VP Candidate Speaks Frankly ... About Feminism, Homosexuality, Abortion And The Environment

[Newsjock]

Source: CBS News

... Then it's off to the McCain campaign plane, where CBS News was invited up front to ask a handful of questions. Couric asked Palin whether she considers herself a feminist.

"I do," Palin said. "I'm a feminist who, uh, believes in equal rights and I believe that women certainly today have every opportunity that a man has to succeed, and to try to do it all, anyway. And I'm very, very thankful that I've been brought up in a family where gender hasn't been an issue. You know, I've been expected to do everything growing up that the boys were doing. We were out chopping wood and you're out hunting and fishing and filling our freezer with good wild Alaskan game to feed our family. So it kinda started with that."

... The governor told us though she's not a member of any church, she visits a couple of them regularly when she's home. She took issue with news reports that one of them, The Wasilla Bible Church, sponsored a conference where gays could be made straight through prayer.

Palin: Well, it matters though, Katie, when the media gets it wrong. It frustrates Americans who are just trying to get the facts and … be able to make up their mind on, about a person's values. So it does matter. But what you're talking about, I think, value here, what my position is on homosexuality and you can pray it away, because I think that was the title that was listed on that bulletin. And you know, I don't know what prayers are worthy of being prayed. I don't know what's prayers are going to be asked and answered. But as for homosexuality, I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships. I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay, and I love her dearly. And she is not my "gay friend," she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice I would have made. But I am not going to judge people.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/30/eveningnews/main4490618.shtml

[napi21]

1. Still having trouble stringing together a coherent sentence huh? n/t

[YDogg]

2. choice??

[olddad56]

29. yeah, some people choose to be born gay.

[w13rd0]

3. And there you have it...

...Palin believes it is a CHOICE. See, she's really pro-choice after all...</sarcasm>

[jkappy]

4. choice as possibility

if so, not bad at all... that she recognizes lesbianism as a possibility in her own life. and groundbreaking for a VP candidate.

[uppityperson]

73. Is sexual orientation a choice? I am not asking about accepting the possiblity of lesbianism, but

is it a choice a person makes?

That is the issue. Not about acceptance of an orientation, but about how, why, a person is of a particular orientation. Did you chose your orientation?

Saying sexual orientation is a choice is hardly groundbreaking for a repub VP candidate.

[XemaSab]

76. I can't answer for the person you're responding to

but every time I hear someone talk about "choice" when it comes to being gay, I think "closet case."

"Yeah, I stare uncontrollably at fine members of my own gender, and I have constant fantasies about what it would be like to make love to Scarlet Johanssen/George Clooney, but I choose not to act on that... See, being gay is a CHOICE!" :crazy:

[uppityperson]

79. Look down to that poster's answer.

[jkappy]

77. Yes!!

Why not? I truly believe it is a choice for some or many lesbians. Or maybe you could call it act of liberation. Bottom line---a thought out choice for many and open to all women,.

[uppityperson]

78. You must be male. "why not" a choice?

Do you seriously believe Matthew Shephard "chose" to be gay? Do you honestly believe people would subject themselves homophobic violence as an "act of liberation"?

Or is it only women that you feel have this "choice"? You must be male. No, being gay is not a "thought out choice for many and open to all women". Or men. People who believe so are either of the fundamentalist sort, simply stuck fantasizing about "omg! 2 women @ a time!" or ignorant. I wouldn't accuse anyone here of the first 2, have a recommendation.

Good lord, educate yourself.

[Zhade]

83. While I appreciate that you clearly have no issue with homosexuality, it's not a choice.

NT!

[Indenturedebtor]

5. So "The Ghey" is a choice and "The Feminismists Have Won"

Yeah ok. Go home Palin you're embarassing America.

[msongs]

6. are these interviews followed by the "im john mccaain and I approved this ad"?? pure PR nt

[Martunez]

7. "I am not going to judge people"?

"she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice I would have made. But I am not going to judge people."

Sounds pretty judgmental to me.

And did the media get it wrong about the witch-hunting pastor who made a guest appearance at her church? Did they get it wrong about the armageddon talk?

