Recently in Election Category

We are happy to announce the launch of ¡PRESENTE! an online organizing effort to support and make powerful voices of the Latin@ community. From their introduction letter,

Our goal is to create a broad-based online community of Latinos and our allies strong enough to make the United States honor its promises and protect our people. We're starting with immigration, but we won't stop there--we'll provide you with ongoing opportunities to make change on the issues that most affect our communities.

Get more information here and retweet and re-post widely.

via Nezua.

If you think there's even a tiny chance of you heading to the June NOW conference in Indianapolis, sign up to become a NOW member, well...now.

If you want to vote in the NOW elections, and believe me - you want to vote - you must be signed up today. (Late notice, I know. Apologies.)

I'm working on a longer post about why I'm so excited that the fabulous Latifa Lyles is running for NOW President...so be on the look out!

In an effort for women to regain footing in Iraqi government and decision-making, it has become a requirement for every 3rd elected seat in Iraq to be held by a woman. As a result, 4000 women will be running in this year's election.

Nibras al-Mamuri is a secular female candidate who argues that fundamentalists have taken over the country. She says it was the 2005 elections that brought them into power and tarnished Islam's image in Iraq.

Al-Mamuri, who is running for the Baghdad provincial council, says it's time for a change.

As we have discussed before and as the article concludes, the US-led invasion of Iraq has made conditions for women worse.

In recent years, Iraqi women have been targeted by extremists for a variety of reasons -- from not covering their hair to entering the political arena.

Under Hussein, Iraq was one of the more secular Arab countries, but the 2003 U.S. invasion unleashed extremist militias. Now, many activists say women have been forced back to the Dark Ages, forced to be submissive, anonymous and fully veiled.

Al-Mamuri said she believes Saturday's vote can help women improve their position in society.

via CNN.

Related:
The Military's disingenuous talking points on women's rights.

I completely forgot that back in November on election night, someone was taking video of our reactions to Obama winning and to Prop 8 failing. I was in CA for the historic election this year and I felt this video captured the moment so well and the tension in all our hearts that this moment was so great and so tragic at once.

Read more about it here.

So you probably already know where you are going for tonight's festivities. And while many of us are cynics and we still have a lot of work ahead of us-tonight we have a lot to celebrate. So please consider this a party open thread and promote your inauguration event!

Where will I be? I am currently in LA and I am attending, "Obamas and Beer!"

Details:
Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 6:00pm
Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 2:00am
Senor Fish
422 E. 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA

Where are you going to be?

This last year was an amazing year in art, music, literature and politics, not to mention some serious personal transitions including a 3000 mile coast to coast move back to my hometown in NY. Here are some of the things I loved this last year.

Favorite movie: Milk. You can read what I wrote about it here. I haven't felt so inspired by a motion picture since Ghandi. Honestly, Slumdog Millionare was a close second, but Milk was my favorite because it combined both great film and a brave and beautiful story.

Favorite Album: Benga, Diary of an African Warrior. For those of you who don't know me personally, you don't know that my other personality is that of an electronic music nerd that goes all over the place to dance to new and interesting forms of electronic music. My most recent favorite being a form of music called dubstep. This album got me up and out of my chair consistently and does what we would call, "bring the noise." Check it out if you dare and remember to keep an open mind.

Favorite art exhibit: Josue Rojas, Deporting the American Dream. Yeah, I know Josue personally, that might be part of it, but his short lived art exhibit in San Francsisco was hands down the best art I saw this year which mixed media, images and one of the most powerful stories, not being told in mainstream media.

Favorite book: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz. Diaz won the Pultizer for this this. I can't speak highly enough of this book, I have sat to write reviews about it time and again and I feel I have to read it again to do it any justice. If you are a fiction fan, it is a must read. You can also listen to an interview with him here. The man is an inspiration to the aspirations of immigrant writers and artists.

Favorite live show: Erykah Badu with the Roots. Do I really need to say more?

Favorite city: New York. After 7 years on the West Coast I made the move back to NY and fell in love with this city all over again. San Francisco will always be in my heart, but right now, New York is who I am dating.

Favorite moment of 2008: When it was announced that Barack Obama is to be the 44th president of the United States of America. Yeah, that is cheesy and everyone else's moment, but damn, it was pretty great.

What were your favorite things of 2008?

I am very happy to report that as documented in this blog, racism is over now. I love funny, new, smart blogs that just hit the nail on the head.

Please check the a new series, "You voted, now what?" by Wiretap Magazine and the Nation highlighting the huge bump in youth energy, engagement and organizing through the Obama campaign and election and inspired by the hope that young people will embark upon a life-long careers in public service.

Here is a promo explaining the series, "You voted, now what?"

Check it out and spread the word. One way we can hold Obama accountable is demand the resources we need to keep organizing, along with stay involved ourselves.

The Washington Post has a piece up about the anti-choice movement's next moves now that Obama has been elected. Some movement leaders are abandoning their strategy to overturn Roe, instead focusing on ways to reduce the number of abortions. (Well, not really - but I'll get at that in a minute.)

Some of the activists are actually working with abortion rights advocates to push for legislation in Congress that would provide pregnant women with health care, child care and money for education -- services that could encourage them to continue their pregnancies.

...Although the activists insist that they are not retreating from their belief that abortion is immoral and should be outlawed, they argue that a more practical alternative is to try to reduce abortions through other means.

And yet, contraception is not mentioned once. I think that increased health and child care opportunities for women are a great thing - and frankly, it's about time the folks who blather on about fetuses start supporting social programs that actually help people - but the best way to reduce the number of abortions is to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. That means birth control.

Despite efforts from pro-choice groups like NARAL Pro-Choice America - who launched their Prevention First campaign calling on anti-choice groups to support increased contraception access for a mutual goal of decreasing unwanted pregnancies - and proposed legislation like the Prevention First Act, anti-choicers continue to turn a blind eye. That's because reducing unwanted pregnancies isn't their goal, and they don't want women to realize that anti-choice groups don't support access to contraception - something 98% of American women will use at some point during their reproductive lives.

I also must admit that I'm wary of what kind of legislation anti-choicers have in mind when they talk about programs to support pregnant women. It's not like conservatives and anti-choicers have done such a good job in the past trying to "encourage" women to be mothers and wives.

So really, I fail to see how this is a change of strategy at all - anti-choice groups are going to continue to try and block access to contraception and limit women's reproductive choices. Sounds like the same old shit to me.

Heather at the Community blog has more.

Are we really still discussing this?

While Dennis Miller being a totally sexist asshole is no big news, this takes the cake for me. On Wednesday's O'Reilly Factor, he plays into the whole "liberal women are just jealous of Sara Palin" nonsense, saying it's because we're just frigid and have no sex lives. He says:

She's a great dame. People are fascinated by her because the Left hate her. I think the Left hate her -- mostly women on the Left hate her -- because to me from outside in it appears that she has a great sex life, all right? I think she has non-neurotic sex with that Todd Palin guy. ... I think that snow mobile looks like mechanized foreplay to me and that's why people are fascinated.

Look up the whole segment too, where he also contends that most women in general are cranky and unhappy "mean girls." He's a sharp one, that Miller!

h/t to Brooke.

This is just peachy. Via Pam, we find that a South Carolina priest is telling his parish that folks won't be receiving communion if they voted for Obama:

A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote.

"Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president," Newman wrote, referring to Obama by his full name, including his middle name of Hussein. (Emphasis mine)

This news comes just a few days after U.S. bishops met to discuss the new President-elect's support for choice. It's nice to know that at least others are saying Newman's statement is extreme. Steve Krueger, national director of Catholic Democrats, responded:

"He is acting beyond the authority of a parish priest to say what he did. ... Unfortunately, he is doing so in a manner that will be of great cost to those parishioners who did vote for Sens. Obama and Biden. There will be a spiritual cost to them for his words."

I love this picture, she looks so bad-ass here, popped collar and all. "Could I handle being Secretary of State? Pshhhhh..."

The news came out yesterday that Senator Hillary Clinton is being considered as a candidate for U.S. Secretary of State:

There's talk, indeed, that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) may now be under consideration for the post. Her office referred any questions to the Obama transition; Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor declined to comment.

The pick of the former presidential contender and Senate Armed Services Committee member would go a long way toward healing any remaining divisions within the Democratic Party after the divisive primaries. Also, Clinton has long been known for her work on international women's issues and human rights. The former first lady could also enhance Obama's efforts to restore U.S. standing amongst allies worldwide.

I think this would be amazing. What are people's thoughts?

Earlier this week, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops urged his fellow clergy to push President-elect Obama on his support of choice, in which the following day, 300 bishops held their annual meeting to discuss Obama's position on reproductive rights and other issues concerning the new administration.

With the Pope's threats of excommunication to pro-choice politicians, you have to wonder what will come out of this meeting. But Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richards reminds the bishops in a Huffington Post piece today that not only did exit polls find that 54 percent of Catholic voters had voted for Obama-Biden, but that Catholic Americans are actually pretty damn supportive of reproductive health rights. A snippet:

Catholic voters are more likely to support comprehensive sex education in schools (78 percent) than the general public (76 percent). And 86 percent of Catholics favor launching a major effort to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies by both increasing the availability of contraception for low-income women and by providing teens with comprehensive sex education.

Put simply, Catholic voters, just like the rest of America, want government to focus on solving problems for American families, such as increasing access to affordable health care and helping children stay healthy and safe and not become parents before they are ready.

Additionally, a Planned Parenthood poll found that Catholic voters' second largest concern on abortion and family planning was that "government was too quick to interfere with people's personal lives and private decisions."

Indeed. Read the whole piece here.

This is an oldie-but-goodie; Samantha Bee reflects on her discovery at the RNC that there's a new c-word that's not to be uttered. Transcript below the jump.

I know we're all fixated on the Prop 8 defeat right now, but as protests gear up in front of Mormon temples across the country, we should note that it's not only extreme right-wingers who propagated anti-gay sentiments in this election.

This is an ad against Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, a Republican: (via)

UPDATE: I originally wrote that this was produced by AFSCME, but apparently that's not the case.

And this is an ad against California Representative David Dreier, produced by Blue America PAC (via):

Both of these ads are truly disgusting. Alex at Bilerico is spot-on in his response to the Dreier ad -- but I think it applies to the McConnell ad, too:

It's worth noting that Howie Klein does great work with Blue America PAC to get more money to good Democrats and to run ads for them. He blogs over at Down with Tyranny and is himself a gay man.

But I don't think that excuses something like this. I know I'm a minority on this one, but I don't think that homophobia has a particular target. Using a homophobic ad against one person who, however we justify this one, deserves it stirs up homophobia against the rest of us. That might not have been the best idea about a week before Prop 8.

I know that some in the community would justify this based on "hypocrisy," but there is no discourse on the importance of honesty in this ad, why voters should not elect someone based on his hypocrisy, or even a mention of that argument. It's clearly meant to trigger the knee-jerk, lizard brain reaction of the people of California's 26th and make them go out and vote against the queer.

(Emphasis mine.) I'm completely with Alex on this. It's important for us to keep in mind, as we rally against groups like the LDS Church and Focus on the Family for their support of bigoted ballot initiatives, that the underlying sentiments are not the exclusive purview of those on the right. And that's something we should be working just as hard to change.

Joe the Plumber, the apparent star of the McCain campaign, has just begun his foray into American society. Rumor has it he has an upcoming book, Joe the Plumber: Fighting for the American Dream as well as a website and country music deal. Really?

What about a book deal and website for Ann Nixon Cooper, who Obama eloquently referenced in his acceptance speech? There are a lot of American's whose experience deserves to be given a voice and platform. Sorry Joe, but I don't think you're it.

In a recent interview, Sarah Palin - once again attacking the media for supposedly treating her unfairly - scoffed at bloggers as kids "in pajamas sitting in the basement of their parents' homes." The nerve! I haven't lived in my parents' house since I was a teenager. The pajamas are another story... (I like to be comfortable!)

For days now, I've been meaning to blog about The New York Times' post-election headline:

The story's first paragraph read:

Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive.

Um, what? Ok, first of all, this was easy?! Also, more importantly, one person of color at the top does not mean the glass ceiling -- or any other barrier -- is gone. Yes, Obama surpassed that barrier. But that doesn't mean it isn't still firmly in place. It doesn't mean that now the floodgates are opened, and we now live in an America where race is no longer a factor. A few months ago, I wrote about this in the context of women in politics:

And to be totally fair, I don't think Hillary Clinton's nomination for president (or even her election as president) would have, in and of itself, shattered the glass ceiling, either. That's because when we talk about the invisible ceiling holding women back, we're talking about broad, systemic problems that can't be solved by one woman, no matter how fierce.

Yes, Obama's election is historic. Yes, it is a sign of progress. Yes, it is a huge triumph. But the "racial barriers" to ascending the highest ranks of society and politics are far from gone. There is still a lot of work to do. Again, as I wrote with regard to Hillary Clinton,

Hillary Clinton would have been a far greater ceiling-smasher than Palin -- not because Clinton was a presidential candidate while Palin is a VP candidate, but because Clinton has shown she actually cares about dismantling the ceiling that holds all women back. She has advocated for policies guaranteeing equal pay and paid family leave, and elevated many women to positions of considerable power within her campaign.

Awesome:

In Silverton, the sleepy Salem, Oregon suburb 40 minutes outside of Portland best known for its lush Oregon Garden and quaint antique shops, the small town's new mayor-elect is poised to get some major attention in the days and weeks ahead as people come around to realize we've got another Oregon first on our hands: the recently elected [Stu] Rasmussen is the first openly gender fluid, transgender-identified mayor of any American city.

Check out the whole article, which includes a short Q&A with Stu. Maybe I'm the only one, but it felt pretty good to read this nugget of post-election good news on the LGBTQ front.

via Bust.

Beth Schapiro is a nationally recognized expert on political campaign strategy. With over 30 years of experience in the field, she has developed campaign strategies for successful candidates for all levels of office throughout the Southeast. She is particularly proud of her experience helping to elect several government officials who were the first of their race, gender, or sexual orientation to win a particular office.

Beth is President of The Schapiro Group, Inc. Here's Beth...

Cartoon by Mikhaela Reid.

Queers Without Borders reports that on the transition team's job page, the nondiscrimination page includes gender identity:

"The Obama-Biden Transition Project does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law."

The Connecticut Employment Law Blog notes,

It's one thing to raise the issue in a platform. It's quite another to start implementing a change like this almost overnight. And this has significant ramifications for the entire Executive Branch once the new administration starts.

