Tuesday, November 24, 2009

That Wink And Little Starbursts In Your Living Room....Why Palin Has A Problem With Women


From Andrew Sullivan's blog, a reader writes about Palin

It's very simple why women don't like her as much as men. Women saw through Sarah Palin and we saw through her quickly. Men are literal and are more likely to say what they mean and mean what they say. Women are more nuanced and better able to persuade and manipulate others with their words. So it's quite natural for us to be able to look below the surface of another woman's words and grasp the intentions behind them.

Sarah Palin is the peppy cheerleader in high school all the boys thought was so sweet but the girls knew was really a vicious shrew. She's the new girl in the office who wears tight shirts and three-inch heels, is super-friendly to her male superiors, ignores the other women, and gets promoted sooner than her more capable and hard working peers. She's the outgoing PTA mom all of the other women are scared to cross because they will find themselves put on the worst committees. Only a woman knows how to give another woman a sweet smile and at the same time cut her down to size with an artfully crafted "compliment" without male observers having a clue about what just happened. It's like a dog whistle.

After her convention speech that so many pundits raved about, I talked to a few of my Republican girlfriends and they all disliked her immediately, telling me things like, "she's mean", "who does she think she is putting Obama down like that" and "I just don't like her". And these were women who, all except one, ended up voting for McCain anyway, although much less enthusiastically than they would have before his VP pick. The one who switched her vote to Obama did so solely because of Sarah Palin. It wasn't really the attack lines the McCain camp gave her to deliver that had turned my friends off. It was the relish with which she delivered them.

The Republican women I know who love Palin are a great deal like her--simplistic thinkers who are always feeling victimized themselves. I have a feeling that if the McCain camp had spent more than a weekend checking Palin out, a woman on his staff (my money would be on Nicole Wallace) would have figured out what kind of person she was and none of us would know her name right now.
Remember Rick Lowry and the "little starbursts" in your living room?
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 America.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The women who like Sarah Palin just want a soap opera heroine.

-pp

Anonymous said...

Often people that have a problem with Sarah Palin really have self-esteem issue themselves. They attack her because she has been successful in life and is well-liked enough by working class people to serve as their governor. It is people that try to get elected and get rejected time and time again by their peers that think the rest of world is wrong and they are right. This lashing out prevents them from looking inward at their own failings and flaws. Everybody has them, it is just some people can deal with them and some can't. I am not a Sarah Palin fan, but at least she can "man up" better than some others I know.

Good blog. Keep up the good work.

Busplunge said...

Anon 8:13 --

It is rare to see such a passive/aggressive comment.

Having said that, Chuck U. Farley.

Anonymous said...

As I wait for the turkey to thaw, I must say you guys got my Wednesday started with a chuckle.

I've never understood this passive/agressive thing but Chuck U. Farley says with a little play with the letters, their's an a** in both positions.

And yes, this is an excellent blog.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:13 wrote: "It is people that try to get elected and get rejected..."

like resoundingly rejected VP candidate Sarah Palin, who has a history of going after her perceived enemies, both in Alaska and in DC, appearing to "man up" with all the pettiness of a junior high school prep...who also exploits her children for her personal gain...the same Sarah Palin who pumps up her own self esteem and Bill Kristol with winkydinks and leg shots.

It is precisely those people who have "self-esteem issues", who idolize the glamour queen, i.e. the guy who sees her on teevee and thinks the winks are for him, or the gal who grinned to the media that she was going to take Palin's book home, jump in bed and turn on the electric blanket and read it cover to cover.

-pp

Anonymous said...

P.S. I would bet the Thanksgiving turkey wishbone that if Palin was asked to discuss the passive aggressive behvior traits "thing" on Couric or Oprah, she would have to resort to her famous note cards.

-pp