Archive for category: 2008 Presidential Election

For the record, I hate when male politicians wink too. Someone in the Senate–it might even be Joe Biden (though he certainly didn’t do it last night), or maybe Chuck Schumer–does it, and it infuriates me that a politician would diminish his work by incorporating such smarmy body language into his shtick.

But it especially pisses me off that Palin did it. 

It may not be fair, but as one of the trailblazers for women in politics, all women will be judged by the manner with which Palin approaches her campaign. And it is equally unfair, but a wink from a woman means something totally different than a wink from a man. From a woman, a wink is flirtatious. At best. To these commenters over at Reddit, it was far more than that.

I bet she gives awesome head.

She wants to sleep with me!

I believe that wink was aimed at myself. Which is why I immediately proceeded to masturbate.

Yes, it is disgusting that these slobs immediately made this sexual–but they were simply projecting a common connotation onto Palin’s gesture. Whether she intended that sexual connotation or not, she used a gesture that–particularly coming from women–has that connotation.

And so, from being a trailblazer that finally brought the Republican party to the place the Democrats were at in the mid-eighties, Sarah Palin has demeaned that trailblazer role, mobilizing all the tired notions about trampy women who will use sex to get power.

How dare you, Sarah Palin, take the responsibility you’ve been given and use it to cheapen the work that all female politicians do.

Update: Rich Lowry was definitely among those who was thinking of blow jobs and masturbation "starbursts."

A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It’s one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O’Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of Read more →

In comments to Marc Ambinder, the McCain campaign has resoundingly confirmed what Nate and Sean had to say about Sarah Palin’s continuing importance to the ticket. She is critically important to the campaign’s efforts to mount any kind of ground game.

Here’s Sean, who has been road-tripping to gauge field operations of both campaigns.

As most of you know, I’ve been on the road for the past three weeks, so far visiting at least a dozen McCain campaign offices in six battleground states as well as Palin’s first solo rally in Carson City, Nevada. If McCain dumps Palin, it is over.

In the Colorado Springs volunteer office, “you could hear a pin drop” in the days before Palin was picked. In Reno, the volunteering had been anemic; the Saturday morning after the Palin pick, organizers arrived to an early morning volunteer line waiting at the door.

Our direct observation shows McCain is being overwhelmingly outworked on the ground as it is; take Palin away and you can add 2-5% to Obama’s total in every close state due to ground game.

And here’s the McCain campaign.

Palin is directly responsible for doubling the size of the campaign’s field operation, according to a senior campaign official, as she’s been a huge fundraising draw, bringing in, according one reliable estimate, more than $30 million for the RNC and its joint accounts. In the 12 hours after the announcement, she raised $4.4 million for the campaign.

She is directly responsible for luring more than 100,000 people to McCain-Palin events — and that’s on the low end of a guesstimate.

She has helped the campaign recruit thousands of additional volunteers. In the last two weeks, for the first time this year, the campaign has recorded more volunteer door knocks and phone calls than the same weeks 4 years ago.

 "Given that 2004 is the measuring stick, we’re proud of that," a campaign official says. "We were nowhere close to 2004 stats until about 3 weeks ago."

Her choice has gotten some of the louder social conservative voices to shut the heck up and stop complaining about McCain. The money and people that she has brought has been put towards opening at least 100 new field offices over the past two weeks alone.

Had McCain not found a way to gin up enthusiasm for his ticket, his get-out-the-vote machine would likely be half its size. [my emphasis]

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