As a woman, I am insulted

If there is one thing that I can't stand, it is sexism - but over the course of the last few weeks I have discovered something that is even more insulting, claiming sexism where it doesn't exist in order to get ahead.

Since Sarah Palin was named as his VP pick, John McCain and his campaign's defense to anything brought up against her is to cry sexism. You think she doesn't have enough experience? You must be belittling her accomplishments because you are sexist. You don't agree with her opposition to teaching sex education in schools? You must be picking on her because her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, and that is sexist. You question John McCain's true intentions by choosing her as a running mate? You must be sexist.

The way McCain campaign cries sexism at every turn makes it virtually impossible to critique or question her in anyway. The way they have gone about introducing and campaigning around Palin makes it completely clear that choosing her for VP was a strategic choice based on her being a woman.

As a woman, I am insulted by this in many ways. Here are just a few:

(1) The thought that women who voted for Hilary Clinton will vote for her simply because she is a woman.

THIS is sexist. Even though I have been a Obama supporter since the primaries, I understand that Hilary Clinton is an extraordinary woman. She has experience, dedication, and has done so much not only for women, but for this country. To think that women would vote for McCain simply because he has a female on his ticket - someone who doesn't even compare to Clinton - is disgusting. It shows no respect for women, or the American people.

(2) Claiming that Palin is more relatable, simply because she is a working mother.

I find this to be reverse sexism. Are people forgetting that Obama, Biden, and even McCain are all fathers? Palin is praised for being a working mother, but for some reason the same doesn't happen for Joe Biden, who was for years a single, working father. A father so dedicated to his family that to this day takes the train home every evening from DC to Delaware. How is it that people won't relate to his story, but will relate to Palin's story?

Barack Obama is also fantastic father, you can see it in the way his daughters interact with him. At their age that isn't something that can be faked, those girls adore their father. He is motivated out of love and the hope to see them grow up in a world that provides for them and treats them fairly. So why isn't he praised as much as Palin?

(3) Portraying innocent statements as sexist.

McCain's campaign is trying to make Obama and Biden walk on glass over everything that they say about Palin. I find this ironic, considering she, herself, compared hockey moms to pit-bulls in lipstick, and released a picture of herself in a shirt that says "I may be broke, but I am not flat busted" over the chest of it:


If either of these statements were said by anyone else, the Republican party would have jumped all over it.

And of course, as soon as Obama uses any phrase referring to lipstick - he is being sexist, or attacking Palin. The other day he used the phrase "pig in lipstick", as he has done in the past, and the McCain campaign instantly called it an attack against Palin. Here is the quote in its entirety.:

"John McCain says he's about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, 'Watch out George Bush -- except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics -- we're really going to shake things up in Washington. That's not change. That's just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough of the same old thing."

This is clearly about McCain's policies, not Palin. John McCain himself used the expression “lipstick on a pig” in October 2007 when speaking about Hillary Clinton’s health-care plan, but if you talk to the Republicans, somehow this time it is "different". McCain needs to stop playing games and start focusing on issues. It is getting offensive, old, and pathetic.

Months ago, before Palin was nominated, she said the following about Hilary Clinton's claims of sexism and unfair media coverage:

"When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or, you know, maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, man, that doesn’t do us any good. Women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country. I don’t think it’s, it bodes well for her -- a statement like that."

Oh, but how things change once the roles are reversed. I do agree with her though (probably the only time I will say that), this does not help women to progress. Especially the fake sexism claims that are happening now. As a woman, I find it embarrassing. Putting so much focus on these fake, pointless claims makes it that much harder to identify and address legitimate claims. Sadly, when having a women nominated to be Vice President should push the Women's Movement forward, stupid campaign games and attempts to manipulate the public, are actually pushing it back.

Finally, I find it incredibly hypocritical of John McCain to claim that Obama is sexist considering his own history. He has made many ACTUAL sexist remarks of his own. For example, at a GOP fundraiser in 1998 he made the joke:

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? -Because Janet Reno is her father."

Let's stop the games and false claims, and get back to the issues.

Only 55 days until the election...