We all know there’s been a lot of talk in recent days about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. If there is a celebrity in this race, it is Palin and not Obama. But she poses a serious challenge to the Democratic ticket and her radical views on everything from climate change to abortion are chilling. Despite—or perhaps because of—her extreme views Palin’s presence is having its desired effect. Witness McCain’s bounce in the polls since the convention.
So how should Obama/Biden respond to Sarah Palin? What about the rest of us? We are joined by Mimi Abramovitz, a professor at Hunter College School of Social Work, Amy Richards co-author of Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future, Gloria Feldt author of The War on Choice: The Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back, and Liza Sabater publisher and blogger at culturekitchen.com. And by phone Anne Kilkenny, long time resident of Wasilla, Alaska.
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Some have suggested that we ignore Palin and the media storm that has followed her since she was selected as McCain’s VP. But that seems short-sighted. Shouldn’t she be an easy target for the Democrats? What does it say about the Democratic Party that it seems paralyzed in responding to a candidate who is to the right of Bush on a number of issues? Hmm.
By GRITtv on September 9th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Arianna Huffington writes:
[Obama] needs to dramatically redirect this election back to a discussion over the issues that really matter — the issues that will impact the future of this country. A presidential campaign is a battle and this is the time for Obama to show some commander-in-chief skills. I’m not talking about calling Palin out for lying about his record and demeaning community organizing. I’m talking about grabbing the political debate by the throat. The country is already angry about what’s happened over the last seven-plus years — he shouldn’t be afraid to give voice to that anger.
By GRITtv on September 9th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Asked on ABC if McCain chose someone who met the minimum test of being “capable of being president?” Obama responded thus:
“Well, you know, I’ll let you ask John McCain when he’s on ABC.”
Doesn’t look like he’s putting up much of a fight. And I think actually people want him to engage on the so-called culture war issues. He should take on her far right position on abortion, her positions on global warming, and her invocation of a higher being as the motivation behind the US invasion of Iraq. But will he? It appears not.
By GRITtv on September 9th, 2008 at 11:24 am
Juan Cole at Salon.com:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/f…..mentalist/
Palin has a right to her religious beliefs, as do fundamentalist Muslims who agree with her on so many issues of social policy. None of them has a right, however, to impose their beliefs on others by capturing and deploying the executive power of the state. The most noxious belief that Palin shares with Muslim fundamentalists is her conviction that faith is not a private affair of individuals but rather a moral imperative that believers should import into statecraft wherever they have the opportunity to do so. That is the point of her pledge to shape the judiciary. Such a theocratic impulse is incompatible with the Founding Fathers’ commitment to tolerance and democracy, which is why they forbade the government to ”establish” or officially support any particular religion or denomination.
By GRITtv on September 9th, 2008 at 11:53 am
FACTS ARE STUBBORN things………….hit them with the facts and call them on the Lies and Xtian Hypocracy rinse lather repeat,PRAYING IT SO…does not make it so………….FACTS people verfiable facts
By sadlyyes on September 9th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
another missed opportunity to STATE SOME FACTS
By sadlyyes on September 9th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I don’t entirely agree. I would like Mr. Obama to be a little more plain spoken. I would like him to use the word “Lie,” plain and simple. But with regard to the other, I am ok that he stays above the fray. That is his deal and I do believe that is the truth of him.
Obama has had to deal with excessive scrutiny from the media with regard to his background, his faith and his experience. I’m not entirely comfortable making questions of faith a direct campaign issue, but Mr. Coles points are irrefutable in that Sarah Palin is, herself, proposing to make issues a faith a basis for her governing policy.
So, I put the ball fully in the court of the fourth estate, compromised as that may be. If the press cannot be trusted to do its job, there is no hope for America anyway. Give me liberty, or give me a ticket to Sweden.
