It’s Okay, You Can Smile

I don’t know if you know, but we had a big win yesterday. The citizens of America won.

I give you permission: be happy.

Two-thirds of Republicans – and a surprisingly big chunk of Democrats – showed up to represent the interests of the American people, in spite of the psychological warfare engaged by leadership in both parties. Bush put pressure on the Congress to support the bill against his “natural instincts” for a free market economy. Reid and Frank pounded all weekend that “a deal had been reached, the bill is going forward,” so vote for the bill so you don’t get left out. Pelosi got up right before the vote in a last-ditch effort to intimidate members of Congress to just go with the flow, save the world, vote for the bailout or we’ll slash your tires.

It didn’t work. None of it worked. You know why?

Because of you. You, the voters, contacted your Congressmen and told them that you weren’t going to put up with the government pouring out your tax money to bailout their friends. You saved our country from the worst massive tax expenditure in recent history. You did this. Celebrate.

And don’t buy the hype. They told us the economy would break if the bill didn’t pass, and are already citing yesterday’s DOW drop as proof. But it’s not true. The Dow dropped 600 of those 777 points while they were still debating – before the vote was even taken. And the drop yesterday didn’t even crack the top-ten largest percentage drops in the history of the world.

And – the Dow is already up 200 points again this morning.

We’re still here. We’re okay.

The war of accountability between the people of America and the government that represents them will never be over. But we won the most recent battle. Enjoy it. We have another battle coming up. The Senate vote is tomorrow. Contact your Senators with the same fury with which you contacted your Congressmen. It worked before, it will work again.

And yes, there are turncoat members of Congress that we now have to deal with. That’s okay. We’ve had to do that before, we’ll do it again. And we will not only survive, we will thrive.

We won. Celebrate it. Enjoy it. Be motivated. This is proof that the American way really works, that it still works. That we are still living in the greatest country on the face of the earth.

Bailout Madness: How Did We Get Here?

Some resourceful person put together a video outlining the events that led to the late-night backroom deals this weekend. Sometimes what looks like conspiracy is really just a series of unfortunate events.

Can You Lose Your Voice?

I am writing this note to ask you to pray about participating in this event. Before you decide, let me share with you my story.

The Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity this year is Tuesday, October 21. High school and college students across America and Canada will take a vow of silence for a day in order to respectfully protest abortion, show God’s love to women who are suffering from a previous abortion and mourn for the over 50,000,000 of our generation who have never had a voice.

I didn’t find out about Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity until my senior year of college. Actually, I randomly stumbled across the website online. After reading about it, the idea got inside of me, and I really felt convicted to participate. After all, it’s college, and there are always plenty of stranger protests for sillier causes.

I had plenty of excuses not to do it. Of course, I am a BIG talker, and knew I would struggle to keep out of my friend’s conversations. (It was an election year, I might add!) And, what was worse, it being a Tuesday, I had a class in which round-table discussion was required for my grade.

As far as I knew, I was the only person at UCO who participated. I didn’t tell anyone I was participating, because I was afraid they would think it was silly and a political stunt. So, I had no one to hold me accountable.

I went to the Pro-Life Day website and found resources to help me in my pledge. There were index cards I was able to print and hand out to my friends and professors explaining why I was not speaking that day. I saw where other students were wearing red bandannas or red duct tape with the word LIFE printed in black across their mouths our around their arms. (I opted for an armband.)

Generally, when I showed my cards to people, they nodded and smiled and spoke to me without expecting a response, or trying to “trick” me into speaking. One of my professors still required that I write down my discussion comments rather than speak them out loud, but that was fine.

My biggest moment of fear came when I went to my afternoon class. It was taught by the Dean of Women’s Studies. For those of you still in high school, that’s code for “local rep recruiting for militant feminism.” Prior to the start of class, as usual, I approached her and smiled and handed her my card. She glanced over it quickly, looked at my armband, smiled back and nodded. She said, “Okay, thank you.” And I sat back down. That was it.

I made it through the day. And maybe only a few people saw and understand why I was wearing an armband with LIFE on it, or why I was unusually quiet. But at least it was those few, rather than none.

I ask you, if you feel any prodding at all, please go to http://www.silentday.org and look at their information. They have stories of past participants and pictures and resources to encourage you.

