But I've been dismayed by the bias shown in this election by both the MSM and by websites like Salon, Slate, The Huffington Post, etc. This goes beyond editorial and journalist's columns.
I've been thinking about this a bit, Carol, and I think you mean that Sarah Palin has been slammed and spoofed mercilessly, far, far more so than either Obama, McCain or Biden. And I think you definitely have a point. I think it can be illustrated with
this link to a Newsweek commentary, which features no less than five Palin closeups in a row, where she is seen making faces. There is something painful and degrading about it, in my opinion. I think it has something to do with the fact that Palin is a woman, and that women running for the very highest offices are so extremely uncommon. When a man is running for President or VP, there have probably been hundreds much like him before. We all recognize his general appearance, the neat suit, the impeccable shirt, the tie, and the well-groomed hairstyle. When a male candidate is shown in the same way as Palin is in that Newsweek commentary, most people see Candidate X pulling faces. Candidate X does not symbolize male candidates in general. There are so many other male candidates who look and sound much like him, but who don't make faces.
But because female candidates in this position are so extremely unusual, Sarah Palin becomes more than Candidate Palin. She becomes that woman candidate, with that hairstyle, those glasses, those dresses, that lipstick. And when she comes through as confused, her floundering can easily be seen as symbolic and typical of her gender. She is already different from the men because she is a woman, so maybe she is bungling it because she is a woman?
I have not seen any of the interviews with Palin, although I did see parts of her debate with Biden. But I have read transcripts of her interview with Kate Couric, and I agree that Palin made a really bad impression there. My impression is that Sarah Palin is not ready to become VP, let alone the President of the United States. And in view of the fact that McCain is a 72-year-old cancer survivor, the chances of Palin beoming President if McCain is elected are not that slim.
My impression of Palin is, as I said, that she is unqualified for the job of being VP or President. But then we must remember that those jobs must be among the most demanding jobs on this Earth. To be qualified to hold such a position, I think you must at least have made up your mind that that is what you want to do, and then you must set out, methodically, to get yourself the qualifications you are going to need. You must dedicate yourself to getting yourself as much knowledge and experience as possible, and you must do so with the goal of running for President in mind. But Sarah Palin, as far as I can understand, has never done that. She has been Governor of Alaska, which is demanding enough, but it is not comparable to being VP or President of the United States of America.
So why did John McCain pick her as his running mate? I'm afraid I believe that his reasons had comparatively little to do with his respect for Palin's Presidential qualifications. I suspect that he saw her as someone who could revive his own flagging candidacy. Remember that just before McCain named his VP, he was lagging behind in the polls. Right after Palin was introduced to America, and everybody could see her charm and charisma, McCain forged ahead in the polls, leaving Obama well behind him.
But that could mean that McCain picked Palin because of her charm, not because of her qualifications. I find that depressingly sexist. I find it hard to believe that a male VP candidate would be picked because he was charming, if there were reasons to believe he was fundamentally unqualified. Just imagine that Hillary Clinton had been chosen to run for President instead of Obama, and imagine that she had picked a little-known, fresh-faced young man as her VP. And imagine that this young man had a charming smile, but floundered when you asked him questions. Wouldn't Clinton's tactics have backfired? Wouldn't people have thought that her VP candidate was some sort of vapid 'boy toy', and that her choice actually showed her contempt for young men in particular and voters in general? I'm not saying that this unfortunate young man wouldn't have been the target of spoofs. Of course he would. But I think, above all, that Clinton's candidacy would have sunk like a stone if she had chosen such a running mate.
Good choice for Clinton\'s running mate? But now imagine that this young male VP candidate had been
black. And imagine that he knew had to deliver a number of catch phrases with great panache, but he didn't know how to answer questions. Wouldn't he have become a favorite laughingstock and target of spoofs? And wouldn't the color of his skin have added to the pleasure people took in laughing at him, no matter how much everybody tried to prove that their mockery had nothing to do with racism? And wouldn't this young man's ineptness reflect badly on the entire black community?
Good VP candidate? So I think that Sarah Palin has been treated unfairly. And the rather respectless treatment of her reflects badly on women in general. Yes, Palin herself should have realized when she accepted her VP candidacy that she was really, really jumping into the pool without checking the water level first, but I still think she has been treated unfairly, and respectlessly. And when she suffers spoofs and ridicule, it somehow spills over on other women too, reinforcing the idea that women can't do the most demanding jobs.
I recommend
this editorial from New York Times by Judith Warner.
Ann