By UrbanGorilla on September 9th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Maybe Obama and Biden should start saying stuff like;
I disagree with Palin, I think Delaware, not Alaska, will make a great gathering place for end days…
By LS on September 9th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
707,707….you starting early this am……snort
By sadlyyes on September 9th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I’m absolutly astounded. Palin has rocked the Obama campaign, and she’s only running for VP ! Obama is spending all his time attacking the VP candidate ! Good grief, where are his priorities? His entire campaign is crumbling….
By SDC1 on September 9th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
when will somebody bring up the facts that McSrewball is an addicted gambler that plays for 14 hrs at a time…..(PDB) anybody…dont bother me now/
By sadlyyes on September 9th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
it is not………….he is calling out a LIAR FOR JEEEEEEEEEEEEZUS
By sadlyyes on September 9th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Discount her as a lying psychotic! Start noting how bad she makes McCain look, and that the sooner he dumps her, the better chance he has of avoiding an Obama rout!!
By Styve on September 9th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
let us not forget THE RAPE KITS………………
By sadlyyes on September 9th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Obama and Biden should start running ads showing moose being shot and dying and wolves being shot and dying and pointing out how extreme Palin’s lifestyle and beliefs are…the world is only 5,000 years old…Alaska isn’t for lovers, it’s for end days…
Point out the death culture of war and killing and end-day death wishes…
Biden is right on for calling her “extreme”.
Dead moose and wolves with lipstick on them….
By LS on September 9th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Do not ignore her. Remember John Kerry? Never ignore. Attack, Attack, ATTACK!!!
By yellowsnapdragon on September 9th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
baby polar bears
By sadlyyes on September 9th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Palin is Bush, McCain is Bush. Bush has hurt this country
By leftdcin72 on September 9th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Relentlessly Hammer on her Lies and Expose her Agenda.
Make her acknowledge that her Bridge to Nowhere Lie – the one she repeats with every speech – is a Lie.
Just look at all the flack Hillary got for making up the Sniper Story? And re-telling it in front of cameras?
Gibson should be able to clearly show her the flip-flop on the Bridge this Thursday – and get her explanation On Camera for everyone to see.
If Our Fourth Estate were doing their jobs, the Public would be better informed on All the Troubling aspects of Say-Anything-for-Advantage-Sarah.
“I did not have Earmarks with that Bridge, that Bridge to Nowhere.”
By radiofreewill on September 9th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I tend to believe that on specific outrageous items, Obama and the Dems should simply go right at Palin (her supposed non-support for the bridge to nowhere lie, for instance). That said, I do believe that most attacks on her should actually be dual-use attacks, that is, the attacks should be directed at McCain-Palin, tying them together at the hip for all their lies and policies.
Hard, nasty (relative to typical limpdick Democrat standards of trying to appear “above the fray” or to “take the high road” which ALWAYS FAILS), pointed, even sarcastic attacks must happen. They must happen often and they must be formulated such that they can be easily sound-bited. The GOP are pros at this and it is way past time for the Dems to adopt their effective strategy. It is a waste of time to bemoan the “politics of personal destruction” as if that will stop it or make the attacks NOT work with the public. The attack strategy DOES WORK. End of story.
By PraedorAtrebates on September 9th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Obama and Biden need to take it to Palin because too many people who support her have no idea of her extreme positions, such as the rape kits, corporate welfare, her extremist church that is closer to radical Islam than mainstream American Christian.
Too many people don’t know because the MSM is not telling them.
By maggiesboy on September 9th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Yes, yes, yes…good point about that email that spread all over the place.
The problem is that non-political Americans respond to images of heroes, tough, maverick, magnum P.I, tough beautiful women, stuff like that…
Hmmmm…Obama could claim “Magnum”…afterall he was magnum cum laude at Harvard.
Brains vs Brawn
We need great minds to solve world problems, not guns and guts and dead soldiers.
By LS on September 9th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
McCain is Bush, Palin is Bush. Bush has hurt this country and McCain and Palin will hurt this country. When is Obama going to make it CLEAR that Bush and McCain and Palin hurt people.
