I interviewed Joan Blades by telephone to get her reaction to Palin — who actively references her role as a mother. “We haven’t heard her agenda yet,” Blades told me. “The focus needs not to be on [her] personal family issues, but what she would do as Vice President.”
Inevitably, during the Q & A, inquiries were posed about the latest polls and the Sarah Palin factor. Gandy replied that “polls will shift” when people find out more about Palin’s record. On an ironic note, Gandy opined, “I love it that the Republicans have discovered sexism. Before that…it was whining.”
The letter began: “Friends, compatriots, fellow-lamenters,
We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party.”
Doesn’t anyone remember when John McCain made an ugly “joke” (that most newspapers wouldn’t print) about Hillary Clinton, Janet Reno, and Chelsea Clinton?
On a visceral level, as a single Mother, I resent the Republican appropriation of the “family values” brand. I feel more connected with a man, Joe Biden, who questioned whether he should take his seat in the U.S. Senate after his wife and daughter were killed in a car crash.
Lorin Walker, Alternate Delegate from Washington state who is on the Veterans policy team for Obama, had stronger words to characterize McCain’s voting record on the needs of those in the country’s armed forces. “His service to those who serve has been deplorable. His voting record stands at 20% pro-veteran.”
McCain’s choice of Gov. Sarah Palin will make no difference to 62% of the female electorate.
Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority, told listeners, “Feminists are everywhere.” She qualified the Democratic platform as “the strongest platform for women’s rights every adopted by a major party in the United States.”
Hillary Clinton didn’t clinch the nomination, yet her impact on the process has been indisputable. There is a great deal for women to celebrate.
As the countdown to the conventions heats up, every day brings new numbers and polls about the impending election. One of the groups that will be a deciding factor in the selection of the next president, is women… who comprise more than half of the United States electorate.
"The Jump Rope Line" by Marcia G. Yerman is included in the Seal Press anthology Dancing at the Shame Prom.
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