Someone called “fif” posted this comment on the Confluence, Riverdaughter, under the heading, “Bill O’Reilly’s Mother Would Be Ashamed,” discussing Mr. O’Reilly’s public accusation that veteran news reporter Helen Thomas is a “wicked witch.“

fif, on February 12th, 2009 at 11:39 am Said:
Daki: but you are an exception. Many of my well-educated, liberal women friends were angered by the sexism against Clinton, but had no trouble ridiculing and smearing Palin. I was beyond disgusted. When I see sisters turn on sisters, it’s the essence of ugly.

I wrote this response.

I infer from this comment that Bill O’Reilly calling Helen Thomas a “wicked witch” is “ugly”; whereas the comment by Riverdaughter’s good friend, Darragh Murphy, founder of PUMA PAC, posted on her site, that her detractor, Christina, “ is a piece of shit who is so stupid that she thinks being swarmed by flies is the same thing as being popular,” is “the essence of ugly.”

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/07/19/pumapac-strikes-back-stupid-piece-of/

They pulled my comment.

I was so confused until you clarified.

In imitating Barack Obama, I just focused on ending everything with ‘yes we can’.

I can do a pretty good imitation of Barak too. Ready?

uh, uh, uh, uh, uh

Bush was a nobody until he became the governor of my state. Here he lost my respect, and never gained it back. Palin was disrespected for being from the least populated state, and doing so insults Alaska. I think of this as a sort of classism. Rural people count too. And yet in rural america there is a common insult to city folks. Both are absurd in my view.

The word ‘racist’ or ’sexist’ loses strength when it is arbitrarily thrown around. To me a racist is someone who wants to regulate or allocate power and resource based on race. A bigot is a different thing entirely. Bill Clinton was smeared as a racist when he wasn’t. Ferraro was being smeared when she wasn’t being a racist. But at the same time, there were people who were disguising their racism against Obama as “issue based” when it wasn’t. You just have to examine it case by case.

I’m sick of bias against “liberals” and “conservatives” it is unthinking and ignorant. There is nothing wrong with being either. Examine the issues, not the people.

As for Tina Fey or anyone else…I’m not concerned with their imitations. I’ve done a ton of imitations for radio for over a decade. I’m well known around my old station for doing George Bush dead on. After years of editing his audio clips, and being from texas, and a penchant for voices, I had his sorta drunk slurring, backward syntax and such down. I learned to imitate Bill Clinton this past year trying to imitate Pat Robertson threatening Hugo Chavez. Its an art to imitate.

In imitating Barack Obama, I just focused on ending everything with ‘yes we can’. When I asked my wife if we can find a good meal for the night, “yes we can”. My children ask if we can solve homework problems “yes we can”. They got sick of it. But I had to figure out how to imitate the new guy because I need to be busy for the next 4 years I guess.

I was really hoping Hillary would win so I could have 4 to 8 years off. But alas, I have a vocal gig for the next 4 years.

When we resort to ad hominem abusive or circumstantial arguments we undermine our central argument. Picking on Palin for her rural roots isn’t going to show that she didn’t understand the broad range of Supreme Court decisions so far. Could she? I don’t doubt she could. But when we lampoon instead of examine, we may not make our case very well.

At the same time, the McCain camp kept her under wraps. This was stupid on their part and part of the sexist betrayal of Palin. I think she’s pretty damn sharp. But there are many areas I can criticize her and none of them are based in her gender or coming from Alaska. This is the most effective way to approach it.

Smearing Obama as being from Chicago is the same thing. Just because he comes out of Chicago doesn’t prove guilt. But his aloof behavior in dealing with this concern showed me an ignorance that I couldn’t respect. Knowing Ayers is one thing, being aloof to Ayers was different, and even more…distracting me with “but I was 8 years old” was down right insulting. I’m younger than BObama and I could figure out who Ayers was.

My decisions about BObama were based on what he did, what his campaign did, and whether the “hope” message was being lived out by his base. The vicious attacks on Hillary mixed with the finger pointing at her made me want to vomit.

I am a student of logical fallacy, and that doesn’t make me perfect in my reasoning, but it does serve as a guide for where reality gets distorted and where assumptions need be questioned.

Thanks for your views. They help open my eyes to issues beyond my own experiences and understanding.

With Palin, my objections came when she was disrespected and belittled – for ex., they said she was ONLY governor of a small state, didn’t go to the ivy league schools, was denegrated for being humorous, considered a dim wit for her decision not to discuss what she read which was interpreted that she didn’t read. The family hype was way over the top.

Tina Fey’s comedy act was entertaining and ok, but her very public remarks showed her distain of Palin -”After November 4th, I will happily retire that character.” Fey’s career was given quite a boost because of Palin.

Mockery does go with the territory – we certainly do our share here at NQ on Obama and Bush, but generally we give good reasons for doing so. In a sense, though, sexism is one of those things that may be hard to define. But I quickly recognize it when I see or hear it.

the low IQ doesn’t fall far from the tree.

In your case, you would be correct.

However, I don’t think women should rule the world (continuously that is

My thinking is that we should just give women the chance to lead…This for the most part has not happened especially here in America. Women are leading and have gained power in smaller more socialist countries, but not for the only superpower left in the world.
Having a woman lead America could make a difference with regards to policies effecting the entire planet.
Thanks for your nice comments!

At least learning to accept women to be able to be in the world without the burden of their gender would be a nice step forward. Thats what would be ideal.

I’ve had men and women alike pigeon hole me into male stereotypes without room to be me, and it sucks. I don’t have to answer for other men, and sometimes I have to remind myself not to. That just buys into it all again.

Thanks for your voice FranSC

However, (can’t believe I’m doing this) I do feel the need to speak up *for* Bill O’. Believe me, I have always been a critic of Bill O’s since I became aware of him. But, I do think he has softened a bit over the years and seems to care very much what people think of him – “The Folks” as he calls his audience.

He has tried not to be sexist as best he understands it, particularly since Hillary’s campaign. He told Hillary after their interview it was the best interview he had ever done. He was very proud of himself for such a spirited yet civil and even friendly interview.

Bill is very aware that his audience has changed to include people like many of us. I think it is unrealistic to think we (male or female) cannot criticize women and be for every women no matter what. I feel perfectly ok to rip apart women like Nancy Pelosi, Caroline Kennedy, Katie Couric, Andrea Mitchell to name a few. But I’m careful to describe the behavior I see and the reasons I think it is wrong. I would never stoop to making fun of their looks, clothes, intellect, etc. One of the women I was very critical of during the campaign walked like a horse. I privately made fun of that, but I would NEVER have written that.

With all of the above mentioned women, I consider that they not only do not further the cause of women, but even block their progress. What good is having women in influencial positions if they are going to play the same games men play against women.

Although I did not share Sarah Palin’s political philosophy, she was helping further the cause of women. I was pleased that Rosie O’Donnell came to her senses after saying some very unflattering things about Palin. Near the end of the campaign she was asked again about Palin. She held her tongue this time and said, “She’s someone I would enjoy having a beer with.” Now, that is tact! It is also kind and respectful. But when you know Rosie, you know that is no endorsement.