Believe what you want too, Sarah. But I think someone around here put it very well once: Those who believe in the end of the world should not be given the means to achieve it.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

8. That kind of blathering is gonna land her another SNL skit using her own words. nt

[tanyev]

11. They're going to have to start paying her as a writer for the show.

:rofl:

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[VeggieTart]

12. Maybe he does and doesn't feel the need to say, Oh, I have a gay friend

Look, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NOW have both endorsed Obama-Biden. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have done it if Obama was homophobic. This is especially true in the case of NOW, which doesn't endorse presidential candidates very often.

http://feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=11129

http://www.now.org/press/09-08/09-16.html

[DURHAM D]

13. You have conflated issues? Very interesting. eom

[VeggieTart]

81. NOW does stand up for GLBT issues in addition to other issues that concern feminists

But if that's not good enough, Joe Biden is speaking at the Human Rights Campaign dinner on Saturday. I'm sure you've heard of Human Rights Campaign, an organization that fights for GLBT rights.

[Zhade]

27. Um, how about IT'S NOT A FUCKING CHOICE?

NT!

[DURHAM D]

34. She didn't say it "was a choice". Try to actually listen to the comment. eom

[Zhade]

35. Try comprehending it.

"she is one of my best friends, who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice I would have made"

She called it a choice. You're wrong. And so is she.

[progressivebydesign]

30. Really? Because she just told the world that her friend CHOSE to be gay.

I guess you're good with that religious extremist line of BS. 99% of us here, are not.

[sarcasmo]

10. She is one scary Religious NUT! I want her no where near a heartbeat away.

[bdamomma]

64. she is fundi religious nut

does not believe in a woman's right of choice and does not believe in global warming. What a dimwit she is.

[sarcasmo]

72. I lump all Religious Nuts into one category, LOL.

[paparush]

14. "she made a choice that isn't a choice"...um..Kinda like McCain made a choice?

[Martunez]

16. Hopefully, Sarah's friend

will make another choice she herself wouldn't make, and vote for OBAMA!

[Tutonic]

15. This lady is scary. She parses her words about topics that she is

ignorant on and rambles on other matters. Sounds like she and her Track have something in common-- Oxycontin??

[Javaman]

17. and remember folks this is her being coached. nt

[Barrett808]

18. "What's your position on global warming? Do you believe it's man-made or not?"

Thank you, Katie.

Couric: What's your position on global warming? Do you believe it's man-made or not?

Palin: Well, we're the only Arctic state, of course, Alaska. So we feel the impacts more than any other state, up there with the changes in climates. And certainly, it is apparent. We have erosion issues. And we have melting sea ice, of course. So, what I've done up there is form a sub-cabinet to focus solely on climate change. Understanding that it is real. And …

Couric: Is it man-made, though in your view?

Palin: You know there are - there are man's activities that can be contributed to the issues that we're dealing with now, these impacts. I'm not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate. Because the world's weather patterns are cyclical. And over history we have seen change there. But kind of doesn't matter at this point, as we debate what caused it. The point is: it's real; we need to do something about it.

[Sabriel]

24. That last bit is in line with current talking points

They're admitting GW exists but not admitting we're causing it. Urgh.

[uppityperson]

74. I love this line "'m not going to solely blame all of man's activities on changes in climate."

Not all my activities are based on climate change, but a lot of them are. I read a transcript where they corrected that bit, made it "I'm not going to solely blame all of changes in climate on man's activities" which took me aback because I listened to her say it the other way.

[Barrett808]

80. Nice. That librul media working for us... n/t

[uppityperson]

75. Here is the whole transcript, not a summarized one.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/30/eveningnews/main4490618.shtml?source=mostpop_story

[yardwork]

19. This all sounds a lot more reasonable than Palin's record would suggest.

Since she's lied about everything else, I think she's probably lying about her positions on these issues, too. This is a newly rolled out, more moderate and reasonable Sarah Palin. I don't buy it.

[tclambert]

21. Didn't she sue the Bush Admin about something related to this?

What was it? Polar bears shouldn't be on the endangered species list? I heard she didn't believe in anthropogenic global warming. Does anyone have quotes from her?

[yardwork]

67. Yes, she sued the federal government to get polar bears taken off the endangered species list.

She also suppressed evidence gathered by her own staff that indicated that the polar bears are endangered. And she encourages aerial hunting of bears and wolves.

She has stated in the past that she doesn't think that humans are causing global warming.

[defendandprotect]

20. "...homosexuality is a choice" --- ????

[customerserviceguy]

22. Unfortunately

that's what a lot of people believe. And they're not all fundies.

My answer to them is that religion is a choice, and we respect people's rights to that, how much harder would it be to respect a sexual orientation choice, if that's what it is? I sometimes get them thinking a bit...

[defendandprotect]

23. Have they heard about bi-sexuality yet...? Or Kinsey--??

Or all of nature and homosexuality -- ???

[Zhade]

28. And they're all WRONG.

NT!

