By Mary Sanchez, Kansas City Star
But for the grace of God go many women when the subject is Sarah Palin.
No, most women will never be considered for vice president. Palin should never have faced that challenge either. As many have pointed out, she doesn’t exactly have the heartiest resume of political experience.
Kay Bailey Hutchison comes to mind as a better choice, as do Christine Todd Whitman and Olympia Snowe. Surely there are others who could have filled this role and also been of the gender that John McCain wrongly believes is necessary to court women voters.
Palin is being touted a bit like the female boss whom female workers are supposed to like because of her gender alone. Sorry, but far too many of us have been out in the world long enough to see through this simplistic shtick. Those who look like us do not always have our best interests in mind.
Yes, Palin is likable. Spunky even — the kind of woman you’d enjoy knowing because she could hold an interesting conversation, retell a poignant anecdote, and also offer a tip on where to buy a great pair of shoes. She’s obviously accomplished as a local and state politician, a loving wife and mother. All laudable attributes.
But women voters do not need a vice president they can lunch with. They need someone who could step in and be the commander in chief.
Peel back the Palin veneer and what is revealed is a woman dealing with many real-life issues facing American families, but not in ways that would form strong public policy. So while Palin alternately glows and flinches during her 15 minutes in the national spotlight, her story can highlight a few concerns.
She has a 5-month-old baby with Down syndrome and a teenage daughter who is pregnant.
The risk of having a baby with Down syndrome increases as a woman becomes older (1 in 910 at age 30, according to one source, and 1 in 28 at age 45).
Palin is 44. With many women now marrying and having children later in life, and with many unable to afford the tremendous cost of fertility treatments, the odds of older women giving birth to a child with a genetic disorder are high.
Some turn to abortion. Personally, I respect and agree with Palin’s opposition to abortion. It would not be my choice either. Seeing the way the Palin family held the infant son Trig during Palin’s Wednesday acceptance speech, there was no doubt how much love exists for that baby.
But voters also recognize that rape happens, that pregnancy by incest happens, that giving people access to contraception can prevent unwanted pregnancies. Palin’s view doesn’t address those harsh realities. How Palin runs her family is her business, but what she deems best for the Palin family isn’t necessarily best for the masses.
Bristol Palin is pregnant at 17. Thankfully, she is also from a well-off, supportive family that will likely ensure she does not end up in poverty and still earns a college degree. Most teenagers in her place can only hope for the same.
Bristol doesn’t need sanctimonious critics chastising her. But teenagers like her most certainly need well-run public schools that accommodate students with children, daycare options, and employers that will see her potential and not just the conflict a baby can cause for a new career.
And Bristol obviously could have used what her mother adamantly opposes: access to contraception rather than just the “stay a virgin” message that, while perhaps ideal, is not realistic.
Dissuading kids from having sex too young is one thing. But the wishful hopes of the adults preaching chastity should not cloud the truth: that teens are still having unprotected sex.
Finally, much has been made of the idea that Palin should focus on being a mother rather than a politician, as if the two were mutually exclusive.
Had Mitt Romney been chosen as McCain’s running mate, you can bet no one would be suggesting that Romney would be too taxed at the end of his day to spend appropriate time with his five children. There is, after all, a Mrs. Romney to help out. Just as there is a Mr. Palin.
Respecting Palin as a savvy woman is one thing. Believing she is the right choice for the job of vice president is condescending to women voters.
©2008 The Kansas City Star
Distributed by Tribune Media Services
To reach Mary Sanchez, send e-mail to msanchez@kcstar.com
Delicious
Digg
The liberal hate campaign
against this woman is sickening. You can't stand an uppity black man like Clarence Thomas who doesn't shuffle along fast enough to the liberal plantation and you can't stand Sarah Palin because she's not a cold blooded baby killing bimbo like you.
Olympia Snow, Christine Todd Whitman? Of course not, because liberals like them would be a joke on the national level. Republicans want normal Americans not another neo-fascist liberal oppressor.
Take your bigoted authoritarian nonsense and shove it.
Interflop - unbelievable
You have the audacity to queston Gov. Palin's choice of churchs after Rev. J. Wright???? Really???/
Excuse me while I go lmao.......
also
There are legit questions that should be raised about how Palin's extremist religious views may impact her judgment:
"She belonged to the Wasilla Assembly of God church in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska. But though she attended the church from her teenage years to 2002, the Alaska governor hasn't talked much about her religion since joining the Republican ticket.
