palin conundrum

from the ny times, about palin's announcement about her daughter's pregnancy:

"The announcement came after a swirl of rumors by liberal bloggers that the governor’s fifth child, who was born in April, was in fact her daughter’s."

really? have politics devolved such that anyone would start rumors that palin faked a pregnancy to cover the pregnancy of her teenage daughter? this is the stuff of national inquirer. and how sad for palin that her camp has to issue a public statement that her daughter is 5 months pregnant specifically to prove that her youngest child couldn't be her daughter's and therefore really is her own. wacko.

yes, i'm insulted that mccain made a vp pick that stinks of tokenism, of an attempt to get the votes of the female clinton supporters who don't want to switch to supporting obama.

but that's not the real issue. the real issue is why we're talking about palin.

1) it detracts our attention from the real issue of who mccain really is and how his actions are totally incongruous with who he's claiming to be. he's really a rich old futz that goes the way the wind blows but he's learned to play the 'maverick' on tv and we're letting him and some people are buying it. we're all talking about palin's flaws instead of focusing on mccain's flaws (which are ample) and obama's merits.

2) sexism is alive and we're seeing one of its most insidious faces: cattiness. what does her having so many kids have to do with her ability to do her job? she's been an effective governor and that is a question that would NEVER be put to a male candidate. what do palin's hair and glasses and clothes have to do with anything? the media and the citizens of this country are devolving into the same catty bullshit with palin that we did with clinton. (and are still doing...the media says, omg, is she going to sabatoge the convention? i say, omg, did the idiots in the media really think she might? the media have been watching too many hollywood flicks and nancy grace -- the people running the media and all the people who believe the media need a freaking reality check.)

change! hope! it starts with you! start to challenge the bullshit you've learned (explicitly and implicitly). challenge yourselves, for real. before you say anything about any female politician, businesswoman, celebrity, neighbor (i.e., any woman), please ask yourself: would i be thinking this if she were a man? would i feel this strongly about (insert topic here) if she were a man? would i say this petty stupid catty stuff about her if she were a man? can you think of any example when you applied that same judgement to a man? this is where the real equality of the sexes has to happen -- in our own brains.