[customerserviceguy]

31. Yes

but you start to win the argument when you appeal to the basic desire of most reasonable (fundies not included, of course) people. There are many aspects of people's lives that are based in free choice, when you get the narrow minded to look at it from a tolerance-based viewpoint, you wear away prejudice, which lately is manifested by opposition to equal marriage.

[Zhade]

36. It is not reasonable to think sexual orientation is a choice. It's ignorant.

NT!

[customerserviceguy]

70. It is ignorant

but it's the way that it was viewed for a VERY long time. It's going to take some time to overcome. As recently as 1974, homosexuality was on the list of psychiatric disorders. If it took people with scientific minds that long to come out of the darkness, it will take awhile for people who determine what to think based mainly on societal predjudices.

Sarah Palin's expressed views provide an opportunity to have the discussion needed to move more people over to scientific reason. In the meantime, respecting other people's lifestyles, whether by choice or by genetics, is an appropriate way to deal with the knowledge gap.

[2Design]

25. she is no feminist - that is an insult to all who wanted the ERA admendment and the establishment

fear factored it down but women got all the things they said to fear and none of the things they needed

[Zhade]

26. IT'S NOT A FUCKING CHOICE!

FUCK!

[6000eliot]

32. I guess you can blatantly LIE in the service of a greater good.

Some religion!

[AbbeyRoad]

33. Bullshitter Extraordinaire

I think one of the reasons she has such difficulty forming a coherent sentence, beside the obvious fact that she's intellectually challenged, is that it's hard to coordinate all the bullshit.

[DemoTex]

62. Palin has pegged the needle on my trusty B/S meter!

[bumblebee1]

37. Pray away the gay?

If that was the case, would I be able to pray away my attraction to dark haired men? If I did that, I would have to find my own husband unattractive.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

38. She has "Bushspeak" Bush thinks being gay is a choice!!!

clueless

[lunatica]

39. I don't recall ever making a choice about what attracts me...

As a matter of fact, I've often wished I had been able to choose. If attraction was something I could choose I would have chosen much better. And Sarah Palin didn't wake up one day and decide she had to make a choice about being gay.

She's an idiot who has not said one single thing to make me believe she isn't parroting everything she's heard in her life. None of us have heard Sarah Palin speak for herself with thoughts from her own head which weren't put there by her handlers. Giving non answers that are so ambiguous that she seems to end up saying opposite things in her rambling responses is not the sign of a thinker.

[somethingswrong]

40. is it just me

or when you READ something palin said it doesn't make any sense grammatically speaking. "I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years happens to be gay"
it looks more like a sentence translated from another language using a free online service then a VICE-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE..

but truly. this woman is NUTS. to say that an emotion one feels about another human being is a CHOICE is traditional (read: conservative) closed mindedness.
also, if she had any level of intelligence she could have turned the "woman certainly today have every opportunity" into clinton praise (something about a glass ceiling perhaps..) and scooped up some more disenfranchised democrats. sorry if i offend anyone, but obama and clinton didn't have policies THAT far apart.

[Xipe Totec]

41. A mind wherein a cogent sentence finds itself in coventry

- Harlan Ellison

[Doctor_J]

42. Still putting lipstick on the pig

And Katie Whoric playing beautician. :puke:

[Snazzy]

43. One of my best friends is gay, Sarah Palin tells Katie Couric

Source: NY Daily News

One of my best friends is gay, Sarah Palin tells Katie Couric
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT

Wednesday, October 1st 2008, 12:42 AM

Sarah Palin, the socially conservative GOP veep nominee, is not opposed to gay people. Heck, some of her best friends are gay.

....



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/09/30/2008-09-30_one_of_my_best_friends_is_gay_sarah_pali.html

---

Yeah tabloid.... Just going for the headline, which is pretty much the news, that there is such a tabloid headline.

(edit--oops dupe, alert sent)

Existing thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3520262&mesg_id=3520262

[Snazzy]

44. Here's Reuters version:

Tales from the Trail
Tracking the 2008 U.S. campaign
« Previous Post
September 30th, 2008

Palin talks abortion and newspapers — sort of — in Couric interview
Posted by: Jeff Mason

KANSAS CITY, Missouri - Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is happy to discuss her views on social issues like abortion and homosexuality, but reluctant to list what she usually reads to keep up on world events.

That’s the takeout from a series of interviews the Alaska governor did with CBS anchor Katie Couric, which aired on Tuesday night.

Palin, whose opposition to abortion rights has ignited support among social conservatives, some of whom were wary of presidential nominee John McCain, discussed whether rape or incest victims should be allowed to have an abortion.

