John McCain has chosen the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, whom he’s allegedly met all of twice beforehand as his running mate. Not only is she prolife and pro death penalty, she’s a creationist who is also pro drilling and pro guns. Lovely. Perhaps it wouldn’t appear as such blatant pandering for the woman vote if it weren’t for the McCain campaign’s reliance on Obama’s lack of experience as proof of his inability to lead. Sarah Palin is not only younger, but less experienced. Then there was the whole invocation of “history” and how it’s not over yet for the spurned Hillary supporters. Come on over here gals, we’ve got a dame on the ticket! Please ignore the fact that she cares as much for women as McCain does…please?
Women are not stupid, even if John McCain thinks we are. And the progressives among us will not be voting for an anti-woman candidate just because she happens to be female. But hopefully, we also won’t be excusing sexism and misogyny directed at Sarah Palin just because we find her views abhorrent. And hopefully media elite and progressive writers will have the sense to attack Palin on the issues, and not on what’s in her pantsuits. Jill @ Feministe
Also, it’s of note that Geraldine Ferraro has changed her tune about people getting ahead because of their minority status now that a white woman has been chosen as VP.
“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”
& “in 1984 if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would have never been chosen as a vice presidential candidate. It had nothing to do with my qualification.”
VS.
“There are a lot of women who are disaffected by how Hillary [Rodham Clinton] was treated” during her run in the Democratic primaries, Ms. Ferraro told Fox News. And either way, she said, the choice is historic. “I’ve spent a lot of time over the last 24 years saying, ‘Gosh, I wish I weren’t the only one,’ ” Ms. Ferraro told a New York TV station. (Dallas News)
Notably, Ms. Ferraro is unable to attribute Palin’s position to her white womanhood–guess it’s invisible to her.
Feminocracy 
Geraldine Ferraro did attribute her own position as being a vice-presidential candidate to the fact that she was a white woman, though notably those comments emerged only after she had already made her comments about Barack Obama:
“in 1984 if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would have never been chosen as a vice presidential candidate. It had nothing to do with my qualification.”
(Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23590166/)
By: petpluto on August 31, 2008
at 12:15 am
Thanks for finding the quote. I looked around for it but didn’t get the phrasing right in my search. Perhaps she’ll elaborate further about Sarah Palin, but I get the distinct impression that she has no intention of detracting from her thunder. She seems pretty sure that all the disaffected Hillary supporters will flock to Palin and given the lack of further comment, I get the impression that Ferraro has no problem with this.
By: Ophelia on August 31, 2008
at 8:50 am
We’re talking about this over at the CA NOW blog as well: http://www.canow.org/canoworg/2008/08/mccains-vp-choi.html
By: Elena Perez on September 2, 2008
at 4:51 pm
I agree with you and Jill – it will be a tricky balance in the coming weeks to try to focus discussion back on Palin’s bad-for-women policies while still defending her against the sexist attacks that have already begun.
By: habladora on September 2, 2008
at 10:00 pm