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'Hillary's Women' Reject McCain's VP Choice
America's largest women's rights organisation delivered a snub to Sarah Palin's history-making candidacy yesterday by endorsing Barack Obama and Joe Biden's bid for power.
The National Organisation for Women, along with other prominent women's advocacy groups, have decided to endorse Barack Obama and Joe Biden's bid for power, snubbing Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin (above). (Getty Images) The National Organisation for Women (NOW) is 500,000 strong and hugely influential. The feminist organisation almost never supports a presidential candidate, but the Alaska governor's Christian fundamentalist faith and her opposition to abortion rights has forced its hand.
Other women's rights organisations are also campaigning against Governor Palin, pushed along by a spontaneous anti-Palin movement among women.
In Alaska at the weekend, a Welcome Home rally for Mrs Palin was dwarfed by a demonstration organised by Alaska Women Reject Palin, which was held on the lawn of a downtown Anchorage library.
After triggering a huge surge of enthusiasm for John McCain's campaign and sending him into the lead over Barack Obama, Mrs Palin has come under intense scrutiny from the national media. The investigation known as "Troopergate" threatens to expose her as a bullying governor who fired Alaska's de facto police chief for family rather than professional reasons.
The controversy moved up a notch yesterday when Mrs Palin's campaign team announced her refusal to co-operate with the Troopergate investigation because it was "tainted" by politics.
NOW's decision to back Senator Obama when a woman is within striking distance of becoming elected is a bold step for the group and a setback for John McCain's hopes of luring the millions of women who supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries.
"The addition of Sarah Palin gave us a new sense of urgency," Kim Gandy, the head of NOW, told National Public Radio. "She is being portrayed as a supporter of women's rights... as a feminist when in fact her positions on so many of the issues are really anathema to ours.
"A lot of women think it's a great thing for a woman to be running for vice-president," she continued, "but they are completely dismayed when they find out her positions. The idea that she opposes abortion even in cases of rape and incest - those kinds of positions are completely out of step with American women and once they find out about those positions, they get a little less excited."
Last week, Alaska legislators ordered Mrs Palin's husband, Todd, as well as her chief of staff and deputy chief of staff to answer questions at the Troopergate inquiry. Several years ago, Governor Palin's sister went through a custody battle with her ex-husband Trooper Mike Wooten. Efforts to sack Trooper Wooten failed and Governor Palin sacked the safety director Walt Monegan instead. Mrs Palin's refusal to co-operate with the panel could raise more doubts her suitability as a national candidate in the minds of voters.
The governor's creationist beliefs have also emerged as a hurdle. In Wasilla, where she cut her teeth as a Republican mayor, the Rev Howard Bess, a Baptist minister and author of the book Pastor, I am Gay, says his work was on then Mayor Palin's "hit list" for removal from the town's library. "People in city government have confirmed to me what Sarah was trying to do," he said.
Another Wasilla resident, Phil Munger, a music composer and teacher, says she pushed an evangelical agenda in the town. "She wanted to get people who believed in creationism on the [school] board. I bumped into her after my band played at a graduation ceremony at the Assembly of God [a church]. I said, 'Sarah, how can you believe in creationism - your father's a science teacher.' And she said, 'We don't have to agree on everything.' I pushed her on the earth's creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she'd seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them."
Mr Munger also asked Mrs Palin if she believed in the End of Days, the doomsday scenario when the Messiah will return. "She looked in my eyes and said, 'Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime'."
- Posted in
129 Comments so far
Show AllThis woman is so hideously backward, disgusting, and corrupt that I cannot even stand to look at her face. Then again, I have a hard time looking at any Fascists.
Thank God women really are coming together and doing something about this mess. This article gives me hope for my daughters and granddaughters and great- granddaughters - if there are ever any of those.
I'm pro life, but otherwise I tend to side with NOW on most issues.
As for Palin, all a kook has to do to avoid detection is dress conventially.
