Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Flipping around cries of sexism

Maggie says:
I'm finding Campbell Brown really interesting these days. First, the interview and its repercussions, and now, she's writing that the McCain campaign's ban on media access to Sarah Palin is sexist.

I call upon the McCain campaign to stop treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower who will wilt at any moment.

This woman is from Alaska, for crying out loud. She is strong, she is tough, she is confident. And you claim she is ready to be one heartbeat away from the presidency. If that is the case, then end this chauvinistic treatment of her now. Allow her to show her stuff.
It's an interesting way to turn the McCain camp's own lines around on them. McCain says that media critiques of Palin have been sexist, and so therefore the media won't be allowed to interview his VP. Campbell's saying that by not giving Palin the chance to defend herself, McCain is himself sexist.

Now of course, I think many of us do believe that McCain is in fact chauvinistic, but I think we can all agree that the real reason the media isn't allowed to interact with Palin is because McCain doesn't want her to make a mistake or show her inexperienced cards. But this spin puts him in an interesting corner. She's calling on McCain to either grant the access he fears because of very real, non-sexist reasons, or to stop calling others sexist when they're simply trying to do their jobs.

I guess marrying Republicans doesn't cloud over everyone's vision. ;-)