Women Against Sarah Palin?

Posted September 11, 2008 9 Comments by AMY KING

I’m not fond of this awesome blog’s name, “Women Against Sarah Palin,” (wish it were “People Against McCain’s Camp,” though that wouldn’t draw as much attention), but I *am* down with the sentiment behind the naming: Just because McCain picked a female running-mate doesn’t instantly mean women will blindly vote for her.

Palin’s got some pretty anti-woman positions that could certainly strip us of rights our foremothers lost a lot of blood, sweat, and tears winning. To vote for Palin, or anyone of her stripe, is to shun that legacy — might as well reach back a hundred years and slap those women in their faces. I’d rather sustain their efforts and speak out against those who would denigrate them and strip us of them. I know plenty of men who would also rather not retreat to the cave; hence the hope that men will also speak stand against Palin and McCain.

My vote won’t go towards simply electing a woman without examining where she stands on specific issues (she’d support a federal ban on marriage equality, send women to back-alley abortions, teach U.S. children creationism which is of the caliber of Scientology, throw immigrants to the wolves that she also pays to have

Faye Palin, Mother-in-Law

gunned down by torturous aerial gunners, would drill the Alaskan wilderness to swiss cheese proportions, blames the environment–not people–for global warming, nixes stem cell research setting & eliminates U.S. science from the advances of the rest of the world, the list goes & goes–all in line with McCain), and from what I see, she’s not on the side of women’s rights. Just as one can discover a self-loathing ____, we can also find a woman who would betray her own rights for personal gain; in this case, Palin has risen in political office & is still trying to climb, no matter the cost and how many women she sells out in the process. That’s a serious position to assume. Even her own mother-in-law, Faye Palin, is publicly considering Obama! Cindy McCain’s half sister and her son are going to vote for Senator Obama!

“Palin’s value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women’s wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves “abstinence-only” programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers’ millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn’t spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but she supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.” —Gloria Steinem

“At least three of Palin’s friends from Alaska told “Good Morning America” in an exclusive interview today that they weren’t sure who they would vote for in the presidential election in November.” –ABC News

Here are a few quotes posted at the Palin blog, as well as some from the more than 60,000 they’ve received to date:

“The mullahs of the Islamic world and the mullahs of the Hindu world and the mullahs of the Christian world are all on the same side. And we are against them all.” – Arundhati Roy

“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” —Alice Walker

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I am a mother of three children, married and Catholic. Ms. Palin does not represent me as a woman living in the United States of America in 2008. She would not have in 1999 nor she would have represented my mother in 1970’s but perhaps she would have been a perfect reflection of white conservative women in the 1950’s and therefore a perfect representative for them those generations ago where there was an unpopular war and people calling for real change, she would have been perfect then. But we are not women of generations past, we are women of all shades of color living the embodiment of women who can call upon freedoms that no other country boasts.
The American people have become distracted. Palin, participating in this election as a trojan horse, has come with phrases that involve animals and lipsticks, bridges to nowhere, and eBay, leading americans in to an abyss of distractions pulling away from the very sobering facts that who she represents and the policies she supports are a complete replica of the current Bush administration, on paper, and without personality mud-slings, the Palin/MCCain ticket represent 4 more years of the same policies the world has come to hate.

-Mariestella, C., Georgia

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I am a woman of conscience, the mother of two children whom I adore, a elected member of my local School Board, a faithful churchgoer, an avid reader, and deeply rooted in my community. I have lived both in this country and abroad, and have a college education. I have been a foxhunter (on horseback), have many close friends with children with disabilities, and have recently become both a tae kwan do and a soccer mom. My daughter’s name is Sarah. You might think I have much in common with Sarah Palin.
I have nothing, politically, in common with Sarah Palin.
I care more about the future I leave my children and their children…..and I care more about my neighbor’s grandchildren’s world…than I do about my own purse, or how much I pay in taxes. I care so much about opening possibilities for people to truly take responsibility for their lives that I would never dream of tampering with their right to make choices about how they live their lives. I expect people to hold me fully accountable for all the choices I make in my life, and I don’t look to others to fix my problems for me.
As I said, I have hardly anything in common with Sarah Palin.
– Susan S., New York, NY

