NOW Statement Regarding Palin

[JaneQPublic]

This is their press release, titled "Not Every Woman Supports Women's Rights."

Sen. John McCain's choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate is a cynical effort to appeal to disappointed Hillary Clinton voters and get them to vote, ultimately, against their own self-interest.

Gov. Palin may be the second woman vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket, but she is not the right woman. Sadly, she is a woman who opposes women's rights, just like John McCain.

The fact that Palin is a mother of five who has a 4-month-old baby, a woman who is juggling work and family responsibilities, will speak to many women. But will Palin speak FOR women? Based on her record and her stated positions, the answer is clearly No.

In a gubernatorial debate, Palin stated emphatically that her opposition to abortion was so great, so total, that even if her teenage daughter was impregnated by a rapist, she would "choose life" -- meaning apparently that she would not permit her daughter to have an abortion.

Palin also had to withdraw her appointment of a top public safety commissioner who had been reprimanded for sexual harassment, although Palin had been warned about his background through letters by the sexual harassment complainant.

What McCain does not understand is that women supported Hillary Clinton not just because she was a woman, but because she was a champion on their issues. They will surely not find Sarah Palin to be an advocate for women.

Sen. Joe Biden is the VP candidate who appeals to women, with his authorship and championing of landmark domestic violence legislation, support for pay equity, and advocacy for women around the world.

Finally, as the chair of NOW's Political Action Committee, I am frequently asked whether NOW supports women candidates just because they are women. This gives me an opportunity to once again answer that question with an emphatic 'No.' We recognize the importance of having women's rights supporters at every level but, like Sarah Palin, not every woman supports women's rights.

http://www.now.org/press/08-08/08-29.html

[LisaL]

1. It's just shocking to me that a woman would

"choose life" for someone else, even if that someone else got pregnant by rape.
Are you kidding me?

[JaneQPublic]

Exactly. Her position is not "pro life," it is "pro rapist."

It means a rapist gets to choose any woman he wants to father his child, even a 12-year-old girl, an invalid, or the wife of another man.

She gives rapists more control over a woman's body than she does the woman herself!

[LisaL]

9. Let's face it.

If the woman herself choses to have a baby that is a result of rape, that should be her business. But if abortions are made illegal, we are not talking about choice, we are talking about the government forcing a woman to have a child she does not want.

[Midlodemocrat]

11. No. Her position is pro-fetus. Her warmongering clearly shows

us she's not pro-life in the least.

[cliffordu]

18. Precisely. And that disgusting fact needs to be on every blog page in the universe.

[Towlie]

29. Good point! - "Her position is not 'pro life,' it is 'pro rapist.'"

When I think about that, it reminds me of the scene in The Shawshank Redemption where the real murderer laughs about how he framed Andy Dufresne for the murder of his wife. I think that scene would make an excellent model for an ad against prohibiting abortion in rape cases.

Imagine an ad with an evil-looking criminal in a cell, serving time for an unrelated offense, telling his cellmate about a rape he committed, and then laughing out loud as he says something like, "And to top it off, the bitch was forced by conservative lawmakers to have my baby whether she wanted to or not! As soon as I get out, I'm going to give her an anonymous phone call and ask her how our son is doing! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

If an ad like that was produced, it's hard for me to imagine how it could fail to get the point across.

[samsingh]

31. pro-rapist is a good description of what Palin believes

[samsingh]

32. pro-rapist is a good description of what Palin believes

[RagAss]

2. K&R

[speedoo]

3. K&R. Thanks for posting this. nt

[slackmaster]

4. They're right about Palin's politics but wrong about why she was chosen

...a cynical effort to appeal to disappointed Hillary Clinton voters and get them to vote, ultimately, against their own self-interest....

Sorry to disagree with NOW, but the GOPers are not that stupid. They picked Palin to throw off Democrats who were all locked and loaded to oppose Mitt Romney, and to consolidate some of their traditional conservative constituencies.

I think they have succeeded at both goals, but it won't be enough for them to win.

[JaneQPublic]

8. I agree with you on that point.

If anything, it will consolidate the vast majority of Hillary voters behind Obama-Biden.

[gemlake]

16. "throw off Democrats?"

lol It has united us. It makes Obama's choice of Biden look even better.

[slackmaster]

22. You may be right in the long run

Once the idiotic conspiracy theories die out.

Right now, at least this forum looks like mass insanity.

[scarletwoman]

25. I think attracting the fundy vote was a BIG factor.

But I also believe they thought they could some knee-jerk if it has a vagina, I'll vote for it type of low information female voters.

