Intermission from Going Rogue – Sarah Palin Cries “Sexism”
17 11 2009After blogging two chapters of Going Rogue, and getting up and rubbing my eyeballs, shaking out my arms, brushing my teeth and scrubbing my brain vigorously with a Brill-O pad, I clicked around to see what ELSE might be happening today in the news that didn’t have to do with Sarah Palin. So, what’s on the front page of Yahoo News right now? Sarah Palin.
Apparently she’s very upset because Newsweek put a picture of her posing in running shorts leaning on an American flag that’s draped over a bar stool like an afghan.
“The choice of photo for the cover of this week’s Newsweek is unfortunate,” Palin wrote on her Facebook page. “When it comes to Sarah Palin, this ‘news’ magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant. The Runner’s World magazine one-page profile for which this photo was taken was all about health and fitness — a subject to which I am devoted and which is critically important to this nation.”
“The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now. If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention – even if out of context,” she adds.
Color of skin? Is she worried that someone is going to judge her because she’s white?
First of all, why does this picture even exist in the first place? Let me remind everyone, that this completely “out of context” picture was taken while she was a sitting governor holding her Blackberries. She’s inside, with full hair and makeup posing with a flag and her “blue star” banner on the window. So, how exactly is this in the context of running or health and fitness, and not in the context of the governor posing like a weird patriotic pinup girl?
I think it’s the perfect image for the cover. Why? Because the title of the article is “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah?” And behold, the problem. She has no boundaries, and no concept of how she is perceived by others, or why no governor should pose in short shorts, leaning on a flag in front of a blue star banner with a bumpit and makeup for a photo that makes her look like a cupcake.
When they find that picture of Barack Obama in a bathing suit leaning on a flag draped over a bar stool, they can feel free to publish it wherever they want. Because anyone who is mindless and unaware enough to pose for something like that should not be surprised that people think it’s a PROBLEM, and call it one on the cover of a magazine.
Am I a little grumpy? You betcha. I’ve just spent more than six hours reading Going Rogue, and I’m more than a little over-saturated. I’m up to here (hand at eyeball level) with the manipulation and the sugar coating and the distortion, and the “everything bad that happens to me is someone else’s fault.”
So let me pass on a word of advice to all budding politicians out there. If you don’t want to look like a mindless patriotic cupcake, then don’t pose for pictures posing like a mindless patriotic cupcake. Just a suggestion.
And while we’re talking about sexism, and reading Palin’s incessant yammering in Going Rogue, I recall something I read on page 80.
The quote in question happened when someone compared Palin to a Spice Girl. A reporter came up to her and said she couldn’t believe that someone called her that. Here’s what Palin said:
I shook my head in a “can you believe what we women have to put up with?” way and milked it for all it was worth. “I know, I know,” I said. “But you just have to rise above all that and plow through! Look, we have to work twice as hard to prove we’re half as capable as men think they are.” Then I gave her a wink and whispered the old familiar punchline, “Thankfully it’s not that difficult.”
So, if that were reversed and some guy said that about women, how would Palin feel? Is what’s good for the gander, good for the goose? Apparently not.
And she’ll just keep “milking it for all it’s worth,” on Facebook – a strategy that is “oh so expected by now.”
November 18th, 2009 at 8:52 AM
Wow, thank you, AKM!
“weird patriotic pinup girl” – of course, sex is the source of all her appeal to her delusional fans. No mystery there.
And this is just plain delicious:
“I think itâ��s the perfect image for the cover. Why? Because the title of the article is â��How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah?â�� And behold, the problem. She has no boundaries, and no concept of how she is perceived by others, or why no governor should pose in short shorts, leaning on a flag in front of a blue star banner with a bumpit and makeup for a photo that makes her look like a cupcake.
When they find that picture of Barack Obama in a bathing suit leaning on a flag draped over a bar stool, they can feel free to publish it wherever they want. Because anyone who is mindless and unaware enough to pose for something like that should not be surprised that people think itâ��s a PROBLEM, and call it one on the cover of a magazine.”
