Are You Voting Issues or Tissues?
By Lahle Wolfe
The presidential race should be about McCain and Obama squaring off. With the Palin blizzard whirling around it has become Obama vs. Palin. The life and times of Gov. Palin has been a clever and highly effective weapon against Obama and now it appears that Palin may be the one to win the election for McCain. I find that mind-blowing.
McCain says he knew in advance about Palin’s personal life and daughter’s pregnancy. Should he have decided not to select her simply based on a teen daughter’s unplanned pregnancy? No. But anyone with half a political brain knew these things would come up. They went into the media ring with eyes wide open and now are crying unfair? Tissues, please.
There are two ways to look at things:
1. McCain chose Palin with the intention of capitalizing on her personal life knowing it would generate media attention; a brilliant new strategy, but one that would make McCain just as guilty of exploiting Sarah’s story as anyone else; or
2. McCain naively felt it would not be a media issue, something he could “damage control,” or something people would not focus on or care about. McCain is certainly not naïve. He is smart, seasoned, and media-savvy.
Issue: Teen Pregnancy. Palin’s strong position that teens should not be taught about contraception in schools (instead only promoting abstinence) is an issue.
Tissue: Oprah. Winfrey is not a reporter. She has no obligation to “show both sides.” She is a talk-show host, an entertainer. She has not refused an interview request from Palin.
Ms. Winfrey clearly stated why she extended an interview, but only post-election. “Ms. Winfrey angered many of her fans last year when she ventured into politics for the first time with her endorsement of Mr. Obama.” She then made a statement after the Obama incident that she would not be using her show’s power as a political platform and she has not since – not even for Obama.
Palin is not being singled out; Oprah would not and did not interview Hillary Clinton either. “…but Ms. Winfrey’s rejection of the Republican vice presidential nominee is playing right into the storyline being advanced by Republican operatives — that the media is biased against them.”
Note, the keywords from the article, “Republican operatives.”
If women in the country are willing to jump ship on Oprah based in misinformation and harsh judgments it makes me sad for a women who has used her power to help so many people in very tangible ways. If Palin deserves fairer media coverage, and less judgment for making personal decisions, so does Oprah.
Tissues of the Day: Obama says “you can put lipstick on a pig …” and Troopergate: the Alaskan saga of an alleged of moose-shooting, ex brother-in-law.
Issues of the Day: Lehman Brothers suffers nearly $4 million dollar loss; OPEC decreases oil production so keep prices over $100 per barrel and tomorrow marks the 7-year remembrance of those lost in the 2001 9-11 attacks. Osama Bin Laden is still out there.
And these are things, I do care about.
This week's previous posts (most recent first): The Real World, D.C., Hearts and Minds, Pertinent Questions, Forget Candidates, Filtering the Media
Comments
yes, thank you. I am so sick of how Palin has taken over. There are so many more important things to talk about in this election and she is just dominating the so-called “news”. I am also thoroughly disgusted with the swing voters who are apparently flocking to McCain because of his choice in running mate. He attacked Obama for being too celebrity-like and now they are promoting that very quality in this ridiculous woman!
Great piece!!! The media’s fawning all over Sarah Palin is diverting attention to tne very real and very serious issues we will be confronted with. Why Americans donp;t see this is beyond me.
I am a middle aged white woman who suppported Hillary and now support Obama. NO WAY. NO HOW, MC CAIN and PALIN. One size does not fir all when it comes to gender and politics.
American women–wake up and smell the fish–take that lipstick off the pig–and I AM NOT referring to Palin!!!!!!!
Agree with Marilyn 100%
Give me a break! There is NO comparison between Hillary and Palin,and I sincerely hope that the women of America can see through all this hog wash!
Statistically, McCain is a horrible choice to make it through 4 years in the Oval office. Do we really want the Governor of Alaska sitting there?
I agree with the first 3 comments.
It’s appalling that there are people who are willing to vote for McCain because of Palin’s gender or the pity vote because she has a special needs child…or because of her pro-life stance!
She kills animals from a plane…with a gun and no mercy…for SPORT, thus proving that she has little respect for LIFE beyond what suits her political aspirations and misguided ideals.
As for her stance on teen abstinence as a method of birth control…well, I’d like to ask her “how’s that working out for you?” LOL
She’s the ‘celebrity’ now and she’s quickly turning into a joke. I’d like to see more people laughing at her and McCain and fewer people focusing attention to HER instead of the ISSUES facing this country since the previous/current administration so royally fouled things up!!
Anyone who would vote for McCain because of Palin, or even SINCE he took her on board and demonstrated his poor judgment by so doing, really needs a reality check!
I live in AZ where he is a senator, and he has not done anything positive here! We’re getting some of the lowest scores in education here, and can’t keep good teachers….and our seniors have to choose between their medications or food because they can’t afford both. If he can’t fix a state, then he surely can’t handle fixing a country on the brink of breaking…and especially at his age and with his medical history! brrrr….it scares me beyond words that Palin could end up being president!!
We really need to fix this country.
A foolproof sign of insanity is doing the same thing the same way and expecting a different result!
Voting for McCain would just be giving us 4 more years of what we’ve had for the last 8 years….so expecting ‘CHANGE’ from McCain is like expecting the man on the moon to come by for dinner tonight and bringing a pound of blue cheese!
Linda, I am glad you pointed out that with McCain’s health history and age, we could very well end up with Sarah Palin as president!
Amanda, you also make a great point about the celebrity issue. It saddens me that the unplanned pregnancy of a teenage girl is given more air time than Palin’s putting a bounty on the head of wolves and put polar bears at steak to drill for oil.
Marilyn, you ask an insightful question I think is in the forefront of many minds about how abstinence is working for the Palin family. While we might want our teens to wait, it is irresponsible not to prepare them in case they independently decide otherwise. I bet very few parents say, “here’s some condoms now go have fun” and certainly school programs do not teach that.
I do not judge Palin for her daughter being in the family way. But if she is so strongly against giving any hint of “permission” for teens to have sex, well, she just set her own daughter up as a public example to teens that it is okay. Or, at least, defensible, and not such a big deal after all.
Thank you Marilyn (Pennell) for you compliment on the blog post and for taking time to pipe in. I love your sense of humor:
“American women–wake up and smell the fish–take that lipstick off the pig–and I AM NOT referring to Palin!!!!!!!”
Truly, I got a good smile over that one!
Oprah is also not granting interviews to Obama, Biden, or McCain until after the elections… why do people keep victimizing Palin? Is that what we want in a VP? And why didn’t people have this sensitivity and defense for Clinton? Very strange.