My "Christiane Amanpour on Real Time" Rant.

[Hellataz]

Last night on Real Time with Bill Maher, Christiane Amanpour praised Palin as well as saying she was happy to see a women tapped for the ticket, but her reasonings were because it had a historical impact and she was glad to see how far we've come to have a women on the ticket.

I respect Christiane Amanpour, but I will also respectfully disagree with her on this point.

First of all. Palin was not chosen because the republicans thought "you know what we think it's about time a women gets her shot".
No she was tapped to steal Hilary voters from Obama and in case that didn't work, they could use her for the "Dem's has a minority ticket, now so do we"
This isn't a move for women, it's insulting to women, 1) that they think so little of us to think we wouldn't know the fundamental differences between Hilary and Palin, and 2) They are basically just USEING Palin as window dressing, something "sparkly" to catch people eye's and make them forget about the issues.

Now let's take it to a bad thought and say Palin/McCain win, then I'm sure Christiane Amanpour would say the same, about how excited it all is to have our first women VP. But No, Wrong again, if Palin's actions thus far are any indication of how she will be helping run the most powerful nation in the world, then chances are, the Couric interviews will be nothing compared to the damage she could do in that office.

And then what are women left with if Palin disgraces our gender in office? Even if she's kept hidden, like Cheny, if our country keeps declining and McCain and Palin are at the helm, then women get screwed. History wont remember Palin as the first women VP, instead she will be used as an "I told ya so" by all the chauvinistic men out there that think a women can't do this job. She would set the women's movement back years. It's almost like the GOP is setting women up to fail. Palin is no where near qualified or smart enough to be in that office and yet, if they win, the GOP can say "Well we gave you gals a shot, sorry it didn't work out, why not go back to the kitchen where you can be useful"

I don't see Palin in office as anything but detrimental to women everywhere. Even if she was to play politics in office, what about her stance on issues tells you she would help us at all? With McCain denying support to equal pay to women as well as Palin wanting to take away our right to choose, this ticket is no friend to women. Its our downfall.

Here's where Christiane Amanpour comments would have been more valid.

Had we had an intelligent, articulate, experienced women in office, respected and maybe even feared by her peers, strong willed and prepared, someone like Hilary, then I say YES, that would be a historic nomination and win. Because no doubt she would repair the damage left by this administration and women would come out of this next term proud and confident, able to tell those chauvinistic pigs to STFU because she made it finally clear that women can do what a man can do, and perhaps even better.

But alas we don't have Hilary, and no i don't blame Obama for that, it would have been awesome for an Obama/Clinton ticket but I completely understand him choosing Biden, a man he's known and trusts and is friends with, who he can feel confident asking for advise from without worrying that he'll try to take over. I think Hilary and Obama would clash too much, she's too strong a women to play second fiddle and after the primaries, there was too much repair needed between the two, that I can see why he didn't choose her. I'm glad to see the Clintons have made peace with how it went down (at least in public) and are supporting Obama and I hope we can still get Hilary elected in the future.
Back to the point, we don't have Hilary, we have Palin and so again, I disagree with Christiane Amanpour comments and I'm an no where near proud of this "historical event" because it will do nothing but hurt us women in the end.

[matt819]

1. Amanpour's remarks way off base

Your points are all spot on. What particularly rankled was that if Amanpour were playing her role as reporter from her usual battlegrounds, I believe she would have been be far more critical, but in a journalistic, these are the facts and issues sort of way. I just can't see her letting such a lightweight off without appropriate comment, either her own or those of rational, competent sources.

[livetohike]

2. Great post - recommended and

I agree with everything you said. I don't see why Amanpour thinks this is historic. It's only historic to the Republican party and it took them 24 years to do it. They couldn't even find a qualified woman :shrug:.

I hope this is the end of anything we hear about Sarah Palin. I hope the Alaskan people toss her out of office and her career in politics will be over.

[Hellataz]

12. It's not even historic to the GOP, it's a joke

Hilary would be historic, or any other women politician that shares Hilary's traits, but Palin is just the GOP's inside joke and they are all laughing at the women falling for it.

[Misskittycat]

3. I disagreed strongly with her on that point also. Additionally, her

opinion that Sarah Palin "won" the first half hour was also odd. IMHO, you can't win a debate when you're spouting nonsense and lies, no matter how well you deliver your diatribe.

[mckara]

4. I Hope She Understands Southwest Asia Better Than American Politics

Otherwise, she lost credibility with me last night when she spoke about Palin!

[truedelphi]

5. And the other reason we have Palin is this:

(I am totally borrowing some other DU'ers insight on this)

The RW had to have someone who would bring the Christian Conservatives back into the fold.

After all, McCain often stated he ws Pro Choice. So what to do?

They could have chosen Huckabee, as he scored very well in the Primaries, and he had the added value of being articluate. He even polled well among a certain subset of Dems.

But his views on income tax reform (Helping it become a fair tax on the lower and middle incomed person) and his lack of interest in keeping oil as the dominant currency - these values of Huckabee would not do.

So Palin was perfect. She was young (like Obama), a woman (like Hillary) and best of all, she hailed from an oil state and was used to dealing with the Big Oil People.

So her selection into big time politics was much the same as Arnold Schwartzenneger's in CA - she was willing to run with the big Dogs, in fact the biggest dog, Daddy Oil.

[sammytko]

6. She said she was glad they picked a woman, but was not happy with the choice

I agreed with her!

[XOKCowboy]

9. I did too...

She was playing Devil's Advocate and even then didn't really advocate Palin getting elected.

[chatnoir]

7. I turned it off after she started with that

How great it was for women that Palin was picked and that in her opinion, Palin had won the first 30 mins of the debate.

Pah, Amanpour lost all credibility with me after hearing that.

Was she supposed to be Maher's token conservative panelist? I couldn't watch the rest of the show.

[monmouth]

8. After she said that Gary said it reminded him of Johnny Carson

handling Charo. What a hoot...

[Cha]

17. That was a perfect time

to say it! I read that last night and now it's even better.

[abumbyanyothername]

10. I wonder how many times I will have to state this

Hillary was not interested in the VP slot.

I really wish she would just come out and say this publicly.

"We talked." (true -- and nobody knows what was discussed in that totally private conversation) "I was not interested in the position." (true)

No need to go into the fact that it was not offered.

[Hellataz]

11. i didn't know she said that, but it doesn't surprise me

2nd Fiddle doesn't suit Hilary, she wants her own ticket and i'm sure she'll get it someday. As for the Hilary supporters who said they wouldn't vote for Obama, well i'm glad that most have come to their sense and realized Palin is no Hilary replacement. She's not even in the same league. I want Women in this country to send a clear message to the GOP, stating that we wont fall for your pathetic and obvious stunts, we're smarter then that and we wont just bite when you put any old women on the hook.

[abumbyanyothername]

14. She didn't say it

I just wish she would.

[AzDar]

13. Women are not fungible, Ms. Amanpour..thinking that they are is just incredibly SEXIST.

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

15. Yeah, I was totally disappointed with her comments, too. WTF?

vs.

?

Charo wins by a landslide, I say!

[HardWorkingDem]

16. Remember last week when Ralph Nader said...

Palin's selection was pure sexism? Maher and others lampooned him for it....

[MadMaddie]

18. I was disappointed in her comment!

This comment could be replaced with well, "Clarence Thomas is black and it's been a good thing for black America that he is on the Supreme Court"! Just because he is black didn't make him qualified and he proves that every day.


Just because Palin is a woman doesn't make her qualified, it is only that she has female parts that Christiane thought was important. Just because she is a woman that's a great thing....