Thursday, September 11, 2008

Politics is a dirty game

The race for the US presidency has just gotten dirtier, with supporters of Obama launching into the dergatory name-calling phase of their campaign.

From
News24:
"Democrat Barack Obama was forced to defend himself against charges of sexism after likening his Republican White House rivals' promise of change to putting "lipstick on a pig".

On Tuesday, the McCain campaign decried Obama's choice of words as the latest example of sexism thrown at Republican vice-presidential pick Sarah Palin as she vies to become America's first female vice president.

Former Republican Massachusetts governor Jane Swift said Obama was guilty of "disgraceful comments, comparing our vice presidential nominee, Governor Palin, to a pig"."


Then there is this report by Michelle Malkin, arguing where is the support for Palin from those women in similar positions. Palin has been denegrated for daring to campaign whilst at home she has a child with special needs and a pregnant daughter.

Michelle's article: "
Sisterhood of the Protected Female Liberal Journalists" is a must read - here are some selected excerpts:
"Let's talk Mommy Wars, double standards and the media elite. Last Friday, Howard Gutman, a member of the Obama campaign's National Finance Committee, attacked Sarah Palin's ability to be a good parent and have a high-powered public life at the same time. In a finger-wagging appearance on the Laura Ingraham radio show, Obama's operative scolded the Republican mother of five children for not putting her professional career on hold.

Damningly, it's high-powered working mothers in the journalism business who are helping to broadcast the anti-Palin slams or doing nothing to defend her.

How would Katie Couric like the Gutman standard applied to her? Her husband died at 42 when her daughters were 6 and 2 years old. With two young children devastated by the loss of a father, she opted not to quit journalism. She anchored NBC's "Today Show" through his illness and death, continued working an intensive, time-consuming schedule as one of America's most visible broadcast journalists while a single mother with two fatherless children at home, and then jumped to CBS News .......

How about CNN's Soldedad O'Brien? She's been working overtime covering the presidential campaign season, anchoring daily coverage and nighttime conventions, and producing documentaries that require large chunks of time away from home.

Also at CNN, Campbell Brown flew to Las Vegas last year to moderate a political debate while 8 and a half months pregnant. Fox News host and left-wing blogger Alan Colmes, last seen questioning Palin's commitment to prenatal care because she worked and traveled late in her pregnancy, had no comment.

At NBC, famous balancer of work and motherhood Meredith Viera replaced Couric on the "Today Show." She has three children at home and a husband who has battled multiple sclerosis and two bouts of colon cancer. By the Gutman standard, Viera should have left the business years ago to tend to her family in need.

I don't challenge the commitment these fellow working mothers in the media have to their home lives. What I challenge is their silence and complicity as the Palin-bashers impose a "Family First" double standard on conservatives. The sorority is closed to the Right."


And, you know what - i am beginning to agree with Michelle's comments - double standard indeed!

What's that old saying about casting stones .......




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