An Open Letter to Sarah Palin from a Fellow American Chick

Dear Sarah,

I hope you don’t mind if I call you Sarah. I feel like since we’re both chicks (and you married a dude) you probably won’t. First off, congratulations! As a chick, I feel such a sense of pride seeing one of our own shatter the glass that’s kept us all from entering the chick-free zones, especially the political ones. You are tough, Sarah. You’ve built a successful political career while raising a family; and you stand up against powerful forces for what you believe is right. Very admirable qualities! But best of all, you are one of us. You’ve got the XX chromosome, just like me! So that means when you and your uterus arrive in Washington, you will represent my interests, and the interests of all American chicks. For example:

1) You will not let all those whacky scientists convince you that global warming is caused by humans.

2) You will not tolerate books. I mean, the ones you find offensive of course.

3) Despite the evidence standing before you in the form of your pregnant teenage daughter, you still believe abstinence education works and is the only form of sex education that should be taught in schools.

4) Moreover, you realize that if a young woman can’t figure out how to prevent a pregnancy on her own, then clearly none of us can be trusted with reproductive choice.

5) You will stand up against the powerful lobby of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients, who, with their failing memories and shaky hands, ruthlessly oppress the helpless stem-cell.

6) You understand: Universal healthcare is for pussies!

Wow. Way to go, Sarah! Way to stand up for what you believe is right, despite all manner of fact and logic. You know, now that I think about it, you remind me a lot of somebody I know. Somebody we’ve all known for eight years now. I hope you’ll take that as a compliment, seeing that he, even with his weak little y chromosome, has always stood up for my interests and the interests of all chicks. Congratulations again, Sarah. I can only trust that other chicks will come to see, as I do, the way you would represent us all. Sincerely,

A Fellow American Chick

Submitted by NoClocks (view blog

) on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 12:24

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This chick sees her the same

This chick sees her the same way you do! Great post!

Not much time left:

50 Days 'Til Change or More of the McSame?

Change or McSame.com

Submitted by Trisha on Mon, 09/15/2008 - 17:21

Thanks

Great post from a fellow chick

Michelle

I blog at http://www.mommycan.blogspot.com/

Submitted by Southerngirl on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 11:48

Well Said

And who said chicks weren't funny?

If McCain and Palin win then the JOKE'S on US!

Submitted by Mom to Gio on Tue, 09/23/2008 - 08:56

NoClocks Tell Us How You Really Feel! LOL!

Excellent post! Love it! Wonder if there's another tone for chicks of color too?! Because according to her maybe we aren't even in that dialogue at all.

Oh this is getting so sad as the minutes roll by.

GirlProfNYC - www.pinkerink.com

Submitted by GirlProfNYC on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 10:38

As my Name Says IT All

I am not sure what everyone is saying - do you not want Gov Palin to be VP because of her daughters pregnancy - do you blame her for that - I have to look at the qualifications overall not a simple comment like that - do you not like her because she "supposedly" padded her bra and that one of her kids cheated on a test -

I am willing for anyone to give me a reason to not like her as the next VP - but something that is worthwhile. PLEASE.

Submitted by Miss Confused on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 12:09

I'm not sure why you're confused

I think it's been stated over and over again, sometime with more or less respect, sometimes with more or less sarcasm, but for people of a particular political leaning, they do not like Palin's POSITIONS on these ISSUES:

1. A woman's right to choose
2. Creationism vs scientific theory re: what should be taught in schools
3. What sex education in schools should look like
4. Whether climate change is caused by humans, and whether knowing the cause matter before deciding how to solve it

Further, Palin now has the job of pushing the Republican Party and John McCain's positions on a host of other issues that she may never have personally had to take positions on before, such as:

5. How to fix the health care system
6. How to handle the War in Iraq
7. The role of regulation in industry

and so on.

You may agree with Palin on these issues, so her positions may not bother you at all. But they clearly bother lots of people, which I see repeated here again and again.

You may not like the *tone* some of the criticism takes, but there's no use saying this is about women being their own worst enemies, or that women aren't giving Palin a chance.

