Usually, the point of Target: Women is to highlight how inane and absurd advertising targeted to women is — pointing out where ads insult women’s intelligence and where they try to create an artificial demand for stuff we don’t really want or need. The problem is in the case of chocolate, I actually DO want to eat chocolate. So this was a funny video, but at the same time, I was watching the microwave brownie commercial and thinking “ooooo, I want that!”
I haven’t talked about it much in years, but when I was in college I was raped and became pregnant, and within a short period of time miscarried. The idea that I would be forced to carry a baby to term against my will by the McCain/Palin government makes me more than a little angry. And the truth is that although I choose not to deal with this issue as though it’s something that is behind me and I’ve moved on from — that’s a real mistake in my outlook. It’s not as though I or any woman I know is suddenly safe from being raped because I dealt with the past event emotionally and overcame. This is still an issue for me and should be for every woman.
Let me refresh your memory with a clip from last night on where John McCain stands on the issue of choice and women’s health:
Zuzu has an interesting post at Shakesville about how the choice of Palin may be an attempt to use the unchecked sexism within the Democratic Party against it:
Right on cue, the sexist attacks against Palin began on the left– which the McCain people were undoubtedly counting on.
Let’s look at how McCain’s selection of Palin fits in to the Rovian playbook. Already, feminists on the left are asking whether McCain thinks that women vote with their vaginas — but that only allows the GOP to turn that back on the Dems and ask why feminists think that Palin was chosen only because she’s a woman. Same with all the “what kind of mother” talk — aren’t Democrats the ones who are supposed to be all for working mothers?
Then there’s all the “Governor Barbie,” bimbo, golddigger, VPILF, CUNTRY, etc. crap. Oh, the Republicans will undoubtedly say, look how much the Democrats value women. All that unity business was a steaming pile of bullshit; they don’t value you when the chips are down.
And what the Republicans will do that the Democrats will not is call out the misogyny against their candidate. I’ve said it before — the Republicans would never, in a million years, stand by and let the media and the party rank-and-file treat one of their female candidates the way that Clinton got treated during the primary.
Thus, they turn a Democratic strength into a weakness. Or, rather, expose it as a weakness.Now, as to why I don’t think that McCain actually thinks that disaffected Democratic women will flock to him just because he picked a wingnut gun-nut creationist woman with some ethical problems as a running mate: because he doesn’t have to get them to vote for him. He has to get them to stay home in swing states.
And what better way to get them to stay home than pick a running mate who not only helps him with his own base, but whose very physical presence he knows will bring out the misogynist bully boys who made Hillary’s life (and those of her supporters) such hell? The ones who never tire of making it perfectly clear that women who want attention paid to their issues in this election are not welcome in the Democratic Party?
Making it all the more perfect is the fact that Obama is boxed in — if he fails to rein in the football hooligans who comprise his rabid fan base, he will be (rightly) accused of supporting the misogynistic attacks against Palin, but if he publicly reins them in, he will be (rightly) accused of failing to do the same when those attacks were directed against Clinton, which will allow the Republicans to question the legitimacy of the process that put him over the top on the delegate count.
That genie isn’t going back into the bottle, not now.
And all those football hooligan fanboys who’ve turned their unleashed ids onto Palin now that Hillary’s out of the race and in the fold? They’re doing Karl Rove’s work for him. And so are the astroturfers and concern trolls.
I supposed Rove is enough of a snake to think that strategy all the way through — and to see the sexism of the Left/Democrats for what it really is; a dangerous, handy tool to be used against them. Whether he picked the right woman to place in the VP slot is another story, but the idea is plausible.
For progressives and Democrats, there’s lots to dislike about the GOP VP choice Sarah Palin.
As Melissa McEwan notes:
For the record, there is plenty about which to criticize Palin that has absolutely fuck-all to do with her sex. She’s anti-choice, against marriage equality, pro-death penalty, pro-guns, and loves Big Business. (In other words, she’s a Republican.)
Now for me the pro-death penalty and pro-gun stances aren’t a concern, but the rest is, and those two issues are core Democratic platform stances. Much as I dislike the folks at the DailyKos – many items on the list of 45+ Problems for McCain’s VP in just 35 Hours is worth a look.
Palin’s also got some pretty serious ethical problems, the surface of which is Troopergate as Doug Masson explains:
Palin’s sister apparently did not exercise great judgment in choosing her husband, Mike Wooten, a State Trooper. She filed for divorce, and things got ugly. No real political problem there. Messy divorce proceedings aren’t exactly uncommon.
