I agree that some of the attacks on Sarah Palin have been sexist, but I also think that it is her sex that got her the nomination.  A white male pick of her age and experience level would have been heavily ridiculed by both sides.  It's not my issue that she is a working mom, but I think that the Republican "family values" party is being totally hypocritcal  when they praise her for going back to work a few days after giving birth AND with the whole way that they're handling her daughter's pregnancy.  If this were a Democratic candidate (male or female) they would be ripping them apart, but all of a sudden, teenage pregnancy is something worth being paraded across a party's convention stage?!  (By the way, I don't fault her for her daughter's pregnancy...no one can be with their kid 24-7.  I just don't appreciate it being made out to be a GOOD thing.)  In the end though, I hope that Palin is judged based on where she stands policy-wise, not on the fact that she is a woman and a mother.

Kimberly/Mom in the City 

I think that some of the questions and criticisms leveled at Palin are partly because she, herself, is making her family and motherhood one of the main points that she keeps bringing up about her credentials and electabilty.

I'm more in favor of discussing the issues as well.

However, I also believe that some of the anger exploding in her direction was brought on by the pundits, politicians and even Palin herself.  I'm in too much of a hurry to link to all of the original feeds on Media Matters and on the network's sites, so here is a terrific summary of what I am talking about.

Sarah Palin and sexism.  You can skip through to 1:44 minutes in.

Ignore the commentary.  Just watch the referenced clips.

If another parent sneered at your son because he decided to dye a streak of blue into his hair, and then 3 months later, their own teen does it but that same parent thinks it's "an expression of their individuality"?  You'd think they were nuts.

I don't have a problem with Republican's defense of Palin. I have a problem with their defense of Palin without acknowledging that they've leveled the same attacks at people who they don't like.

It's hypocritical to the point that it so beautifully fits the definition (which is): a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs,
principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a
person whose actions belie stated beliefs.

If I read a remark that is sexist I will comment upon that fact.

I will not allow Sarah's gender to prohibit me from criticising her on her record, or what she says. I will hold her to the same vetting standard in which Obama has been through.

I believe in equal gender ethics and I will not be party to any form of psuedo victim-hood equally I will not be party to sexism.

With regard to her mothering, her daughters pregnancy, or any other family issue, I believe that is her concern. Private and personal.

My first comment on Gov Palin's speech last night.

“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities.”

YUP, Sarah, CO’s do have actual responsibilities too.

Some think being a CO is soup serving.

CO Standard Job Description:

administration, planning, policy decision-making, program and leadership development and action implementation, public relations activities, and service activities.

But CO work takes form within the dynamics of community and struggle, requiring organizers to have an extraordinary range of competencies.

Roles and Responsibility of CO:

challenge people to act on behalf of their common interests

develop new relationships out of old ones - sometimes by linking one person to another and sometimes by linking whole networks of people together.

creating opportunities for people to deliberate to reinterpret these circumstances in ways that open up new possibilities for action.

People are recruited, battles fought and organizations built through highly energized, intensely focused campaigns.

Build community by developing leadership.

http://www.nfg.org/cotb/12organizers.htm

Mr Giuliani says “it’s his first problem on his resume”.

Not true, ‘Barack for America’ is a study on Community Organizing expertise. Your mocking Sarah is ill-informed!

Like Mr Giuliani said, “this is no time for on-the-job training”.

YUP Gov Sarah Palin VP nominee.

“And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves"

Obama wasn’t belittling your experience as Mayor in Wasilla. He was comparing the executive experience between you two. Contrasting the size (constituents and budgets). He has a legitimate argument.

Mr. Giuliani said, “Barack Obama has never led anything, nothing, nada,”

But he has.

Obama for America is the largest organization Obama has ever run.

Obama runs a tight ship with a drama-free campaign. Can u say the same Gov Palin?

Obama was drawing a comparison with his executive experience of leading a very successful campaign. Millions of constituents, payrolls, budget, scheduling over a 50 state strategy. His community organization experience (that u Sarah derided) has helped develop the foundation of his pragmatic, political style.

Obama’s early decision to hire political professional campaign operatives rather than surround himself with capitulators has been an unexpected success for its efficient functionality.

Palin has cited her mayoral work as a central part of her qualification to serve as governor. But at the beginning of her term, asked by the local newspaper how she would run the city without experienced department heads, she made the job sound like no big deal: "It's not rocket science. It's $6 million and 53 employees."

http://dwb.adn.com/news/politics/story/8334949p-8231037c.html

“and he’s worried someone won’t read them his rights.”

YUP, Gov Palin.

I am too!

Try and imagine Sarah, that Track is taken and held prisoner at a place like Guantánamo, he is considered an enemy combatant, but he has no rights to disprove this. Tortured under interrogation. Without international human rights law to protect him. Or allow him the right to protest wrongful imprisonment, that’s habeas corpus (what u mocked Sarah). After 61/2 years he is released. What impact will the injustice of Track’s, wrongful imprisonment have on family, friends and relatives? Injustice is a passionate emotion we can all relate too, regardless of race or creed.

