Sarah Palin gets offended a lot. She got offended by Barack Obama’s “lipstick on a pig” comment. She got offended by Joe Biden pointing out that Bush & McCain’s policies are a step backward for women, and that by following them, she is not helping women. Not only is Sarah Palin offended, GOP women are offended, and are expecting “all American women” to be offended as well.
Okay, couple things here.
- I don’t care if Sarah Palin is offended. That’s right. I said it. I just. Don’t. Care. Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden are discussing the issues. If Gov. Palin is offended NOW, about two comments by her competitors, how’s she going to react when she’s under the kind of scrutiny Dick Cheney has taken for the past eight years? Gov. Palin, if you get offended that easily, you went into the wrong line of work.
- “It’s SEXIST!” Grow up. It’s not sexist, it’s fact. “Lipstick on a pig” is a saying Sen. McCain used last year about Hillary Clinton’s healthcare program. Was he being sexist, or was he addressing the issue? You can’t have it both ways.
All this hoopla has made one thing perfectly clear to me. Sarah Palin isn’t interested in arguing the issues. If she were interested in the issues at all, she’d quit looking for things to be offended about and start arguing about why her policy stances are superior. She can’t, so she’s attacking the only way she can. By getting offended. Because if she argues issues and policy, she will lose every time.
To Sarah Palin’s followers: You want to be offended? Fine. I’ll give you something to be offended about (wow, shades of my mom). Alaska has the highest per capita rape rate of any state in the nation, and it’s only gotten worse since Sarah Palin became governor. It also has the highest alcoholism and suicide rates of any state. What has Sarah Palin done to address those issues? Her idea of “fiscal responsibility”? Accepting the “bridge to nowhere” money and plugging it into other projects. Despite her self congratulatory insistence that she turned that project down. She didn’t. She took taxpayer cash and spent it on state projects. Hmmmm….what do Republicans call it when Dems do that? Oh, yeah. PORK BARRELL SPENDING.
Offended yet? No? This should put it over the top. Despite her anti-woman stances on abortion, her do-nothing laissez-faire attitude toward important state issues like rape, alcoholism, and suicide (they’re just not glamourous enough, I guess), her pro-censorship and her blatant anti-science stance, you superficial airheads still support her. ‘Cuz she’s a mommy with a Down’s Syndrome baby and she’s pretty. and tough. And when actual issues are pointed out and discussed, I see absurd comments like this in response:
I get soooo irritated with people belittling Palin’s foreign policy experience. Palin is the commander-in-chief of Alaska’s Coast Guard and during the months she’s been commander-in-chief last I checked the aggressive bordering country of Russia has not attacked to get it’s territory back. I don’t think this is just a coincidence.
as seen here. It’s comments like this that further entrench the idea that women don’t have the grasp of politics that men have. And if I have to explain it to you? That makes it even worse. Comments like this embarrass me on behalf of my gender.
Women have more to offer than being “hot,” or being a baby factory or a beauty queen. But we’re never going to shake that perception if we don’t start ignoring the superficial and concentrating on what’s really important. If we don’t stop making our decisions based on appearance and start making our decisions based on issues, all we’re going to get is more of the same. Time to wake up, ladies. We have the national stage. We have what it takes to make the right choices. Just this once, let’s base that choice on what’s really important. As for being offended….well….I’m going to use one of my mom’s favorite sayings. “Get up, you ain’t hurt.”
Left Coast Librul's Weblog 
How very sad that it’s come to this. Bye Bye substantive conversation!
Hey, cookie! Thanks for the comment. It *is* sad, dammit. This is an historic election. It shouldn’t be about this stupid bickering. I shouldn’t have “lipstick” being the issue coming from MSNBC and CNN. We have too much to worry about.
I did think Sen. Obama’s response was perfect, and I’m glad he didn’t apologize.
very nicely said. they’re obsfuscating the issues with this bs and hope the american people continue to look the other way. there’s a whoooole lot more out there that will offend ms. palin — she better get used to it. she’s in the big league now.
I understand ths prase has been used by politicians for porkbelly. And the comment may have been used in innocense. But If the phrase was used before Palins lipstick statement then there would be no argument. If however the statement was not used by Obama prior to Palins statement then I think it is a political ploy. Whether Obama admits it or not.
Well, what I honestly think (and naturally, I don’t know the man’s mind, so I could well be wrong) is that Sen. Obama made an attempt to throw Sen. McCain’s “catch phrase” in his face and it rebounded on him becsuse of Ms. Palin’s “pitt bull” joke. When even Mr. McCain’s campaign advisor puts out a book with that title, it’s fairly obvious that John McCain uses that phrase and uses it often.