“Personally, I would counsel the person to choose life, despite horrific, horrific circumstances that this person would find themselves in,” she said. “If you’re asking, though, kind of foundationally here, should anyone end up in jail for having an … abortion, absolutely not.”

....

http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/09/30/palin-talks-abortion-and-newspapers-sort-of-in-couric-interview/

----------

She goes on to discuss BGFF and that's she reads ALL media, all of 'em.

[Enthusiast]

51. This only illustrates how

much effort they have put into moderating Palin's message. By Thursday evening she will sound like a real moderate.

[Thorandmjolnir]

71. Does this mean she thinls Abortion should be legal?

“If you’re asking, though, kind of foundationally here, should anyone end up in jail for having an … abortion, absolutely not.”

If it's not illegal, meaning you don't go to jail or otherwise being punished, doesn't that make it legal?

Am I reading this wrong?

Or is she saying that the mother should not go to jail for having an abortion, but leaves the door open for punishment of the providers?

[Smarmie Doofus]

45. A choice... not an echo.

>>>"I am not going to judge Americans and the decisions that they make in their adult personal relationships," Palin told CBS' Katie Couric Tuesday night when asked about churches, including Palin's, that promote conferences to convert gays into heterosexuals through prayer. >>>>>

So, did Couric asks her if she disagrees with her own church? If so how does she reconcile the inconsistency? Has she challenged the church about gay conversions?



>>>>"I have one of my absolute best friends for the last 30 years who happens to be gay and I love her dearly," Palin said, without mentioning names. "And she is not my gay friend, she is one of my best friends who happens to have made a choice that isn't a choice that I have made." >>>>

A "choice"? A *choice*?!

A choice.

[habitual]

46. the old 'im shielded from any criticism about gay issues

because i have a gay friend' line.... ya right.

[snake in the grass]

47. Some of my best friends are black.

[Indenturedebtor]

48. The old "I don't even see color" argument. Bleh fleh go home Palin! n/t

[dipsydoodle]

49. Most of my friends are dancers or musicians

and they're black,white,gay,straight,jewish,muslim, christian..............:grouphug:

edit to add : I forgot my four cats and my daughter.

[Mojambo]

50. I wonder if her friend hangs out with Colbert's black friend, Alan? n/t

[Indenturedebtor]

52. Yeah lol my first thought as well. I can't wait for the "spontaneous" pictures

They're going to wrap some intern in a versace suit and a boa and force him to follow her around now.

[Demeter]

53. Sarah, Nobody Cares What You Think--You Do It So Poorly, It's Painful to Watch

[GOPBasher]

54. Some of my best friends are Republicans.

I'm not predjudiced; some of my best friends are Republicans. I know some Republicans who are.. you know, well dressed, and articulate, truly a credit to their kind. I just don't believe they should have the right to marry and have children, thereby passing down their immoral ideals to the next generation. I believe in traditional human values, such as peace, freedom, prosperity for all and sustainability.

[truthisfreedom]

55. "One of my best friends is Black."

[EmilyAnne]

56. My best friend's dog is gay.

And I totally, like, pet that dog and stuff.

[liberal N proud]

57. That was so fake and forced

Unbelievable

[qanda]

58. Why would any person use a friend as a justification for their hate?

Shameful!

[Tab]

59. And now, let the media descend upon that poor gay "friend"

who probably wasn't intending to be outed nationally.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

60. I wonder if she'll welcome this friend of hers in her church?

[Dr.Phool]

61. Her other friend is invisible.

And they get together all the time.

[LeftHander]

66. They have regular retreats together to B&B on the coast....

Candlelight dinners, snuggling with wine....

"By golly gee, she is my bestest friend!"

[bdamomma]

63. one thing that bothered me when Palin

said that was her friend's choice? being gay is not a choice, geez, what a stupid woman.

[Zuiderelle]

65. In her mumbling crazy talk she never answers whether she thinks you can pray away the gay.

She is so full of shit, I can smell it from here. Where's the gay friend of hers? I'd like Katie to interview her.

[Mad_Dem_X]

68. Feminist, my ass

Feminists don't believe that a woman should be forced to carry an unwanted child, especially if it's a result from rape!

[LeftHander]

69. "We all took turns chewing on the hides to make our own shoes...."nt

Yay 69!

[superconnected]

82. How the hell is this speaking "frankly"?

[regnaD kciN]

84. "I'm a feminist who, uh, hates women..."

Many years ago, the was a mock group in California known as L.A.W. - Ladies Against Women. Sounds like Palin could fit right in...although she probably wouldn't realize it was supposed to be a joke. :crazy: