BlogHer - Why Can't I Ask? - Comments

reality chick

reality chick — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 07:39:28 -0500

There is a huge difference between having two children long out of diapers, and five -- including high maintenance teenagers and a baby. By my count, two of those five children -- the very young infant with Downs' syndrome, and pregnant, as yet unmarried, teenaged Bristol, have huge needs right now. There is also the swirling rumor that the son soon to be deployed in Iraq has been in trouble with the law.

The Obamas and Palins aren't comparable by a long shot. Sarah Palin would have a full plate even if she had no job at all. She didn't even tell her own children she was pregnant, she hid it from her supposedly close family as she did from her constituency. This is both muddled thinking and a bad disclosure policy. I'd want more from a potential second in command.

This woman has lost control of her personal life, I don't want her anywhere near our national life.

My Point Exactly

Southerngirl — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:27:43 -0500

Look, I may not have said it well enough. But I am trying to say that she has to answer ALL questions that come her way and not say you can't ask that because I am a woman. I am not questioning her judgment as the woman in the cube next to me I am questioning her judgement as the woman who wants to make decisions for my children. When you get there then I question you. Actually I would question if the woman in the cube next to me should come back to work within the week after having a baby. I have done that 3 times and that is no easy feat. Here is what I am trying to say Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Spitzer, and Obama have had to answer some nasty questions. Rev Wright anyone, Bill Ayers anyone? SHE did this now give her the respect of letting her take the heat. I am the first to say Hillary got where she was because of who she married but when she got there that was lost, because she played well in the big leagues and proved she belonged. Now let Sarah do the same without bringing up her uterus as a reason to not question her. As a Black person I am not proud of Clarence Thomas nor Al Sharpton and I will call to task anyone who thinks I should be. Sharing the same race or gender does not give you a pass. If the playing field is level then play, If not then climb the hill to level ground. But my point is play and stop yelling foul!

Michelle

Disappointed

dentite — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 10:03:42 -0500

I'm disappointed that Sarah Palin hasn't been given the same respect that the men in politics in our country get. NO ONE is asking why Barack Obama is choosing to run for office when he has young children. Why you ask? It's because the American public doesn't see fathers as nurturers. They see men still as the bread winners. Why can't a woman have a career (in politics if she so chooses) and a family? Isn't this the big issue that women have been screaming about for a lifetime? Why are we held to an unfair double standard? It angers me to see her maligned. If people want to discredit her, then please listen to her stance on the issues and attack her on those, but please, for the sake of women who struggle with double standards in all career fields, please stop attacking her for being a mother and daring to try to fulfill her dreams and aspirations.

Here, Here!

rebellious thinker — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:29:55 -0500

There's so much in the double-standard department going on here, and it's not just about a woman in high office, but, may I say, a Republican woman. She, I guess, is deemed from the get-go a better mother than a Democratic woman because of her much lauded and screamed about "family values." That seems to me the reason why there is so much conversation on here about her. It's not about her choices (come on, did "country first?"; this is really about people and their big egos), but about the fact that her choices really seem to be contrary to her professed philosophy of family first.

Is it Gov Palin who's not putting on the gear (I saw a frightening pic of her with a big gun) but that "vast right wing conspiracy" group that tries to put a ring of perfection around its candidates while smearing the other side. Come on guys. You're as dirty or dirtier than anyone, so don't tell anyone what is right and not right in political discourse.

Laura, www.RebelliousThoughtsofaWoman.com

Why Can't I Ask?

Southerngirl — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:26:41 -0500

I have a lot of thoughts in me that I was going to get out today but Gov. Palin is on my mind. More to the point the fact that there are many who think she is off limits because she is a woman. We keep talking about wanting equal treatment then when it doesn’t go our way we get to yell, scream and stomp our feet. Sexism is a very real thing. As someone who has dealt with both racism and sexism I can tell you that whining about it gets you nowhere. I have been called a Black b***h more times than I care to count. You move on because, surprise, life is not fair! Does it hurt yes, but I and many others like me know that we got where we are because so many before us took far worse and endured so we can get to this place today. I wrote about this with the Hillary supporters who were yelling about her getting respect from Barack Obama. She should have been consulted about who his VP pick was and her issues should be discussed. In my years of following politics no loser has been given as much as she. All because of the political correctness of our day. Look, she was not the pick and did not need to be consulted because this was Obama’s victory to savor not hers. If she were a man she would have been sent on her merry way long before the primaries ended.

Now it is rally the uteruses time with Gov. Palin. Her family is off limits, calling into question her judgment as a mother cannot be done, she is a woman. Look if the playing field is level then her judgment at home is on the table just as John Edwards was considered a jerk for cheating on his cancer-stricken wife. Bill Clinton for sleeping a girl not much older than his daughter. When you choose public life all of it is public including your kids. Hillary went to great pains to protect Chelsea and we all remember the jokes one by even John McCain. Gov Palin thought that somehow she and her children would be spared? Give me a break! Remember all the questions about why John Edwards even ran or why Elizabeth let him? I do question her as a parent because I have made choices that hurt my career to put my kids first. It’s called PARENTING. Hillary could have run for office long ago but chose to wait. Gov. Palin did not make these same choices and she wants me to think she is just like me, normal? Normal my big wide a**. You talk about how sacred life is then what about nourishing it when it gets here. If she were a guy I would be asking the same questions. Why can’t I ask them of her? If we are not asking this of our public figures then we are all lacking. Just because she is a woman does not give her a pass. You want a level playing field then stop yelling foul and play! This is not little leagues where everybody has to play nice. In the big time you can sustain career ending injuries. It’s a risk you take. Gov. Palin put on the big girl gear you are in the big leagues now!

Cross posted at Many Opinions