As my newly blogging sister explains in this post about why she doesn't like Palin:

These reasons have nothing to do with:

The fact that she is a woman
The fact that she is a working mother; I am one too
The fact that she kept her baby after finding out he had Down's Syndrome

It is a MYTH that anyone is actually criticizing her for these things. It is not sexist is to question her regarding her stand on issues, her experience, her knowledge. It is sexist to treat her differently than a man would be treated in a similar position.

Elisa Camahort Page
BlogHer
elisa@blogher.com

My BlogHer profile truly shows you everything I do online...Check it out!!

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 12:49

Please don't spread rumors

She did not demand that books be banned
from the Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list
were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked
a "What if?" question, but the librarian continued in her job through
most of Palin's first term.

Please check the facts @ factcheck.org

Submitted by Paddycake on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 12:18

She did not ban the books,

She did not ban the books, demand they be banned, etc., but she did try to fire the librarian for not following her in her request to have books banned. (Not necessarily the ones on the list, but others she personally deemed questionable.) I'm sorry, but bringing up banning books, even if she doesn't force the issue, is almost as abhorable as actually banning them.

Janet + http://fuzzypinkslippers.com = love

http://urban-sunrise.net - a blog for 18-35 year olds

Submitted by Janers0217 on Sun, 10/19/2008 - 18:30

Paddycake

Thank you for your reference - this is exactly what I am talking about - one person says something and everyone else jumps onto it as if it were the gospel - I want facts before I make my decision AGAINST someone and make them look like the bad guy - it just seems to me that women are putting her down more than anyone else and I don't understand why the CHICKS are doing that - as I said in previous post - talk about her hairdo, her padded bra in a beauty contest, daughters preganany etc - what does have to do with anything - thank you for that post.

Submitted by Miss Confused on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 12:24

Miss Confused

Thanks for the response Yeah it is ashame Women are sometimes too quick to turn on each other. I hope the women reading this will take another look at Sarah.

Submitted by Paddycake on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 12:38

A real look

I hope they will take a real look, look at all she has done for Alaska, look at how huge her approvel rating is........she must be doing something right!!

Submitted by justme_hanging out on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 15:21

it just seems to me that

it just seems to me that women are putting her down more than anyone else and I don't understand why the CHICKS are doing that
---------------------------------------------

It may seem that way... but maybe theyre just carrying the mainstream media message ...

belittle and demean any woman who attains a powerful position and threatens our faux superiority.

Submitted by zookz on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 12:43

Sarah PAlin knows the

Sarah PAlin knows the process of global warning is occuring...she acknowledged it in the VP debate. She did not ban books.

You know, why not tout teh attributes of your candidate, instead of continuing to help spread lies about a candidate? Just do a little research. It really smacks down any creditbility you may have.

Fellow Chick...

I believe the "fellow" part.

Submitted by zookz on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 12:48

About Gov Palin

I thought the story bout the banned books was already debunked? I lived in Alaska for 3 years back in the 80s - long time ago. The schools were excellent then. I went back once and it didn't appear things had changed much in that avenue. I was a military spouse at the time. I loved Alaska and the government always took care of those brave people that could withstand 9 months of winter!!!

Submitted by 1gypsy on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 12:58

Alaska

Has anyone else been to Alaska then myself? I'm just curious. Thank you.

Submitted by 1gypsy on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 13:03

Well , I have to

Well , I hate it but I have to defend Sara Palin against the inaccuracies in the letter . I am not a Palin fan , but if you are going to make a case against her , get your facts straight . Wrong on the books , wrong on reproductive choice , wrong on Global Warming ... It would behove you to stop listening to what you are told and do the research yourself .....

Submitted by The Great and Powerful Oz on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 13:04

Check the Facts

To the Great and Powerful Oz

I myself check ALL available facts about candidates. I think it is the readers' responsibiity to be thoroughly informed when posting on-line. There are many resources available, not just the blogs.