Hey, maybe she’ll do a Betty Grable shot next, ya think? With the ghost of Reagan leering in the background?
http://snipurl.com/tarfe [www_google_com]
[When I saw the "Thought this might be interesting to Sara" caption on the photo linked to above, I thought someone was 'way ahead of me...but it was put up in March, and there's no "h" on the "Sarah"]
November 18th, 2009 at 9:00 AM
You forgot to mention she was wearing pantyhose with her shorts. I thought only showgirls did that. It was a stupid photograph for a runner’s mag, with all the makeup, flag, etc., but it is a perfect fit for the articles about her.
November 18th, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Tnx, Archivist1000 [#80] – I’ve subbed to your blog, watched the Frank Schaeffer clip from Rachel Maddow…
http://archivist1000.blogspot.com/2009/11/going-enabler-xtian-taliban-and-her.html
The point that Sarah’s not just a joke anymore, that she’s fomenting domestic terrorism, is the alarming aspect of her popularity with a demented minority.
If I see that bumper sticker anywhere locally, I’m getting out my can of spray paint. And maybe the tire iron as well.
November 18th, 2009 at 12:24 PM
I have to admit that I wouldn’t be happy about the Newsweek cover if they used a photo like that of me. Oh, wait. I would never pose for that kind of photo. And really? Sarah should be more upset about what it says rather than the use of the photo. She looks good, but the American flag doesn’t. I wonder whose hairbrained idea it was to drape the flag like that and then have her lean on it. The Veterans she is so fond of trotting out whenever she wants to make the rest of us seem un-American should speak up. They don’t take it lightly when people mistreat the flag.
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Keith rip apart the book last night, and like everyone else, I was very disturbed when I watched Rachel. There is a lunatic fringe out there that is becoming more dangerous every day, and we need to pay better attention. I’m not sure what we can do to stop the morons who read the Bible and put their own bizarre spin on it (look up Psalm 109: 8). They constantly take everything out of context, thereby distorting it.
Now, I need to catch up with Chapter 2 and 3. I’m not sure I can do it in one sitting, but I’ve just had my vitamins and some orange juice. Now, I’ll need that strong cup of tea and some chocolate. AKM, I don’t know how you are managing to read that piece of garbage. Thanks, because I know I would likely have thrown it through the window by now. Not a good idea – it’s cold outside and we’re getting more rain later.
November 18th, 2009 at 1:07 PM
So $carah thinks Newsweek’s choice to publish that photo was ‘unfortunate’? I think the truth is that her decision to ever pose for a photo like that was the unfortunate thing! (for her).
November 18th, 2009 at 1:18 PM
Oh and one more thing. To me, this is the standout, flashing in neon quote from AKM’s thoughts on this latest Palin debacle:
“… and no concept of how she is perceived by others”
Bingo! Until the ex-GINOcerous can figure this little gem of an observation she will be forever living in her own black and white fantasy world replete with pesky haters and bloggers and bears. Oh my!
November 18th, 2009 at 1:59 PM
“The underlying question is this – Is Sarah Palin’s autobiography 100% accurate? Well, no because that’s the nature of memory – flawed and solipsistic.” (from HP article) Fair statement, but there is a difference between flawed memory and a lie. My doubt kicks in when Palin offers a totally different version of an incident in her book to the one that has been put on record previously. If the general public can find “mis-statements” in the book, the accuracy of the entire work becomes suspect; and Palin should have concentrated more on veracity than completing her hit list of complaints against people she seems to believe have treated her unfairly. The fact that the lies are documented and she doesn’t seem to think people will notice is mind boggling.
As someone rightly said, “A whine list of sour grapes”.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:22 AM
She’s obviously not a stickler for patriotic etiquette:
From the U.S. Flag Act:
“The flag should not be used as a drapery, or for covering a speakers desk, draping a platform, or for any decoration in general. Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes.”