Nice.

New York City blog Gothamist reports that on election night, a teenager was beaten with bats in Staten Island:

17-year-old Ali Kamara, a black Muslim, was walking home on Staten Island Tuesday night after it was announced that Barack Obama was elected president when he was brutally assaulted by four white men. Kamara tells the Daily News: "I see the car coming. They looked at me and said, 'Obama!' They were not happy. They had hoodies on. They started hitting me with bats and my body started vibrating." Luckily, Kamara was able to break away and hide until the thugs left; his mother, who moved with Ali to Staten Island from Liberia in 2000, showed the News a bloody towel she used to staunch his wounds.

The NYPD's Hate Crime Task Force is investigating the attack as a bias crime.

Don't miss these pictures. I don't know that my tear ducts can take much more...

Richard Kim at The Nation has a great article up up about why Proposition 8 passed in California - specifically, he battles back against the notion that people of color are responsible for the conservative win.

Thousands in LA protest Prop 8. Pic via Lesbian Dad.

The passage of Proposition 8, which will amend California's constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman, was a devastating loss.

Thousands of protesters took to the street on Wednesday night, and over a thousand protested outside of a Mormon temple yesterday afternoon - the Mormon Church bankrolled a big portion of the proposition's campaign.

For more, see The Advocate for videos of Wednesday night's protest.

In related news, AMERICAblog reports that famed attorney Gloria Allred will file a lawsuit against Proposition 8:

Attorney Gloria Allred and her clients, Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, will hold a news conference today November 5, 2008 at 12:00 noon at 6300 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1500 L.A. to announce a new lawsuit against Prop. 8. Prop. 8 intended to ban same gender marriages in California.

Ms. Allred and her law firm represented the couple in their victory before the California Supreme Court. Her clients became the first to marry in Los Angeles County in June.

It's so depressing that the same country that elected Obama could be so unbelievably hateful towards gay Americans. But I think Pam says it best:

If victories make us complacent, it is our defeats that rally us to a new level of community and activism. We stood up after mortal blows from Anita Bryant pushing her anti-gay vitriol in Florida. We rallied to the bedside of Matthew Shephard in his family's time of tribulation. More recently, we re-committed our vows to protect our youngest members in the wake of the murder of Lawrence King by a fellow classmate. In the wake of the passage of Prop 8, we see now and will see another historic re-awakening of our community.

I've seen lots of videos of the election night celebrations, but this one from Jay Smooth is by far my favorite.

Yes we did!

Leah, a blogger at the college anti-feminist organization the Network of Enlightened Women, has the following gem of wisdom to share about Obama's win:

This certainly is a historic night and only time will tell if this is to be a historic night for change a new generation has been hoping for or a night of change the founders feared hundreds of years ago.

Um, for serious? That is fucked.

(PS: To leave comments that the moderators can get to and other participants can interact with please use the mogulus chat function!)

Tonight for the day after the election feminist town forum! Get more info here and check back at 7pm EST as we will be hosting a live broadcast.

Image via.

Some post-election thoughts from 'round the Internets:

Renee Martin:

In my mind I saw a vision of the middle passage. I saw my ancestors chained together, surviving on menstrual blood and feces. I heard the cruel cry of the whip as it sailed through air, permanently scaring the bodies of my ancestors. I heard the weeping of my foremothers as they watched powerlessly as their children were sold away from them. On this night I saw the culmination of all of that suffering for millions of Americans and beyond, for all of us.

Megan Carpentier:

I was actually sort of fascinated last night, flipping channels, Juan Williams, Eugene Robinson and Roland Martin (Fox, MSNBC, and CNN, respectively) were all crying. I mean, these are men who, while not anchors, are literally quite close to the tops of their professions, and yet it took this to make them feel actually accepted, was the sense that I got. It was kind of amazing.

Latoya Peterson:

Who exactly is the mythical Joe Six Pack (or Joe the Plumber, for that matter)? What happened to the soccer moms, NASCAR dads, and hockey moms? For far too long, these shifting labels have masked the political identity of white voters, who have had the luxury of not having to deal with the issue of their race in past presidential elections. For the only ethnic group that was permitted to be split into unique demographics instead of a monolithic voting block, Obama changed the game forever.

As many of you did, I had a pretty incredible night last night. I watched the election results come in surrounded by the company of some amazing friends. We were a rowdy bunch, cheering and yelling as the early results came in. We even did a jello shot in honor of Ohio. But at 11pm EST, when we counted down the closing of the West Coast polls and Barack Obama was announced as the President Elect, there was a total hush over the room.

We were in awe, we were shocked and we were brought to tears. Half my friends had their hands over their gaping mouths. It took a few minutes for the celebration to return, but return it did.

We then took to the streets of DC where it seemed everyone was out and rallying. I'm not sure if I will ever in my life see again what I witnessed last night. Such jubilation, such energy, such camaraderie. It was a hugely diverse crowd of young people, people of color, men and women, many of whom had never before been so excited about a presidential candidate. When we finally went home around 2:30am, the party was still going strong in front of the White House and in the historic African-American U Street district.

It is definitely a bittersweet day with the news of the anti-gay ballot measure results mixed with the excitement of the Obama win, but change is definitely on the horizon.

Where were you when Barack Obama was elected president?

photo from superspade

Marcia Fudge, former chief of staff to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who was just elected to Jones' seat, the 11th District of Ohio.

It wasn't exactly a landslide, but some progress for women in politics this year:

U.S. Senate
When the 111th Congress convenes in January, 2009, 17 women (13D, 4R) will serve in the U.S. Senate, besting the previous record of 16 set in the 110th Congress. Four women (3D, 1R) won Senate elections this year, including 2 incumbents and 2 challengers. Newcomers Kay Hagan (D-NC) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) will join incumbent Susan Collins (R-ME), who was re-elected. Incumbent Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) lost her race to Hagan. Thirteen incumbent women did not face re-election.

U.S. House of Representatives
A total of at least 74 women (57D, 17R) will serve in the 111th Congress, setting a new all-time high. Ten new women (8D, 2R) will join the 64 incumbents (49D, 15R) who were re-elected, topping the previous record of 71 women set in 2007. The newcomers include 5 challengers (4D, 1R) who defeated incumbents and 5 winners of open seats (4D, 1R). Among the congresswomen will be 12 (12D) African-Americans, 7 (6D, 1R) Latinas, and 2 (2D) Asian-Americans. One race involving a woman candidate (Darcy Burner, D-WA) challenging an incumbent remains too close to call.

Governors
Beverly Perdue (D-NC) was the only new woman governor elected in 2008. She joins Christine Gregoire (D-WA), who was re-elected, as the only women to win gubernatorial races. With six incumbent women governors not facing election, the total number of women who will serve as governors in 2009 is 8 (5D, 3R), matching the number and party affiliations of the current women governors.

The Feministing editors are getting over last night's festivities and I'm on my way to Ramapo College to speak, so things may be a little slow here this morning. So talk it up in comments in the meantime...how is everyone feeling?!

Also a reminder that the awesome event we plugged earlier this week, The Day After: A Feminist Town Forum, has switched locations for those of you attending in person in Boston. The new venue is:

LESLEY UNIVERSITY AMPITHEATER
1815 Mass. Ave in Cambridge

And of course, those of you who can't make it in person, check the Feministing homepage at 7pm EST tonight to follow the conversation virtually.

Not to rain on anyone's post-election parade, but the news on gay-rights related ballot initiatives is really grim. I'll admit that, seeing these results, it rings a little false for me that this election was supposedly all about hope and change, for all Americans. (I know I am being a bit melodramatic given Obama's landslide victory, but somehow that made this news even harder to take.) I was, however, thrilled to see the news that every radical anti-choice initiative failed.

As an update to my pre-election ballot initiatives post, here are the results: 

ANTI-GAY

Proposition 8 in California: Passed. This is such a crushing loss. I went to bed last night before the final results were in, and woke up to the news that the people of California actually approved the gay marriage ban. So devastating.

Amendment 2 in Florida: Passed. Yet another gay marriage ban. 

Proposition 102 in Arizona: Passed. As Dana noted previously, "Arizona became the first state in the nation to reject an anti-gay marriage amendment in 2006, but they're likely to pass the measure this year, now that it has been stripped of language that also denied domestic partnership benefits to hetero couples." Looks like that was the magic change to make bigotry palatable to Arizona voters.

Act 1 in Arkansas: Passed. Now gay couples are unable to adopt or foster-parent children. This from a state with 3700 children in the foster-care system, and only 1000 foster homes. Disgusting.

Question 1 in Connecticut: Failed! Lindsay at Female Impersonator explained earlier that this initiative would have allowed the state constitution to be changed -- essentially clearing the way for anti-gay and anti-choice amendments to be tacked onto it. Glad it didn't pass.

Amendment 48 in Colorado: Failed! By huge margins -- 73% voted against granting fertilized eggs full rights. I'm so glad voters saw this amendment for the radical piece of garbage it was.

Measure 11 in South Dakota: Failed! Voters rejected another radical abortion ban. 

Proposition 4 in California: Failed! Voters said no to a parental-notification requirement.

Measure 58 in Oregon: Failed! As Alas, a Blog summarized, it would have mandated "that school districts limit foreign-language instruction for non-English-speaking students to one or two years, depending on their age."

Amendment 46 in Colorado: They aren't calling this for either side yet -- it's neck-and-neck, with the "yes" side slightly ahead, unfortunately. The initiative would ban programs that work to eliminate the gaps between white dudes and everyone else. Let's hope the final reporting precincts swing the balance to "NO."

Initiative 424 in Nebraska: Passed. Voters said they're ok with re-writing the state constitution to eliminate equal-opportunity programs. Sigh.

Obama wins! OMFG! I don't know that I ever thought I'd write these words, but here it is: The US has elected its first African-American President. And I'm an emotional mess. Like many of you, I'm celebrating with family. I'm sure I'll have more to say tomorrow, but for now, I'm going to go do a happy dance and cry some more with my nearest and dearest.

In the meantime, let us have it in comments!

MSNBC and others are reporting that the proposed abortion ban in South Dakota has failed. Woot!

Make sure to send your thanks to Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families!

Rebecca Traister brings us this great video of kids voting - it's cute, it's heart-warming, and it takes away some of my election night jitters.

Jeanne Shaheen, who looks likely to win her Senate race in New Hampshire

When we talk about women in politics, it's important to look down the pipeline. Political leaders don't start their careers as presidential nominees -- they work their way up after being elected to Congress, as governor, or to the state legislature. So to figure out the immediate future for women in U.S. politics, we have to look down the ticket.

The polls say this could be a landslide election for Democrats. But will it be a landslide election for women? Here's the breakdown:

Ok kids, tonight's the night, and we'll be here live-chatting as the results roll in. Check back around 7pm, when the festivities are slated to begin...

A quick note: Unlike our previous live chats, this time we won't be accepting comments in the chat window itself. Because we've had over 300 participants in previous chats, many commenters were shut out all together after we maxed out the software's limit. Several hundred commenters are also a LOT to keep up with -- both for editors and for readers-- and because we plan to keep the chat running well into the night (not just for two hours, like the debates), we thought it better to keep the chat just among the Feministing editors. The comments section on the post will be wide open, however, so everyone will still have a forum. Hope y'all understand.

I am assuming you are all as nervous as I am right now. To cheer you up, I thought I would share this really funny video of people reacting to things that McCain has said to really highlight how ridiculous his campaign has been.

Well, it will either make you laugh or cry.

This picture is from a series of very moving pictures that can be found here. This one was my favorite and has the captions: These two boys waited as a long line of adults greeted Senator Obama before a rally on Martin Luther King Day in Columbia, S.C. They never took their eyes off of him. Their grandmother told me, "Our young men have waited a long time to have someone to look up to, to make them believe Dr. King's words can be true for them." Jan. 21, 2008.

I have never been an overly patriotic person, maybe because I grew up in a South Asian household that dreamed of returning to India, but the role of the US military world-wide has always dampened any belief in the strength or character of the leaders of this "great" country. Despite growing up hearing, "well if you don't like it here, you can always go back to where you came from" more times than I would like to recall, I have always had a love hate relationship with this country that my parents decided to move to in the early 1970's. I claim a US citizenship, but have never felt like a real citizen as most of my life, no one has believed that I am. So yeah, it makes being patriotic for a country that doesn't really see you as part of it, difficult.

But despite my cynicism, I have always worked for the benefit of America, partly because that is the only kind of work available for liberal arts major, but also because I believe in the importance of civic duty. I was a school teacher in some of the most underfunded schools in America that are failing from neglect and racism, I have worked in non-profits and now I am a political writer. Despite my cynicism, like many Americans, I was still committed to making this country a better place. But as a result of the Bush Administrations regressive policies, irrelevant of my commitment to the public sector, I am in debt, I have no money to invest or buy a house or even think about raising a family and, oh yeah, I don't have health insurance. My country has betrayed me.

I voted for Barack Obama because all of these issues are ones that he has talked about and I believe he will change or affect in some capacity that will reinstall the good that comes out of civic minded work. I don't want to regret that I went to college, I don't want to be hateful that I worked for a public school district and I don't want to go into debt if goddess forbid something happens to me or a loved one and we don't have health insurance.

The American dream is bullshit and a ploy to ignore the actual conditions and struggles of people's lives in this country. My parents came to this country for a better life and we have lived a life of struggle and that struggle continues as my parents retire with no savings and limited social security. But even my cynical father said to me last week inspired, I am willing to give Barack Obama a chance because he on some level sees me and understands the struggle of immigrants. The election of Barack Obama will not be the end of our struggle for equitable rights for the people of color and immigrants in this country, but I do believe he is a step in the right direction.

I voted for Obama because I agree with his stance on reproductive justice and will fight to protect my right to choose, I think he will work to get people like me health insurance, I believe that he will fight for me to keep more money in my pocket and most importantly because he wants to begin to talk about stopping the illegal and expensive war in Iraq. I am also voting for Barack Obama because as a person of color in this country, I have never believed or felt that I belonged and I have watched young people of color through my work as a teacher never believe they have a shot. Is Obama's presidency going to all of a sudden solve racism in inner city and rural America? Probably not, but it will be much more effective working to hold someone accountable that at least on some level can understand where you are coming from. I, like many others, am not voting for Barack Obama simply because he is black, but it does mean something different and special to me, to my community, to my friends and to my students. I am still not feeling amazingly patriotic, we have a long way to go, and even writing this post is making me feel a little nauseous (where did radical anti-establishment Samhita go???), but I do think we have the chance to move this country in a better direction. At least I hope so.

