Ok, so I just need a vent blog. And here it is. Ok. Are people honestly, really and truly saying that all this media coverage about Palin's daughter is because of sexism and a media bias against the GOP? I climb to the top of Mount Sinai, take a deep breath of crisp mountain air, and cry "Buuuuuuullllshhhhiiiiiiiiit!!!!".
Let's all close our eyes and go to our Honest Place. Are you there? Good. Ok. Do you (the hypothetical you that writes editorials on this nonsense) honestly beleive that if Joe Biden's 17 year old was, to use the parlance of our times, 'knocked up', we would not hear about it with the same fervor in the news? Do you REALLY think he would get a pass because he is a liberal and a male? Do you?
"But Nicole", you say, "Biden's son is involved in a money scandal and we are not hearing about it is much, what do you say to that, hmmm???" Well, my heart, I say this: If there is a bias in the media towards certain presidents, it would be towards the presidents printed on our money. And I am sorry, which story is "juicer", more "Perez Hiltony", more bloggable: Biden Jr.'s mismanaging of a hedge fund, or Bristol getting in a fambly way w/ a self proclaimed redneck hockey player?? Am I saying these are news worthy, informative stories? Hells no. But the reason they get play is not because the media wants Barack to be president (which I'm sure many of them do) but because the media is....wait for it.....in the business of MAKING MONEY! It's that precious "Free Market" many of you worship so very devoutly- 'if the people don't want it, they wont buy it'. Unfortunately, Bristol's Baby (which sounds like the title of a Harlequin Romance novel) is the sort of trashy, lucrative fluff that people will double click on their lunch break.
And then my fave, my absolute FAVORITE, is all the crusty old white dudes jumping to her rescue because this scrutiny of her is "sexist". You know what's sexist? Feeling the need to play Old Crusty Knight in Shining Armor to a woman who is a self described "Pitt Bull in Lipstick". She can take care of herself, thanks very much, and has to weather the storm just as Barack had to suck down Jeremiah Wright and Clinton had to live down his Oval Office BJs. She doesn't need your help just cause she's a girl. That's sort of the whole point. (And while we're here, might I point out that the "Hot VP" and "Babraham Lincoln" pins are kind of defeating that point.)
Do questions about her ability to lead while being a mom point to a pervasive sexism in our society, as those same questions are not directed to men with families? Yup. Just like mistrusting Barack because "his name sounds Muslim" or because he's black points to pervasive racism in that same society. And the way to address both these problems is not to wring our hands in mock outrage, as thought we are suprised by this, but to use these historic nominations for some self examination, and watch these two people break those stereotypes in the American consciousness forever through their actions.
"But her daughter is an innocent victim!!!" Well, where was all this outrage when Elizabeth Edwards, innocent victim of all time, and her equally innnocent kids were having their personal lives smeared all over the walls while battling terminal cancer? Where were the Old Guard then? Look, I am not saying this sort of news coverage is right, and personally, I don't give a tin shit what the candidates or their families do in the bedroom, so long as their politics are good and they don't try to moralize to us all about not doing precisely what they do. I'm just saying this: EVERYONE NEEDS TO STOP CRYING FOUL AND FLYING INTO FAKE MORAL OUTRAGE WHEN THEIR DIRTY LAUNDRY BECOMES PUBLIC BECAUSE IT WILL HAPPEN TO EVERY PUBLIC FIGURE SOONER OR LATER. The GOP does not have the market cornered on this ersatz righteous anger- the Dems do it too; but guess what, potential Leaders of the Free World? YOU chose this life. By proxy, you thrust your family into an unforgiving and often cruelly bright public spot light. That's unfortunate, but it's equally unfortunate for both sides. The public loves to see people fall from on high. It's been that way for all of recorded history- that's where Greek tragedy came from. Our new VP nom is fresh meat, and that's all there is to it. Stop trying to be the victim because you think we all "love an underdog". We see through you. Get back to the issues. The issues. The precious, precious issues. It will make my next eight weeks so much more delightful.
That is all. Sorry.
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