It's the people in business suits and ties that you have to worry about. The willingness to wear a tie when carrying out atrocities, is that the reason the people don't object?
Because Bush wears a tie, and people who wear ties can never be questioned or expected to tell the truth. Is that the explanation for why Bush still gets as much support as he does? I got to get the drugs that the republicans use.
I am pro life, and I am pro choice. These are not incompatible convictions. Personally I find termination of a pregnancy to be a sad thing in most cases, but it is none of my business unless I am the one who is pregnant...which isn't going to happen in this lifetime since I am male.
The idea that the earth is 7000 years old is just patently ludicrous. Belief is a powerful thing. We all choose to believe lots of things which define how we perceive and behave. Belief in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, in thinking people, gives cause to question the belief. Sarah Palin is not a critical thinker, she is a follower, an idealogue, and these things make her dangerous.
I think that Palin misunderstood the question about the age of the earth. She thought that she was being asked about McCain's age.
q
Well I am neither creationist or evolutionist.
Yes--its possible to say that we cannot know how old the earth really is
or where we came from. It can never be proven absolutely one way or another.
Honestly--its a childish trivial argument.
Both theists and secularists use origin myths as a way of promoting an agenda.
For theists its the notion of the Great Chain of Being, Dominionism etc and science to tamper with life(the head of the human genome project was a born again christian). For secular equivalents its Evolution and Human supremacy and science to tamper with life.
Buddhists never get into the debate-you have to ask why.
Because its irrelevant to day to day living.
Of course it is possible to be ignorant. Who could argue with that? Too bad you care so little about the history of your planet and the origin of life. I hope you take the time to learn about it before you die. The pleasure of understanding is immense.lizard
"Yes--its possible to say that we cannot know how old the earth really is ..."
Yes, it's possible to say that... anyone can say that (and worse) and often do. Those who say things like "it's impossible to say that the Earth is not really flat" often do demonstrate an inability to grasp scientific findings... and make statements that are even more inane than yours.
Why not just say that science is a make-work program for those who are not able to flip hamburgers? Let's demand that we just discard all the findings of Earth and Space Sciences and listen to the beat of the thumpin' on a bible!
Everyone! Enable your handicaps now! First, set the dial to "dumb down".
I agree with baruchzed. I think it is up to each individual or individuals to decide whether or not to have a child. I think that you can be Pro-Life while still allowing others to make their own decisions. It is interesting to see how the Pro-Life vigilante's are trying to push every one of their convictions on to the population as a whole. Creationism, Having the ten commandments in public buildings, and Anti-Gay marriage have all pushed their way to the mainstream debate in the last decade. The irony is that those on the right claim others are pushing their way of life on the rest of us, while in actuality they are trying to push their beliefs on the majority. When will we all stand up against the tolerance of these intolerant religious zealots? The cynical beauty of the whole right to life argument is that these people are most often pro-war: As long as the life is a little white western child then it is important to cherish... as for Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia... well we all know how the United States likes to bomb them properly...
"The cynical beauty of the whole right to life argument is that these people are most often pro-war: As long as the life is a little white western child..."
They also want to prevent abortion for any reason (although you can bet if their precious little deb is knocked up they'll run her to a liberal state for a quick D&C) and then claim that the big bad cities are overrun with welfare mothers and children of color. Hypocritical scum. My mother and her family are devout Catholics who are vocally anti-abortion. They have never voted for a Republican in their lives, because, to paraphrase my mother, "It's the lack of intelligence, stupid!"
NOW is against Palin? Who woulda thunk it? Aren't they against any woman who doesn't have a 5 o'clock shadow? If only Sarah would get a buzzcut hairdo, some neon orange pantsuits, and learn how to clap with her elbows, she would be OK.
