Winkin' Blinkin' and Odd
How anyone could say Sarah Palin won last night's debate is beyond me. How anyone could say she "held her own with Biden," makes no sense. She didn't answer the questions that were presented to her. She ignored the moderator and the questions, and spit up some rhetoric that handlers had force fed for the past three days. But that's not all she did.
She alienated more women and charmed more men. She did this with a method women have used for years to attract, deflect and manipulate situations: she flirted shamelessly.
The winking and eyelash batting, the pouting and squinting, the kittenish cutesiness, the mugging for the camera and folksy talk would be barely tolerable in a much younger woman, and is foolish looking from a woman in her forties with five children. Extra foolish looking from a woman who might very well end up being President of the United States, never mind Vice President.
I suppose we should be thankful she didn't show up in a swimsuit or a pageant gown, although her banal bantering and non-answers would have been a better fit for a beauty contest than a Vice Presidential debate.
Just as Betty Boop was a symbol of the depression era, Palin seems to be fashioning her public persona after that large but empty-headed, cartoon character, and is vying for the role of the next Betty Boop in the next era of economic disaster: now.
So there you have it. Sarah Palin did not soil herself on national TV and that seems to be reason enough to declare her as a viable candidate for one of the most powerful positions in the world.
Luckily, women were not fooled as easily as men. And there's more of us than there is of them.
Wink, wink, blink, blink and boop boop a do!
How anyone could say Sarah Palin won last night's debate is beyond me. How anyone could say she "held her own with Biden," makes no sense. She didn't answer the questions that were presented to her. She ignored the moderator and the questions, and spit up some rhetoric that handlers had force fed for the past three days. But that's not all she did.
She alienated more women and charmed more men. She did this with a method women have used for years to attract, deflect and manipulate situations: she flirted shamelessly.
The winking and eyelash batting, the pouting and squinting, the kittenish cutesiness, the mugging for the camera and folksy talk would be barely tolerable in a much younger woman, and is foolish looking from a woman in her forties with five children. Extra foolish looking from a woman who might very well end up being President of the United States, never mind Vice President.
I suppose we should be thankful she didn't show up in a swimsuit or a pageant gown, although her banal bantering and non-answers would have been a better fit for a beauty contest than a Vice Presidential debate.
Just as Betty Boop was a symbol of the depression era, Palin seems to be fashioning her public persona after that large but empty-headed, cartoon character, and is vying for the role of the next Betty Boop in the next era of economic disaster: now.
So there you have it. Sarah Palin did not soil herself on national TV and that seems to be reason enough to declare her as a viable candidate for one of the most powerful positions in the world.
Luckily, women were not fooled as easily as men. And there's more of us than there is of them.
Wink, wink, blink, blink and boop boop a do!
posted by mary bishop | 9:06 AM
2 Comments:
I agree with you that she didn't hold her own, and obviously didn't win.
I took the smiling, eyes widening, and particularly the winking as arrogance, sarcasm, and out and out contempt in some cases. I think she is using her sexuality to show contempt for the other candidates, and even for the process. I find it very insulting as a voter, and as a woman.
I mentioned this to some other people, most of whom said they just thought it was ridiculous, but not contemptuous. They didn't think she was using her sexuality either.
Imagine that you are a woman (you are, but not all of your readers are) and you are debating some issues with a male peer in front of a group of people in your shared work environment. Imagine that, while turned away from you and toward the group of observers, talks about how you are wrong and winks at the observers.
That's clear contempt in my book.
And if Joe Biden had winked at the camera while saying Sarah Palin was wrong, he would be immediatley be called an arrogant sexist asshole.
I felt like Sarah Palin was saying to me "You're in my secret club and we both know this guy doesn't know what he is talking about".
No, Sarah Palin, I am not in your secret club. I don't think joe six pack and hockey moms understand better than everyone else about what's needed to govern the country.
I'm angry that they chose someone this arrogant and this underqualified. Because I would like to be supportive of all women in politics, even if they are indeed hockey moms, as long as they truly understand the issues, have a point of view and respect the voters.
Oh goody, you agree with me Sheryl and I certainly respect your opinion far more than Palin's!
Of the people I spoke with, the women almost unilaterally agreed that her behavior was sexual and inappropriate: inappropriate at a PTA meeting, a hockey rink, a boardroom or a classroom. Actually that winking and coy, kittenish mugging wouldn't work anywhere --well unless perhaps you were hanging your legs off of a barstool surrounded by horny men...then it would buy you a drink, but what a costly drink it would be...
I can only hope the voters aren't that thirsty.
Many people don't seem to realize that Palin herself is the most sexist anti-woman candidate ever to set a high heel upon the national political stage.
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