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So Long, Democrats
Oh right, this story goes to the sincerity of her Hockey Mom persona. What planet am I living on? Everyone knows that when it comes to appearance, there’s a double standard for women politicians. Remember the speech Speaker Pelosi gave on the floor the day of the bailout vote? Check out how many stories commented on her hair that day and how many mentioned Congressman Barney Frank’s.
Here we are discussing Governor Palin’s clothes—oh wait, now we’re on to the make-up—not what either man is going to do to save our economy. This isn’t an accident. It is part of a manufactured narrative that she is stupid.
Governor Palin and I don’t agree on a lot of things, mostly social issues. But I have grown to appreciate the Governor. I was one of those initial skeptics and would laugh at the pictures. Not anymore. When someone takes on a corrupt political machine and a sitting governor, that is not done by someone with a low I.Q. or a moral core made of tissue paper. When someone fights her way to get scholarships and work her way through college even in a jagged line, that shows determination and humility you can’t learn from reading Reinhold Niebuhr. When a mother brings her son with special needs onto the national stage with love, honesty, and pride, that gives hope to families like mine as my older brother lives with a mental disability. And when someone can sit on a stage during the Sarah Palin rap on Saturday Night Live, put her hands in the air and watch someone in a moose costume get shot—that’s a sign of both humor and humanity.
Has she made mistakes? Of course, she’s human too. But the attention paid to her mistakes has been unprecedented compared to Senator Obama’s “57 states” remarks or Senator Biden using a version of the Samuel Johnson quote, “There’s nothing like a hanging in the morning to focus a man’s thoughts.”
But thank God for election 2008. We can talk about the wardrobe and make-up even though most people don’t understand the details about Senator Obama’s plan with Iraq. When he says, “all combat troops,” he’s not talking about all troops—it leaves a residual force of as large as 55,000 indefinitely. That’s not ending the war; that’s half a war.
I was dead wrong about the surge and thought it would be a disaster. Senator John McCain led when many of us were ready to quit. Yet we march on as if nothing has changed, wedded to an old plan, and that too is a long way from the Democratic Party.
I can no longer justify what this party has done and can’t dismiss the treatment of women and working people as just part of the new kind of politics. It’s wrong and someone has to say that. And also say that the Democratic Party’s talking points—that Senator John McCain is just four more years of the same and that he’s President Bush—are now just hooker lines that fit a very effective and perhaps wave-winning political argument…doesn’t mean they’re true. After all, he is the only one who’s worked in a bipartisan way on big challenges.
Before I cast my vote, I will correct my party affiliation and change it to No Party or Independent. Then, in the spirit of election 2008, I’ll get a manicure, pedicure, and my hair done. Might as well look pretty when I am unemployed in a city swimming with “D’s.”
Whatever inspiration I had in Chapel Hill two years ago is gone. When people say how excited they are about this election, I can now say, “Maybe for you. But I lost my home.”
Update: Wendy Button responds to the attacks she received after coming out for McCain on the Daily Beast with a plea for civility. Read it here.
How Rich People Smoke Pot
Paul Schrodt is a writer living in New York City. He has contributed to New York magazine, Radar, and Esquire.com.
Justice Clinton?
As vice chairman of Public Strategies and president of Maverick Media, Mark McKinnon has helped meet strategic challenges for candidates, corporations and causes, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Governor Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong, and Bono. McKinnon is co-chair of Arts & Labs, a collaboration between technology and creative communities that have embraced today's rich Internet environment to deliver innovative and creative digital products to consumers.
Let's Not Have a Ball
Wendy Button is a writer in Washington, DC. She has written for Senators John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Barack Obama, and Mayor Tom Menino of Boston as well as other national and international leaders.
A Democratic Speechwriter Backing McCain Responds to Attacks
Wendy Button is a writer in Washington, DC. She has written for Senators John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Barack Obama, and Mayor Tom Menino of Boston as well as other national and international leaders.
slaneyblack
Sorry you got fired from two gigs as a speechwriter. I'd probably vote the other way too if that happened to me.
But then again I wouldn't write some kind of phony sob-story article and try to use Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin to rationalize it.
skipmcgee
It makes me sad to see you abandon a party as you have. I believe you can use the excuse that the party left you but perhaps we should look at the last eight years. The Democratic party in America just can't seem to get it right. And we are now at a crisis that needs to be solved, it will not be solved by the right or the left but by someone who is intellegent and surrounds themselves with the same. Despite what you feel about being abandoned i hope that the current Republican party is not the direction you run. Regardless of your affection for Sara Palin as she does her best in this election the pointing out of her wardrobe expenditure should not be construed as sexist, as your friend John Edwards learned during Haircutgate. It was pointing out hypocracy, as is Joe the Plumber's theoretical tax issues. I have a lot of problems with the democratic party as well as the republican party, and as much as i dislike the social views of the republican platform i have to respect their ability to get to the finish line by any means necessary.
The fact is that talking points work, this country is not controlled by the left thirty percent or the right thirty percent but by the center thirty, and as has been shown by the previous two elections, being right doesn't work as well as being on message. What you are attacking is the mechanism that has been adopted by your former party in order to regain control of a situation that is nearly beyond control.And unlike water boarding, i the Democrats must learn to play the game or they will just get stomped on election after election.
