Remember when Senator Obama mentioned that the Republicans would try to scare us by saying he "looks different than the men on the dollar bills," how the Republicans immediately accused Obama of "playing the race card?" It took them all of four days after announcing Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee to play the gender card.
WSJ Opinion Piece: Ignore The Chauvinists. Palin Has Real Experience
So now, to question Palin's experience is chauvinist. To question McCain's policies disrespects a POW. Apparently we are not allowed to question anything with the Republican campaign. And they call Obama presumptuous?
Please keep in mind that, although this is a Wall Street Journal opinion article (a paper recently bought by the billionaire Australian-American FoxNews owner, Ruper Murdoch), the above link takes you to the official McCain for President Web site. No wonder, as Nancy Pfotenhauer is a senior policy adviser and national spokesperson for the McCain campaign. It's the circle of dishonest politics - publish "articles" from newspapers, without mentioning the "articles" are written by campaign staff.
This "article" spews today's Republican talking points one by one.
As the chief executive of the nation's largest state, Ms. Palin oversees some of the country's largest energy reserves. She came into office at a critical time in Alaska politics, facing a system plagued by corruption. Her response was to immediately begin cleaning it up. The results of her leadership today speak for themselves: Ms. Palin's approval ratings top 80% -- more than 60% higher than that of the Democratic Congress.
Nation's largest state? Does square footage matter? The population of Alaska is less than Charlotte, North Carolina, but the amount of acreage must make governing difficult!
Ms. Palin's experience in reforming Alaskan government shows she's ready to lead on the national stage. She stood up to members of her own party who abused their power, risking her political career by protesting ethics violations. Ms. Palin went on to pass ethics reform. She has put the people's interests ahead of her own -- like Mr. McCain.
Twenty months of "experience." Twenty months ago Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy for President, Dreamgirls won the Golden Globe, Windows Vista was announced, and babies were born that still wear diapers today. Her entire executive experience is the same as Senator Clinton's campaign. It is interesting, though, that Palin has 20 months more executive experience than.... John McCain.
Just last month, meanwhile, the Democrats running Congress went on vacation rather than vote to allow offshore drilling, which would reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
Random Republican talking point alert! I love this one, especially when McCain, who has not been to work as a Senator since April 6th, talks about the Democrats taking a vacation. "Get back to work," he yells, before continuing to NOT work himself.
All women should be proud of Mr. McCain's selection of Ms. Palin as his running mate, an historic moment that came the week of the 88th anniversary of women's earning the right to vote. Sarah Palin will break through the glass ceiling that, as she noted on her first day as the vice presidential nominee, has 18 million new cracks thanks to Hillary Clinton.
Historic? The Democrats had a female VP candidate 25 years ago! Anyone remember Geraldine Ferraro?
Glass ceiling? Isn't the glass ceiling Senator Clinton was cracking the Presidential glass ceiling? Isn't Palin running for Vice President, or are we already assuming McCain will die in office?
It's almost laughable watching the Republican machine try to justify the Palin nomination. But it's straight out offensive to be called a chauvinist when we question Palin's experience. It has everything to do with her having no national experience, no foreign policy experience, no idea what a VP does, and no clue what's happening in Iraq except what she saw on the news recently, and nothing at all to do with her being a woman. The sexism is on the side of those who believe women should not be questioned as directly as men.