There are many frightening propositions on the CA ballot that we have covered , specifically prop 8 and prop 4. We already know how you are voting on them. Instead of give a full voter guide, which Ann did already, I want to just shed some light on a proposition that will truly harm the young people of California and is a racist and seriously detrimental piece of legislation, CA Proposition 6.

Proposition 6 Facts

"Worst of the Worst"

1) Drops the age to 14 that a child can be tried as an adult

2) California already spends four times as much $ per prisoner as it does per public school student, prop 6 moves millions of $ away from schools and into prisons

3) Creates over 50 changes in law with redundant spending and duplicated bureaucracy

4) Explicitly removes community representatives from juvenile justice coordinating councils so affected communities have no ability to bring a voice to the table

5) Mandates yearly criminal background checks on everyone living in Section 8 public housing and removes the 30 day eviction notice requirement, destabilizing communities through forced evictions

Prisons are a feminist issue as we have written about before. Please vote no on prop 6! Go here for more info.

Like many of you, I voted for this first time ever (in person) today. It was pretty damn exciting, especially after all the build up over the last few years. I have to admit I wasn't on the Obama train until pretty late in the game, but as Dana Goldstein says, he's a pretty inspirational guy.

With all the hysteria about long waiting lines at the polls I was pretty apprehensive when I strolled in this morning around 8:45am. But good karma was with me because before I could even get to the back of the HUGE line I was led to the front by a woman who said my last name meant I could wait in a short line. I was in and out within 20 minutes.

I voted in Washington DC and I have to say I was surprised to see Ralph Nader on the ballot. I honestly didn't even know he was running again, which maybe is a good thing. I was kind of nervous, which is maybe why I accidentally filled in the arrow for Nader! No worries though, I was able to turn in my "spoiled" ballot and fill in a new one with the right choice.

I have to say I felt pretty proud on my way to work with my "I voted" sticker.

What's your voting story?

PS Something fun for your election watching this evening (thanks to Veronica for the link)

After all the ups and downs and nail-biting primary nights and crazy-making debates and smear campaigns and oppression olympics, I know I can't be the only one who needs a little mental break until results start rolling in tonight.

So take a breather. Here are some pictures I've seen this week that really made me feel inspired about this election:

via Melissa's awesome roundup, Girls 4 Obama

Ditto

A woman stands in the rain at an Obama rally in Chester, PA. via JJP

via Jezebel

Say what you will about the actual events and outcomes, but I have to say that, as a feminist, this was a pretty damn fascinating election to observe and participate in. But I am admittedly relieved it's almost over.

Oh, and if you haven't already, GO VOTE.

So while we wait in anticipation for tomorrow to arrive, we wanted to get some of your thoughts on what you're expecting from the next presidency.

Considering all the damage the Bush administration has done to women's rights for nearly a decade, what issue(s) do you think should be the new administration's priority?

We've posted on this before, but it's a good reminder to vote no on Prop 8. This is a video of San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders talking about his change of heart on legislation supporting gay marriage. It's pretty emotional stuff.

Transcript after the jump.

We damn well deserve it.

While many of you probably already know that Ben and Jerry's is giving away free ice cream tomorrow, prepare for an even bigger treat.

The fabulous sex toy store Babeland is planning to give away free silver bullets and sleeves to folks who come to New York or Seattle locations with voter registration card, voting stub, or word of honor. The giveaway love starts tomorrow and lasts all week long.

And what better during the insanity than a little self-indulgence? Add any other events/giveaways around the election in comments!

I know we're all deeply, deeply caught up in the presidential race, but I want to take a moment and highlight the fact that a lot of ballot measures are going to be voted on tomorrow, too. Most are anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-immigrant. Basically, the ballot-initiative process allows voters in certain states to directly pass measures, bypassing the legislature. Miriam already linked to a great voter guide, and my colleague Dana Goldstein highlighted several initiatives to watch.

These measures are all important because, at a time when America seems likely to elect the most liberal president of my lifetime (not that that's saying much...) and there is an overall feeling of hope, the motivations behind these initiatives are truly backwards and bigoted. As Katha Pollitt put it recently, "The culture war may fail at the top of the ticket, but it still has enough juice to do damage further down."

Here's my own list of what to watch tomorrow, down the ticket. The way states vote on these measures will say as much about our country as whether or not we elect our first black president.

All he needs is a an evil mustache and the baby carriage tied to the tracks.

Apparently, the Susan B. Anthony List (basically the antithesis of the fabulous Emily's List) have been sending out over a half-million these mailers to anti-choice supporters in Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Colorado.

I love how they say "vote for a team that values life" when Palin recently expressed her support (and her belief of John McCain's support) for the Republican Party Platform's anti-choice principles, which seek a constitutional amendment banning all abortion with no exceptions in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman.

How 'bout that.

I know it seems impossible to think about after the election... but the Center for New Words is hosting an awesome post-election event on Wednesday:

 
The Day After: A Feminist Town Forum
Wednesday, November 5 @ 7:00PM

PARTICIPATE IN PERSON: Cambridge Family YMCA, 820 Mass. Ave., Cambridge

PARTICIPATE ONLINE IN REAL TIME: Participate by logging on 11/5 at 7PM EST to any of our participating blogs, including Feministe, Feministing, Girl with Pen, WIMN's Voices, No Cookies for Me, Writes Like She Talks, Heartfeldt Politics, TakePart, or at our mogulus channel.

It's been a long election season, and now it's time to come together to figure out what it all means and what's next.

At this culmination of our This Is What Women Want election project, please join us, our panel of national leaders and the feminist community nationwide to discuss what happened on Election Day, and what we should be thinking about and doing now to fight for equality and justice for all.

This is a first of its kind event convening feminists from around the country live via the blogosphere! Watch live, converse with other audience members around the country and submit your comments and questions in real time.

Panelists will include:

BYLLYE AVERY: Founder of the National Black Women's Health Project and MacArthur Genius Award Recipient

MICHELLE GOLDBERG: Journalist and author of Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism

ANNE ELIZABETH MOORE: Critic, activist, artist, journalist and author

PAULA RAYMAN: Founding Director of the Radcliffe Public Policy Center

LORETTA ROSS: National Coordinator, SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective

ANDREA BATISTA SCHLESINGER: Executive Director, Drum Major Institute for Public Policy

Come optimistic, disgruntled, angry, or just exhausted. Come in person or online. But come. We need to hear every voice and idea!

(Facebook users: Click here to RSVP and invite your friends!)

If you're not in Boston, you'll be able to follow the conversation here at Feministing. Just load up our site on Wednesday at 7pm, and you'll be a virtual part of the town hall.

We couldn't not post this, considering tomorrow is the big day. (And Jessica said it made her ovaries hum.)

Who would want to let these adorable babies down??

Transcript after the jump

Obama, responds to the latest manufactured controversy from the McCain camp:

"I don't know what's next. By the end of the week, he'll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

And irritates me to no end: When you do a Google search of "Obama," the top related search is "obama citizenship." Wait, it gets worse:

Please tell me everything is going to be okay. Please?

Ad appearing on NYC subway, via bxlee.

The folks at Manhattan Mini-Storage, who we just love for their pro-choice ads that caused a ruckus a while back, now have an anti-Palin ad up in New York.

Gothamist has more.

Now this is rich. Kevin Burke, a proponent of the invented "post abortion syndrome," writes that the criticism of Sarah Palin "may have a relationship to the collective grief, shame, and guilt from personal involvement in the abortion of an unborn child." Here I thought voters made decisions based on the issues that matter to them - little did I know that women across the country who don't support Palin are simply depressed about all of those abortions we've been having!

Burke gets even classier when he brings Palin's pregnant teen daughter into the mix:

If Bristol Palin had quietly aborted, Sarah Palin would have been spared the politically untimely focus on this very personal family issue. The problem would have quietly gone away. But Bristol, like countless post abortive women, would have paid a high price to protect her mother from the political heat that her pregnancy brings to the campaign. We know from our work with thousands of women who feel pressured to abort for various reasons that she would surely suffer many of the common post-abortion symptoms; depression, promiscuity, drug and alcohol abuse, sleep disorders, and relational problems. But she would have suffered in silence; no one would know her secret. No one would acknowledge that she has reason to grieve or have symptoms after abortion. Sarah Palin would have lost not only her precious grandchild...she likely would have lost her daughter Bristol to the silent ravages of post abortion suffering.

Wow, given that one in three American women will have an abortion in her lifetime - there must be millions of tired, addicted, slutty, depressed, single women running around voting Democrat!

Seriously, conservatives need to get their heads out of their asses - and out of our uteruses. (Sorry, not the best visual.)

Part 2 after the jump.

Via Jack and Jill Politics.

Samantha Bee on McCain's women's health air quotes. Nails it dead. (Wait until about halfway through the vid.) I love her.

Thanks to all the Feministing readers who emailed me late into the night excited about this segment!

It's not even a new twist on an old theme; as Barack would say, it's more of the same. The idea that women's bodies can and should be offered as a reward for good behaviour has been with us for centuries. It's appearance as a campaign slogan only proves how far we need to progress as women.

I really hate that this props up the idea that there's a "groupie mentality" among young women who support Obama. The poster echoes the insulting argument made by some during the Democratic primary that young women who support Obama don't actually think he has good policy positions or political stances. We just think he's HAWT. And we like that our boyfriends like him!

Look, I understand this poster is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, retro fun. (Hello, it just oozes "Made in Brooklyn" hipsterrific charm.) And you know what? I'm into retro. Retro fashion? Yes, pls. Retro music and home decor? Yes and yes. But retro politics and political statements? Um, no thank you.

In light of claims that we have reached a place of post-racism, Latoya at Racialicious aptly points out multiple examples of how this is actually untrue. In light of the events of Hurricane Katrina, the Jena 6, the Jersey 4 and the Duke Rape case, all highly public moments where racism proved to be a relevant factor, we can hardly claim to be in a post-racial country.

But the very nature of our conversation about whether or not America is post-racial proves that, in fact, it's NOT. Just look at the competing narratives on the right and the left about what role race has played in this election. Last week I suggested that Colin Powell put his support behind Barack Obama at least partially because of race, whether he said it out loud or not, and that this support is understandable given the history of racism in this country. In response, there were some suggestions that perhaps this act was in itself racist. I want to talk about what comments like these tell us about how we understand race, especially in the context of this election.

Voting for Barack because he is black is considered problematic for two reasons:

The first reason, pushed by conservatives, is that this is somehow reverse racism (despite the clear proof that the McCain campaign is appealing to people to not vote for him because he is black). This reason is firmly rooted in white power, fear and control of this countries government and the potential threat that a black leader is to this establishment. It is just blatant old fashioned racism. I am not sympathetic to this line of analysis.

The second reason, pushed by liberals, is that he is a qualified candidate outside of being black, so we don't want him to be the affirmative action candidate and play into the right wing agenda of calling us "racist against white people." This reason is based in a belief that we are in a potentially post-racist time where we are actually witnessing a "reverse Bradley Effect" in which Americans are so past their racism that they want to prove it by supporting a black candidate.

It is worth noting these contradictions. Take a look at how themes of post-racialism play out in Frank Rich's Sunday editorial:

There are at least two larger national lessons to be learned from what is likely to be the last gasp of Allen-McCain-Palin politics in 2008. The first, and easy one, is that Republican leaders have no idea what "real America" is. In the eight years since the first Bush-Cheney convention pledged inclusiveness and showcased Colin Powell as its opening-night speaker, the G.O.P. has terminally alienated black Americans (Powell himself now included), immigrant Americans (including the Hispanics who once gave Bush-Cheney as much as 44 percent of their votes) and the extended families of gay Americans (Palin has now revived a constitutional crusade against same-sex marriage). Subtract all those players from the actual America, and you don't have enough of a bench to field a junior varsity volleyball team, let alone a serious campaign for the Electoral College.

I agree with Rich and I find most of his argument to be solid, but I do think he is attempting to pull from the post-racist frame. He even makes the "reverse Bradley" argument -- that voters want to vote for Obama because he's black -- later in the piece. But here's my question: Is a "reverse Bradly" possible considering one of the largest liberal messages being pushed right now is that this isn't about race? Aren't there almost certainly other racial factors at play here -- that white Americans are disgusted by the race-related tactics that McCain has pulled and that Obama's blackness isn't very threatening to them?

With these two frames about race, you're damned if you do, damned if you don't. On one hand, we recognize the clear and blatant racist attacks that Obama is facing. On the other, we claim not to notice or care that the first black president is actually black. The simple truth is that in fact there are Americans voting for Barack Obama because he is the best choice AND because it is important for us to have a black president. As we said over and over again during the Democratic primary, gender is a factor but not *the only factor* in choosing a candidate to support. The same goes for race.

But this tension -- is race a major factor or a non-existant factor? -- is at the heart of this election, and I don't believe it is proof that we are in a post-racial space. Perhaps we are stuck somewhere in the middle of two different ways of understanding race. It is so important that Barack Obama is elected (and obviously not just because he is black) but let us not forget what this election is bringing out in all of America -- and not just the "real" Americans as defined by McCain and Palin. We must continue to push the way we understand race in American society and push to change the racist conditions these beliefs have created. Saying that we are post-racial or don't see race does not change the actual condition of our country.

I am so deeply saddened by the right wing attack on gay marriage in my recently previous home of California. The implications for the potential ban on gay marriage are frightening, suggesting that any union that isn't between a man and a woman will become illegal. It is amazing how much money has been pumped into the Prop 8 campaign, because a few months ago many of us believed the prop didn't have a shot in hell. This video that I found via Amanda uses a play on words to show exactly how discriminatory a gay marriage ban is. They replace gay marriage with "interracial."

Also, this video from Yes on 8 enthusiasts in Oakland via Feminist Law Professors.

Prop 8 is just one piece of legislation to strips away the rights of and harms our gay citizens, it doesn't change harassment or hate crimes. It does however set a precedent of how society sees gay people and a marriage ban would tell us that they are not actually citizens. This has implications and Carolyn Goossen at New American Media takes a look at the harassment of gay teenagers in California.

Say it with me now, "ANN FRIEDMAN."

Former Ms. magazine editor Elaine Lafferty has been working as a consultant on the McCain campaign (yes, seriously), and has a bone to pick with feminists who dare to criticize Sarah Palin.