Oh come on, all she needs is a brain, a heart, and some common sense. She also needs to lose her huge ego and her lust for power and money. No one said she should become a lesbian. I don't agree that lesbianism or homosexuality is okay, but if I don't have to deal with them, live with them, etc., it doesn't bother me what other people do as long as they're not hurting anyone. I just ignore them and go about my business. Maybe you should just ignore them too, if they upset you Republicans so much.
Sarah Palin
The most despicable character in American Politics since Spiro Agnew.
And we all know where he wound up !
If she is so pro-life, why way back in 1996 did she not endorse the plan to close the bars in Wasilla at 2am rather than 5am -- this would have put them on the same schedule as Anchorage and prevented drunks driving the 45 minutes north to Wasilla to find a still-open bar . . . (see current Newsweek "what do women want" lipstick issue for more info)
Oh but the bar owners contributed $1250 to her campaign for mayor !
I guess that's her price. Not very pro-life in my book.
"Mrs Palin's refusal to co-operate with the panel could raise more doubts her suitability as a national candidate..."
Oh, actually, her refusal to cooperate with an official investigation puts her squarely within the camp of our current fuckfaces-in-chief. In fact, she is proving herself to be eminently qualified to be the fascist figurehead of the New American Century.
How can this nutbag Sarah Palin believe the world is only a few thousands years old?? Has she never heard of carbon dating? Good god almighty the woman is ignorant and dangerous!
How can this nutbag Sarah Palin believe the world is only a few thousand years old?? Has she never heard of carbon dating? Good god almighty the woman is ignorant and dangerous!
palin epitomizes average american sheeple. maybe she would better serve our country if she just fell off that bridge to nowhere?
Thank you NOW.
However, as a woman, a feminist and a gay, I'm dismayed at how the topic of feminism always revolves around my ability to pop out babies.
Evangelists will always support backwards and scary things. They believe in and want to see a planet-wide blood bath, you know, because I kissed my girlfriend or something this is justified. A VP candidate who seriously believes that witches are out to send Satan into people's souls...well. Yikes.
But as freaky as it is to have this strange woman running, we shouldn't focus so much on her Evangelist beliefs as the sole reason why she is not a feminist candidate. When Hillary was running one got a little discourse in the media about pay scale discrepancies at least. The conversation can be a lot more broad.
Just saying: when feminists take positions based against one religious mantra, we let that one group we oppose choose the topics and we turn a lot of people away from the discussion because we argue seemingly only in response to election year jingoism that has little to do with most day-to-day issues a woman faces (that's to say, the issue of whether I can have an abortion or not has little to do with the women in my office not getting promotions because we don't have mustaches). When our primary focus is on reproductive rights it only reinforces the ideas of many that women are weak, emotional baby factories and should not be taken seriously.
Very good points, gyro!Some I has thought of, and some that I hadnt.
Do you have a website or a link? Thanks.
I sometims wonder why I feel vaguely uncomfortqable about some of the crap flowing. Sometimes it takes someone to point it out to me.
Thanks KDelphi.
No, I don't have a website. But it's nice to know that some people are reeling at the "feminist" topics currently in discussion, i.e. babies, pantsuits, sleeveless dresses and makeup. Oh, and spouses' cookie recipes.
Good post... thanks.
I believe, Glory! Armaggedon! Bring it on! Where do you find all these self-fulfilling prophecy evangelical fascists? Giving Palin the keys to nukes is like giving live hand grenades to children for play. Actually it's worse.
Ah, sanity prevails.
Three cheers for the principled, well-reasoned endorsement of the Obama/Biden ticket by the National Organization for Women PAC, restoring some semblance of sanity and balance to the mainstream media's orchestrated push to label the McCain/Palin campaign as some sort of beacon for change and history-making reform.
Thanks, too, to the thousands of sensible Alaskans who spontaneously turned out to demonstrate against the prospect of Sarah Palin actually becoming vice president of the United States a mere four months from now. The locals' opposition was based upon their familiarity with Palin's actual far right political views, and her abrasive, evasive, and far too often petty management style exhibited as a former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and as that state's current governor.
