Archive for

Fox News: A Network of Whiners

After the news broke that Sarah Palin’s private e-mail account had been hacked by members of an internet terrorist group (“Anonymous”), Fox News was quick to cast the incident as yet another incident in the media’s traumatic invasions of Sarah Palin’s privacy. This narrative – that “the media” is behind all invasions into Palin’s privacy, and that such invasions are unwarranted – is incorrect and disingenuous.

First, Fox’s attempt to blame “the media” for this hack attack is ludicrous: the culprits (“Anonymous”) have confessed, and no matter how much you hate “the media,” to equate a rogue group of hackers with The New York Times is a plain attempt to fabricate a story that fits better with a partisan worldview than the truth. Similar plays at fearmongering – James Pinkerton seems to think that the Democrats are to blame, and asks, “could you be next?” – are especially preposterous, especially given the Fox constituency’s generally lackadaisical approach to communications privacy. Just as Sarah Palin came on the political stage, the Fox pundits suddenly discovered feminism: now we’re to believe they’ve discovered the value of privacy? Certainly Anonymous’ actions were reprehensible, but to lay the blame at the feet of anyone but a cabal of internet whackos is just wrong.

Second, though I agree that the media’s continued harsh & highly personal coverage of Palin could eventually backfire politically, I do not believe it is morally unjustified.  When McCain tapped her, Palin immediately made the election about her private life. Her son Trig proves her commitment to “life.” Her daughter Bristol proves her commitment to “life.” And so on. If Palin seeks to make political hay out of her personal life, she would be naive to expect no-one else to talk about it, and cynical to insist on the same, especially insofar as her personal life bears on her politics (how effective is abstinence-only, Sarah?). At least to a certain degree, she’s brought this upon herself, and her family.

Creationism on the March

A school district in North Carolina is about to walk down Dover’s lonely road to legal perdition, on the advice of an attorney who, for some reason, thinks that full-blown creationism can be taught alongside evolution without violating the establishment clause. Who knows why.

Palin Stands Up; Speaks; Succeeds by Lack of Failing

After a week marked, for Sarah Palin, by a lackluster (at times) bumbling interview, a terrible gaffe from a very public supporter (Carly Fiorina), an e-mail fiasco, and harsh words for her running mate from the chancellors of daytime television, Palin took to a pre-ticketed (read: not open to everyone) “town hall meeting” with her running mate (good old what’s his name) and turned on her folksy charm, urging audience members to play “stump the candidate”…

…before John McCain aborted the game, reminding the audience of Palin’s “experience” with the Alaskan National Guard. I’m not impressed. Also unimpressive was Palin’s response to a pointed question about McCain & Palin’s plans for “economic empowerment for women”:

PALIN: Well first, let me take a shot at that. And I’ll tell you, I’m a product of Title IX in our schools, where equal education and equal opportunities in sports really helped propel me into, I guess into the position that I’m in today.

MCCAIN: Could I mention she was a point guard on a state championship basketball team?”

PALIN: Sports were very, very important to me growing up, just learning all about self discipline and about healthy competition and about what it takes to win, and even how to graciously lose sometimes, but how to win, that’s what it teaches you. Now I was a product of Title IX, where legislation allowed that equal opportunity. Now if we have to still keep going down that road to create more legislation to get with it in the 21st century to make sure that women do have equality, especially in the workplace, then we’re there.

In short, “I can’t plausibly oppose ‘equal pay for equal work,’ but since my running mate does, let’s talk about sports and otherwise dodge the question.”

This is what continues to baffle me about the “feminist appeal” of the McCain/Palin ticket: while I’m wary of some women’s concern that feminism shouldn’t be “held hostage to abortion,” a line being echoed by some new “Feminists 4 Palin” blogs, certainly McCain & Palin run afoul of more on the feminist agenda than just abortion. For a true feminist, Palin’s promise to “work on McCain” regarding his opposition to nearly every other piece of feminist legislation to grace the Senate floor in the past quarter decade should not be enough.

McCain’s position on “equal pay” legislation – that employers’ right to be free from lawsuits outweighs women’s right to be free from wage discrimination – is ridiculous, and evinces a shocking lack of concern for women’s issues. Certainly the vindication of liberty through litigation is costly, but nowhere else does a right’s “inconvenience” justify its nonimplementation. Clearly, women are low on McCain’s priority list. Consequentially, why he should be high on any woman’s priority list is beyond me.