For the sin of being a Christian personally opposed to abortion, Palin is being pilloried by the inside-the-Beltway Democrat feminist establishment. (Yes, she is anti-abortion. And yes, instead of buying organic New Zealand lamb at Whole Foods, she joins other Alaskans in hunting for food.[...])

...[L]ike many other Democrats, including Lynn Rothschild, I'm tired of the Democratic Party taking women for granted. I also happen to believe Sarah Palin supports women's rights, deeply and passionately.

M-kay, whatever floats your boat I guess. Never mind that her record indicates quite a different story. But here's the kicker:

Last month a prominent feminist blogger, echoing that sensibility, declared that the media was wrongly buying into the false idea that Palin was a feminist. Why? Well, just because she said she was a feminist, because she supported women's rights and opportunities, equal pay, Title IV--that was just "empty rhetoric," they said. At least the blogger didn't go as far as NOW's Kim Gandy and declare that Palin was not a woman. Bottom line: you are not a feminist until we say you are. (Emphasis mine)

"Empty rhetoric," hmm? That sounds familiar. The anonymous "prominent feminist blogger" is our own Ann Friedman! But it seems that naming Ann is beneath Lafferty - as is bothering to engage with her in-depth look at how Palin's rhetoric does not match her record. Making women invisible: Now that's feminist!

Is it really so hard to name the person whose opinion you're (limply) arguing against? Ann Friedman. Check it out, I can even do it in all sorts of different ways:

Ann Friedman. Feministing. Ann Friedman, Feministing. Ann Friedman of Feministing.

It's like a typing miracle! Say it together, folks: Ann Friedman.

This year many states are facing a variety of ballot measures. We've heard a lot about the CA gay marriage initiative, and there are initiatives in 14 different states that could affect reproductive freedom, affirmative action, economic security, transportation, education, health care, energy and security (to name a few).

Choice USA, Campus Progress Action and Progressive Future have teamed up with the Ballot Initiatives Strategy Center to create this awesome guide to all these ballot measures, what they would really mean, and how you should vote on them.

So if you live in any of these states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Massachusets, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, South Dakota and Washington download the guide and get the facts. Or forward it along to people who do!

Sarah Palin, who called herself a feminist in the infamous Katie Couric interview, is not so sure anymore...

In an interview on NBC Nightly News that aired yesterday, Brian Williams asked Palin: "Governor, are you a feminist?"

"I'm not gonna label myself anything, Brian," said Palin. "And I think that's what annoys a lot of Americans, especially in a political campaign, is to start trying to label different parts of America different, different backgrounds, different...I'm not going to put a label on myself."

You know, this is a flip flop I can deal with. Don't label yourself, Gov. Palin. Especially not as a feminist.

UPDATE: Video of Palin's change of heart after the jump.

Through EngageHer.org and documentary film Engage Her: Getting minority women to lead and vote, founder and CEO Mable Yee is working to get women to the polls -- especially women of color -- millions are registered to vote but don't cast their votes. So why do all those undecideds get so much attention?

Just 10 days to go till the big vote for the next prez. Here's Mable...

Big time.

Last month, Jessica gave us the lowdown on how the mainstream media has been feeding the whole Palin-as-Feminist rhetoric that's been going around, and Ann reminded us earlier this week about why Palin's attempt at feminist talk is completely empty of meaning. But apparently, the Washington Post disagrees. Lois Romano writes:

Palin's candidacy has sent a jolt through traditional liberal women's organizations as she tries to redefine feminism, suggesting that the old movement has become detached from the hockey moms Palin champions. The mother of five and former beauty queen is the antithesis of the bra-burning militant libbers of the '60s, and she is adamantly antiabortion. Yet Palin has grabbed the feminist label vigorously and has been hailed as one by the thousands of supportive women who wave their lipstick tubes at her rallies.

The author also contends that the "unexpected recognition of a conservative as a role model for women has forced some traditional feminists to reconsider the movement's mission," specifically referencing to her stance on abortion multiple times, as if Palin being anti-choice is the only issue that distinguishes her from feminists. Forget about charging residents in Wasilla for rape kits and her general apathy for rape victims, her lack of support for the Lilly Ledbetter Act, the fact that she's against emergency contraception , her history of cutting funding for young, low-income mothers - you get the gist.

What's the most infuriating is that Romano pretty much labels her as this subversive revolutionary working against a puritanical movement:

Palin proclaimed that feminism is no longer synonymous with liberalism but something that could be shared and celebrated by all women.

You mean no longer synonymous with the "bra-burning militant libbers of the '60s"? And speaking of, she quotes a Clinton-supporter-turned-McCain-supporter who says that, "Sarah Palin rocks all the stereotypes of feminism and can only enhance progress for women."

Somehow this writer managed to reinforce feminist stereotypes while deeming Palin as proof that feminists can be so much more than just stereotypes. You know, they can be airbrushed sexymoms with hot legs.

Sigh.

You've probably heard McCain, Palin and various GOP pundits using the term ACORN like it's a dirty word. While we are hearing reports of really insidious voter suppression and voter intimidation (not to mention ballot "typos") all over the country, the Republicans have waged a campaign against the grassroots organization ACORN. Below is their response to the allegations.

I have to agree with them that this sounds to me like the Republicans laying the foundation for an election contest if Obama wins.

My colleague Tim Fernholz at the Prospect has a piece up about candidates this cycle appealing to voters by touting their pro-choice cred:

But this year, Democratic political operatives have been surprised by the success they've had in deploying pro-choice messages. Congressional campaigns from New Jersey to Nevada have picked up on the trend, and outside groups spreading the word are not just usual suspects like NARAL and Planned Parenthood, but also the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

"We didn't use it as much in 2006. Voters then were really focused on Iraq and the economy," says Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who is working on several House and Senate races this year. "I was surprised, honestly. You think the economy and nothing else will break through, but this is breaking through."

Read the rest here.

I gotta say, it's refreshing news given the anti-choice rhetoric the McCain campaign is spewing, along with some of the stridently anti-choice ballot initiatives we've seen this year.

Well this is a new one. If you thought Fox News was bad, check out their bloggers. Greg Gutfeld, also host of Fox News' Red Eye, wrote a post yesterday on Fox Forum that may just leave you speechless. The title: "Obama Is as Untouchable as a Really Hot Chick." And that's just the tip of the iceberg:

Seriously, the man isn't a presidential candidate, he's a really hot chick. You know what I mean, right?

You know how when a friend starts dating some girl, let's say a stripper with top of the line implants, he overlooks everything else. She could be spreading Chlamydia like a Jehovah's Witness unloading a case of Watchtower pamphlets, and it won't matter.

Blinded by beauty, he lets her get away with everything, until your buddy is left broken and broke, riddled with disease, sleeping in your garage and convinced a mob boyfriend wants him dead. (Emphasis mine)

It must be hard to put so many misogynist stereotypes in less than a hundred words. Sounds like this guy has some serious fucking issues.

After you've recovered from the speechlessness, let the fury sink in and let Greg know what you think of his blogging.

Thanks to Lisa for the link!

You must check out this new ad by the Winning Message Action Fund's How Much Time Campaign targeting McCain and Palin for their threat to Roe v. Wade; it's really powerful stuff.

Transcript after the jump.

James Dobson of Focus on the Family interviewed Sarah Palin recently, and I just had to point this one part out.

She said giving birth to her son Trig, who has Down syndrome, gave her an "opportunity to be walking the walk and not just talking the talk" in regards to being "hardcore pro-life." For serious?

Jill has more.

This web video from the Obama campaign highlights the importance of the Violence Against Women Act (and, of course, Joe Biden's role in its passage):

(Trigger warning.)

Related:
Quick Hit: Biden and VAWA
Meet Joe Biden

I'm sure most of you have seen the news that Sarah Palin has been appearing with "a small group of high-profile feminists," including Oregon NOW Vice President Linda Klinge and former Ms. magazine editor Elaine Lafferty. (More about that later.)

Rather than focusing on who or what is or isn't feminist, let's just step back and look at the policies Palin stands for. Not the talking points or labels. Let's examine what she's actually saying on the stump this week:

Palin went on to suggest Obama discriminated against women employees in his own Senate office, as opposed to GOP presidential nominee John McCain.

"There is a difference between what Barack Obama says and what he does," she declared. "Out on the stump, he talks about things like equal pay for equal work, but according to Senate records, women on his staff get just 83 cents for every dollar that the men get. What is with that? Does he think that the women aren't working as hard? Does he think they're 17 percent less productive?"

"I know one senator who does pay women equal pay," she added, referring to McCain

It's completely fair to call out Barack Obama for not having more women at the highest (and highest-paid) levels of his campaign. I grant that (and have linked to this point before). BUT beyond the anecdote about their campaign staffs, Palin declines to mention that McCain voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act, and supports the right of businesses to discriminate on the basis of gender. This has a much greater impact on American women than what he pays his own staff.

Instead, she said if elected she would pursue policies such as flexibility in labor laws so women could engage in more telecommuting and would push for a tax code "that doesn't penalize working families."

"Working mothers need an advocate, and they will have one when this working mother is working for all of you," she said, as the crowd cheered.

...Except that, again, her running mate has supported paid family leave in theory, but not in practice. Obama has pledged to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act, while McCain...

Every time I think I couldn't love Rachel Maddow more, she comes out with something like this. Sigh.

More at Think Progress.

Sarcasm, people. Courtesy of Katie Halper (via Baratunde):

And:

Transcripts after the jump.

I gotta say, while the Women for McCain video is spot-on, Obama isn't that much better when it comes to a lot of gay-rights issues.

I just thought it was weird, insincere and awkward. And the Palin rap, well that just took the awkwardness to the next level. I guess seeing Palin on SNL makes me realize that is where her campaign belongs. In a fantastic comedy world. The Nation has more.

I hate Rush Limbaugh. This isn't news, I mean he is an asshole. But I love that he is so angry about Colin Powell's historic decision to support Barack Obama, exclaiming that it is "ABOUT RACE." Powell has bore the brunt of the racism of the Republican right for a long time, from being called "well-spoken" to having his race ignored or having to pretend he wasn't a person of color for the benefit of the party. I have frequently disagreed with his perspectives and policies, however, I was *very* moved by his public endorsement of Obama.

I understand that Powell has to say he is not endorsing Obama because of race. I understand that is what Chris Rock has said, what many public black men have had to say. Because they have to pretend to be color blind. Because racism in this country is so deep, so entrenched that as people of color we have to ignore it and can only call it out in polite and really obvious ways. If we get too angry or speak out we are divisive. And if we endorse a candidate because he is black, well then *we* are the racist ones.

So of course Rush is screaming Powell's endorsement is about race. He noticed that there is a shot that a black man might make it to the presidency which is a direct threat to old white male power (as subtle as it is going to be) and Rush has taken himself to the task of exposing us libruls as the racists that we are.

See, calling someone a traitor because they chose to support a candidate because they agree with his politics, thinks that his own party is using bad tactics and because he is the same race, well that makes him a racist, not a well reasoned human being. And making images like this one, well that is just political expression. Not racism.

UPDATE: After thinking about this a little bit more and before the link thread spirals out of control about how we should support Palin because she is a woman...I think it is important to state the obvious. This is not a competition between what is a more compelling reason to vote, gender or race. They are both things to consider and it helps that Obama has politics that I or most feminists do support therefore gaining the support of most feminists. However, I didn't support Powell when he was considering running for President and would have voted against him even if it meant voting for someone white instead.

The point however is that whether Powell says it is for race or not, he is going to have it thrown in his face in a way that a white conservative supporter would not. That is the way racism functions, you are damned if you do, damned if you don't. There is a specific type of anger that Powell's endorsement is unleashing that is tied to white power and control and it is interesting to watch it play out.

When asked last week in the debate about his racist sentiments aired by some of his constituents, McCain tried to weasel his way out of the question them "fringe" members. I think we as the news reading public have found evidence to the contrary. It is starting to seem that the Republican base has become filled with racism. This might be why moderate Republicans hate their own party so much at this point, but I digress. Last week we saw Obama with a noose and talked about the sentiments anti-Obama folks are drawing from in calling a black leader a socialist. That was deplorable, this is disgusting.

I am thinking they didn't get this idea from Old Dirty Bastard's album cover. And when Ol Dirty put this album cover out, we knew it was problematic, but it was also a joke, his idea and thankfully ODB wasn't running for president.

This however is just some really shameful shit. Racialicious has more.

UPDATE: CNN did a story on this. (h/t)

Several of you have sent in this video...I'm glad it's making the rounds! Very powerful indeed.

In fifteen days Americans will go to the polls and get our vote on. A bitch adores voting...the excitement, the anticipation and the satisfaction of adding my voice to the process and making my wishes known. I teach voter education classes at local women's shelters so I also get the honor of watching young women who are particularly vulnerable to legislative drama cast their first vote.

On Election Day I will drive my students to their polling place knowing that they know their rights and what they are voting for. It sounds so simple...and yet too many of us vote against something rather than for something.

I encourage all ya'll to ask yourself why you vote and what you are voting for.

Trust a bitch, the answers will guide your decisions more than you know.

What matters to you?

And let me be clear...I'm not just talking about the presidential election. On November 4th we'll be voting for a hell of a lot more than who the next president will be.

If you don't know who your state representative and senator are look their asses up! Get to know their records and their policy positions. Call the candidates up and ask questions...research ballot initiatives so that the wording is familiar rather than a surprise. If there is a proposition on the ballot take some time and find out what is being proposed and how it will impact your life.

For all the talk about elections being popularity contests, we the people are somewhat to blame. When we fail to vote from a place of knowledge...fail to challenge and question...and walk into our polling place knowing that our ass is about to wing it, we aren't doing our job.

And our job doesn't end when the polls close.

Prepare to get your oversight on post election, because we are the ones who are responsible for holding elected officials accountable.

After the Missouri primary I dropped my students off at the shelter and was about to leave when one student asked me to wait a minute so she could show me something. She rushed back to her room and returned with a legal pad in hand. I took the offered pad and looked at the neat writing that filled it from top to bottom...she had written down her choices complete with bullet points on each candidates key issues.

When I asked her why she didn't take the pad with her when she went to vote she rolled her eyes and laughed at me.

"This is for the after part, Ms. Shark-Fu!"

Fantabulous.

The vote is when our work begins...and after the election our work must continue.

We're at fifteen days and counting, y'all.

Be ready.

Some great thought on the Latin@ vote from Mamita Mala:

From the This Is What Women Want Campaign.