Sarah Palin is to the womens' movement pretty much what figures like Clarence Thomas and Ward Connerly are to the civil rights movement regarding issues of racial justice.
As a prominent member of a neo-con group calling itself Feminists for Life, on religious and ideological grounds Ms. Palin preaches abstinance as a substitute for sex education, and vehemently opposes freedom of reproductive choice even for victims of forcible rape and incest. To try to erase the contributions of people like Margaret Sanger from the history of the womens' rights in the United States is sort of like claiming to be a supporter of equal opportunity for African Americans, but just please don't mention that Frederick Douglass fellow.
There's only about six weeks left before the 2008 presidential election ballots are cast. Less than a month ago, scarcely anybody outside Alaska, or outside a shadowy inner circle of insider GOP campaign strategists, theocrats, and neo-conservative movers and shakers had ever even heard of Sarah Palin. Her surprize choice as a running mate for John McCain may lend a whole new double meaning to the phrase intelligent design, but that doesn't mean that feminism has been co-opted and suddenly redefined in the image of Phyllis Schlafly.
As a male who once marched in the streets in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, I'm willing to trust the good sense of women. Far better than the media pundits focused on the candidates' personality horse race, real world female voters will eventually see past the celebrity hype, and ferret out the substance (and the hidden partisan agenda at work) behind the Palin veep selection.
When all is said and done, once the novelty wears off this snake oil package just won't sell, particularly within the demographic group that's being targeted.
Bill from Saginaw
I wish to hell that DC would finally PASS the ERA.
Women got hte vote after African American men.
Wow, another constitutional scholar.
DC (Congress) DID pass the ERA. 14 STATES refused to ratify it.
Good post Bill from Saginaw.
It's too bad CD and most of it's readers are rigid left wing zealots who won't support Democrats. This kind of talk gets me branded a right winger here on CD because I support Obama.
I do NOT support ANYONE who refuses to support me.
See how that works?
If you don't, it's either due to an inability to perceive the obvious, or a rationalization that points to a character trait that is even more odious... say an obsessive-compulsion to be abused by anyone who can lie, perhaps.
Obama has proven himself to be a liar. Do you believe he will find "god" and change his ways? ... or maybe you believe it's okay to ignore your god's commands when it's politically expedient in a quest to satisfy a personal hunger for power?
Yeah, I know... "Oh, but he's so, like, you know.... lesser evil... so, empower him".
This country is on the brink for one reason only... empowering liars. Think anyone in their right mind would want more of that?
I can only hope that Obama will NOT find god. We need a thinking, rational human beings in the oval office, not two-faced, bible-thumping zealots like McSame/Palin who are willing to say whatever the people want to hear to get elected.
Actually, neither party has a lock on the truth. Both are just as guilty as the other when it comes to pandering and disseminating misinformation. It's time to vote independent and give the two major parties some sorely needed down-time so that they might finally get their acts together.
mistersensible
When you understand why you dismiss the Gods and religions of others, you'll know exactly why I choose to dismiss yours!
So Palin thinks the Earth is less than 7,000 years old. There are trees living today that are 5,000 to 9,500 years old (see website below). It is impossible to try to talk with a creationist about this. Maybe FOX News can come up with a photo of a human riding a dinosaur.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080414-oldest-tree.html
What do you think Obama means by "faith-based initiatives"?
Is he a creationist? Does he think the planet is only a few thousand years old? I've never heard him say. I'm sure he's going after the religious vote, they all have to.
Well, if "they have to" (the ultimate Obama dodge) they shouldnt. It is unconstitutioanl and I am sick of it. I am an atheist. Yes, I still have morals,. Yes, I care about kids and animals--alot more then Dubay ever did. Yes, I'm anti-war and anti-capitalist. I'm anti-Imperialist. And I dont think there is a god.
