The Palin Beastie

GOP has gone into an attack mode, accusing any critics of Governor Palin of sexism. Of course, such a charge coming from the conservative wing of a conservative party (opposed, for example, to Equal Rights Amendment) is somewhat funny on the face of it, but we can ignore that for now.

In any case, allow me to throw in my little bit of technicolour yawning. Firstly, my feminist and libertarian credentials are well established, and a charge of sexism against me is laughable, as anyone that knows me can attest. Secondly, I am not going to concern myself with irrelevant charges, such as her personal business, anything involving her family, or such.
But the problems with Palin go much deeper than that. Of course, her experience (or lack of it) is hardly relevant, as a number of bloggers on both sides of the fence have already pointed out. Her opposition to abortion is more troubling, but here, too, one must be given some slack (although her opposition to *all* abortion, even in cases of rape and incest, is quite frightening. One is reminded of a statement attributed to the then-Senator Jesse Helms, on the very same subject: "What's wrong with incest? That's how we get the best horses." Speaking of sexism...)

No, the issues that make her, in my opinion, unfit to hold the office, are her lack of understanding of the basics of our Constitution and her unabashedly theocratic tendencies. If I were in an uncharitable mood, I would be tempted to call her an ignorant fascist! She is completely unclear on the concepts of the separation of powers, freedom of speech and the Establishment Clause. In the past, she has called for the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public schools, spoke favourably of the banning of certain books in public libraries and, apparently, attempted to pressure other state officials to join up in her private feuds. All of those make her appear positively medieval, in some ways, and certainly not a person who would be looked at as an ambassador of democracy by the whole world.

So, back to sexism: it appears that the selection of Sarah Palin is, on the one hand, a bone thrown to the right wing of the Republican Party (read: mad, ignorant theocratic fascists) to bring them around and rally their support behind McCain's questionable conservative convictions and, on the other hand, an attempt to play the discrimination and pseudo-feminist card. A transparent political gimmick, a ploy that may fool some but not most, hopefully.