Was McCain's Pick Sexist (In a Way No One is Talking About)?

Something started bothering me immediately after I heard about the McCain VP pick and it became clear that Sarah Palin was uniquely unqualified for the position.

I sensed sexism. There’s the obvious sexism — the assumption that just because Palin possesses a vagina, disaffected female Hillary supporters would vote for McCain. But that’s not what was bothering me. The GOP bets that Americans are stupid all the time.

There’s something sexist about picking a woman who can’t compete on a national stage, and then using her to “shake up” the race and bait the opposition. There’s something sexist about the idea that she’ll learn at the knee of “the master” of foreign policy. There’s something sexist about the way the McCain camp and surrogates have responded to charges that she’s not qualified. Is it just me, or is it truly offensive to suggest that the men and women who call Palin “unqualified” are simply being sexist?

(And what if Obama surrogates had suggested that people who called him “unqualified” were being racist?)

I find it truly fascinating that by picking a woman, McCain and Co. have suddenly become the arbiters of what is or isn’t sexist.

Late Afternoon Update: I was talking to G.D., and he pointed out that using Palin’s womanhood as a shield against attacks isn’t so much sexist as it is politically cynical. While I agree with that to some extent, I still can’t shake my initial qualms. Perhaps it’s because of my own presumption that the default position of the GOP is a sexist one (and that many of the women of the party buy into the misogyny and patriarchy).

I guess the thing that’s bugging me is this: there are highly qualified Republican women who were passed over in favor of an under-qualified unknown. Why? I can’t help but think it’s because a better-known, experienced woman might be more of challenge to wrangle.

Late Afternoon Update #2: Straight from TPM, this clip speaks to G.D.’s point. Just listen.

I think from this point forward everyone should always assume their mic is live.

Shani

Latest posts by Shani (see all)

  • it was one of the first things that crossed my mind. it really set in after reading a few ‘biden doesn’t want to appear to be a bully in debates’ lines from various articles/blogs. it’s as if they saw that obama was difficult to attack w/out opening up questions of racism and decided to get a lil’ (not so) old lady on their ticket just so they could call anyone that questioned her “meanies.”

  • You know it’s funny, when I saw the pick I was still uncomfortable even after I got over my outrage at all the pandering. I think you’ve pointed out what was bothering me. I was talking to the friend recently about the possible delicacies of Biden debating Palin and I realize now that I’m mad that the question of how to debate her “correctly” is even coming up especially since there probably is going to be no right way to do it because everything will be labelled sexist. If you want to run for public office you have to expect to be tested, and now there’s a chance Palin won’t be because if anyone does they’ll be accused of bullying her.

  • mr. get $

    yep.

    immediately after i heard of VP pick, i knew that now- considering the divisive power the sex issue had assumed in the primaries- the Obama campaign would have to treat any discussion of Palin with kid gloves. a legitimate go in the ring for her is gonna be skewed very negatively, especially if (SINCE) she won’t be able to perform in that setting the way you’d expect a good veep candidate to do.

    there’s so much sexism being played out here; it’s just unfortunate that most- if not all of it- will fly just above the heads of the people who need to realize it most.

  • scott

    Let me ask why was Mondale’s pick for VP, Geraldine Ferraro hailed as a great step for women but McCain’s pick of Palin is sexist? Ferraro had only been in the US House for six years when she was tapped and wasn’t exactly a heavyweight during her time in the House. I would be shocked to think that Mondale picked Ferraro in part b/c of her gender.

  • Interesting question, Scott. I’m no fan of Ferraro, and I think it’s pretty obvious McCain took a page out of the Mondale playbook. Mondale was the underdog (as is McCain) and he wanted to shake up the race.

    Another difference is the political climate. Hillary Clinton ran a historic race as a very qualified presidential candidate, and I think the bar for ANY woman entering the race was set very high. Fortunately for McCain, he and his surrogates can cry “sexism!” whenever Palin gets out-gunned.

  • scott: Ferraro’s selection was absolutely about her gender. She wasn’t an especially well-regarded congresswoman, and Mondale picked her in a cynical attempt to pump blood into his otherwise moribund ticket.

    The days following her selection were the only time Mondale ever led in the polls (but that all fell apart when people found out about Ferraro’s husband.)

  • scott

    Thanks but I want to take this one step further. People cry sexism b/c picking Palin is supposed to entice women to vote for McCain. Is picking a woman to entice women really any different than the age old practice of picking a running mate from a certain geographic portion of the nation to influence voters in that portion of the county? Are you really going to say that it is insulting to women to pick a woman to entice women but not insulting to southerners to pick a southerner to entice southerners? Or is this faux outrage over Palin?

    Was it sexism or higher expectation for HRC since she was seen for so long as the front runner? Frankly, sometimes during the Dem debates I think the men puled their punches on HRC. Besides, if HRC could cry sexism then why can’t Palin use it to her advantage?

    If you are going to bring up the HRC is qualified but Palin is not then let me ask what made HRC “very qualified”? Her five years as a private attorney? Two terms as first lady of Ark or the USA? Her eight years as a senator from a state she really wasn’t from?

  • quadmoniker

    I think the McCain campaign is also talking about Palin in a very sexist way. Especially how they had to revamp the “masculine” speech and they’re coaching her on it.

    And also, about how her position as a “hockey mom” was supposed to help qualify her, but now her children are off-limits because the family might not be so Brady-like after all. The whole thing is troublesome.

  • Scott- I don’t think picking Palin is really supposed to entice women, actually. The more I learn about her, the more it becomes clear that she was picked to energize the super-conservative base that has thus far been very ‘meh’ about McCain. The female voter thing is either a distraction or shot in the dark. And anyway, that’s why I said that’s not the sexism that bothered me. As you note, that’s just plain-old identity politics.

    I think that Hillary cried sexism a little too often for my liking, as well. I didn’t care for her as a candidate, and those years as first lady don’t equal experience (though she was closer to foreign policy than Russia-adjacent Sarah Palin). But even as a private attorney, and those eight years as a senator (during which she served on several national committees), she has more experience than Palin does.

    But my point is this. The McCain campaign’s choice of Palin is, in and of itself, sexist. And as Quadmoniker notes, they are talking about her in a sexist way. They used the family thing to their advantage (in a way they would not have if Palin were a man), until it came out that her family is just as screwed up as everyone else’s.

  • quadmoniker

    Scott, for the record, Clinton was first-lady of Arkansas for just shy of 12 years. It’s more than two terms, though it splits funny because gubernatorial term-lengths changed from two to four years relatively recently.

    And if you’re going to nit-pick about where she has served as Senator, Palin isn’t from Alaska, either. She’s from Idaho.

  • quadmoniker

    Well, nevermind, she was born in Idaho and went to the Univ. of Idaho, but grew up in Alaska.