Probably nothing has done more to tarnish America’s reputation in this area than the current administration's decision to combat terrorism without regard to US obligations under international human rights law.

Gov Palin, your mocking of human rights and the rule of law is alarming.

I am a firm believer that women should have choice. Obviously, Sarah Palin has taken advantage of the choices available to her in some instances and in other instances she fights to take away choices that women have. I won't criticize her for going back to work when her baby was 3 days old, for dragging her teenage daughter through a media scandal due to her own ambitions, or for other choices she has made along the way if she would agree to get her nose and the nose of the nation out of the choices that other women make (e.g. to get an abortion). She, and other women, are entitled to make their own choices and not be criticized for them.

HOWEVER....I do have a problem with her being in public office and upholding certain ideals when her private life demonstrates that those are perhaps flawed ideals. She is against teaching sex ed in schools and is for abstinence, but yet her teenage daugther is pregnant. Perhaps if she had taught her daughter about the birds and the bees and told her that she would help her to get birth control if she needed it, she wouldn't be in this situation. Kids make mistakes. I get that. But it is also pretty obvious in our sexed-up culture that if you try to pretend that teen sex doesn't exist, that is not going to be an effective method of birth control.

It reminds me a bit of the Spitzer scandal. Men use prostitutes. I don't like it, but....whatever. However, when a politician comes into office and starts ranting and raving about "cleaning up" and then his own actions are not compatible with what he is professing, then he needs to step down (as he did) and reconsider whether (a) his policies are flawed and (b) whether he is suited to public office.

If her policies already failed in her home, do we want to let her help lead a nation?

No thanks.

I'll stand up for people, male or female, that have ideals I believe in and that have demonstrated a committment to and success with those ideals in their personal and/or business life.

PhD in Parenting - http://phdinparenting.wordpress.com

for obvious reasons, not the least of which is that I can scream and yell that we've been defending the motherhood stuff while rallying against sexism...but seeing it in a post, with links, might help the world visualize a bit better.

Also, perhaps conservatives need to watch their own backyard too?

http://www.drlaurablog.com/2008/09/02/sarah-palin-and-motherhood/

but I'm happy to see that Rudy Giuliani is now a feminist.

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain

We are right here.

Standing up for Palin's right to choose. Not to have an abortion and not to force her unwed, pregnant teenage daughter to have one.

Standing up for Palin's right to juggle motherhood and family in the way she sees fit.

Standing up for Palin's right to accept the nomination of her party, despite the criticism of some that she's a thinly qualified woman.

Like I said, feminists are standing up for Palin. Even Christian feminists (womanists), like myself.

What we are not doing is letting others make us think that to raise questions about Palin's stand on abortion and what that might mean if the GOP wins, that questioning her budget cuts against pregnant teens in her state, and that shining light on duplicitous flip flopping on her part-- is to be sexist, anti-woman, and unfeminist- like.

(Excuse for double-posting this comment here and on a similar thread. I think I posted it in the wrong thread before.) 

Read Renita's Blog Something Within Since She Spends Way More Time on It Than She Should: http://www.somethingwithin.com/blog.

I was excited abour Sarah Polin's speech last night because she was strong and powerful and it is great to see a woman as the Republican VP nominee.

I agree that the can-she-be-a-Mom and is-she-a-good-Mom aruments aren't relevant.

I disagree with her policies and some of her attacks last night were untrue and nasty.

I'm glad to see her where she is, but I hope I don't see too much of her! I wrote more about this here.

Carol Marie Ramsey
Finding balance and peace in parenting at Graceful Parenting

This is a great is that needs to be addressed. I'm getting more and more annoyed with MSM as this election progresses. The other thing I'm tired of hearing is "Where's Obama on this one?" He's emphatically stated that Palin's family is off limits. Yet another thing ignored as people rush to become indignant that no one, other than conservatives, is defending Sarah Palin. That's just not true. But it does tend to turn things around and try to make the Republican party look like the party encouraging women's rights to make their own choices about their lives...

This Time, It's Personal

YieldingWealth.com

The media want simple, tidy stories that fit predetermined narratives.  Ms. Palin is a paradox - a woman living a full life made possible by traditional feminism who rejects everything feminism stands for.  She has the right to do as she wishes with her life.  Sexists and their double standards come in every political stripe.  As feminists we have no choice but to stand up for her against these people. 

But we don't have to vote for her.

http://sandradginzburg.typepad.com/inner_city_mama/

Sandy 

For the first time in a while I see a ticket, McCain/Palin, that makes me feel physically ill, but not because it's a man with a female running mate.  It's the fact twisting, out-and-out lies, and hypocrisy that goes with the pair.

Thank you for this provocative and honest post.

Nordette is a Contributing Editor with BlogHer.com whose personal blog is hosted on another site at this link.