.
We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.
And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.
But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.
This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.
Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit.
Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions.
Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights? Government is too big ... he wants to grow it.
Congress spends too much ... he promises more.
Taxes are too high ... he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.
The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business - like millions of others who run small businesses.
How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio ... or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia ... or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.
How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy? Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election.
In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.
And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.
They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.
Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things.
And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They're the ones who are good for more than talk ... the ones we have always been able to count on to serve and defend America. Senator McCain's record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency - from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.
Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd.
He's a man who's there to serve his country, and not just his party.
A leader who's not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.
He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.
And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.
There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you ... in places where winning means survival and defeat means death ... and that man is John McCain. In our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world in which this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered for their country.
It's a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.
But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made.
It's the journey of an upright and honorable man - the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this country, only he was among those who came home.
To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless ... the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God ... the special confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome. A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day.
As the story is told, "When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's door and flash a grin and thumbs up" - as if to say, "We're going to pull through this." My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.
For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words.
For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.
If character is the measure in this election ... and hope the theme ... and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.
Thank you all, and may God bless America.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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