Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Putting the "ex" in sexism

First off, before we get to our real story, we just feel the need to remind folks about something.

Seriously, stop blindly following your GPS devices. There's a road for a reason, people. Got that? Good. Moving on.

Remember not too long ago when the McCain campaign was trying to call out the media for the way they were investigating and questioning Sarah Palin? Remember specifically that they were accusing the media of being sexist in their portrayal of her as some backwoods bumpkin that thinks that, just because she can see Russia, she's traveled there? Well, in an interview with Katie Couric, we got to see just how much Palin agrees with that statement.

Apparently, not one bit.

In fact, the GOP VP candidate went so far as to say that it would be sexist for the media NOT to question her. In many ways, this is true. By simply giving her a free pass because her plumbing is internal, it would be disrespectful and sexist, much in the same way it would be racist for the media to not criticize or probe Barack Obama for being born darker of skin, or ageist for them to automatically assume that McCain can't often remember where he put his car keys (although, in his defense, he does have a lot of couches to look under).

By the same token, we have to wonder about which talking points Palin is using. After all, disagreeing with her own campaign in such a blatant way seems to show a division in the ranks. At the very least, it exhibits that McCain and his staff are out of touch with their chosen running mate and her views. True, she's still woefully underprepared, but at least she isn't (currently) jumping up and down on the sexism bandwagon, trying to hide behind an incorrectly used phrase.

Besides, from what we know about Sarah Palin, she won't hide behind incorrectly used phrases. She'll embrace and champion them, even if it makes her look like she's less qualified than a potted begonia.

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