Gloria Steinem on Palin

[Gregorian]

I found this to be pretty uplifting. She has a way with words. And a hell of a lot of wisdom.

It's from the LA Times article-

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-steinem4-2008sep04,0,7915118.story

sniip-

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president.

But here is even better news: It won't work.

So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.

Republicans may learn they can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.

[gateley]

1. I didn't know that about the Equal Rights Amendment. nt

[kwolf68]

5. Those were old school Republicans

Lots of older Republicans supported the ERA and even Civil Rights, mostly Northeast types, basically Liberals if you will.

Trying to figure out politicians back then was tough...you had people like Kennedy, who were solid Liberal Democrats...then you had your DixieCrats, basically racist Dems who eventually went to the Republicans. Back then there would have been no 'Democratic Underground', because the policies of some Republicans back then were Liberal in nature and some Democrats were Conservative in nature.

This was all regionally based of course...and eventually we got the two parties we now know today.

[Oak2004]

8. Yes: I try to explain to people at times that I was a *genuinely* liberal Republican

(not the right of center people the far right gesticulates at while screaming "liberal!" these days) and that people usually voted "liberal" or "conservative" (which usually required splitting your vote), not "Democrat" or "Republican". This time was not all that long ago, but given what has happened over the decades, it seems very much like ancient history.

[bkcc]

2. Beautifully put.

I hope that she's right. I have little to no hope when it comes to the majority acting with anything resembling common sense.

[Booster]

3. Now, there's a real woman. I've admired her all my life.

[ailsagirl]

4. Thank you, Gloria!!! n/t

[Cha]

6. Thank you, Gloria Steinem!

Hopefully they will get a "defeat" in November:bounce:

[LuckyLib]

7. This is very well done. Should be required reading for the RW pundits on TV:

"And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men should be, can be and want to be at home for their children."

[oasis]

9. kick

[Number23]

10. If EVER a post deserved 100 recs....

... this would be the one. Steinem hit the ball out of the park. Went out, found it, and then hit it out of the park again.

What an absolute treasure to read....