Sarah Palin Sexism Watch, #11

Currently on the front page of "progressive" webzine Salon.com:


The graphic takes you to this story, which includes passages like:
Republican strategists have made it clear that the GOP's only chance to win is by reframing the election as a battle of images. And right now, Palin is the pinup queen in that war. She's feisty, she's a mom, she's from a frontier state, she guns down wolves from the air, she's a devout Evangelical, she poses as a reformer, and she insults the Washington elites.

And large numbers of Americans think she's hot.

This latter point cannot be underestimated. Iraq may be a quagmire, a new cold war may be looming, the economy may be tanking and the world may be heading toward environmental doom, but the presidential race may be decided by the perceived doability of the governor of Alaska.
Really? Are there lots of lesbians and bi wo/men who are going to vote for the McCain-Palin ticket, just because they find Palin attractive? Are there tons of centrist straight men, who were leaning toward Obama-Biden…until McCain put that hottie on the ticket? Are there bucketfuls of progressives who are going to abandon Obama-Biden or the Green Party to vote for Palin based on her looks?

I find that hard to believe.

In which case, I wonder on what basis Gary Kamiya can make the claim that the election might hinge on Palin's "perceived doability."

Of course, by the time he makes his way through an entire playbook of sexist tropes—
"The GOP is working the id and the gonads … [T]o anyone who isn't a true believer, Palin comes across not as a fantasy pinup, but as a dominatrix … You could practically feel the crowd [at the GOP convention] getting a collective woody as Palin bent Obama and the Democrats over, shoved a leather gag in their mouths and flogged them … Strict biblical literalism, trying to ban books, denying human responsibility for global warming and launching nasty vendettas against foes may put lead in the pencil of unreconstructed Bush supporters, but for those who haven't already signed up for the extreme GOP agenda, they're about as seductive as a great white shark in Victoria's Secret lingerie … Her bitter reactionary taste is disguised by tasty female flavoring, but after the first few sips, you know exactly what you're drinking … Joe Voter may think Palin is a babe. And at first glance, she looks like the girl next door. But on closer inspection, that house next door turns out to be the Mansion of Mistress Palin (rhymes with 'pain')."
—he concludes, "But in the end, I suspect most Americans will be driven by their pocketbooks, not their pocket rockets," thereby undermining his own premise.

The only point in raising it in the first place, then, was to provide a reason to disgorge a sticky splatter of misogyny all over the page. Must have been satisfying. I can practically smell the smoke of his post-release cigarette from here.

[H/T to Shaker Linden, in comments. Sarah Palin Sexism Watch: Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten. We defend Sarah Palin against misogynist smears not because we endorse her or her politics, but because that's how feminism works.]

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