Saturday, September 13, 2008

Sex and Politics: How Yummy

The following article, Beauty and the Beast by JoAnn Wypijewski, was a lovely read for me this morning. Did you sense the sarcasm in that? I had a massive migraine yesterday and I think I feel it coming back. I appreciate how this article assesses a simple fact: while Palin might somehow help McCain politically, the Palin VP pick seems to be more about sex than gender or policitcs.

Here are a few snippets to ponder:
At his introduction of Sarah Palin to the world on August 29, John McCain appeared a man possessed, playing with his ring, fastening his gaze on her breasts, her backside, his right fingers sliding up from that dratted gold band to the finger tip, pinching it as if to control the volcano stirring within him.
The Republicans didn't need just any woman to compete with Obama for the Wow factor, the Mmm factor, the stable, loving family factor. It is a calculated bonus that adherents can now speak loftily of making history, but for different reasons, drawing deep from the well of their identities, and not for the first time, both McCain and the right needed a sexual icon.
And finally, this is where my head started to hurt again:
Rush Limbaugh, who began a push for Palin as VP in February, can hardly contain himself: "Sarah Palin: babies, guns, Jesus, hot damn!" he crowed. "We're the ones that have the babe on the ticket!"
When Bush was re-elected, we wanted to move to France. If McCain/Palin are elected, I believe Agincourt and I might have to consider Germany this time.

3 comments:

habladora said...

Germany because you like Angela Merkel?

This sort of article is queasiness-inducing all around, and a real embarrassment for the American voters. It is bad enough that we've got a Rush Limbaugh to leer, but now we've got 'journalists' like JoAnn Wypijewski to feed the stereotypes too? Pretending to read John McCain's thoughts while having some masturbatory fantasy in the pages of The Nation doesn't make it other than what it is - a columnist's attempt to earn a buck by offering up another woman's sexuality for public consumption. Hummm... I think there's a word for that...

Why can't we talk about the issues? The McCain/Palin ticket is awful - but columns like these don't show why people shouldn't vote for McCain. Rather, they show our collective inability to talk about anything substantive.

Hey, Ms. Wypijewski and The Nation - in the future send this sort of tripe to Playboy and quit wasting our time. If our media refuses to educate the public about the real issues, then the public won't consider the issues on election day. Then we all lose.

Mächtige Maus said...

No...Germany because I like beer and love Angela Merkel. :)

sally said...

My guy and I were considering Canada because it's close, but perhaps we should think about Europe... I'm sure it's better to be as far away as possible from the McCain disaster if they win.