That upset male pundits? I was going to write a post about how the Palin pick has demonstrated the misogyny on the left but then I noticed that it has also brought out the misogyny on the right. I thought Rick Brookhiser’s was the most offensive to conservatives and women alike. He blathers on about experience and disrespecting the vice presidency (yeah, I snickered over that one as well) and then he said this:

We have shown the same color-by-numbers mindset that liberals did when they rallied to Obama. Liberals love Obama because he is a Numinous Negro. Conservatives love Palin because she has a Downs baby and an M-16. For both sides, that is all on earth ye know and all ye need to know. You might call it mystical and childish.

Um…that is just offensive, it makes us look like gun nuts and sexists who are interested in her only because she fulfilled her role as a woman. I’m used to the left accusing us of being gun nuts but why is the right doing it? Why can’t conserves actually like a woman who is obviously successful, bright, articulate and holds to the same principles we do? That’s why we like her, she isn’t afraid to be a conservative when so many of the current pack of politicians are.
As to the foreign policy experience, who could McCain have picked that could lain claim to that experience? Romney and Pawlenty? Where is their experience? If McCain had selected those guys, I’m sure that the misogynists on the right would have made the effort to peddle their executive experience to offset their lack of foreign policy experience. Why can’t they see that she’s had years of the same experience? First as a mayor and then as a governor. It’s obvious to me that they can’t see past their own prejudice.
I was excited about this candidate because it said something about this party, it said that women had finally arrived and it’s about time. It only took us how many years after the Democrats did it? Not only did they have a woman as VP but they almost ran a woman as president. I was excited that we could begin saying that the glass ceiling was finally being breached on our side as well. That women really do have a place at the table instead of just behind the scenes. That we can be governors and the vice president and one day even run a candidate for president the way that the Democrats did. We have a woman candidate who isn’t just window dressing, who wasn’t just selected because she’s a woman. She brings something to this ticket, she brings enthusiasm and money. Already McCain has picked up $7 million since his pick was announced and that enthusiasm means more volunteers. Here’s an example:

Speaking about GOP grass roots on fire, here in Cuyahoga County we have four victory centers, and in mine alone in the all-important city of Parma, I had 47 calls between 12:30 and 2 p.m. yesterday, all asking how they could volunteer and how they could get a yard sign, a ton of independent women

That’s Ohio, guys. You know, a battleground state 🙂 And there’s another example at the link of a woman who hasn’t been involved in politics who decided to volunteer because she could relate to Palin as a mom and she was moved by Palin’s exhortation to get involved. She stayed for two hours making phone calls. These are just two examples of the excitement her candidacy has generated, there are many more in the article I linked to.
Instead of beating up their candidate for engaging in identity politics by choosing a woman, maybe the male pundits on the right might stop and think about why he choose her. It was obvious to me when he announced his selection that she fit in with his campaign theme: that he’s a reformer who will fight for you. Thankfully, other males at The Corner understand that. I guess there’s still hope for the male punditry at The Corner 🙂