I guess that makes me agnostic. So dont give me the "only a fool says there is no god" stuff. My reply woudl be "I have no way of knowing and I dont realy care to discuss it any further, because we cannot prove it on way or the other. " But, ultimately , to believe there is a force for what one considers "good" or 'evil" in the unfathomable universe, is , I think, a little silly.
You have every right to belive it. I have every right for you not to use my tax dollars to send kids to church schools, as i slowly watch my country fall behind in every techonological area that matters.
I am also sick of churches practicing politics and refusing to pay taxes. We need revenue. Their tax exempt status should depend on them reamaining politically neutral. How they could possibly accomplish this (since they know the ultimate truth) is beyond me.
Why dont we just take the "heaven" out of it? (So much for the "goodness of their hearts") Let's just say that god said to you, "Hey, I was wrong about the heaven stuff. There is no reward. But, I trust that you wil stil live the same way, because you love me and think that the Bible is the right way to live. No heaven, though. Sorry."
If youdo things for a rewrd, then it is no altruism. That is why faith based corporatios ot be allowed to participate in services that are provided th govt. at taxayer expense.
This site is impossible to correct spellng errors at.
grammer ro?
Palin is disgusting, sure. But I've seen very few articles here critical of Biden.
In comparing Palin to Biden, it's important to note that while Palin is a crazy wolf-hunting religious fanatic, Joe "I am a Zionist" Biden's policy record is actually much worse.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAZmO80dLfE
For example,
He claimed credit for writing the PARTIOT act ""I drafted a terrorism bill after the Oklahoma City bombing. And the bill John Ashcroft sent up was my bill.". . ."
http://prorev.com/2008/08/biden-claimed-credit-for-patriot-act.html
http://killfile.newsvine.com/_news/2008/08/25/1783040-in-1995-joe-biden-basically-wrote-the-patriot-act-
http://www.tnr.com/columnists/story.html?id=ba9b09bb-ed01-4582-b6ec-444834c9df73&k=93697
plus...
Biden appearing on The Daily Show, August 2, 2005: “John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain, because I think the country would be better off, be well off no matter who...”
Biden on Meet the Press in 2002, discussing Saddam Hussein: “He’s a long term threat and a short term threat to our national security… “We have no choice but to eliminate the threat. This is a guy who is an extreme danger to the world.”
Biden on Meet the Press in 2007, on Hussein’s WMDs: “Well, the point is, it turned out they didn’t, but everyone in the world thought he had them. The weapons inspectors said he had them. He catalogued — they catalogued them. This was not some, some Cheney, you know, pipe dream. This was, in fact, catalogued.”
Biden, on Obama’s Iraq plan in August 2007: “I don’t want [my son] going [to Iraq],” Delaware Sen. Joe Biden said from the campaign trail Wednesday, according to a report on Radio Iowa. “But I tell you what, I don’t want my grandson or my granddaughters going back in 15 years and so how we leave makes a big difference.” Biden criticized Democratic rivals such as Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama who have voted against Iraq funding bills to try to pressure President Bush to end the war. “There’s no political point worth my son’s life,” Biden said, according to Radio Iowa. “There’s no political point worth anybody’s life out there. None.”
Biden to the Brookings Institution in 2005: “We can call it quits and withdraw from Iraq. I think that would be a gigantic mistake. Or we can set a deadline for pulling out, which I fear will only encourage our enemies to wait us out — equally a mistake.”
"Palin is disgusting, sure. But I've seen very few articles here critical of Biden."
Nobody is stopping you. I appreciate your opinions on Biden's "qualifications"... just don't use his unacceptability as an excuse to tone down the Palin revulsion. She deserves as much as we can hurl at her and the Palin-McCain mockery.
If you feel an imbalance... provide as much balance as you see fit. thanks.
No candidate in "The Party" deserves office.