I would love to see you find your party, Democrat or Republican or Other and work with them, to create their agenda instead of just moving away from them when someone creates it for you. If you are as much of a romantic as you come across, then you should believe that the party is it's members, and only the members can change the party.
As far as removing your affiliation i say good job, i don't believe that should even be on the ballot, but remember on election day when you vote for the Mascot of America that there is 8 years of damage to clean up, and supreme court justices to appoint and when it comes to moving our country forward maybe people who call McCaine old are just saying it because Passed ones prime, or over the hill are too mean of words to use on a war hero.
John McCaine is a good man, he would have been a better choice in 2000, but not now, now we must look forward not only at what would be good for america, but good for our children, and good for the world and vote for Barack Obama.
Janotec
Something tells me -- no, a LOT of things tell me -- that we are not getting the complete story behind Button's departure.
deltablue
This story and the arguments she gives are very suspicious.
There's probably more to it.
Can she explain how McCain has advanced the interests of women and minorities?
When I have problems home I try to fix them. I do not move next door where everything is perfect...
TennDem
The dogs are about to be unleashed on this message board. Make no mistake about it.
charlenedor
Much to do about nothing. Jobs come and go, especially on the free lance scene. Obviously, the writer is not very principled if she's voting for McCain on the basis of the arguments above.
carbonbeing
Wow- No wonder the candidates dropped you. This piece is poorly written and poorly organized.
demfrmtol
The only candidate for the working class is Obama. Give me a break! McCain is the biggest liar I know. He will sell his soul for a vote!
SimplyOn
Sounds like you are now quoting Republican "hooker lines" so it seems a little hypocritical to denounce some and start yelling the opposite. Everyone is entitled to his/her opinion and to change his/her mind, but it just sounds like you are exchanging one groups talking points for another. I do not see much substance in your arguments.
expatriot
I am so with you on this. The misogynist and class undertones from the Democrats have been calculated, devious and conniving. And disgusting. I've never voted for a Republican candidate for President, but I will this year.
This user is no longer registered.
n--Y--jamesreidnyc-dem
1. "The economy is in the tank for many complicated reasons, especially because people don't have enough money. So let them keep it." First off, the economy is in the tank because house prices were allowed to balloon in proportion to income and regulators allowed financial institutions of all stripes (not just Fannie and Freddie) to extend credit to people who shouldn't have gotten it. So the first part of that sentence is wrong. Then you imply that Obama's taxes take money away from people who don't have it. But the tax hike is on people earning over $250,000, and it's only increasing the top marginal rate. As a person who belongs to this income group, I can tell you: We'll make it. If you want to spur consumption, you need to redistribute wealth, and wealth redistribution has been the premise of the progressive income tax which has been essentially unchallenged by Republican and Democratic politicians for ages.
2. You seem to be disturbed by superficial criticisms of candidates in general and of female candidates in particular, and that's a premise for voting Republican? Even as you admit that Democratic women face the same hurdles as Palin? Even as it's clear that the superficiality of the campaign has been pushed by TV journalists more than the Obama campaign itself? So now Roe v. Wade is irrelevant as an issue, because MSNBC makes as much out of Palin's expensive wardrobe as FOX made out of Edwards's expensive hair cut.
Your reasons for voting Republican are too lame to be believable. You must have some other axe to grind. Republican economics are regressive, reckless, and unsustainable; the social policies pander to people who place opposition to Roe v. Wade over the need for universal health care, amelioration of poverty, equalization of educational opportunities, sustainable environmental policies, and on and on. A great party. Enjoy your new home. As the old saying goes, when you switch, you'll be increasing the intelligence of both parties.
slaneyblack
"The dogs are about to be unleashed on this message board. Make no mistake about it."
Hahaha. That's true. My first comment seems to have been moderated out, so everyone just imagine how nasty it was!
afraidofamericans
americans. ugh. i couldn't really get through the entire article - so i'm sure there'll be heat from that (as fellow commenters attack). and my point might be a little off mark...
in any case...
i think it's safe to say that any white american who doesn't vote for Obama - who might not have this "experience" that in fact no former president has ever had except those elected twice, but who has run his campaign as successfully as Bill and Warren and Larry & Sergey have run companies (how's that for "experience"?) - is RACIST. and i don't mean "racist" the way the word gets thrown around these days; i mean it the way it's supposed to be meant.
TexasVoodoo
It's hard to believe that a seasoned speechwriter has suddenly realized that campaign politics fall short of an idealistic utopia.
The arguments seem weak - admiring McCain for "leading" on the surge after years of bumbling through an unjust war, for example.
As for bringing down two women, I don't see how this campaign has been particularly unfair or demeaning to its opponents. Campaign politics are always a slugfest, man or woman. You may be upset at the result, but that doesn't warrant crying foul.
So what's the real motivation here? Rejection? Feminist rage over Hillary losing out? It's hard to tell from this meandering rant.
Thank you.
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