But then, while the divorce was pending, Sarah Palin got elected governor and she and her family began pressuring the State police chief to fire Wooten. The police chief wouldn’t do it, and she fired him. Then she denied that she and her family had been involved in pressuring for Wooten’s termination.
Now she is backtracking on her denial that she pressured for Wooten’s termination, and an investigation has been launched into whether the police chief’s termination was improper.
There are some other ethical questions waiting in the wings to come to light as well that list of 45 problems covers the beginnings of them. I haven’t even begun to read through all those links yet.
Palin also has very little experience governing, and as Paul Begala notes on CNN, that’s a dangerous choice for VP:
Palin a first-term governor of a state with more reindeer than people, will have to put on a few pounds just to be a lightweight. Her personal story is impressive: former fisherman, mother of five. But that hardly qualifies her to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
For a man who is 72 years old and has had four bouts with cancer to have chosen someone so completely unqualified to become president is shockingly irresponsible. Suddenly, McCain’s age and health become central issues in the campaign, as does his judgment.
Emphasis mine. Steve Benen echos that concern:
Palin’s qualifications are, to a very real degree, secondary to the issue at hand. What matters most right now is John McCain’s comically dangerous sense of judgment. He picked a running mate he met once for 15 minutes, who’s been the governor of a small state for a year and a half, and who is in the midst of an abuse-of-power investigation in which she appears to have lied rather blatantly. She has no obvious expertise in any area, and no record of any kind of federal issues. McCain doesn’t care.
Sensible people of sound mind and character simply don’t do things like this. Leaders don’t do things like this. It’s the height of arrogance. It’s manifestly unserious. It’s reckless and irresponsible. It mocks the political process. Faced with a major presidential test, McCain thought it wise to tell an imprudent joke of lasting consequence.
…
That may sound like a flippant question, but it deserves a serious answer. Is there something wrong with him? Might this be evidence of some kind of impulse problem, as reflected in his shoot-first, think-second approach to foreign policy?
When I think about the respect that John McCain had worked so hard to develop, the stature he’d taken years to cultivate, and the reputation he’d built his career on, it’s breathtaking to see him throw it all away. If there’s a more complete collapse in modern political times, from hero to clown, I can’t think of it.
We’re poised to learn a great deal about Sarah Palin, but we’ve just learned even more about John McCain. He’s fundamentally unsuited for the presidency.
These are all serious and legitimate questions — and ones that deserve some examination and thought. It’s unfortunate that some of the first things out of the gate we’re hearing about from many so-called progressives on the choice of Palin are:
— VPILF.com
I hope I don’t need to explain why that’s sexist asshatery.
— former beauty queen/McCain’s new girlfriend
Ditto.
— She has 5 kids! How will she care for them?!
Her husband and nanny are there to help with the kids, same as if she were a guy with five children. And asking the question in the first place is sexist asshatery.
— She has a downs syndrome child! How will she care for it?!
Ditto.
— Her daughter had the kid, and she’s pretending to be the mom!
OMFG. You’re kidding with this, right? Way to shit on her sixteen-year-old daughter. That’s just ugly, and mean-spirited.
And I know at least one family who handled a teen pregnancy this way. (No, a real family, not Bree Hodge.) I don’t
think it’s my place to pass judgment on a tough situation like that. When a kid needs to be taken care of an a young woman needs to be able to have a young-adulthood and prepare her for her adult life, I can see why some families might decide this is the best thing.
I’ve been breathing fire lately about all of the sexism thrown around in this election — If you’ve truly not seen it — the Shakesville blog has been running multi-part series about this subject throughout the election cycle that have provided more coverage than I ever could:
Hillary Sexism Watch (currently on part #109).
Michelle Obama Racism/Sexism Watch
Obama Racism/Muslim/Unpatriotic/Scary Black Dude Watch
and now:
The day after Hillary Clinton delivered one of the best political speeches in American history — CNN has come out with this bit of fucking loveliness:
(CNN) — What did Hillary Clinton’s body language give away at the Democratic National Convention?
Dan Hill, a body language expert and author of “Face Time,” told CNN that even while the words Clinton delivered offered an unequivocal endorsement of Barack Obama, her body language was much less affirmative.“When she spoke about Obama, she really did not emote very much,” Hill said. “The only thing she showed was a very weak smile, the cheeks didn’t tend to lift very much, it was really almost what I would call a ‘crocodile smile’ where even the slight corners of the lips sometimes raise into a little bit of a smirk.”