Submitted by 1gypsy on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 13:09

Fellow Chicks

We need to ask ourselves Why , when the mainstream media is largely made up of men , do so many of us depend solely on them for our political and societal information ? Why do so many of us just take what they say at face value ? Are we not capable of doing our own research and comming to our own conclusions ? I mean , because Obama gave Chris Matthews a tingle up his leg does that mean that Obama is a good guy ? C'mon , 'chicks' you are much smarter than that , you don't have to buy what they are selling . DO the research and make your own decision .

Submitted by The Great and Powerful Oz on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 13:14

1 gypsy ,

I don't doubt that you do . i was speaking to the author of the Letter to Sara Palin .

Submitted by The Great and Powerful Oz on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 13:16

This comment section is under an organized
hit by PUMA

PUMA - blog.pumapac.org - it attempting to orchestrate it's members to go to Blogher blogs with any mention of Presidential politics and spam it with the PUMA meme. This is one of their "action alerts" or "prowls" as they call them.

PaddyCake, Miss Confused (most definately not a "Miss"), Barb P and tuggles at minimum here are from PUMA pac blog.

http://blog.pumapac.org/2008/10/05/we-are-the-lunchtable-where-the-stupi...

Submitted by gimmeabreak on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 15:47

Wow!!

I just followed the link and all I can say is WOW! There was actually a plan. How sad are these people?? lol

It definitely explains a lot. Thanks for that gimmeabreak.

Submitted by topsyturvy86 on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 16:15

I figured something was up...

A lot of the comments lately are being made by folks who just registered on the site. After noticing the trend, I figured something was up because the tone of the comments were all too similar.

It's really unfortunate that people can't engage in a discussion about politics without it resorting to these kind of tactics. Perhaps BlogHer should require a 24-hour waiting period before people are able to post/comment to weed out some of these folks. They're going for the low-hanging fruit, so if they have to wait 24 hours, most will move on to other sites wihout any restrictions.

For the folks on BlogHer who are for the McCain-Palin ticket, please voice your opposition to these tactics. It cheapens us all and does nothing to further a conversation.

A. L. Venable is a Random Citizen. She primarily writes at Dimple and a Smirk (dot) com and Our PDX Network.

Submitted by alvenable on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 16:30

Hello A.L & everyone

Hello A.L & everyone else,

Well, I seem to be a victim of circumstance. Good grief, I was more or less accused of being a sock puppet today, lol.

A bit about myself, I've been active on message boards since about 2003. Met a bunch of people at the BBC boards - International, but Brits and Americans mostly - and we love talking politics, among other things. For the record, this board is pretty tame compared to that one. :) We actually did have a British sock puppet there who was everything from her Nanny to her own boyfriend, lol. So, I understand how frustrating that is.

Anywho, I'm relatively knew to blogging and started my first one back in July of this year. It's pretty mundane... about home improvement (but my industry and expertise) and I came here looking to link up with other home improvement and decorating blogs by women like myself. Every day when I check in on the home page here the headlines are all political - of course, it's an election year. Because of my love of politics I end up gravitating to and joining in on those discussions. I am an Independent and not afraid to say so, and just today was accused of being a sock-puppet and lying about being an Independent because I don't support Obama...no matter that I emphatically and repeatedly have stated that I don't support McCain, and ironically, for most of the reasons mentioned about Sarah Palin in this post. Didn't matter, I have been labeled a sock-puppet. Wrongly accused, though, and by several people who apparently got this information about a marauding band of sock-puppets (hehe) from this posting. I know that sounds goofy.

I was told by one member, "I'm not going to argue any of the other broad generalities and nonsense from your previous post . I don't need to and no one else here needs to either. "

I realize it's just unfortunate timing that got me caught up in this but it made me feel kind of bad to be unjustly accused, and certainly not welcome at all.

Just remember people, not everyone is a sock-puppet. You'll drive a lot of potential members away if people start accusing everyone. I know from my own modding/administrative experience on other boards, suspicious ip's can be checked if it's questionable.

After today, I'll probably just lay low from posting anything here at BlogHer until after the election.