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I am shocked and scared that she is deemed qualified for this high office and that she seems to have fooled so many women. The thought of her in that position with her lack of experience, her delight in mocking another candidate when we need to heal this great divide, and her delight in all this attention. It is mind boggling that many qualified (and less photogenic) women were passed over. Now is NOT the time for political games.
– Sandy K., 69, Duluth, MN

As a woman and, most especially, as an American, Sarah Palin’s candidacy for the vice presidency offends me deeply. The Republican platform has proven themselves to be geniuses in their attempts to sell us the “story” of Sarah Palin, and I pray that most people see it for what it is–a story. Her view that climate change is not caused by humans ALONE should sufficiently scare people enough not to vote for the McCain/Palin ticket. It is 5 minutes to midnight for our planet–we need leaders who are going to take seriously the extreme peril our planet is in, and not just chant “Drill, Baby, Drill.”

The lack of integrity John McCain has shown in his choice, and in his pandering to people he used to refer to as “agents of intolerance” is mortifying.

– Emily P., Crestwood, MO

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I am completely offended by the idea that today’s woman would vote for Sarah Palin on the basis of her gender. I supported Hillary because she was the strongest and most qualified candidate for President, and would never equate her with Sarah Palin. Her positions on the key issues of the day are uninformed and ill-advised, and I will do whatever I can personally to make sure she does not become the VP of the United States. Her nomination is appallingly negligent on the part of the Republican party. Big surprise.
-Angela L., 45, Austin, TX

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I am a 53 year old woman living in Illinois. I oppose Palin as a V.P. because I believe she represents a move backward, not forward. America needs to shift our approach to meet the challenges. We face a strong China, a growing India and an energy crisis. We need to get out of Iraq. We need a health care system that works for all. We can not use a 1950’s mentality of shoot first ask questions later. We can not just keep talking about Vietnam- new world order is here- we’ve got to move forward not backward.
-R.M., 53, IL

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As a woman who has lived through the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s (not to mention the 80’s and 90’s), it warms my heart to see how many strong women have important roles in business and politics today. Sarah Palin is one of those women, but I hope that people look at her record as a politician rather than just her gender when it comes time to vote. This “Hockey Mom” stands politically for almost every type of legislation that hurt women. She talks a good feminine game, but to have her in or near the Oval Office would mean many steps backward for women and would take away much of what we’ve worked so hard to achieve. McCain said that he chose her because both of them are mavericks, but in fact, Sarah Palin is a throwback to the old conservative ways and is anything but a maverick. Just because she wears high heels doesn’t mean she should get the womens’ votes.
Diane H., 65, Boulder, CO

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–Many more write-ins over at the Women Against Sarah Palin blog.

UPDATE: The Facebook Group, “Sarah Palin Is NOT Hillary Clinton“ already has 20,300+ members and growing (with new groups popping up such as “Intelligent Women Against Sarah Palin”):

ThinkProgress has put together a document compiling what we know about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) vice presidential running mate. Here are the issues:

* Foreign Policy <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#fp>
* Earmarks <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#earmarks>
* Environment <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#environment>
* Energy <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#energy>
* Big Oil <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#bigoil>
* Science <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#science>
* Women’s Rights <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#women>
* Ethics <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#ethics>
* Troopergate <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#troopergate>
* Radical Right <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#right>
* Civil Rights <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#civilrights>
* Health Care <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#healthcare>
* Economy <http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/#economy>

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AMY KING View All →

Amy King is the recipient of the 2015 Winner of the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA) Award. Her latest collection, The Missing Museum, is a winner of the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize. She co-edited with Heidi Lynn Staples the anthology Big Energy Poets of the Anthropocene: When Ecopoets Think Climate Change. She also co-edits the anthology series, Bettering American Poetry, and is a professor of creative writing at SUNY Nassau Community College.