“I don’t think that helped move the 30 percent of her supporters who say they won’t vote for Obama,” Hill added. “What she did do was appeal to voters at large, that she did more emotionally.”
What the hell do you want the woman to do? Fuck Obama on stage to show how much she supports him? Shine his shoes and iron his shirt on stage? Jesus fucking Christ on god damned cracker.
Clinton just can’t fucking win, no matter what she does or says.
It’s like they want her to fucking apologize for running the first place, and they want those of us who voted for her to apologize for doing it.
FUCK THAT NOISE. Fuck it all to hell.
When the mother fuck are Obama supporters going to learn that SHITTING ALL OVER HILLARY AND HER SUPPORTERS IS NOT GOING TO MAKE THEM WANT TO VOTE FOR HIM?
And the notion that there are 30% of her supporters that “aren’t going to vote for him” is bullshit. We’ll all vote for him if we absolutely have to, but we don’t have to like it, because he isn’t the best candidate.
From the comments at Shakesville:
Her voice was careful and quiet (she was clearly holding herself together so hard for the cameras, the weight of it all very heavy on her) and even with the tears, it still felt fitting, because this–this wondering and thinking and finally deciding on your own vote–this is what the suffragettes dreamed for all of us, eighty-eight years ago.
To be a woman, with a vote.
The following is a transcript of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s speech at the Democratic National Convention, as provided by CQ Transcriptions. I have to say, it’s one of the best speeches I’ve heard delivered live (rather than listening later through recordings.)
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Democratic Convention Speech – Part 1
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Democratic Convention Speech – Part 2
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Democratic Convention Speech – Part 3
Senator Clinton: Thank you. Thank you all.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you all very, very much.
(APPLAUSE)
Thank you. Thank you all very much. I…
(APPLAUSE)
I am so honored to be here tonight.
(APPLAUSE)
You know, I’m — I’m here tonight as a proud mother, as a proud Democrat…
(APPLAUSE)
… as a proud senator from New York…
(APPLAUSE)
… a proud American…
(APPLAUSE)
… and a proud supporter of Barack Obama.
(APPLAUSE)
My friends, it is time to take back the country we love. And whether you voted for me or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose.
(APPLAUSE)
We are on the same team. And none of us can afford to sit on the sidelines. This is a fight for the future, and it’s a fight we must win together.
(APPLAUSE)
I haven’t spent the past 35 years in the trenches, advocating for children, campaigning for universal health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for women’s rights here at home and around the world…
(APPLAUSE)
… to see another Republican in the White House squander our promise of a country that really fulfills the hopes of our people. And you haven’t worked so hard over the last 18 months or endured the last eight years to suffer through more failed leadership.
(APPLAUSE)
No way, no how, no McCain.
(APPLAUSE)
Barack Obama is my candidate, and he must be our president.
(APPLAUSE)
Tonight, I ask you to remember what a presidential election is really about. When the polls have closed and the ads are finally off the air, it comes down to you, the American people, and your lives, and your children’s futures.
For me, it’s been a privilege to meet you in your homes, your workplaces, and your communities. Your stories reminded me that, every day, America’s greatness is bound up in the lives of the American people, your hard work, your devotion to duty, your love for your children, and your determination to keep going, often in the face of enormous obstacles.
You taught me so much, and you made me laugh, and, yes, you even made me cry.
(APPLAUSE)
You allowed me to become part of your lives, and you became part of mine.
I will always remember the single mom who had adopted two kids with autism. She didn’t have any health insurance, and she discovered she had cancer. But she greeted me with her bald head, painted with my name on it, and asked me to fight for health care for her and her children.
(APPLAUSE)
I will always remember the young man in a Marine Corps T-shirt who waited months for medical care. And he said to me, “Take care of my buddies. A lot of them are still over there. And then will you please take care of me?”
And I will always remember the young boy who told me his mom worked for the minimum wage, that her employer had cut her hours. He said he just didn’t know what his family was going to do.
I will always be grateful to everyone from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the territories…
(APPLAUSE)
… who joined our campaign on behalf of all those people left out and left behind by the Bush administration. To my supporters, to my champions, to my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits…
(APPLAUSE)
… from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you, because you never gave in and you never gave up. And together we made history.
And along the way, America lost two great Democratic champions who would have been here with us tonight, one of our finest young leaders, Arkansas Democratic Chair Bill Gwatney, who believed with all his heart…
(APPLAUSE)
… that America and the South should be Democratic from top to bottom.
And Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a dear friend to many of us, a loving mother, a courageous leader who never gave up her quest to make America fairer and smarter, stronger and better. Steadfast in her beliefs, a fighter of uncommon grace, she was an inspiration to me and to us all.
Our heart goes out to Stephanie’s son, Mervyn, Jr., and Bill’s wife, Rebecca, who traveled here to Denver to join this family of Democrats.
(APPLAUSE)
You know, Bill Gwatney and Stephanie Tubbs-Jones knew that, after eight years of George Bush, people are hurting at home and our standing has eroded around the world.
We have a lot of work ahead of us: jobs lost; houses gone; falling wages; rising prices; the Supreme Court in a right-wing headlock; and our government in partisan gridlock; the biggest deficit in our nation’s history; money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis; Putin and Georgia; Iran and Iraq.
I ran for president to renew the promise of America, to rebuild the middle class and sustain the American dream, to provide opportunity to those who are willing to work hard for it and have that work rewarded, so they could save for college, a home, and retirement, afford gas and groceries, and have a little left over each month.
To promote a clean energy economy that will create millions of green-collar jobs, to create a health care system that is universal, high-quality, and affordable, so that every single parent knows their children will be taken care of.
(APPLAUSE)
We want to create a world-class education system and make college affordable again, to fight for an America that is defined by deep and meaningful equality, from civil rights to labor rights, from women’s rights to gay rights… (APPLAUSE)
… from ending discrimination to promoting unionization, to providing help for the most important job there is, caring for our families, and to help every child live up to his or her God-given potential, to make America once again a nation of immigrants and of laws, to restore fiscal sanity to Washington, and make our government an institution of the public good, not of private plunder.
Senator Clinton: To restore America’s standing in the world, to end the war in Iraq, bring our troops home with honor, care for our veterans, and give them the services they have earned.
(APPLAUSE)
We will work for an America again that will join with our allies in confronting our shared challenges, from poverty and genocide to terrorism and global warming.
Most of all, I ran to stand up for all those who have been invisible to their government for eight long years. Those are the reasons I ran for president, and those are the reasons I support Barack Obama for president.
(APPLAUSE)
I want you — I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me, or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him?
Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids?
Were you in it for that young boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage?
Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?
We need leaders once again who can tap into that special blend of American confidence and optimism that has enabled generations before us to meet our toughest challenges, leaders who can help us show ourselves and the world that with our ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit, there are no limits to what is possible in America.
(APPLAUSE)
Now, this will not be easy. Progress never is. But it will be impossible if we don’t fight to put a Democrat back into the White House.
(APPLAUSE)
We need to elect Barack Obama, because we need a president who understands that America can’t compete in the global economy by padding the pockets of energy speculators while ignoring the workers whose jobs have been shipped overseas.
We need a president who understands we can’t solve the problems of global warming by giving windfall profits to the oil companies while ignoring opportunities to invest in the new technologies that will build a green economy.
We need a president who understands that the genius of America has always depended on the strength and vitality of the middle class.
Barack Obama began his career fighting for workers displaced by the global economy. He built his campaign on a fundamental belief that change in this country must start from the ground up, not the top down.
(APPLAUSE)
And he knows that government must be about “we the people,” not “we the favored few.”
And when Barack Obama is in the White House, he’ll revitalize our economy, defend the working people of America, and meet the global challenges of our times.
Democrats know how to do this. As I recall, we did it before with President Clinton and the Democrats.
(APPLAUSE)
And if we do our part, we’ll do it again with President Obama and the Democrats.
(APPLAUSE)
Just think of what America will be as we transform our energy economy, create those millions of jobs, build a strong base for economic growth and shared prosperity, get middle-class families the tax relief they deserve.
And I cannot wait to watch Barack Obama sign into law a health care plan that covers every single American.
(APPLAUSE)
And we know that President Obama will end the war in Iraq responsibly, bring our troops home, and begin to repair our alliances around the world.
And Barack will have with him a terrific partner in Michelle Obama.
(APPLAUSE)
Anyone who saw Michelle’s speech last night knows she will be a great first lady for America.
(APPLAUSE) And Americans are fortunate that Joe Biden will be at Barack Obama’s side…
(APPLAUSE)
… a strong leader, a good man who understands both the economic stresses here at home and the strategic challenges abroad. He’s pragmatic, he’s tough, and he’s wise.
And Joe, of course, will be supported by his wonderful wife, Jill.
(APPLAUSE)
They will be a great team for our country.
Now, John McCain is my colleague and my friend. He has served our country with honor and courage. But we don’t need four more years of the last eight years…
AUDIENCE: No!