Palin's former pastor, Tim McGraw, says that like many Pentecostal churches, some members speak in tongues, although he says he's never seen Palin do so. Church member Caroline Spangler told CNN, "When the spirit comes on you, you utter things that nobody else can understand ... only God can understand what is coming out of our mouths."
Some Pentecostals from Assembly of God also believe in "faith healing" and the "end times" -- a violent upheaval that they believe will deliver Jesus Christ's second coming."
"Palin now attends the Wasilla Bible Church. She was there on August 17, just days before entering the national spotlight. David Brickner, the founder of Jews for Jesus, was a speaker. He told congregants that terrorist attacks on Israel were God's "judgment" of Jews who haven't embraced Christianity. Brickner said, "Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television. When a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment -- you can't miss it.""
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/08/palin.pastor/index.html
Generally agree with Jenniferm
The irony of Palin's pregnant 17-yr-old in light of her "abstinence-only" stance on sex ed aside, there are plenty of reasons to question Palin's suitability for the job based on her experience, and plenty of policy positions that she and McCain both bring that are strong contrasts to the changes to the Bush White House being promoted by the Obama/Biden ticket. It seems kind of pointless, and indeed, self-defeating, to attack Palin because of her family choices.
Inexperience -- she served as a city councilperson and mayor of a town of around 7,000, and has been governor of Alaska, which has a population just a bit larger than that of Kansas City, MO, for just 18 months.
Corruption and abuse of power -- evidence indicates that she abused her power as governor to attempt to get retribution against her ex-brother-in-law.
Support for earmarks and pork -- she supported the "Bridge to Nowhere" as long as we taxpayers were paying for it, and she worked in concert with lobbyists to obtain a huge windfall of federal dollars when she was mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska. It's disingenuius for her to position herself and McCain to be against earmarks and pork in light of this history and McCain's employment of a considerable number of former lobbyists in their campaign.
Disregard for science -- supports teaching religious creationism in our science classrooms, and dismisses scientific consensus on human caused climate change.
Is this really the type of person we want one 72-year-old heartbeat away from the White House? Will this woman bring us the leadership we need to resurrect America's image and power? Or will McCain and she merely continue the Bush administration's economic and foreign policy disaster?
Good grief.
Romney's sons are all adults with families of their own so I don't think many people would be wondering why he's not spending more time with them. And as I mentioned before no one said anything of Fred Thompson's very young children when he was running for president.
This is getting ridiculous. Do you 'in the tank for Obama' writers really believe that attacking Palin as a working mom with five children, the youngest of which is a special needs child, therefore should not be VP, is the best angle here? Does your credibility and integrity as a writer really worth losing? Are you really women? Liberal women? Sad. Very sad.
hmmm Pale Imitation...
Is that a racist remark??? Just asking.
While I do not agree with everything Palin says the number one reason I like her is that she is not a candidate from inside the beltway like the ones you mentioned. If you look at the polls, which democrats seem to go by, you will notice that congressional approval isn't very high.
As far as leadership experience goes she has more than Obama. Democrats didn't have a problem with Bill Clinton being only a governor to elect him to President.
Your whole column is hogwash.
palin for vp
She's not vp material because you disapprove of her life?
She has an 80% approval rating as governor of a state. Not to mention the path by which she became governor.
It seems to me we elected a governor president. Surely we can elect one as vice president.
condecending?
All of the reasons you give for Palin to be disqualified as a VP contender are differences of opinion, not a lack of qualifications. If you have a reason she shouldn't be VP, i'd like to hear it. So far, you've just told me I sometimes disagreew with her, and that she knows where the best shoe buys are found. For all I know, Biden is a real shoe horse, and I already know he tells a good joke. Is he a bad VP choice too?
There's the pot calling the kettle black.
Mary for a person who specializes in condesention you have a lot of room to talk about Sara Palin
Condescending?
If anything, Mary, I think Sarah Palin is the PERFECT choice for VP on the GOP ticket. Talk about CHANGE. Obama votes with the Democrats, what, 99.9 percent of the time? Biden is a 36 year Beltway veteran? True change will come from McCain and Palin. I feel that she represents the best of the women in my community who are just like her, passionate, smart, trying to change the system. I could name half a dozen women in Johnson County and metro KC politics who are cut from the same cloth as Sarah. The American Dream is alive and well and she the example I proudly point to for my own five children. I could not vote for Hillary at all. She did not represent my views or my values. Sarah does. McCain has always had my vote for his valor and courage - a Mr. Smith goes to Washington kind of guy. I disagree with you that she is not ready to be VP. That's what everyone said about Harry Truman.