Cross-posted at Nuestra Vida, Nuestra Voz

I couldn't agree more. For example, Palin is directly opposed to the feminist "agenda" of battling violence against women and giving women control over their own bodies.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama today. Thoughts?

TPM reports that the latest McCain campaign robocall has stooped to a new low:

It claims that Barack Obama callously denied newborns needed medical attention by opposing a measure to force doctors to preserve their lives when they survive botched abortions.

Which, of course, is a big fat lie.

Listen for yourself below.

Full transcript of the call after the jump.

Check out Planned Parenhood Cecile Richard's take on McCain's air quoting "health of the mother" on Hardball. She also wrote a piece on HuffPo about it, talking about who's really extreme here.

Also check out a terrifying image of McCain's in the act of airquoting 'health' after the jump, via Shakeville via Dorothy Snarker.

Possibly triggering

I'm going to have lots to say about this in tomorrow's Friday Feminist Fuck You, but I wanted to highlight this clip as soon as possible. McCain thinks so little of women's health that he put it in fucking air quotes. You know, because women's health and lives are a political talking point, not a reality.

Related: A diarist at Daily Kos shares her story. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more of these as the reaction to McCain's crass dismissal of women's health (sorry, "health") sinks in.

I'm going to have lots to say about this in tomorrow's Friday Feminist Fuck You, but I wanted to highlight this clip as soon as possible. McCain thinks so little of women's health that he put it in fucking air quotes. You know, because women's health and lives are a political talking point, not a reality.

Related: A diarist at Daily Kos shares her story. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more of these as the reaction to McCain's crass dismissal of women's health (sorry, "health") sinks in.

So apparently a group of people who are anti-McCain/Palin showed up at a rally wearing these shirts:

Not exactly a new approach to "political discourse" about a female candidate. Sigh.

One of the shirt's creators emailed Politico's Ben Smith (Emphasis mine.):

I personally am a registered Libertarian, supporting Obama this year. Palin is the last woman I want to hold a political office right now. Her lack of common sense, cruel treatment to animals, and just plain ignorance to what we (Americans, and even women) really care about is absolutely frustrating. The point of wearing the shirt to me is just a bold way of saying that she certainly is not liked or one of "us." To play the gender card is irrelevant, because I am a woman who wears the tshirt anyway.

Whoa whoa whoa. The claim that "I'm a woman, therefore it's okay for me to use anti-woman hatespeech" is ridiculous. There are plenty of civil ways to state your beliefs about Palin and her politics -- and note that she does not represent all women or what's best for them -- without resorting to sexism. And no, just because McCain reportedly used this word to describe women doesn't justify McCain's opponents using it.

You know, it's one thing for gag-gift companies (and other folks who don't appear to give a damn about the outcome of the election) to create sexist products about Palin. I'm obviously against it. But it's all the more maddening to me when I see self-identified Obama supporters pulling this shit. Please stop. You're just making it harder for everyone who opposes Palin because of her stance on the issues.

(Oh, and a sidenote: Melissa has noted that, though the shirts are detestable, she's chosen not to cover this because "It was a publicity stunt, and I'm not inclined to give them any more attention." I get that. But I have to believe that a lot of the sexist incidents regarding both Hillary Clinton and Palin were, at their core, publicity stunts. And I see no reason to stop calling it out, even when it's designed to bring attention to the idiots behind it. Also, the right-wing is going to claim (accurately) that Palin has faced sexism and (inaccurately) that the left was silent about it -- so I'll admit to feeling an obligation to call out these t-shirts.)

Check back for another live chat during tonight's presidential debate...

Make sure to check out Courtney's latest at TAP on the political power of...The View!

This scared the crap out of me.

Sign this open letter from Color of Change telling John McCain and Sarah Palin to denounce the lies, racism, and hate coming from their supporters.

Via Jack & Jill Politics.

Karen Ocamb at the Bilerico Report writes,

With just over three weeks until the elections, it seems a pretty certain bet that most of the LGBT community will vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, though with curtailed enthusiasm after numerous missteps.

But electoral support does not mean surrendering the right to critique and hold the candidates or the Democratic Party accountable. Indeed, it is the obligation of citizenship to call out disparities between avowed principles and actions that conflict with those principles. If the actions are not corrected, at least the credit-card promises are de-mythologized and once starry-eyed voters will not be surprised when the disappointing compromise bills come due.

So let's stipulate that Obama has captured most of the LGBT vote. After all, LGBT people have been deeply impacted by the Bush-Cheney-Rove regime and can't wait to exhale. But, frankly, it seems the Obama camp and the Democratic Party just aren't all that into us anymore

And on a related note, Cara has tips on what you can do to defeat Prop 8 in California.

I think it is tidbits like this that tell us the true nature of Sarah Palin and her views on the indigenous people of this country. Her bullshit lines about keeping our country "free" backed with an unapologetic record on women's rights and horrid treatment of indigenous communities keeps it clear. Full of shit would be an understatement.

The Huffington Post reports today,

Gov. Sarah Palin's rural adviser resigned Monday amid criticism of the governor's record on hiring Alaska Natives.

Rhonda McBride, who is not an Alaska Native, made the announcement in an e-mail to several Native leaders, saying there need to be more Native voices in Palin's administration.

She left the position empty despite calls from Native leaders.

State Sen. Al Kookesh, a Democrat, said Palin left the position unfilled her first year in office and ignored Native leaders' suggestions on the selection process.

"We were really disappointed when an Alaska Native wasn't appointed," said Kookesh, a Tlingit Indian who held the job in a previous administration.

Natives bristled early in Palin's administration when she named a white woman to a game board seat held by a Native for more than 25 years. An Athabascan Indian eventually was named to the post after protests.

As though you needed more reason to suggest that Palin represents everything that is wrong with the history of this country. One only looks to the treatment of indigenous folks, one of the most atrocious moments of our history and her mere ignorance of their issues in a face of such a great opportunities. Alaska still have somewhat of an indigenous population, yet Palin barely recognizes them as thinking entities.

Related:
An Indigenous Perspective on Palin, Oil and Alaska
Palin Unpopular Among Indigenous Alaskans
An Open Letter to Sarah Palin
Biden vs Palin on Indigenous Issues

Check out John Cleese on Sarah Palin; hilarious. (Via Boing Boing.)

Speaking of parrots...check the famous Monty Python sketch after the jump.

This is What Women Want (brought to you by the fabulous Center for New Words) is hitting New York tonight for a pre-debate speakout.

Some of the speakers include Kate Bornstein , Kety Esquivel , Shelby Knox , Maegan "la Mala" Ortiz, Betsy Reed, Amy Richards, Deborah Siegel, Carmen Van Kerkhove, and others!

So if you're in the area, make sure to stop by; info is below the jump...

via Pam's House Blend.

So, I am sure by now most of you have caught a glimpse of some of the videos capturing hate and vitriol towards Barack Obama at the McCain/Palin rallies. If you are like me, they probably make you sick, embarrassed and even frightened for what the Republicans have come to stand for. When people tell you racism doesn't exist anymore please refer them to the picture above and the countless examples of wing-nuts screaming, "terrist" and "commie" at some of the McCain/Palin events. Epithets such as "terrorist," show us the fear and anxiety that lies at the intersection of race, education, potential political affiliation, class and sexuality and the possible threat to normative forms of white male power. But these tactics are nothing new. Adam Serwer at the American Prospect delves deeper. In discussing Congressman John Lewis bold calling out of McCain's use of racist tactics he says,

It's no wonder that the tone at McCain rallies remind Lewis of the bad old days. In recent months, conservatives have sounded increasingly retro with their attempts to paint Obama as a socialist or communist. In some ways, this accusation is typical far-right boilerplate. Obama certainly isn't the first Democrat running for president to be accused of communist sympathies. And as usual, the accusations are rarely linked to policy specifics. But the difference with Obama is that, in the eyes of the right, it's not just his political affiliation that implicates him as a socialist. It's his ethnic background.

The hysterical accusations of socialism from conservatives echo similar accusations leveled at black leaders in the past, as though the quest for racial parity were simply a left-wing plot. Obama may not actually be a socialist or communist, but his election would strike another powerful blow to the informal racial hierarchy that has existed in America since the 1960s, when it ceased being enforced by law. This hierarchy, which holds that whiteness is synonymous with American-ness, is one conservatives are now instinctively trying to preserve. Like black civil-rights activists of the 1960s, Obama symbolizes the destruction of a social order they see as fundamentally American, which is why terms like "socialism" are used to describe the threat.

Growing up in a country where overt and covert, interpersonal and institutional racism are par for the course, it is not only difficult to watch what is happening and nerve-wracking, but it is indicative of what is coming to a head through this election. This unabashed display of racism is humiliating for most Americans, but it shows us that there are two ways ideological standpoints held by the American public, one that is clinging to yesterday's racist attitudes and one that wants to move forward away from a painful history of racism and abuse against our more disenfranchised members. Also, if you look at the history of calling someone a "pinko commie fag," despite not having to use racialized descriptors, it was generally understood that this was an activist, probably a person of color or someone who fights for the rights of people of color, poor people, queer people, etc. So it is describing an emasculated and raced person, the ultimate threat to nationalist understandings and forms of white masculinity. Obama makes the white boys feel less manly, so they have to call him a "commie" to make them feel less paranoid and anxious.

So their campaign rhetoric is surprisingly on point-a vote for Obama is a vote for change. But I don't need to tell you that. You are already there.

Seems like there's plenty of Palin-sexism to watch out for these days. This latest one, however, may take the misogyny cake.

From The Frisky:

Created by adult product purveyors Topco, the Sarah Palin blowup doll is known as the "This is NOT Sarah Palin Inflatable Love Doll." Featuring a busty, conservatively dressed Palin lookalike, the box cover promises: "Cross party lines with your own inflatable running mate!" The political love doll's suggested uses include: "Blow her up and show her how you're going to vote," "Let her pound your gavel over and over," and "It's time some male interns caused a scandal in the Capitol."

So disgusting.

With all the vicious, racist attacks on Obama as of late and the McCain campaign's desperate attempts to tie him with terrorism, we have found that McCain is the one who has connections with domestic terrorists.

Not only does he have a relationship with former extreme anti-choice activist Paul Schenck, but has overwhelmingly voted against bills that would protect abortion clinics from anti-choice terrorists. Via Think Progress:

On multiple occasions throughout his career, McCain sought to limit the government's ability to punish violent anti-choice fanatics by:

- Voting against making anti-choice violence a federal crime. As the Jed Report notes, McCain voted in 1993 and 1994 against making "bombings, arson and blockades at abortion clinics, and shootings and threats of violence against doctors and nurses who perform abortions" federal crimes.

- Opposing Colorado's "Bubble Law." McCain said he opposed Colorado's "Bubble Law," which prohibited abortion protesters from getting within 8 feet of women entering clinics [Denver Post, 2/27/00]. The law was later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

- Voting to allow those fined for violence at clinics to avoid penalties by declaring bankruptcy. NARAL Pro-Chioce America notes that McCain "voted to allow perpetrators of violence or harassment at reproductive-health clinics to avoid paying the fines assessed against them for their illegal acts by declaring bankruptcy."

This is not to mention he sat in silence at an event while anti-choice extremist Marylin Shannon lauded a woman currently in jail for shooting former Navy veteran and doctor who provides abortion care. Check it out:

Despite the fact that even many prominent pro-life Catholics have endorsed Obama because they believe he is more focused on prevention, Palin attacked him as being "radical" on choice at a rally this weekend.

She also falsely claims that Obama's statement on how he wouldn't want his daughters to be "punished with a baby" was about abortion, when he was in fact talking about sex education. Read the details.

We all knew this one was coming. (And I don't doubt this is just the beginning for the holiday.)

h/t to Erin.

You have to find it funny that this is coming from Fox News. Because Newsweek's recent cover of Sarah Palin isn't airbrushed, conservatives are up in arms. They claim all of Obama's covers are flawless. Yeah, totally flawless.

This is not to say either of these photos are even "unflattering," but to make the demand that Palin needs to be airbrushed like a supermodel rather than, um, a real woman, is what's sexist here. Nice try, Fox!

Thanks to stuperb for the heads up!

This video keeps putting me in tears. I have to say after yesterday's tactics by the McCain/Palin campaign that were blatantly racist, I really started to think about what this election means to myself and to the people in this country that have experienced racism and never been allowed to talk about it, had the tools to deal with it and have always been told covertly and overtly that we are inferior. You never quite fit in but then you are told you are imagining it when you experience racism. It means something to us that Obama is so close to the presidency.

It is good to see some mainstream media heads actually take it there.

I love her.

via Jezebel.

Watching Obama/McCain round 2? Have at it in comments, we will be around.

You might disagree with me for linking to a piece called, "Never trust a big butt and a smile-in politics," in discussing Sarah Palin. An obvious reference to a classic Bel Biv Devoe track that had me dancing (even as recent as my 30th birthday), but also a potentially sexist statement about women that are good looking but trouble. You know, Sirens. And we have discussed before how to negotiate our feminism with music that we like but recognize is sexist, but that is not the point of this post.

Davey D, the author of this blog, is a leader in hip-hop political writing and although I have frequently disagreed with him, I thought this post had some really valid points. What I found interesting about his piece was not his invoking of Bel Biv Devoe, but the argument he makes about how Palin is considered "hot" by old white men, therefore swaying them to vote for her and how most women he has met think she is full of shit. He says,

However a lot of men, especially older men see her as hot. She's a fantasy come to life. She's the naughty librarian 'MILF' who they'd love to get with. This manifest itself in the form of male talk show hosts giving her a pass. Many actually spend valuable time talking about her looks and small time stuff and not her scary politics. It manifest itself in people actually giving John McCain props for picking such a nice 'looking babe' versus's focusing on his shortcomings. It sort of like him having a trophy wife. Except this one will have serious impact on US policy. It manifest itself in male producers who are behind the scenes spending time editing film and audio tape giving her a favorable look as she is a welcome break from the daily onslaught of old wrinkly white males who they are usually editing.

Shelley Mandell, the president of LA chapter of the National Organization for Women caused shock waves in the California feminist community when she endorsed Sarah Palin this weekend at a GOP rally.

"I know Sarah Palin cares about women's rights...As vice president, she will fight for you. She cares about our children and she cares about women's lives."

Excuse me? Whoa.

Though Mandell started her speech with the disclaimer that she was speaking as an individual and not for NOW, it's not a shock that the media picked up on the story as a NOW president endorsing Palin. (And I would imagine she knew that.)

CA NOW released the following statement after Mandell's speech:

You have got to be kidding me.

