Legal Commentary

Is Sarah Palin The "21st Century Symbol Of American Women In Politics?"

By Big Tent Democrat

I do not have particularly strong feelings about Sarah Palin. To me she is a fairly standard issue wingnut, with some decent political skills. She may be a force in the Republican Party, but the reality is Sarah Palin will never hold high national office (she could of course be a Senator from Alaska anytime she wants to be - where she can join the likes of Inhofe, Coburn and DeMint in the Know Nothing extreme right wing of the Republican Party, but she will never be President.) Because of that, this column seems startlingly off base:

Since the 2008 election, progressive leaders have done little to address the obvious national appetite for female leadership. And despite (or because of) their continuing obsession with Ms. Palin, they have done nothing to stop an anti-choice, pro-abstinence, socialist-bashing Tea Party enthusiast from becoming the 21st century symbol of American women in politics.

Say what? This strikes me as ridiculous. Palin is a run of the mill extreme right wing Republican Know Nothing, who happens to be a woman. There is nothing about her stances that addresses womens issues, nor could there be in the Republican Party, which finds womens issues to be anathema. Of course many women are Republicans, but not because of womens issues. Sarah Palin is no symbol of women in politics. She's just an extremist in the Republican Party, who happens to be a woman. While the column's thesis that a strong political female figure fighting for womens rights is necessary seems right to me, using Palin as the takeoff point of this argument makes it a silly column.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 29, 2010 (boomark / email).