Sexism, Protest Voting & The Election
A few days ago Larry King was doing a show on the efforts of Hillary Clinton to get her voters, particularly women, enthusiastic about Barack Obama. He had several women panelists, all but one of which thought that Hillary's female base would follow her lead to Barack, as both he and Hillary have basically the same positions on the issues.
However, one woman, the leader of a woman's group dedicated to combat sexism, who claims to represent a couple million women, said they she was going to vote for John McCain because "the Democrats should not be rewarded" for not speaking up against the sexism which the media and Obama surrogates had injected into the campaign. At the same time she professed to be pro-abortion rights, anti-war, pro universal health care, but she was hell-bent on punishing the Democratic Party.
Her attitude really drove me nuts! Every other woman on the panel agreed with her on pervasive sexism in the campaign, but none of them expressed agreement with her that the presence of that sexism was a legitimate reason for women to abandon the Democratic Party. Certainly Barack Obama is not a sexist. He is married to a professional person as accomplished and as intelligent as himself. Strangely, this same woman dismissed the abortion issue by saying that women should not tie their votes to this one issue, yet she is voting for McCain based on one issue and is abandoning her party's candidate who is clearly not a sexist! She doesn't seem to understand that the only reason that there was no sexism in the Republican Primary is that no woman was running. Now she sees logic in penalizing the party the produced a female candidate who came within a hair of winning and who was supported by millions of men!
I have no problem with women or men who vote for McCain because they agree with his political philosophy and value his leadership. That is the basis upon which one should support a candidate. Protest votes leave me cold. It was the protest vote for Ralph Nader that killed Al Gore. If Nader had not received 95,000 votes in Florida, Gore would have been elected. We would not be In Iraq. 4000 fine patriotic young Americans would still be alive and thousands more would still have their limbs. It is even conceivable that 9/11 would not have happened! Certainly Roberts and Alioto would not be on the Supreme Court and we would not be the world's leading debtor nation!
However, one woman, the leader of a woman's group dedicated to combat sexism, who claims to represent a couple million women, said they she was going to vote for John McCain because "the Democrats should not be rewarded" for not speaking up against the sexism which the media and Obama surrogates had injected into the campaign. At the same time she professed to be pro-abortion rights, anti-war, pro universal health care, but she was hell-bent on punishing the Democratic Party.
Her attitude really drove me nuts! Every other woman on the panel agreed with her on pervasive sexism in the campaign, but none of them expressed agreement with her that the presence of that sexism was a legitimate reason for women to abandon the Democratic Party. Certainly Barack Obama is not a sexist. He is married to a professional person as accomplished and as intelligent as himself. Strangely, this same woman dismissed the abortion issue by saying that women should not tie their votes to this one issue, yet she is voting for McCain based on one issue and is abandoning her party's candidate who is clearly not a sexist! She doesn't seem to understand that the only reason that there was no sexism in the Republican Primary is that no woman was running. Now she sees logic in penalizing the party the produced a female candidate who came within a hair of winning and who was supported by millions of men!
I have no problem with women or men who vote for McCain because they agree with his political philosophy and value his leadership. That is the basis upon which one should support a candidate. Protest votes leave me cold. It was the protest vote for Ralph Nader that killed Al Gore. If Nader had not received 95,000 votes in Florida, Gore would have been elected. We would not be In Iraq. 4000 fine patriotic young Americans would still be alive and thousands more would still have their limbs. It is even conceivable that 9/11 would not have happened! Certainly Roberts and Alioto would not be on the Supreme Court and we would not be the world's leading debtor nation!
posted by Paul at
1:29 PM
2 Comments:
This is a thoughtful piece, Paul. Maybe this Cynthia Ruccia should think about the sexism and racism directed at Michelle Obama by the media and McCain's surrogates. If you want my opinion (please see the irony) Ruccia is being a typical emotional woman, letting her feelings get in the way of rational thought. This proves that women are unfit for the White House!
Agreed, unfortunately there are too many people who view elections as a game rather than as a life or death decision for millions. If anyone doubts the grave consequences of electing a war monger please read Read Sy Hersh's column in the New Yorker this week at http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_hersh
also please not that I added this blog to my blogroll on the sidebar on my new blog itstrulyrandom.com
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