I almost thought this was a spoof article, but soon realized that TIME magazine author Belinda Luscombe is quite serious about her contention of why women aren't supporting Sarah Palin: 'cause when it comes to politics, we're all just struggling with our inner catty schoolgirls:

Here's why Palin doesn't make the grade:

1. She's too pretty. This is very bad news. At school, pretty girls tend to be liked only by other pretty girls. The rest of us, whose looks hover somewhere around underwhelming, resent them and whisper archly of their "unearned attention." So, if everyone calls your candidate "hot," you're in a whole mess of trouble. If the Pakistani head-of-state more or less hits on her, well, yes, she'll get a sympathy vote, but we're in Dukakis-in-the-tank territory. It's an admiration vaporizer. (Of course a candidate can't be too ugly, or it will scare the men, who are clearly shallow as a gender.)

2. She's too confident. This also bodes ill. Women have self-esteem issues. But they also have other-women's-esteem issues. As almost any woman -- from the head of the Budgerigar Breeders association to Queen Elizabeth -- can attest, it's almost impossible to get confidence right. Too timid and you're a pushover. Too self-aggrandizing and you're a bad word unless it's about a dog, or Project Runway's Kenley. Or Michelle, my best friend until 9th grade, after she won that debating prize and got cocky.

3. She could embarrass us. History is not on Palin's side. Every time a woman gets a plum job, be she Hewlett-Packard's ex-boss, Carly Fiorina, or CBS's Katie Couric, there's always that whispery fear that people will think she got the job just because she's a woman. So if things don't go well -- and a couple of YouTube clips have suggested that they're certainly not going well for Palin -- women are the first to turn on her for making it harder for the rest of us to louse up at work. (Emphasis mine)

While at first glance, you can see point two touching on sexist double standards women in politics have to endure, except she's saying the culprits are us gals with our "self-esteem issues." And check this:

The fact of the matter is once a female decides it's over with another female, it's like an end-stage marriage. No matter how seemingly benign, every attribute becomes an affront: the hair, the voice, the husband, the moose-shooting, the glasses, the big family, the making rape victims pay for their own rape test kits. (Emphasis mine)

I really don't even know what to make of this statement because I don't know if she's being facetious or what. I'm almost more confused by their piece than anything; it's as if she's saying - while being enormously sexist - that women are being sexist against Palin. Huh?

Either way, she's flipping the McCain campaign's offensive assumption that women will like Palin because she's a woman on it's head - and saying that women don't like Palin because she's a woman. And that's just as heinous.

So after the anxiety and anticipation of last night's debate has waned and the "Joe sixpack" jokes have been made, I realized that many of the issues I care about were not even touched. And I am sure you feel the same. So I put together a poll for you to let us know what issues you wished had been duked out in last nights debate. I know, you, the Feministing community, is complex, diverse and well-read so naturally there is more than one issue on this list you wish had been covered, so leave us a note in comments about what you choose and why.

A little image I made to express my feelings about tonight's debate (what's up, Microsoft Paint?!):

After the jump, some highlights from our live chat... (Full thing is here.) And check out other debate-discussion threads at Racialicious, Shakesville, and Jack and Jill Politics.

TPM posted this video as one of Biden's best moments tonight, and I couldn't agree more.

Rebecca Traister has a must read piece at Salon, The Sarah Palin pity party. She's so right on, it's scary.

So John McCain made a historic step by agreeing to an interview with an LGBT publication, The Washington Blade. He's the first Republican presidential candidate to do so. The interview is available here. I have to give him props (unfortunately) for not saying anything too offensive and maintaining a fine line of respect in his answers to questions. He hides behind his beliefs about federalism (that individual state's should have the right to make their own decisions about laws) to avoid stating opinions on issues like discrimination, marriage, same-sex adoption.

Blade: What is your position on California's Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriage there?

McCain: As I did in my home state of Arizona, I support the effort in California to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. However, the people of California will ultimately decide this issue, and I'll of course respect the decision of the voters.

Right-wing bloggers and journalists are making noise about Gwen Ifill moderating tonight's debate, because (gasp), she is writing a book about race and American politics. Naturally, this fact combined with her being black makes her blind to her own racism and favoritism of Obama. No, wait, actually, that assumption is racist.

Here is why. If Ifill were a white journalist and even more so a white male journalist, there would be no question in her ability to moderate the debate fairly. Furthermore, George Stephanopoulos moderated a debate between Hillary and Barack during primary season and he worked in the Clinton administration. Did anyone make noise about that? (No, really did they? I can't remember.)

Furthermore, the assumption that her book is somehow "pro-Obama" is also problematic. People write books about key figures in history all the time, does that assume they are biased towards them or merely contributing to the political dialog? Even Elyas Bakhtiari at the Moderate Voice said,

I skeptically use quotations because the book is about how the black political structure of the civil rights movement is giving way to men and women who have benefited from the struggles over racial equality. That trend has been observed by many scholars in the last year and isn't exactly a sign of political bias. The title, "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama," might raise some eyebrows. But honestly, how can you write a serious book about changes in the black political structure without making Obama the central focus?

Andrew Sullivan gives us the worst case scenario. Well, I guess leave it to the right-wingnuts to come up with any excuse, irrelevant of how racist, to stop us from seeing the *real* Sarah Palin.

I can't wait for the debate!

...and other shockers from that clip we've been waiting for, contrasting Palin and Biden's knowledge of Roe v. Wade:

(Transcript here.)

Pretty astonishing, no? While I don't completely agree with the language Biden uses to describe Roe, it's clear he has a vastly deeper understanding of this ruling than Palin. Which is embarrassing, because it's the only Supreme Court case she knows. Also, I wonder if Bill O'Reilly happened to catch her comments on privacy?

Can't wait for tonight's debate...

UPDATE: Also check out what she had to say about equal pay. Yeesh.

While I recognize that Cynthia McKinney's presidential candidacy (as the third party green candidate) is not really viable, she is still a bad ass woman and politician. I think the perspective that she and Rosa Clemente bring to the campaign is important, and gives a voice to a more radical, feminist and progressive political agenda with the hopes that some of those issues can be infused into the mainstream debate. Also, a presidential ticket with two strong women of color is just another sign that things are changing in the US political landscape. So, with that said, check out this video from McKinney talking about the economic crisis.

You've gotta love Planned Parenthood Action Fund! (For other ads, check out their YouTube channel.)

Transcript is after the jump.

Jonathan Martin reports that the Obama campaign was looking to recruit a rape survivor to appear in an ad.

Kiersten Steward, director of public policy at the Family Violence Prevention Fund, served as a conduit between the campaign and victims and women's advocates.

"Obviously, this is a big ask and I haven't seen a script but presumably it will be a brief 'this is what happened to me, we need someone who will fight for women like me, these are the guys to do it,'" Steward wrote in a Sept. 15 e-mail. "Again, that's just my assumption, given how these things usually go."

So it raises the question: Is this exploitative? Or is it simply a compelling way to draw attention to a very serious issue?

My gut reaction was similar to Megan at Jezebel's:

While I'm all for bringing more attention to the issue of sexual assault, I am more than a little disturbed that the Obama camp would be asking a victim to share her story (and likely be attacked by conservatives) in order to score some political points. It's one thing to go to them and offer to share her story, but it's another thing for them to come to her and ask.

But that's not the side I ultimately end up on. Political and issue-based campaigns frequently recruit people with first-hand experience to speak publicly and in ads. I wondered, would my reaction be so strong if the Obama campaign was seeking a laid-off autoworker to discuss his economic policies? Decidedly not.

Perusing LifeNews can be great when you need a laugh (or a cry). Or in this case, when you need a good reminder of why anti-feminism is so effin' ridiculous.

The title of Joan Swirsky's article really says it all: Some Feminists Love Abortion on Demand But Hate Governor Sarah Palin

The whole article is priceless, chock full of old anti-feminist standards like calling feminists hysterical, full of rage, and blaming the divorce rate on the women's rights movement. But it's the sub-headers that slayed me.

Swirsky's history of feminism, in sub-headlines: DOMESTICITY BAD, MISS & MRS. BAD, UNEQUAL PAY BAD, VALUING HUMAN LIFE ESPECIALLY BAD, SHRIKES ON PARADE.

Feminist shrikes (?) have been bad, bad, bad! Reading these articles make my head hurt. Seriously.

and so should you! I think it is awesome that Google made a public statement about this. According to the Official Google blog:

As an Internet company, Google is an active participant in policy debates surrounding information access, technology and energy. Because our company has a great diversity of people and opinions -- Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, all religions and no religion, straight and gay -- we do not generally take a position on issues outside of our field, especially not social issues. So when Proposition 8 appeared on the California ballot, it was an unlikely question for Google to take an official company position on.

Continue reading Google opposes CA Proposition 8.

Posted by Samhita - September 30, 2008, at 10:51AM | in Election, Queer Issues

The Politico reports that in a yet-to-be released clip from Katie Couric's interview with Sarah Palin, the Vice Presidential candidate trips up again.

Of concern to McCain's campaign, however, is a remaining and still-undisclosed clip from Palin's interview with Couric last week that has the political world buzzing.

The Palin aide, after first noting how "infuriating" it was for CBS to purportedly leak word about the gaffe, revealed that it came in response to a question about Supreme Court decisions.

After noting Roe vs. Wade, Palin was apparently unable to discuss any major court cases.

There was no verbal fumbling with this particular question as there was with some others, the aide said, but rather silence.

Oh dear. And yet...I can't wait to see the clip.

Via RH Reality Check.

Remember the viral email campaign supporting Planned Parenthood by donating in Sarah Palin's name that community blogger ease_e covered not too long ago? Well, it looks like it was quite a success:

The message, which began circulating widely on the Internet last week, had one more instruction: request that the personalized thank-you card from Planned Parenthood be sent to Ms. Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee and a vocal opponent of abortion, at the McCain-Palin campaign headquarters in Virginia.

So far, the scheme seems to be getting a strong response. As of Friday, Planned Parenthood had taken in $802,678 in donations from 31,313 people, said a spokesman for the organization, Tait Sye. More than two-thirds of the individuals are first-time donors to Planned Parenthood, Mr. Sye said, and money came in from all 50 states.

Some thought this was actually counter-productive. What are your thoughts? I find it really interesting that more than two-thirds of the donors had never donated to Planned Parenthood before. And while this wasn't a campaign of Planned Parenthood's and despite your possibly adverse feelings about it, the concept itself has the kind of clever wit that mobilized people to act. We should learn from this.

Planned Parenthood is sending out the thank you cards this week. In the meantime, they have a take action component to send Palin a letter telling her that she's not your candidate.

Contributed by Helen Boyd, (en)gender

National Stonewall Democrats set up a page on ActBlue specifically for the trans community and its allies to donate to Barack Obama. It's exciting in so many ways: for a historically gay and lesbian organization to do something so tangible for the trans community, to help make visibile the trans community and its allies, both within the LGBT community and on the national stage, and to raise money for the only presidential candidate who will help set a tone of tolerance and non-discimination toward trans people and their families.

I'm excited. Be excited with me. If you're a supporter of Barack Obama already, or a trans person and Democrat, or an ally, friend, or family member of a trans person, this is a great way to stand up and be counted: no matter how small the donation, it's the number of donors that matters most. Help make the trans community visible politically.

Other posts about Trans for Obama Day have been done by Andrea James, Kate Bornstein, Riftgirl (who does a mean Sarah Palin), A Dahl's House, and Caprice Bellefleur.

Helen Boyd is tracking all the posts and keeping everyone up-to-date.

A couple of my friends found this offensive, but I think it's a hilarious way to shed light on the fucked-up-ness of Palin's involvement in charging victims of sexual assault for their own rape kits.

What do you think?

So by quick I mean URGENT! Sorry for the last minute notice, but it was just brought to my attention that you, the youth of America, can submit questions for the presidential youth debate. But you only have 65 minutes left to submit.

Have a burning question that you want submitted for consideration to be asked at the presidential youth debate. GO HERE AND DO IT NOW!

Just something quick a reader passed along: The url www.voteforthemilf.com redirects to www.johnmccain.com.

Via Twitter.

And so it begins...

I just love her so much.

Via Broadsheet.

Due to the looming financial crisis and recently proposed bailout plan, McCain just announced he will be suspending his campaign.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced Wednesday that he is suspending his campaign to return to Washington and focus on the "historic" crisis facing the U.S. economy. McCain said it was time for both parties to come together to solve economic crisis.

The Arizona senator called on his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, to do the same.The Obama campaign announced that Obama would make a statement shortly.He also urged organizers of Friday's presidential debate at the University of Mississippi to postpone the event.

"I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself," McCain told reporters in New York. "It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem."

It was not immediately clear how extensive the suspension he announced would be -- whether it would include dropping television advertising or just canceling scheduled appearances. McCain took no questions after reading his statement.

Via CNN
More at Think Progress

UPDATE: You can vote on whether or not you think the debate should be postponed.

UPDATE II: Obama says he will continue with the debate as planned.

"It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess," Obama said in a news conference in Clearwater, Fla. "It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once."

Aw, shit. I like her.

Transcript available at HuffPo.

Can I just say how totally sick I am of anti-choice orgs putting out weird shit that implies zygotes and fetuses can do things like vote and carry election signs? (Some can even sport war gear!) Can't someone tell them that it's just creepy, not savvy? *Sigh*

So here's a fact for you, Heritage House...and take those fingers out of your ears! Those pesky things that carry fetuses around? They're called women, and unlike fertilized eggs, fetuses, or any other part of said women's bodies, they can actually vote. You may want to remember that next time you make a t-shirt.

Is it even possible? CNN is trying to fact check whether or not Palin knew about the police chief charging rape victims for their rape kits.

Jesse breaks down the stupidity of this attempt.

Confederate Yankee and Jim Geraghty think they've got us dirty liberals on the "Wasilla charged rape victims for rape kits" story. Never mind that it was the stated policy of the town and that a state law was passed specifically to counteract Wasilla's ass-backwards policy. They've got spotty, poorly conceived research on their side!

Right. Something that happened repeatedly, was fought against in a state wide initiative, and stood out state-wide as something Wasilla was specifically stubborn about and Palin didn't know about? How is that even possible? And if she didn't know about it, given the problem of violence against women in Alaska (1 in 3 native and indigenous women assaulted in their lifetime), does this sound like someone who effectively deals with the emergencies at hand? I am thinking, hell no.