LePlusJeune - still proud Independent

www.remodelle.net

Submitted by Leplusjeune on Mon, 10/20/2008 - 16:17

Those commenters are sockpuppets

Oh, that's not the worst of it. The PUMAPAC commenters are mostly, if not all, sockpuppets.

See my post here: http://liz-henry.blogspot.com/2008/09/sockpuppets-and-astroturfing-in.ht...

-----------------
Liz Henry
lizzard@bookmaniac.net
Contributing Editor, World and Latin America

Submitted by Liz Henry on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 20:27

Great article, Liz

Liz, that's a great article and love the terminology and methodology provided. I didn't know there was a name for these tactics. I just knew something was making my BS detector beep loudly.

A. L. Venable is a Random Citizen. She primarily writes at Dimple and a Smirk (dot) com and Our PDX Network.

Submitted by alvenable on Sun, 10/05/2008 - 20:46

A Reply From No Clocks

Wow. Considering I wrote this three weeks ago, I was quite surprised to see this sudden response. First I want to say thanks, not only to those who have offered their support of my post (Elisa you did that especially well) but to those who disagree with me. This is great! I think we have far to little debate in this country, so thank you for the opportunity to defend my position.

So if any of you dissenters are still out there listening, here goes: First and foremost, I would never, ever attack another woman because she is a woman. The letter was written ironically, but I really do admire women who work hard and succeed, whether it's in the home, outside the home or both. You all deserve kudos! And I would LOVE to have a woman president or vice president. I just don't want Sarah Palin as VP. I don't want her as VP because of her views on the issues I mentioned, issues that are important to me as a woman and an American. Secondly, I am not wrong about her views on the right to choose or global warming. Those have come straight from her own mouth. No abortion under any circumstances (including rape and incest). And she said at the debate that the causes of global warming didn't matter. I heard her. Until she admits that it was humans, nothing I wrote contradicts that.

As for the pregnant daughter, bless her heart. Indeed, her personal life is irrelevant. Not to mention that I had sex as a teenager; many of us have sex as teenagers. I don't blame or judge anyone for any of that. What is relevant, however, and what bothers me is that a person with a potentially enormous influence on American policy has proof standing in front of them that something doesn't work (in this case abstinence-only education) yet refuses to see that and continues to support that policy.

Just like the scientific proof about global warming. Ignore facts and logic. That's what the post was about. I simply want leaders who think, who look at the facts, reflect on them, and base their decisions and ACTIONS on a logical conclusion, not on "their gut" as George W likes to say. It's that simple. Finally, the book banning. I suppose that because of the way I wrote the sentence (in an effort at humor) it could come across that I believed she banned books. I apologize if that was misleading, I never believed she actually banned books. But she did ask about the possibility of doing so, and she threatened a librarian's job. So the intent (which is just as important) was there. Below you have a clip from an article in the Anchorage Daily News.

WASILLA -- Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so. According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn't fully support her and had to go. Emmons had been city librarian for seven years and was well liked. After a wave of public support for her, Palin relented and let Emmons keep her job.

Again, thanks.

Carol J. Clouse at www.noclocks.wordpress.com

Submitted by NoClocks on Mon, 10/06/2008 - 10:06

Great post!

Thanks, NoClocks for the great post! I am in complete agreement with you on all accords. I would love to see a woman elected, but like you, I don't believe Sarah Palin has the experience to be elected. She has become the "token woman" selected by the GOP to get votes for their party which is an insult to women everywhere.

Submitted by MJ2007 on Mon, 10/06/2008 - 10:29

Great Article...poking fun is so much better
that sarcasm.

...the left side of my brain!

http://torristravel.typepad.com

http://torristravels.blogspot.com

Thank you...great article!

My daughter often says that Sarah Palin would probably be great fun at a soccer game. She would think that Bunko is fun. But she could not be an effective vice-president let alone president. I am beginning to think that McCain did not want to win this election in the first place and he found the perfect way to sabotage his campaign.

Submitted by Barbara-b on Fri, 10/17/2008 - 15:05