Senator Clinton: … more economic stagnation and less affordable health care…
AUDIENCE: No!
Senator Clinton: … more high gas prices and less alternative energy.. (OOTC:AEGC) .
AUDIENCE: No!
Senator Clinton: … more jobs getting shipped overseas and fewer jobs created here at home…
AUDIENCE: No!
Senator Clinton: … more skyrocketing debt, and home foreclosures, and mounting bills that are crushing middle-class families…
AUDIENCE: No!
Senator Clinton: … more war and less diplomacy…
AUDIENCE: No!
Senator Clinton: … more of a government where the privileged few come first and everyone else comes last.
AUDIENCE: No!
Senator Clinton: Well, John McCain says the economy is fundamentally sound. John McCain doesn’t think 47 million people without health insurance is a crisis. John McCain wants to privatize Social Security. And in 2008, he still thinks it’s OK when women don’t earn equal pay for equal work. (AUDIENCE BOOS)
Now, with an agenda like that, it makes perfect sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities, because these days they’re awfully hard to tell apart.
(APPLAUSE)
You know, America is still around after 232 years because we have risen to every challenge in every new time, changing to be faithful to our values of equal opportunity for all and the common good. And I know what that can mean for every man, woman, and child in America.
I’m a United States senator because, in 1848, a group of courageous women, and a few brave men, gathered in Seneca Falls, New York, many traveling for days and nights…
(APPLAUSE)
… to participate in the first convention on women’s rights in our history. And so dawned a struggle for the right to vote that would last 72 years, handed down by mother to daughter to granddaughter, and a few sons and grandsons along the way.
These women and men looked into their daughters’ eyes and imagined a fairer and freer world and found the strength to fight, to rally, to picket, to endure ridicule and harassment, and brave violence and jail.
And after so many decades, 88 years ago on this very day, the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, became enshrined in our Constitution.
(APPLAUSE)
My mother was born before women could vote. My daughter got to vote for her mother for president. This is the story of America, of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.
So how do we give this country back to them? By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her lives to bring slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad.
On that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of advice: “If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”
(APPLAUSE)
And even in the darkest moments, that is what Americans have done. We have found the faith to keep going.
I have seen it. I have seen it in our teachers and our firefighters, our police officers, our nurses, our small-business owners, and our union workers. I’ve seen it in the men and women of our military.
In America, you always keep going. We’re Americans. We’re not big on quitting.
And, remember, before we can keep going, we’ve got to get going by electing Barack Obama the next president of the United States.
(APPLAUSE)
We don’t have a moment to lose or a vote to spare. Nothing less than the fate of our nation and the future of our children hangs in the balance.
I want you to think about your children and grandchildren come Election Day. Think about the choices your parents and grandparents made that had such a big impact on your lives and on the life of our nation.
We’ve got to ensure that the choice we make in this election honors the sacrifices of all who came before us and will fill the lives of our children with possibility and hope.
That is our duty, to build that bright future, to teach our children that, in America, there is no chasm too deep, no barrier too great, no ceiling too high for all who work hard, who keep going, have faith in God, in our country, and each other.
That is our mission, Democrats. Let’s elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden for that future worthy of our great country.
Thank you. God bless you, and Godspeed.
This lovely article on The Financial Times: Lunch with the FT: Gloria Steinem, says By Chrystia Freeland:
For most of this decade, the conventional wisdom has had it that feminism in America is dead – or, at least, irrelevant. The New York Times talked to female students at Yale and found them to be mostly interested in becoming housewives. Sex and the City told us that even the ones who became career girls were more interested in men and Manolos than in their actual careers.
What? That’s what you got out of Sex and the City? FAIL. Please try again.
And more that makes me sigh with irritation:
While I’m a feminist and Steinem is one of my heroes, I didn’t share her enthusiasm for Clinton’s candidacy, partly because getting to the White House by having been married to a president seemed rather more an affirmation of traditional women’s roles than a shattering of the glass ceiling.
So, all the political work she’s done her entire life, and the work she’s done in the Senate mean nothing, compared to “been married to a president”? Jesus – FAIL again. WTF? Read something about Clinton before you say stupid shit, please.
I’m afraid to keep reading the whole thing. I did scroll down to the bottom to note that “Chrystia Freeland is managing editor of the FT’s US edition.”
Holy Maude. That’s really bad.
Yep, this week’s Target: Women funny video from Sarah Haskins. Yes, I am going to post every single one of these, each week. I cannot help it. She is too funny to miss.