It is so interesting how many headlines are discussing the role of the "women's vote" in this election, as though it has never been a concern before that half the population has a brain, cares about politics and makes decisions that are thought out. I suppose we can thank the media obsession with identity politics throughout the coverage of this election for the constant over stimulation of how "women" are going to be voting. And be thankful that Hillary ran for office, bringing gender into politics in a new way. But it is important to remember, when the media says women, it is assuming white women as a voter bloc and their voting behavior. I have yet to see any substantial data breaking "women" down by race, class and/or sexuality. I probably haven't looked hard enough either, so please put links in comments.

My point being according to the latest poll I see (from Lifetime: Every Woman Counts) women are split McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden. The findings are intense:

In a Dramatic Reversal Since Late July, McCain/Palin Now Virtually Tied With Obama/Biden on Who Best Understands Women -

-- Governor Sarah Palin Pick: Solidifying Factor for Republican Women, Compelling to 55-64 Year-Olds and Married Moms, but Others Divided --

-- Nearly Three-Quarters of Clinton Supporters Have Gone Home to Obama, but Still 23% Said They'll Vote for McCain --

-- Majority of Women Believe Senator Clinton and Governor Palin Have Been Treated Fairly in the Media Coverage of the Race, but Two-Fifths Say Sexism Persists and Is Worse for Palin --

I think I have been in some kind of denial, but the polls are in fact scaring me. The voter bloc that I am not part of, even though I am a woman, is scaring me. I am constantly talking to my friends about the new Republican obsession with the "vagina vote" is dismissive, ignorant and untrue, but I am starting to realize there is some truth to it and I think we must take ourselves up with the task that much more about why the Palin/McCain ticket would be bad for the rights of women.

I am with Michele Obama, that I think it is the youth vote is going to be the key in this election. Potentially, us, young women, who I am finding are overwhelming going to support the Obama/Biden ticket. So now I am going to tell myself that they didn't take the Lifetime poll, which I think is pretty accurate.

Update: This poll is from last week so for a more updated look at the stats check here where Obama is up by about 5 points over McCain. Thanks to brklyngrl for the heads up.

Concerned Women for America, a conservative anti-feminist organization, released a statement recently calling on the media to "stop bullying" Sarah Palin:

"In its continuing game of 'gotcha' journalism and the 'politics of personal destruction,' the mainstream media (MSM) and celebrity reporters are piling on Sarah Palin," said, Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, political commentator for CWALAC. "The personal attacks have reached unprecedented pettiness and hypocrisy. Even former journalistic giants (like the Washington Post and New York Times) are engaging in tabloid-like sensationalism and printing vicious distortions about her life, faith, experience and family. Even feminists -- who supposedly promote women's equality and the so-called 'women's rights' agenda -- are questioning a female candidate's ability to get the job done. It's past time for the bullying to stop!" (Emphasis mine)

Wow, Crouse sure is riled up about sexism! She must have been livid about the misogynist attacks against Sen. Hillary Clinton, right? Well...not so much. Check out what Crouse said about Sen. Clinton's DNC speech just last month:

Mrs. Clinton arrived to great fanfare. She had on a flashy orange-gold pants suit. She has been on Weight Watchers' diet program and looked fit. Her less-wrinkled, 60-year-old face prompted speculation that she was botoxed for prime time. The audience was a sea of white placards with the distinctive Hillary signature. Many of her supporters were teary-eyed with what might have been, while the clinched jaws of others revealed their unwillingness to accept defeat.

Stay classy, anti-feminists!

Let's use the power of our numbers (of the Feministing community, that is) to switch up these ridiculous polls; vote on this PBS poll which asks whether you think Sarah Palin is qualified to serve as VP.

Yet another installment of Palin Sexism Watch.

Sigh. Not good.

(More here.)

Bill O'Reilly goes for the bald-faced racism/sexism:

If you can't stomach watching him, here's a transcript snippet (O'Reilly's guest was Rebecca Johnson, a Vogue reporter who had recently interviewed Michelle Obama):

JOHNSON: I found her lovely, actually, very bright, very thoughtful and, you know, an impressive person, intelligent. She was great. I was impressed.

O'REILLY: Now, I have a lot of people who call me on the radio and say she looks angry. And I have to say there's some validity to that. She looks like an angry woman. Did you ask her about that?

JOHNSON: Don't they say that about you, too?

O'REILLY: Yeah, but I'm not running for -- I'm not going to be the first lady.

He forgot to add, "I'm also not a black woman who has to contend with the sexist, racist assholes who listen to my radio show."

Renee breaks it down further:

Michelle is an ABW because she is a woman that is educated, successful and opinionated. Black women have historically fallen into three categories, the licentious whore (read: jezebel), loving nurturer (read: mammy) or ball busting shrew (read: sapphire). Each stigmatization has the specific purpose of creating us as caricatures rather than real people. These stereotypes are one dimensional and the basis of their existence is their reaction to their environments. Black women are universally seen as objects rather than subjects; and personalities like O'Reilly perpetuate these images because it maintains white hegemony.

An autonomous woman that demands respect does not pander to the concerns of the white male power elite and is therefore a threat to their privilege. While he views his questions as innocent interrogations in fact what they are, are an attempt to reduce her validity as a person. If she is angry, the anger is deemed illegitimate. Quite unspoken is the opinion that her anger is based in her refusal to capitulate to the white male power base. Every ABW could be happy if only they would be more like Mammy or Jezebel.

Go read the rest.

Related:
Quick Hit: Defending Michelle
Fox trashes Michelle Obama: The lowlight reel
Obama Sexism Watch: Sexy Silhouette Edition
Michelle Obama Sexism/Racism Watch ("Angry Black Woman" edition)
Michelle Obama Sexism/Racism Watch (Baby Mama edition)
Michelle Obama Sexism/Racism Watch

John Aravosis asks if Sarah Palin's decision to make sexual assault survivors pay for their own rape kits was really rooted in her extreme anti-choice ideology. He speculates that she was opposed to funding the kits because usually victims are offered emergency contraception at the time the rape kit is performed -- and people like Palin consider EC a form of abortion. (Other crazy anti-choicers have gone as far as to suggest that some women fake rape to obtain the EC that usually comes with a rape kit.)

Now, that's a possible explanation. But I think it's equally likely that she forced victims to pay for the kits themselves because of her conservative budget-cutting ways. Not because of her position on choice, but because she just doesn't think the government has a financial obligation to help women in this situation. (Or in just about any situation, really.)

Of course, it isn't necessarily either/or -- both of these things could be factors. I'm guessing we'll never know, because something tells me Palin won't be publicly explaining her decision anytime soon. But the choice angle is something interesting to think about, especially in light of the ongoing battle over physician and pharmacist refusals.

Lauren at Feministe has the goods on how to register (or check if you're registered), how to find out more about your voting rights, and other ways to help get out the vote. (Here's state-by-state info on how to register or request an absentee ballot.) Plus, Feministe is collecting stories!

FEMINISTE is soliciting stories about your voting experiences to help encourage registered and unregistered voters to vote.

Do you have a story about working a registration drive? About working the polls? Do you live in a split-ticket household? What kinds of traditions or stories does your family have when it comes to voting in an election? Do you have additional ideas on how to participate in the election during the final weeks? How is the subtext of race and gender this election season going to affect how you, your friends, and family members, are going to vote -- or is it?

Send your stories to fauxrealtho at gmail dot com with "VOTE" in the title, including your name and a link to your website, and we will publish your stories as they come in along with additional information about voting registration, disenfranchisement, and election news. Send us what you've got.

If you have the time and inclination to volunteer, the Pollworkers for Democracy project has info on how to be a pollworker or pollwatcher.

And if you need additional motivation, check out the graphic on the homepage of Women's Voices, Women's Vote, which shows you how many women are unregistered and how many didn't vote in 2006.

Too cool - Michelle Obama blogged over at BlogHer on equal pay and Lilly Ledbetter.

Lilly is from Alabama. For nearly 20 years, she worked for a Goodyear tire plant. She was the only female supervisor--so you know this is a tough, hard-working woman. One day, someone sent her an anonymous letter with a list of salaries of her co-workers. That's how she found out that she was making less than the men she worked with--even men who were less senior than she was. And we're not talking about a few dollars. Some of her male counterparts were making 40 percent more than she was--for doing the same work.

It's a nice follow-up to Samhita's post yesterday on Obama and the economy...

For the record, asking questions about Sarah Palin's record, experience, or policy positions is NOT sexist. But selling/wearing T-shirts with designs like this certainly is:

The real sexism against Palin, like the designs above, has been the flip-side of the sexism against Hillary Clinton. A sadly perfect illustration of the Catch-22 women face. You're either a scary, ugly, old, mannish harpy. Or a ditzy, perky, fuckable bimbo. You're either cracking nuts between your thighs or dressed up like Britney Spears. The sexist remarks about Clinton and Palin are like our hate mail ("you ugly man-hater!" followed by "gimme a blow job!") writ large. It doesn't matter that, in reality, neither Hillary Clinton nor Sarah Palin fits these stereotypes. Both are attractive women who have made their fair share of political enemies. But reality doesn't matter much in terms of how they're portrayed.

Which is why it's (almost) hilarious to see someone like David Brooks declare that feminists' problem with Palin isn't based on her anti-woman stance on the issues, but that she's "not a real woman because she doesn't hew to their rigid categories."

Excuse me, our rigid categories? Last I checked, feminists were outraged at Palin being labeled a MILF and Hillary being labeled a bitch. Putting women in sexist little boxes is exactly what we're against. Maybe we need to send Brooks a copy of Jessica's book on double-standards?

I appreciate that Obama has an ad explicitly addressing the impact of the economy on women.

And while you are at it check out Obama's white paper on women and the economy. Also, Firedoglake has more about the impact that the economy is having specifically on women.

Check out Courtney's critical piece at the American Prospect that captures perfectly why Palin appeals to the patriarchy political machine with her use of conventional gender tropes.

And, in perhaps the most offensive display of her "wimp factor" agenda, she attempted to discredit community organizing by feminizing it. She sarcastically told conventioneering Republicans (along with millions of Americans watching on television), "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities." It was an eerie echo of what oblivious men in positions of traditional power have been saying for centuries: that the work of community building -- whether it be child-rearing, elder-caring, teaching, nursing, social work, or, yes, community organizing -- isn't really work at all. That, despite being the backbone of our economy and the heart of our civic life, it doesn't count because it doesn't involve power suits and bottom lines. What makes this ridicule of community-building even more ironic is that the GOP is simultaneously glorifying Palin's role as caregiver of her own sprawling family.

Just really go read the whole thing right now because it frames the story the right is trying to tell by picking Palin.

I will say that the moment I clicked on this link, I had a moment of "oh gosh this is going to be sexist..." Honestly, it is Saturday Night Live and I might be giving them an easy out, but this really did make me laugh my ass off. And while we have consistently pointed out the sexism that both Clinton and Palin have faced in the media, I think having it pointed out by McCain advisers is laughable. Moreso, when her argument for why it is sexist isn't very, dare I say, substantive.

OMG! Really? How about-the substance that is Sarah Palin is filled with very sexist ideas of what is considered an electable woman? Now that is sexist. Pointing out the hypocrisy of Republicans decrying sexism now as opposed to using it virulently during Clinton's campaign, well that is just funny. In that depressing way.

Thanks to Amy for the link.

We loved Ann's quote so much from her great piece on Sarah Palin the day she was announced as McCain's VP pick that we decided to put it on a t-shirt. It says:

"A woman candidate is not the same thing as a woman's candidate."

And on the back, "Sarah Palin does not speak for me."

More new merch to come!

Alaskan women organized a protest of close to 1500* people this weekend, all demonstrating against Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

"The whole thing grew out of frustration," said Charla Sterne, one of the organizers, who like several people at the rally declined to say where they worked (several said they were state employees and feared retribution).

"Last week this was just ten women sitting around talking about this perception that all of Alaska supports Sarah Palin. We apparently hit a nerve and started a movement," Sterne said.

One local blogger, from Mudflats, had this to say:

Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn't happen here.

You can see a ton of great photos from the demonstration at Mudflats, here and at Adventures in AK.

Thanks, Alaskan activists!

Via Feminist Peace Network.

*WaPo says close to a thousand, protesters say about 1500 people were there.

I was going to tackle the issue of reclaiming certain words, but I have something else on my mind today.

Let's jump right in, shall we?

Yesterday I had dinner with my older brother. He's autistic and aphasic and vibrant and funny. My sister and I are co-guardians, which has added dealing with the mental healthcare system to our lives. It's worth it, but it is often an emotionally draining pain in the ass.

My brother is the oldest so I have never known a day without autism in my world. Having a family member with special needs is normal for me. In fact, it is normal for a lot of American families.

Just as struggling to do right by that loved one and make sure their needs are met has become normal.

Blink.

Eight years of Republicans in control of our national checkbook has resulted in a lack of funding for domestic programs and that includes residential treatment programs, community integration programs and healthcare programs.

Yesterday I looked across the table at my brother and I was seized with a pure panic over how the hell we'd function if his funding was cut one more time...if they took away other screenings the way they took away dental coverage...if they slashed transportation the way they slashed funding for job assistance which has left him unemployed for the first time in his adult life.

When I vote I need to know that the person I'm voting for will institute the kind of change that will free up funding for the programs that make society function...education, metal health and infrastructure to name a few.

I need to know that they see a role for government not just a military role.

I do not need another self titled outsider bent on starving domestic programs to death.

I need...my family needs...a fucking human being who believes in the government they seek to lead.

This shit is personal as hell to me, because mismanagement and this government's greed-based adoration of pork has trickled down like acid into my state's budget and eaten away at so many social programs that...

...oh shit, there's that panic again.

Sigh.

Ask yourself what isn't being discussed while political pundits debate Gov. Palin's eyewear or while anchors work themselves into a frenzy over the ever changing poll numbers.

Those are the issues and concerns that this woman voter is going to take into the booth with me come November.

We are all value voters.

The problem is that many of us have become too distracted by the circus to focus on what we value most.

The blog Women Against Sarah Palin was only created a week ago and is not only starting to get some media attention but has received nearly 100,000 responses from women across the country expressing their frustrations with the VP pick and all that's come from it.

Lyra Kilston and Quinn Latimer, the New York-based founders, use the blog to post women's emails who write about why they think Palin is the wrong choice for the vice presidency, and the wrong choice for American women.

On a random side note, you sort of have to love the quote they include by McCain the night he introduced Palin in Dayton, Ohio:

"And I am especially proud to say in the week we celebrate the anniversary of women's suffrage [that she is] a devoted, a devoted wife and mother of five."