Throwing off the Democrats, definitely.

sw

[JaneQPublic]

26. As Samantha on "The Daily Show" calls them: "Vagina Americans" (nt)

[BumRushDaShow]

28. Disagree.

You don't give the Obama team any credit. They have come through worse and were certainly not "locked and loaded" for Romney. Good chess players as they are, would "lock and load" against EVERY possibility and whatever move the opponent finally decides on, they execute their pre-made plan to counter it .

Palin's name had been floated out there, somewhat under the radar, for some time. So she most likely wasn't excluded from consideration by Obama strategists. In fact, a number of women's names were floated - mainly Senators and Governors (which Palin is) - and each would merit a specific response and would be handled by someone like Biden.

The only ones "thrown off" are the media, who created a faux universe with Romney or Pawlentty, thus rendering them blathering for a day before the new talking points were handed to them. Don't believe that a message board of posts about Palin would somehow influence the long-term strategy of a professionally-run campaign.

[nc4bo]

5. adding another K&R. nt

[Kerrytravelers]

6. Excellent. We need more of this loud and clear.

I can't wait to hear Hillary come out swinging.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. kick nominated n/t

[ErinBerin84]

10. interesting that they included the tidbit about the commissioner's sexual harassment record.

Oh yeah...something else that I found "interesting", especially coming from the RW NY Post (my grandfather gets it, and I read it when he's finished sometimes, and then process to gag)...they had an article about Hillary supporters who had been thinking about voting for McCain, even after the convention, but were so repulsed and insulted by the Sarah Palin pick that they were switching to Obama or back to undecided. One woman who had planned to vote for McCain was definitely switching to Obama, and the other woman (Hillary supporter who was now supporting McCain) was switching to "undecided", but one of her main issues was the supreme court nominees, so I am thinking that she will likely go for Obama. Kind of sad that it took Palin for her to realize that McCain probably was not going to appoint "moderate judges", but whatever. I was surprised that the NY post even printed that article, since they are lapping up the Palin pick.

[JaneQPublic]

14. Many Hillary voters will be moving that way in upcoming weeks. (nt)

[ErinBerin84]

20. yes, it is very insulting. I supported Obama in the primaries, but I feel insulted

at the insiunation that supporters voted for her only bc she was a woman. Also, George was quoting Howard Wolfson to Kerry this morning and saying that it "could work to get Hillary supporters". Wolfson is eating the Fox magic mushrooms, I wish that people would stop quoting him, as if he is objective at this point. Thank god for people like Maria Cardona, who has been making the media rounds saying that Hillary supporters should feel insulted, and pointing out that Palin had chided Hillary for "whining".

[BumRushDaShow]

30. You know what?

I just thought of this because it is happening WAY too much of late... But it seems that the Wolfsons, Rendells, Carvilles and now even the Ferraros are coming out in the media with this type of crap... BUT consider this - Could it be that since those folks are true, down and dirty ugly politicians who have and continue to embrace and dwell in the mud - that they are actually feeding the wingnut media false info AND as we know, the Hillary stuff is exactly what the media manufactured themselves. It's NOT real. So perhaps they are actually doing this as a tactical move to trick the media into continuing to believe their own faux universe until such time when the Dems sweep the election, while the media sits fat and happy on their laurels truly believing their own fake scenario.

Think about it - the main people who watch those outlets are their own idiocratic ditto heads, so they are basically talking to themselves and wouldn't vote Dem anyway. I may be way off knowing how ugly the primary got (and this type of strategy is ugly too, appearing to hurt the candidates, but then that is politics)... But as opportunist as those folks are, they might actually be doing a good thing because they distract the arrogant RW lunatics into believing their own hype. Key is for the Obama campaign to outspend the opposition to get their message out without need for the media.

[vaberella]

12. This is what I'm talking about. She doesn't speak for me as a Woman

and these are the issues we use to smack her down.

[everything-bolt-up]

13. now someone needs to tip off the cancer charities/groups with followiing:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/31/palin-laughs-as-opponent_n_122776.html

even more ironic since Mccain is a cancer survivr!!!!!!

[vaberella]

15. It's had it's thread, but it deserves more attention and should be sent to MSM. n/t

[JaneQPublic]

17. Stunning! I bookmarked that for later use.

Welcome to DU, by the way!

[Lint Head]

19. If stock in the wire coat hanger business picks up you'll see the theocratic

fascist Re-Pubic-Rats putting their money there. :dem:

[Cha]

21. Impressive statement by the collective NOW!

Very important to keep stressing Biden's contribution to Women's Rights:patriot: :bounce: :kick: :party:

[scarletwoman]

23. Thank you for posting this. Happy to k&r. (nt)

[DeepModem Mom]

24. K&R

[JohnnyLib2]

27. Good.

K & R.

My (inactive) long time NOW wife agrees.