Why I, a non-blogger, am blogging

Finally, finally, the Obama camp has come up and out with a decent ad responding to the GOP's campaign of lies, misinformation, willful ignorance, etc. (See “Honor” to view the ad.)  Why it took nearly two weeks after the blistering RNC for the dems to find the balls to defend themselves, I don't know. Why their first attempt to "sharpen" their tone involved a bizarrely junior-high-ish heckling of McCain for his lack of email prowess, I don't know. People point to Obama's "politics of hope." Oh! Hope. Since when was hope equivalent to playing dead? If such a thing as "politics. of. hope" (hear the dissonance?) is possible and/or wise in the pursuit of the U.S. presidency, why does defending oneself automatically count a person out? Why does telling the truth about your opponents' records qualify as an attack?  

Even more infuriating was - is - the utter lack of response to the Sarah Palin hulabaloo. As a former Palin campaign manager put it so delicately in this Sunday NY Times article, "I'm still proud of Sarah, but she scares the bejeebers out of me." I think that's a perfect word to describe the itchy, confused, terrible terrorizing terror many of us felt watching Palin take the stage at the convention and which has continued to terrorize us ever since. Here is a woman, very much a woman, a devoted mother, a loving wife, a successful politician, a woman who wants - and seems to have - it all. She shoots a moose, then shows her daughter how to dress it. She foregoes a chef at the governor's mansion so she can cook the family's meals herself, but knows how to say, "Mommy's got a press conference now." She appears to be everything feminists -moderate feminists, anyway - fought to make possible. And yet she has done her best - and promises, if elected V.P, to continue doing her best - to undo women's rights. Freedom of choice. Access to sex education and information. The right - which Palin seems to consider a privilege - to expect the police to foot the bill for your "rape-kit" (under Palin's mayoral watch, Wasilla women reporting they were raped had to pay for their own forensics kit - read more  here). Are we to assume, then, that if Palin has her way as V.P, a woman impregnated during a rape would have to pay for her rape-kit and then have the baby?

Palin is a woman, but she is not for women.

But enough has been said about this. (See, for example, the WomenAgainstSarahPalin blog - or this smart, provocative post on Jezebel which calls out much of the anti-Palin verbiage for its own brand of sexism.) Much of the commentary has been spot-on and far more articulate than my own, some of it has been just as offensive as Palin herself, and most of it has taken the form of benign sisterly venting. Reporters and amateur investigators have already done an excellent job of collecting her abysmal record and investigating her governing style ("vendetta" says it all), and I will continue to add links to such information. 

Here, I hope (there's that word again, so wishy-washy!) - here I intend not to vent so much as to brainstorm - with you, hopefully, please don't let me storm alone - practical strategies for making sure the truth about Sarah Palin reaches two critical groups: women who supported Hilary Clinton and are now considering voting for McCain because of Palin's presence on the ticket; and independent or republican women who've been leaning toward Obama but are now considering voting for McCain because...yada yada Palin. 

Are you one of these women? Do you know any of these women? Might you know someone who does? What would they need to hear - what facts, what stories, what aspects of her record - to understand that Palin may not in fact be on their side?

What would they need to hear to understand that Palin's glass ceiling is nobody's but her own?  

I know some people will respond: but the more time we spend fighting against Palin, we're not fighting for Obama! (There's that p.o.h. again). Or: but this is a presidential race - it's about candidate #1 on the ticket - stop it with the Palin nonsense. Both these perspectives are right, as far as they are right. But beyond where they are right, and there is a beyond, there are a certain number of people who seem to be stuck in a Palin-scented-cloud (she's a breath of fresh air, they cry! she's one of us, they cry! she loves children with special needs! (See more on the special needs issue - and record - here.) And as we've seen in the past two elections, a certain number is more than enough.

I am not a political scientist. I'm not even one of those measly organizers who must sit on their asses all day playing Tetris and drinking Dew. I just want to start a practical conversation about what can be done, in the remaining weeks, to reach the women who say they're "fired up" by Palin. I'm not talking about the religious right - I don't know how to reach them, and I don't imagine they'd listen anyway. I'm talking about women who believe in equal rights, who may even be pro-choice, who want their daughters to grow up playing soccer - or hockey! - or dancing in tutus if that's their preference, who want to see a woman president in their lifetime and believe that this - Palin - is their best shot.

On Sunday, a record 1,400 Alaskans (mostly women) turned out to rally against Palin. This is good. This is great. Can there be more rallies in critical swing states? What about a canvassing effort? Who could organize this? How can others help? What about ads telling the Palin truth? Could key celebrities make noise? What about politicians? Seems Hilary Clinton's going to be mum on this one (surprise surprise), but what about Joe Biden? The dems don't have to "attack" to point out the obvious about Palin - they just have to state the facts, and state them simply, and state them again and again. (Have you noticed how good GOP pols are at repeating themselves? As it's happening, you think it sounds dumb, but when it's over, you remember what they said, right?) If Obama's camp continues to steer clear of Palin, they not only raise questions about their ability to (respectfully! - oh hope!) send strong messages, but they fail to treat a woman - Palin, too, deserves equal rights - as they would a man.

But did I mention I'm a mother? A wife? A hard-working, ambitious woman? Please, be kind to me, and my novice blog attempt - share your ideas, spread the word. I'll continue updating with links, thoughts, maybe some pictures of me cradling my wee baby. Maybe tomorrow, or the next day, or next week - is it a deal? I'll give you the warm fuzzies if you vote fo-I mean participate, in this blog. She's real cute. Keep checking back!