Oh McCain, when will you ever learn? [*crickets*]

All of a sudden, I understand where Sarah Silverman is coming from.

Inspired by yesterday's post on Republicans appropriating classic feminist imagery, reader Patty sent along her version of the Rosie the Riveter poster:

Love the finger.

The chairman of the Macomb County (Michigan) Republican Party wants to deny people the right to vote if they are homeless due to foreclosure.

"We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses," party chairman James Carabelli told Michigan Messenger in a telephone interview earlier this week. [...]

Carabelli is not the only Republican Party official to suggest the targeting of foreclosed voters. In Ohio, Doug Preisse, director of elections in Franklin County (around the city of Columbus) and the chair of the local GOP, told The Columbus Dispatch that he has not ruled out challenging voters before the election due to foreclosure-related address issues.

The move would disproportionately affect African-American voters, as "more than 60 percent of all sub-prime loans -- the most likely kind of loan to go into default -- were made to African-Americans in Michigan." One of the largest Republican fundraisers in the county is, you guessed it, a "foreclosure specialist." These people make me sick.

Rebecca Traister at Salon has a great piece up about the "bastardization of everything feminism has stood for" - the scariness that has been the Sarah Palin/feminism talk.

In this "Handmaid's Tale"-inflected universe, in which femininity is worshipped but females will be denied rights, CNBC pundit Donny Deutsch tells us that we're witnessing "a new creation ... of the feminist ideal," the feminism being so ideal because instead of being voiced by hairy old bats with unattractive ideas about intellect and economy and politics and power, it's now embodied by a woman who, according to Deutsch, does what Hillary Clinton did not: "put a skirt on." "I want her watching my kids," says Deutsch. "I want her laying next to me in bed."

...What Palin so seductively represents, not only to Donny Deutsch but to the general populace, is a form of feminine power that is utterly digestible to those who have no intellectual or political use for actual women. It's like some dystopian future ... feminism without any feminists.

Seriously, the more this goes on the more afraid I get.

Oh, this is rich. The latest in a series of right-wingers to adopt a faux-feminist stance is Rick Santorum:

SANTORUM: Sarah Palin is the Clarence Thomas for feminists. The civil rights community, the African-American community obviously should have rallied behind Clarence Thomas an his achievement, but they hammered him because he was a conservative. And the civil rights establishment was first and foremost liberal and then for the liberal rights of -- as liberals saw it, what blacks should have in this country. And the same thing with the feminist community.

Because if there's anyone who has long been an ally of both the civil-rights and feminist communities, it's Rick Santorum. This is a man who thinks that birth control is harmful to society, that feminists tricked women into working outside the home, and that abortion rights are comparable to slavery.

And on a related note, Dahlia Lithwick has a great retort for conservatives who invoke "feminism" as a reason to support Palin:

The "new feminism" may include uncritical support for women who oppose teen pregnancy programs and for women who force rape victims to pay for their own rape kits. But I just don't see where support for women who persist in fabricating their own records is a feminist principle.

Amen to that.

The BBC has a video about new Sarah Palin action figures that you can get in several "looks": business suit Palin, a Lara Croft-like superhero Palin, and (my personal fave) Schoolgirl Palin. Fucking seriously?

So Hillary gets a nutcracker and Palin gets a schoolgirl outfit - obviously both of these come from a place of fear of women's power. With Hillary, just call her a ballbuster; Palin, just sexify her so she's not a threat but just another hot chick to look at. Either way, blech.

The company's contact info is here, if you'd like to give them a piece of your mind.

Thanks to Katrina for the link.

The latest from Feministing friend Mikhaela Reid.

My only response to this is really, "o boy...!" According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released today there has been a jump in support for McCain amongst white women as a result of him choosing Palin as his running mate.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll found that much of McCain's surge in the polls since the Republican National Convention is attributable to the shift in support among white women.

Before the Democratic National Convention in late August, Obama held an 8 percentage point lead among white women voters, 50 percent to 42 percent, but after the Republican convention in early September, McCain was ahead by 12 points among white women, 53 percent to 41 percent, the poll found.

David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager, is saying this poll is untrue, so it will be interesting to see what other polls report. However, this is troubling. My hunch is that those that have switched support to McCain because of Palin are a small group of women that generally vote Republican, but felt compelled to vote Democrat for Clinton. Whether actual, pro-choice, pro-woman, die-hard Democrat voting women actually jumped ship for Palin, I think is yet to be seen. Also, how are women of color voting?

Either way concerning. Starting to agree with my friend Kristina from Wiretap Magazine who over lunch last week suggested that it is going to be voter turnout from youth and people of color that will potentially decide this election.

There's really nothing about this clip that's good. According to Donny Deutsch, host of CNBC's Big Idea, the "new feminist ideal" (ahem) is selling women in power as a sexy SuperMom. Also, Sen. Hillary Clinton made a mistake when she "didn't put a skirt on."

There is the new creation that the feminist woman has not figured out in 40 years of the feminist ideal that men can take in a woman in power and women can celebrate a woman in power. Hillary Clinton didn't figure it out. She didn't put a skirt on!

...She [Palin] talked about energy. Didn't matter! Today everybody's running in circles -- we want to have her over for dinner. I trust her. I want her watching my kids. I want her laying next to me in bed. That's the way people vote.

Via Think Progress.

The mainstream media seems confused these days. It appears that because Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin is a woman, she is also a feminist. And not just a feminist, but THE feminist - a sign that all is right in the world when it comes to gender equity. But how could that be, you ask? How could anyone paint Palin - whose policies make it all too clear that she's about as anti-feminist as they come - as feminism's second coming? Well, by pithy misleading headlines - that's how!

The Wall Street Journal: Sarah Palin Feminism

Townhall: Sarah Palin: A Liberated Woman

LA Times: Sarah Palin's 'new feminism' is hailed

NPR: Sarah Palin: New Face Of Feminism?

Adweek: Feminism's Next Wave

The New York Post: A Feminist Dream at the GOP

Even more interesting is that the reporters touting this Palin-as-feminist nonsense are people who pretty much know jack shit about feminism.

Take Wall Street Journal reporter Naomi Schaefer Riley, who writes that progressives should rest easy about Palin's candidacy because "most American evangelicals have wholeheartedly embraced the idea of women in the workplace." A radical feminist sentiment if there ever was one! But perhaps one should take Riley with a grain of salt, considering she's the same reporter who wrote that murdered NY college student Imette St. Guillen should have known better than to be out drinking at 3am. Victim-blamers aren't exactly bastions of feminist thought.

Karin Agness, who wrote the piece for Townhall, calls Palin a "success of feminism" and "truly a liberated woman." Agness is also the President of the Network of Enlightened Women, an anti-feminist college organization that lurves Elizabeth Hasselbeck and even (sigh) mocked a NOW conference attendee in a wheelchair on their blog.

Really, most of the "feminism" talk is coming from conservatives appropriating the language of the movement to push a ridiculously anti-feminist candidate. This, of course, is nothing new (cough, IWF, cough) and fairly transparent.

But what I find even more upsetting is the Palin/feminist talk coming from mainstream outlets who are demonstrating absolutely no knowledge of feminism. Take the Adweek article, for example, which says "Palin is a classic third-wave feminist, benefiting from all that came before her in terms of the women's movement..." So by this definition, any woman who has benefited from feminism is a feminist. So, all women are feminists? Uh, yeah.

So, please, esteemed members of the mainstream media - if you want to write about Palin and feminism, how about you get a feminist to do it? Or at least interview one of us for goodness sake - there's plenty of us around and we'll be happy to talk to you about what the movement is about. (Hint: It's a lot more than thinking any woman is a good choice for all women.)

Looks like it's video Friday (we have a couple more coming up), but that's okay with me. Especially when it's Sarah Haskins.

Lynn Paltrow, the Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, published an open letter to Sarah Palin yesterday that was too good not to mention:

Many Americans agree with your position regarding abortion -- they do this as a matter of faith, ethics, personal experience and sometimes politics. I am just wondering though, if you have thought about what would happen if you succeeded in getting your position -- that fetuses have a right to life -- established as the law of the land? Did you know that it not only threatens the lives, health and freedom of women who might want or need someday to end their pregnancies, it would also give the government the power to control the lives of women -- like you who -- go to term?

Read the whole thing; it's not to miss.

File under: too good not to post.

Via Andrew.

Consider this an open thread.

As was pointed out by puppyfist and Kinderplatz in comments, Sarah Palin isn't exactly supportive when it comes to teen moms who aren't her daughter. She slashed funding for Passage House, a transitional home for teenage mothers that gives young women a place to "live with their babies for up to eighteen months while they gain the necessary skills and resources to change their lives."

Michelle Cottle at The Plank has the story.

On the very day Sarah Palin was announced as McCain's running mate, I linked to Jill's post on the already-emerging sexist meme questioning her fitness to hold office while holding a baby at the same time. And since the news of her daughter's pregnancy, the media racket over Palin's fitness to be both VP and mother has grown even louder.

To be clear, I think the question of work/family balance is sometimes asked with regard to male politicians. (The criticism of John Edwards' decision to continue his primary campaign after his wife's cancer diagnosis springs to mind.) But far and away, the question is more likely to come up when the candidate is a woman. Especially a woman with young kids. So yeah, I think it's typically pretty sexist.

But as long as all sorts of bloggers and news outlets are asking... YES, of course Sarah Palin is capable of having a very important job and still being a good mother. Absolutely. As with all major life choices women make, it's condescending to assume that she somehow hasn't thought this through, or that she hasn't already been doing a demanding job while simultaneously being an attentive mother. Writes Monika Bauerlein at Mother Jones (who, along with another mother of a young child, is editor-in-chief of the magazine):

Too many women have been patronized out of jobs they wanted with pseudo-considerate treacle like "I thought your priority right now was your family." It's happened to friends of mine; it's happened to me; if you have ovaries, chances are pretty good it has happened or will happen to you. That's the reality of living in post-women's lib America, and that's why one part of me is heartened by the Palin pick. People may find lots of reasons why she shouldn't be in the White House--but at least, having little kids didn't put her out of the running in the first place. And for that, I have to confess, I'm grateful to John McCain.

I'll grant her that. But also it's important to note Palin's privilege here. She has a partner who is able to be a full-time caregiver for her kids. She has excellent benefits and access to health care. She has a flexible office situation (one article discussed how she had a crib next to her desk). This is way more than a lot of working women have. Awhile ago, my colleague Dana Goldstein went to a conservative women's lunch, where Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers was speaking. Like Palin, McMorris Rodgers was a new mother of a baby with Down syndrome, and had a full-time caregiving partner. Dana wrote,

It's mind-boggling, of course, how McMorris Rodgers can advocate for women's economic mobility even as she opposes programs, like S-CHIP, that help mothers pay for their kids' medical needs. On June 27, she did not vote when the Committee on Education and Labor, on which she sits, passed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would overturn a May Supreme Court decision that made it almost impossible to file complaints of gender or race-based pay discrimination. No Republican Committee member supported the bill.

And this is the exact question that's not being asked about Palin. The media are clamoring to ask whether she can juggle her children and her career. But they aren't saying a peep about whether she wants to enact policies that will make it easier for women -- especially women who do not enjoy the privilege that Palin and McMorris Rodgers do -- to perform this balancing act.

Where does Palin stand on S-CHIP? On fair pay? On paid family leave? I have no idea. But her running mate, John McCain, was rated by the Children's Defense Counsil as the worst senator for children. He supports businesses who discriminate on the basis of gender. He attempted to weaken the Family and Medical Leave Act. And he supported Bush's veto of S-CHIP. (Gloria Feldt and Carol Joffe have more.)

The real story here is not how Sarah Palin chooses to balance her own life. It's about whether she (and McCain) are committed to making these choices easier for all women. And clearly, the answer is no.

The always brilliant Rebecca Traister at Salon takes on the recent pregnancy-related coverage of Sarah Palin:

How we got from the dispiriting political and ideological record of Sarah Palin -- that she is adamantly pro-life and anti-gay marriage, that she is a lifetime member of the NRA, that she has no foreign policy experience and supports the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in schools -- to the uterine activity of her family, makes perfect, human sense: Who wants to talk about boring policy when we can talk about teens and sex and pregnancy?

Make sure to check out the whole piece...

Cara had a great post last week on how annoyed she was that antichoicers were portraying Sarah Palin's child with Down's syndrome as a heroic choice on the part of the vice-presidential candidate. Cara writes,

You know, it's the anti-choicers who use "it's not a choice, it's a child" as a rallying cry to force women to give birth. And yet here I am, as pro-choice as can be, really fucking annoyed that conservative assholes are portraying this very real, actual child as a political choice rather than the human being that he is.

Now today comes the news that Palin's 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. In the news release, the McCain campaign made sure to state that:

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

While it's obvious why they made this statement to assure the public that Bristol was not coerced into keeping the baby (after all, she does have a parent who is a staunch opponent of the right to choose and is currently on the Republican presidential ticket), as my significant other pointed out, there's some serious hypocrisy at play here. I mean, John McCain and Sarah Palin don't believe women have a right to choose. It's absolutely absurd for the campaign to emphasize the fact that Bristol "made this decision," and then push for policies that take away that choice.

In reality, Bristol's actual "choice" was probably not whether to terminate the pregnancy or carry it to term, but whether raise the child herself or put it up for adoption. But the reason that the McCain campaign chose to emphasize Bristol's agency in this decision was to reassure the public that this pregnancy is not coercive. They know the public wants to feel secure in the knowledge that it was Bristol's choice to keep the pregnancy. And coming from the McCain campaign, which opposes a woman's right to choose, that statement is disgusting. As Kate Sheppard wrote in In These Times recently, during the 2000 primary McCain said that if his daughter got pregnant it would be a "family decision":

"The final decision would be made by Meghan with our advice and counsel," McCain said, referring to himself and his wife, Cindy. When reporters suggested that this view made him, in fact, pro-choice, McCain became irritated. "I don't think it is the pro-choice position to say that my daughter and my wife and I will discuss something that is a family matter that we have to decide."

In other words: My family and my daughter deserve a choice, but no other woman can be trusted with this decision. This fits nicely with the narrative on both Palin's decision to carry her Down's syndrome child to term and her daughter's decision to carry her own pregnancy to term. Their decisions are seen by the antichoice Republican base as affirmation that Palin shares their values. But the underlying message that each woman had a choice is a validation of pro-choice values.