By leftdcin72 on September 9th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
And, AFAIK, she has made only one significant campaign appearance, a nationally televised speech written by somone else, where she properly pronounced most all of the words and did so with a photogenic smile.
What the hell are her qualifications to be a heartbeat away from the presidency? Has she, for example, ever displayed self-sacrifice and/or wisdom?
By wigwam on September 9th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
McCain is against equal pay for equal work for women.
Does McCain believe Palin should make the same salary as Cheney?
By LS on September 9th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
GritTV…the camera is still running! FYI!
By Styve on September 9th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Now the audio is still on, but the picture is black…
By Styve on September 9th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
I guess I missed it, but I think that Palin needs to be treated like the joke that she is. The more seriously you take her, the more serious of a threat she becomes. And she IS a joke!
By GeorgeSimian on September 9th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Hi folks.
The discussion of false narratives around Palin just makes me scream. The Bush/Cheney/Rove/Karen Hughes crew are EXPERTS at deploying he misleading personal story to devastating political effect. Not to too shamelessly self-promote, I urge anyone who hasn’t to read BUSHWOMEN: TALES OF A CYNICAL SPECIES — it’s all there. History is repeating itself. ARGH….
By Laura Flanders on September 9th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I think I’m with George Simian — she’s s joke. But a scary joke.
By Laura Flanders on September 9th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
But we have to keep saying that she’s a joke and not taking her seriously.
By GeorgeSimian on September 9th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Why isn’t Hillary the answer?
I want to see Hillary rip into Palin. She has the chops for it. She wins every female/feminine/feminist battle and every experience battle. As an attorney, I bet she can foil every snide attack on the ticket that comes out of Palin’s mouth. This would leave Obama and Biden free to address issues with McSame, and clean up there too.
By anwaya on September 9th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Well, that works great out here on the toobz but a vast majority of the voting public gets its information from cable news and, sadly, is not necessarily adept at getting satire.
They do seem to be susceptible to sarcasm though. Particularly when it is uttered through a nice smile and a well applied lip varnish.
By UrbanGorilla on September 9th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
That can’t work with a press that makes her THE big deal regardless of her being just a candidate for VP (but then, post Cheney, the VP is actually THE power position).
How do you ignore her when the ENTIRE MSM wont? If you ignore her, then it will be exactly the same as Kerry ignoring the swiftboaters. That worked out well, don’t you think?
Simply attack her but virtually ALWAYS do it in a way that ties her to McCain and both of them to Bush and the economy.
By PraedorAtrebates on September 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Why isn’t Tina Fey the answer. Could there possibly be a better role of a lifetime to extol her comic genius?
By UrbanGorilla on September 9th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Hillary doesn’t want to really go after Palin because she still really does want to be President, but she is on a tightrope. She cannot openly sabotage Obama in hopes of running in 2012 because that would destroy her for losing us an election. The answer is to offer support for Obama but not 100%. NOT attacking Palin is part of that sub-100% support.
By PraedorAtrebates on September 9th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Watching Obama talk about McCain/Palin change, no new ideas. He’s right, but he needs more simple messaging. While watching Obama go down the lack of change in McCain Palin, a phrase popped into my head…
“Where’s the Beef?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug75diEyiA0
Model an add on the Where’s the beef? campain — “Where’s the change?”
By patalexva on September 9th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Biden to Palin: ollie ollie oxen free!
If Palin cannot face an unprepared unscripted interview, how can she face
PutinCongress?By dosido on September 9th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Obama and biden can say anything they wish but if the repulbican media doesn’t give voice to it who will hear it. IMO that’s been the biggest problem.
By tbsa on September 9th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
Turn Sarah and the Republicans claims that Sarah is a “maverick” a “reformer” right back on her. Ask her if she is willing to focus on the false intelligence used to lie our nation into Iraq, the outing of Valerie Plame, torture etc etc. Is she willing to continue the thorough investigations of all crimes committed by the Bush administration and follow the law in regard to accountability for those crimes?
By Leen on September 9th, 2008 at 6:03 pm