Absolutely. It degrades the process and calls into question all the legitimate complaints and concerns.

Thank you that is exactly what I was trying to say. There are plenty of reasons to reject her, and even fear her, on policy alone.

and Pennylane-

I agree completely with everything you are saying. When I said that I fear that no matter who is elected it won’t affect my life, I meant that the political machine is so vast and overreaching that our own President has said that he doesn’t care that the majority of American people are opposed to the war. I am feeling extremely jaded about the American democratic political process.

And honestly, I’m not so sure we wouldn’t be in a war (and if not a war than certainly troops overseas) right now if Gore were President. Perhaps the fighting would be more focused on Afghanistan, but do you really believe that if Gore were President that he would not have authorized violence in response to bombing the World Trade Towers?

All I ask is that you please don’t forward that list of banned books ok?

I don’t feel that the issues mentioned above are just mudslinging. There is evidence that Palin saw all government jobs as political, down to the city librarian, and that she was willing to use her position to advance personal interest. Given the last eight years and similar national scandals like the Justice Department scandal those tendencies should be of great concern.

You are absolutely right! Never ever vote for me. I would probably have state troopers bring my dog to the groomer.

Calendae and Twistie- I agree with you both completely. One, that the Public Safety Commissioner was fired, I see that now. When I wrote that letter a few days ago I still wasn’t sure what happened. And yeah I am hearing more and more about how much there is to criticize.

And as far as Calendae’s comment

Believe me I didn’t set out to “goad” you or to give you the impression that I understood Alaskan politics, or that I have made up my mind about Alaskan politics. I really have no idea what goes on in Alaska.

And Monegan, as far as the kind of leader that I want to see in the White House — I would never ever in a million freaking years vote for McCain/Palin for many reasons.

Yikes! What I wanted to make was a statement about how much I hate people distributing those “forward this to everyone you know” unattributed e-mails. THAT was my point. It leads to misinformation creates a culture of urban myths. Yes, like the list of people Clinton “had killed.” Hogwash.

And yes, it isn’t necessarily sexism. That is true. These issues must be discussed. That is also true. I’m just feeling really raw about the mud slinging and the posturing and mostly I’m feeling that no matter who gets elected will that even really affect my life? And how will we know anyway since all the voting booths are hackable? ]]> http://acelebrationofcurves.com/2008/09/15/palin-and-sexism/comment-page-1/#comment-490 Jordan Lacy Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:34:52 +0000 http://acelebrationofcurves.com/2008/09/15/palin-and-sexism/#comment-490 >That matter is still being investigated and I have no opinion other than to tell you that if I were a Mayor or a Governor and my sister was involved in a nasty divorce with a government employee, I might drop a few hints that I would like him to be fired.< Then you don't belong in public office. That's an abuse of power. I'm also puzzled how sexism comes into play vis-a-vis the "banned" books email. The list is false, and I've referred folks to Snopes more than once. But sexist? Quite a leap. Words have meaning. Calling the situation "sexist" diminishes the meaning of the word. It's like "Nazi" and "rape." Use it correctly or don't use it. Please. >That matter is still being investigated and I have no opinion other than to tell you that if I were a Mayor or a Governor and my sister was involved in a nasty divorce with a government employee, I might drop a few hints that I would like him to be fired.<

Then you don’t belong in public office. That’s an abuse of power.

I’m also puzzled how sexism comes into play vis-a-vis the “banned” books email. The list is false, and I’ve referred folks to Snopes more than once. But sexist? Quite a leap. Words have meaning. Calling the situation “sexist” diminishes the meaning of the word. It’s like “Nazi” and “rape.” Use it correctly or don’t use it. Please.

The point of contention is whether Palin herself was involved in the pressure and whether that was an abuse of power and involved in her firing of Moneghan.

As an Alaskan, there’s nothing that goads me more than people not understanding Alaskan politics fully before making up their minds. There is plenty to criticize the Palin administration and Palin herself for.

After all, when Bill Clinton was in the White House, there was a list floating around the internet of all the people he’d supposedly either personally killed or had killed…some of whom had died of natural causes, a couple of whom had no closer tie to him than the fact that they’d been to Arkansas sometime in their lives, and a couple of whom were still walking around alive and well when the list came out.

Vicious rumors about elected officials and people who want to be elected as officials abound no matter what the party affiliation, gender, race, religion, or shoe size of the person in question.

Yes, we should be vigilant about sexism in today’s political arena. There’s plenty of it around to be fought. And yes, we should be scrupulous about checking rumors about candidates. I just happen to think that not every nasty rumor about a female candidate is sexist in nature. Sometimes it really is more about being a candidate than being a woman.

Me, I’m way more concerned about the rape kits.

http://www.amptoons.com/blog/index.php?s=rape+kits