Flat busted

It made me blind with rage last night that both candidates brought me back to my middle school days.

Remember when you figured out that acting stupid made you more popular? You gave a right answer, started getting good grades. And some other kids (maybe Joe Six-Pack), kids who couldn't or wouldn't try to get the right answer - they took the offensive. They attacked. Called the smart kids "geeks," or "nerds." They got laughs from the rest by teasing the kids who succeeded.

And suddenly, it was game on.

To be average, to fit in, became most important. And at a certain age too, little girls realized they are treated differently from boys - held to a different standard. Nothing makes me more frustrated than when I see a little girl realize being cute and coy rewards her with what she wants...they suddenly realize that being feminine buys them some power. They figure out, well, if I'm going to be held back anyway, I'm not going to fight. I'll play along. Like when women know they can win an argument by crying.

It's offensive to me the Republican party would not only hold Palin up as an example of feminism, but that everyone else looks the other way and plays along.


No one attacked her daughter's choice (ding ding ding, there's that word) to keep her baby, it was off-limits. No one could point out the irony that maaaaaaybe that whole "teaching abstinence" thing ain't working if your daughter's preggers. It was, "Don't pick on her!" Sure, if she didn't want to limit others' reproductive choices, it WOULDN'T be fair. But she does. So it is.

As for the first VP debate last night, the bar for Palin was set so low the fact she made it onstage was applauded. And she was off-limits. Biden couldn't and didn't address how evasive and superficially vague her answers were. He couldn't and didn't take her to task about misrepresenting herself, that she couldn't find Main Street with a freaking map. If he had done those things, he would have been accused of picking on her. No, he had to pick on McCain instead, and she had free reign to say whatever she wanted. It came across weakening his side.

Even the moderator had been accused of being biased, thanks to working on a book about African-Americans in politics. Because she has written about Obama, the right got huffy it wasn't fair, waaaaah. So she lobbed softballs as well.

The end result = Palin was treated with kid gloves last night.



Feminism is NOT about being treated differently. It's not about going easier on a lady, or giving her special breaks.

Feminism is about being treated equally.


Palin's biggest strengths are often listed as (in order of importance):
1. her looks
2. her toughness against unarmed animals
3. the fact she's pro-created
4. that she has held an office (probably made possible by #1)

You know what? If that's how people see your strengths...you're not the best person to represent feminism. So stop being so smug, Missy, thinking you're the movement's poster child. You're setting it back.

If we were choosing a reality tv show host, sure, then half of those qualifications above would apply.

I could even imagine people feeling sorry for her in her Couric and Gibson interviews, like they felt sorry for (or - gulp - related to) W.

"Don't pick on them! They're not your intellectual elite! They're like us! They're trying!"





You're right. They're extremely trying.

It's like Ferguson said on his late-night hootenanny recently - I don't want a leader who's like me. I want a leader who's a million times SMARTER than me. Someone successful. Someone who intimidates the fuck out of me, who gets more done than I ever will.

But it seems a lot of people in this country still want to make fun of the geek's accomplishments to make themselves feel better about their own deficiencies.

I fear this country is, once again, going to choose a leader based on who they'd like to get a beer with, who looks good with the sound down...not on who's best qualified to lead us out of this shit-storm.


Picture of Sarah Palin, provided to the AP by her family. The shirt, reportedly one of Palin's favorites, says "I may be broke but, I'm not flat busted." Yep. It's got improper punctuation on it. And it's a boob joke! Get it?