Throw Nancy from the Train
OK, all you tender-hearted Dems who feel sorry for Sarah Palin because you deem the media ridicule of her views as sexist… let’s see you jump to the defense of Nancy Pelosi, now that Republicans are blaming her speech for their failure to pass the Bailout.
I see a double standard here, and it’s within our own camp. Not that we haven’t seen double standards before, but this one plays to my pet-peeve stereotype of women: Nancy opened her big, fat mouth… and said what most of us have been thinking, saying and blogging: Republicans must take the lion’s share of responsibility for our economic meltdown, because they so zealously promoted the deregulation that contributed to it.
If only Nancy would have kept her mouth shut, all those Republicans who backed out of voting in favor of the Bailout would have stepped forward and cast that unpopular vote, saving the financial asses of their constituents, along with yours and mine. But Noooooo… Nancy had to express her OPINION.
I wonder… would Republicans have blamed their failure to deliver the passing votes on a man who gave exactly the same speech? Probably not. Man-to-man, they would have hurled back a few brickbats of their own, then voted exactly the same way, just as they intended to do all along. But they wouldn’t have made the cockamamie assertion that they voted as they did because somebody’s speech hurt their feelings.
By delivering her remarks in an exasperated tone that could be construed as scolding, did Nancy trigger an infantile response to rebel against Mom’s authority… or, at the very least, to blame the woman when that yukky diaper stuff hits the fan?
If you experienced a moment of exasperation that Nancy’s remarks may have stalled your portfolio recovery (I did), look deep, deep inside yourself. There you will find the truth: A Republican Congressman who blames a woman’s speech for his failure to cast an unpopular vote is no different than an alcoholic husband who blames his wife for letting him fall off the wagon.
Remember that train? Don’t throw Nancy from it.
posted by Yakpate at 11:03 AM
8 Comments:
The truth is failed leadership by GW...Nancy was stupid...not because she gave the speech...they didn't have the votes anyway...but because by doing so she made herself a BIG FAT TARGET of the right. And she's too smart not to have foreseen this and yet she grandstanded anyway! Dumb and dumber. But it is GW, who couldn't even get his own party in line for his backed plan who really is too blame...how pathetic...god, I can't wait for the end of the error on 1/20/09.
11:19 AM
I'm not sure anyone will jump to Nancy's defense as quickly, you know she isn't as "cute" as Sarah is perceived to be.
Any women who is strong and will burst out her opinions and views(i.e. Hillary) we tend to view as "Power Hungry". But if she is pretty, fairly young and really doesn't have much to say except for what her counter-part men tell her to say...then ahhhhhh poor thing. I can't believe the sexism against her....boo hoo!!!!!
Can you imagine if Hillary or Nancy didn't know what the Bush Doctrine was??? Everyone would happily crucify them...just as they are doing to Nancy now.
11:29 AM
For women, the sword has a double-edge...Pretty=DUMB, Ambitious=Power Huungry. Opinionated=Beeeooocchhhhhhhhh.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11:33 AM
It's such a shame that the Repubs got their widdle feelwings hurt; and decided not to vote their consciences. (What's that you say?)
But it remains an unfortunate misstep for Pelosi to make a statement assigning blame for the crises when a solution is what is needed. Not to mention, assigning blame where it belongs is such an statement of the obvious, it hardly deserves mention.
As for Palin, the only interest I have in her is how Tina Fey will portray her next. Certainly female politicians bear more scrutiny than their male counterparts, but once America stops googling "hot sarah palin pics" they'll start realizing that the empress wears no clothes (thank GAWD not literally - but you never know;).
11:41 AM
Here's an idea: turn off the damn television! So-called news shows that promote these ridiculous ideas only have as much power as you give them. I don't know why the networks are spinning this bailout to sound like the only answer. But, I think many agree they are distorting the truth, right? So take away their power: pull the plug.
