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December 2, 2008 7:53:33 PM CST

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Palin's on the Wrong Side of Women's History: Steinem

Posted Sep 4, 08 9:14 AM CDT in Opinion,  Politics 

(Newser) – Republicans may have thrown Sarah Palin a grand old party last night, but Americans can see through the bluster, Gloria Steinem opines in the Los Angeles Times. “This isn’t the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need,” the feminist writes.

Palin, who “shares nothing but a chromosome” with Hillary Clinton, rejects reproductive rights and stem-cell research, disbelieves global warming, and believes in "abstinence-only" programs. “I defend her right to be wrong,” Steinem adds, saying John McCain is the real culprit. "He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues."

Source Los Angeles Times

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Gloria Steinem writes, "Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters."   (AP Photo/Judi Bottoni)
Gloria Steinem says that if Republicans lose in November, the party's centrist wing could reclaim the party.   (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
"She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger," Gloria Steinem writes of Sarah Palin.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, stand together on the stage during the Republican National Convention...   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin waves near the end of her speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008.   (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin waves to the crowed at the end of her speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008.   (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
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Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for.

The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues. -

Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing—the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party—are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president.

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