Swift: Palin latest woman in politics held to different standards
3:27 PM Wed, Sep 03, 2008 | Permalink
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A new line of counterattack is emerging from defenders of Sarah Palin at the Republican National Convention: the Alaska governor is being held to a standard that critics would never impose on a male politician. Former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift said so after meeting today with Rhode Island delegates. She praised presidential candidate John McCain for showing "the courage and the guts'' to pick as his running mate a woman who "will talk about what's right for families, who will talk about what's right for the country first.'' But Republican Swift warned that "none of that will come about without a lot of background noise that will distract'' from Palin's accomplishments. That was a reference to the controversy over 17-year-old Bristol Palin's pregnancy, among other elements of the vice presidential candidate's background. In an interview later, Swift said, "No doubt there is a different standard for women in politics. We saw it in the Democratic primaries (between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama) and we're seeing it again now,'' Swift said. Swift and other women have said that they are particularly galled by questions about how Palin would care for her five children if she wins the demanding job she seeks -- questions, they said, that a man would never be expected to field on the campaign trail. "As the mother of three daughters, I say that we have got to give our daughters the same playing field that our boys have.'' Tonight, Swift said, "my three girls will be at home and they'll be watching'' Palin's acceptance speech, "and they'll be proud.'' Rhode Island First Lady Sue Carcieri said in an interview that the best way to eliminate the double standard in politics is "to have more women running for president.'' To advance that goal, she said, "we need more women governors because that is a real executive post.'' 
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For Swift to say that the criticism of Palin is sexist and, two, that she more qualified than Obama is sheer idiocy. Palin's undergraduate major was sports broadcasting with a minor in political science, going to Hawaii Pa.cific College, North Idaho College and Univ of Idaho. She then worked as a sports reporter for a station in Anchorage, worked in her husband's family's commercial fishing business and had 20 percent ownership of an Anchorage car wash, which she failed to report when she ran for governor in 2006. Her time in Wasilla, a town of 6,715, was fraught with trouble. Becoming mayor in 1996, she tried to fire the librarian for permitting the library to have books which Palin thought should be banned. She fired the police chief, public works director and finance director, because she felt they did not support her election. This only begins the list of trouble, although by reducing property taxes by forty percent, much to the detriment of the schools, she won reelection. She supports drilling for oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge and dismisses global warming by saying, "I'm not one though who would attribute it to being man-made." She has said that the U.S. attack on Iraq was part of God's plan and that God supports the building of the natural gas pipeline in Alaska. As a pentecostal, she belongs to the Wasila Bible Church, describes herself as a "Bible-believing Christian," believes that the universe is less than 10,000 years old and that Creationism should be taught in schools. To say all this is not to be sexist. These are simple facts based on a great deal of evidence. To put her a heartbeat away from the presidency is madness. She may be a nice human being--there are doubts about that--but she is completely unqualified to be vice president. For Swift to say otherwise is rank hypocrisy or rank ignorance. I don't know which is worse.
Stephen Dobyns, Westerly
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