Since Governor Palin was selected as Sen. McCain's Vice-President
pick there's been much talk about among the chattering media if
she would attract women to the McCain ticket? Well it appears the
answer to the question seems to be: Yes!
For a long time women voters have been reliably in the Democrat
camp. Although, President Bush was able to make significant gains
in 2004 with what the media called "security moms." Until the Gov.
Palin pick I was extremely doubtful that Sen. McCain could keep the
2004 Bush gains, even with a large number of disgruntled Hillary
supporters out there. This opinion piece might help explain why
women largely vote Democrat.
I've heard Democrats argue that women shouldn't vote for the
McCain/Palin ticket because they are wrong on "women issues."
First, I want to know exactly what "women issues" are? Are they
referring to the abortion issue? Let me talk some about the abortion
issue. Plenty of women, like Gov. Sarah Palin, don't view the abortion
issue as a women's issue but a life issue. Hopefully with more pro-life
women in the national scene the country will finally see that the
debate has been framed wrong by our media. To be pro-life is often
portrayed as being anti-women, religious zealot, and backwards. You
can be a strong woman and say abortion is morally wrong. People
without strong religious convictions can say that abortion is morally
wrong. Educated and smart people can say that abortion is morally
wrong.
If you noticed the media is now trying to portray Gov. Palin as a
religious zealot. It behooves them to make her pro-life beliefs that
stem from her religious convictions as fringe. If they don't box her
into in the religious fringe category they fear that they might have
a strong, successful woman make an articulate case for being pro-life.
Sure there are plenty of socially conservative politicians who are
pro-life. However, how many of them are women? You can dismiss a
man's argument for being pro-life by saying, "Well, he's a man he just
doesn't know what women go through." That technique doesn't work
so well when you are talking to woman. So the media is going to do
everything it can to make the governor seem like a dumb, mindless,
unsophisticated religious nut case. They have to, they have no choice.
The stakes are too high for them.
Most Americans want to keep abortion legal, however, they are
increasing becoming more comfortable with putting regulations on
it. Quote from AP article:
You have this very stable support for a principle, but a willingness
to limit it in lots of circumstances over the last decade,” said Robert
Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard’s
School of Public Health.
So limiting abortion is not so scary anymore to the public. I sense a
fear from the cultural left that they are slowly losing ground on the
abortion and with every generation that passes they will continue to
do so. Once women started saying, "Enough with abortion!" Their
main argument is gone. That's why pro-life women must held in the
shadows. That is the central reason why the Sarah Palin pick has
brought so much anger and smears from the left, even from women.
Take, for example, this excerpt from an opinion piece by Wendy
Doniger on Gov. Palin:
Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman. TheYou see to people like Professor Doniger one can't be a women and have
Republican party's cynical calculation that because she has a womb
and makes lots and lots of babies (and drives them to school! wow!)
she speaks for the women of America, and will capture their hearts
and their votes, has driven thousands of real women to take to their
computers in outrage. She does not speak for women; she has no
sympathy for the problems of other women, particularly working
class women.
conservative views. That's unthinkable.
Ok, now that have fleshed out the abortion part. I want to get back on
the questions of "women's issues." I asked what are women issues?
Women issues usually get categorized as abortion, health care, and
education by our media. Why must these be the labeled as solely
"women" issues? Why can't women vote on national security and
foreign policy? As if we don't care about what is going on overseas.
And shouldn't the very notion that women vote solely on domestic
issues upset feminist? Why should we can only be confined to
domestic issues especially in a national election? I can imagine
voting on something like education on a local and state level. Women
can't be fluent in foreign affairs. Also, women can agree with
conservative, free market solutions to health care and education.
We women are diverse. We have diverse opinions. We have diverse
backgrounds. Let's cherish that and not mock it.