11:54 AM
There is no more news. THere is only the propaganda wings of each party. Fox for the right. MSNBC and CNN for the left. When Fox garnered all the market share of Republicans, MSNBC stepped in to fill the advertising void for the much wanted 18-24 year old demographic. Obama was an ideal candidate to keep these people watching Olbermann and, thus, make Apple and Gap and all the other advertisers happy. It worked. When CNN saw how well it worked, they knew they couldn't compete with Fox for Republican disposable income for their advertisers, er, I mean viewers, so they went after the left. ONly they are trying for the Bobos, rather than the under 24 year olds -- the ones who drive Priuses and invest in the stock market but still vote Dem. All of these "news" outlets are merely high-five talking point factories for whichever side you're on. Occasionally there is an earthquake or something to make them actually drop the scripts long enough to report something. Read the foriegn papers. REad the AP and REuters wires as they come off the electronic press. But don't think you'll get news from the news stations. (Or from Huffington Post, either. That's just O'REilly for the left and most of those blogs push misinformation to the point of being ridiculous.)
As for sexism and Nancy Pelosi -- I haven't personally seen sexist attacks thrown at her for this particular situation, so it's a kind of a straw man argument here in my opinion. She's been victim of plenty of sexism in her career, though, and I'll always point that out. I don't think it's being tender-hearted to call out weapons of the patriarchy, especially when we have become so used to it we do it ourselves and completely turn a blind eye when it's politically convenient. I do it too, and I have to watch myself. My daughter deserves better than the acceptible level of discourse about women.
Not every criticism of a woman is sexist -- and I haven't seen ANY feminists making that argument. For example, saying Palin is woefully uneducated about geopolitics is not sexist. Saying she's a cute beauty queen who doesn't know anything about geopolitics, and by the way, she's a bad mother -- is. I will point out sexism even when it's about a woman I don't like because, like Melissa McEwan says, that'w how feminism works. But saying it's not sexist to criticise Palin, and give the sexists room to put all the ACTUAL sexism into that argument defeats our purpose as feminists. Palin is Dan Quayle. That's a non-sexist way of putting it. But get this: nobody thought Quayle was uneducated at the time, and nobody talked about how good looking he was or what kind of parent he might be. The difference? Sexism.
I have every belief that if Nancy didn't make that speech yesterday -- inelegant as it was at a time when everyone believes SOME kind of assistance is necessary -- then they'd have found another Democratic scapegoat. THat's just how these things roll.
Keep these coming, Yak. I've been sick with an ear infection so I'm a little late reading up here.
3:23 PM
I agree with Nikki. It is a shame that more leaders aren't as honest as Nancy was in her speech. We need more courageous leaders like her...willing to say what needs to be said regardless of what might hit the fan and what the fallout may be. Sometimes you just can't keep your mouth shut in the face of great indignation! I have been there in my own little way...someone has to say that the emperor is wearing no clothes! Blaming Nancy's speech for losing the passing votes really shows that the republicans are nothing but "a caucus of irresponsible crybabies" as quoted in Washington Monthly's Post online. They really would sacrifice our country's economic stability because of Nancy's speech? These are our leaders? Can someone throw Sarah off that damn train! I just watched the Katie Couric interview with Palin and my head was spinning with her shameless idiotic response to the 700 billion dollar question. I swear the only thing I share with that woman is the possession of female genitalia and the experience of motherhood. Who could possibly think that she would be qualified for any leadership other than a girl scout troop... Wait ..if McCain gets elected along with that dingbat (I am still hoping that she somehow gracefully bows out) please, please throw me off a train in another country. Just please make it a French train!
4:21 PM
JUst saw Kucinich speak about this. I'm still bummed that he never had a fighting chance as our candidate. He's the real (New)deal. He knows we have to do something here for the financial crisis, that doing nothing will be catastrophic -- and his ideas are right out of Roosevelt's mouth. Brilliant man.
6:33 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home