Tuesday, September 02, 2008
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The MSM's Biased Hypocrisy on Palin
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Posted by:
Carol Platt Liebau at
12:08 PM
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Many in the MSM, perhaps alarmed by the energized and enthusiastic response to Governor Palin, have been working overtime to insinuate that her status as a mom renders her somehow unfit to serve on the McCain ticket.
As Matt points out below, there's the Campbell Brown-Tucker Bounds exchange on the topic of Bristol Palin. And last week on CNN, Newbusters flagged a remarkable commentary by John Roberts, suggesting that Governor Palin's service might adversely impact her youngest child.
If longtime social traditionalists had raised these concerns about a liberal woman, they'd have been shouted down, ridiculed and completely marginalized. Since at least the '70's, we've been told again and again that it's unfair to consider a woman's children in considerations about who is the most qualified for any particular professional position.
People of good faith can debate whether this is a good thing. After all, it does suggest that a significant presence of a child's mother isn't particularly important or necessary. And when -- as Dana Bash responds in the John Roberts exchange above -- people point out that Joe Biden wouldn't be asked such questions about his family situation, it certainly plays into the whole idea that there are no inherent differences between men and women and that fathers and mothers are essentially interchangeable.
So as I say, people of good faith can hold their own opinions on any of that. But what's so despicable is that, after years of spouting the feminist line without any critical thought, all of a sudden the MSM has adopted a social traditionalist line that it would treat with vituperative scorn in any other context. And they're clearly doing it for political reasons -- making the attacks the Obama camp would, if it dared.
In my view, if the feminist movement meant anything, it meant that women were entitled to shape their own professional and personal destinies -- and to decide for themselves what kind of work commitment they could undertake in light of the unique needs and issues in their own individual families. By all accounts, Governor Palin has done an excellent job as Alaska's chief executive. And that's where press and public concern when it comes to voting properly lies.
Any concerns about the impact of Governor Palin's service on her family are hers and her husband's alone. And to the extent that the MSM argues anything to the contrary, they are completely contradicting everything for which they have professed to stand over the last three decades.
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Facts Be Damned
Jennifer Rubin - 09.02.2008 - 9:58 AM
Disappointed that the revelation about Sarah Palin did not bring dissension to the GOP ranks and ruin to John McCain, the MSM is spinning a new storyline: she wasn’t vetted and the McCain team shot from the hip when they picked Palin. Nearly every MSM print and TV story pursues this angle. The assumption is that Palin covered up and McCain was so desperate to seize Palin the vetting was incomplete.
But like the original leaks and speculation about who the VP was going to be, this latest effort seems to lack any basis in fact. You will recall, the media was bamboozled by the pick and didn’t know that Palin was ever a serious candidate. Simply because they were in the dark and many unnamed sources are miffed not to have been in the loop doesn’t mean that the McCain camp was delinquent in its duties. Indeed, this AP story sets out the vetting process and explains that Palin did volunteer the information during the process. ( A twenty year-old DUI by her husband was uncovered and also revealed yesterday during all the brouhaha.)
There is ultimately no way to verify exactly how much was done and who knew what when. But let’s be clear: Palin is no dummy and I find it utterly illogical to assume that she didn’t put all her cards on the table. If, in fact, there is nothing else and this quickly fades as the pseudo-scandal of the day, the media, rest assured, won’t go back to reconsider the “hair trigger” theory of VP selection. That will simply be yet another nonstory. Remember the MSM mantra: never admit error and never apologize.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/251 01#comment-1286792 |
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That's why this story is so fascinating. The hypocristy is plain as day for those who choose to really look at the issue. Here we are with a hard right fundamentalist who believes that safe sex shouldn't be taught in the schools, and then her teenage daughter gets pregnant. That's a pretty amazing story, and the MSM has every right to explore this contradiction. |
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So thick you can cut it with a knife!
I don't defend what the left is doing to Palin. I don't really care because they are doing what they always do!
What I care about is the hypocrisy on our side! We've been making fun of Obama for months now, calling him a celebrity and saying he's not experienced enough.
Now we come out with a BIGGER celebrity than Obama! She's the hot babe beauty queen who can shoot, hunt, fish, and save the republican party! She's the perfect all-American Mom!
Shoot, last time I checked, none of that qualifies you for office. The truth is that Palin's record is very thin. Not as thin as Obama's, but really thinner than anyone else who was considered for VP. Romney is many times over more prepared than Palin. But he has the unfortunate lot to be both Mormon and male.
We are beating the dems at their own identity game. Let's call it what it is. We threw substance and qualification overboard, and went for the woman.
Today Rush called out Obama for smoking pot at 17. Well, exuse me, but we know that Palin was also a pot smoker! She was a pregnant mom, too.
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