This Troopergate nonsense is getting plain silly
I see everyone here scream bloody murder about bad cops and this one was a textbook case...
These are the facts:
he tasered his 10 yr old stepson
drank beer in his police cruiser
shot a moose illegally
threatened to kill his Father-in-law
Tell me that wouldn't get you fired from any police department in the U.S.
By GENE JOHNSON |Associated Press Writer6:22 AM EDT, September 16, 2008
"The state police investigated these charges and substantiated all of them. Col. Julia Grimes, then head of the Alaska State Troopers, suspended Wooten for 10 days and wrote, "The record clearly indicates a serious and concentrated pattern of unacceptable and at times, illegal activity occurring over a lengthy period, which establishes a course of conduct totally at odds with the ethics of our profession."
Don't like her views on abortion?...thats fair...critique away
Don't like her religous views?...thats fair...
Don't think she's experienced enough?...thats fair but she's more experienced than the Dem nominee
but this Troopergate story is a nothingburger
And if she were a Democrat, you'd be calling for her to step down. Just let her get investigated and if she's clean, what do you have to worry about? You remind me of Richard Nixon and his "I'm not a crook" bullshit. I guess he could have waited 32 years to run for office. At least back in the 1970s, the GOP and Democrats weren't a bunch of rubberstamps.
If the investigation weren't being led by Obama's Head Cheerleader in Alaska I would agree with you...I wish it were a Federal Case and we could send the FBI
Like I said, if Palin's clean, then you have nothing to worry about. Thank you for admitting that Palin is not clean. You're too much of a partisan coward to learn. Besides, that case belongs to the state, not the federal. And both Republicans and Democrats are investigating Palin in that state and you have no proof that Obama's connected to any of those investigators.
Arguing with you is so fun because you're so uninformed....
According the Washington Post
Alaska Rep. John Coghill wrote in a letter dated Friday that Democratic state Sen. Hollis French "appears to be steering the direction of the investigation, its conclusion and its timing in a manner that will have maximum partisan political impact on the national and state elections."
(French told Newsweek that he regretted some of his public comments but that he refuses to step down.)
The man overseeing the “investigation,” Sen. Hollis French, is the bald guy near the back (fifth from left, by the Obama ‘08 posters
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/group/AKHQBlog/2008/07
That doesn't prove that he has any ties to Obama. I'm with Fred on letting Palin show that she's clean and that the charges are unworthy. If Palin's held accountable, get a better VP for your party. How hard is that?
I just coke-spritzed my monitor laughing
yup...nothing to see here...move along
The following Alaska elected officials are supporting Senator Obama’s campaign for president:
State Senators (8)
Bettye Davis, Anchorage
Johnny Ellis, Anchorage
Kim Elton, Juneau
HOLLIS FRENCH, ANCHORAGE
Lyman Hoffman, Bethel
Albert Kookesh, Angoon
Joe Thomas, Fairbanks
Bill Wielechowski, Anchorage
Alright toro, let's get one thing straight. You say she's a strong woman right? Then let her fight this case and show her worth. If she can survive those fires you're so worried about, then she might qualify. Otherwise, you're just as silly as Hillary Clinton was in 1998 saying that the accusations against Bill was all part of a "right wing conspiracy".
Just because it was true about Clinton , doesnt mean that there isnt a vast right-wing conspiracy.
Since that issue belongs to the state, let the state duke it out. If you are a "libertarian" as you claim to be, you'd be respecting STATES' RIGHTS and not get so fidgety about Palin somehow being the target of "Obama supporters". Give it up already.
It depends on what you mean by the word "if".
"Troopergate" matters because it is an example of how Palin operates. There were and are ways for her to have dealt with an errant cop that would have been legal and appropriate. Palin chose to go another way. If she chose to go another way on this it is reasonable to consider it likely that Palin would handle other situations with the same kind of autocratic process. In and of itself "troopergate" is not national news, but in this context it is relevant.