I know some of you go to Christian school and some of you go to public school. You may think, "I go to Christian school, I don't need to do this." Or, "I go to public school, I might not be able to do this." Your experience may be different from mine. You may encounter some opposition or antagonism, you may be afraid of people's reactions, but I promise you, if I can do it, you can do it.

Can you lose your voice for a day - for those who will never have one?

The Only Way I Got Through

I had planned on doing my own real-time running commentary during the debate tonight - mostly to keep my blood-pressure from spiking everytime I heard the words "maverick" and "uh" - but between getting to the gym and making stir-fry for dinner, time got away from me. Thankfully, Pajamas Media came to the rescue yet again. Vodkapundit Stephen Green (my new role model) wrote up his own commentary on the debate, and kept me thoroughly distracted.

Warning: This has been rated PG-13 by my extremely conservative (lower-case 'c') sensibilites and is guaranteed to make you spit-take your fried rice.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6:40PM (All times Mountain, or else I’ll have to do math.) After splitting a bottle of cheap champagne with my bride, I’ve poured myself a hefty Ketel One Citroen martini. And if Wolf Blitzer keeps going on about how people can turn the little dials for stuff they like, I’m going to need my second Ketel One Citroen martini in record time.

6:42PM I’ll admit though that I’d give up booze for a month if I could play with CNN’s map software and giant touch screen.

6:44PM In a global first, Bruce Carroll is Vicodinblogging tonight’s debate. I’ve got ten bucks says he passes out before it’s over.

6:47PM The talking heads agree: Both of these guys pretty much suck at debates, but give McCain the edge. It’s a heavily handicapped race — or maybe a race between the handicapped.

6:50PM Can Obama pull off the commander-in-chief role? Will anyone care three weeks from now? McCain has run a (mostly) smart campaign. How’d he get snookered into holding the foreign affairs debate first?

6:54PM The Obama guys are cracking me up, claiming McCain is a “peerless” debater. I mean, Tony Blair’s dog is probably better at this stuff.

6:55PM My sources inform me that Tony Blair is actually a cat person. Pajamas Media regrets the error.

6:57PM Here’s a better link to Bruce’s Vicodinblog.

7:00PM Somebody just accused Christiane Amanpour of being pretty much unAmerican. Good thing it was from a fellow unAmerican journalist, otherwise there’d be hell to pay.

7:01PM OK, here we go. I’ve just taken a rather large dose of cocktail to fortify myself for the impending disaster. Or brilliant performance. Or whatever.

7:03PM Part of the fate of the free world depends on a coin toss. Don’t think about that.

7:03PM I’m sure I’ve used this joke before, but Jim Lehrer looks amazingly lifelike.

7:04PM Both candidates look good. Cordial. Maybe even warm. Wish I could say the latter about Lehrer.

7:05PM “We must achieve security and solvency.” A quote from Eisenhower to lighten the mood. The question goes to Obama.

7:05PM “We are at a defining moment in our history…” And I think maybe I fell asleep already.

7:06PM Obama’s first answer is very well rehearsed, but maybe obviously so. And his tie seems a little… nightclubbish.

7:06PM But he’s got on a tie pin. (I don’t wear one.)

7:06PM Fumbled the “trickle down” line.

7:07PM Nice note from McCain about Ted Kennedy, who was rushed to a hospital earlier tonight after a “mild seizure.”

7:07PM McCain “isn’t feeling well” about the economic situation. Smart to bring up the health issue, even tangentially?

7:08PM McCain seems solid, and he’s playing up the bipartisan angle. Obama would be smart to follow suit. He’d have been smarter to have started off that way three minutes ago.

7:08PM BAM! Didn’t take long for McCain to bring up our “dependence on foreign oil.”

7:09PM “I am optimistic,” says Obama. Wouldn’t have guessed that from his first answer.

7:10PM Obama is leaving himself wide open for McCain to bring up all the Freddie & Fannie money Obama has taken in four short years — but will he?

7:11PM McCain is telling a great story about Eisenhower. Telling it so well you might believe McCain was there with him. You might even think he was there. First health, now age. That’s a couple unforced errors already.

7:12PM “People will be held accountable in my administration.” Nice contrast with Bush, who would fire someone for peeing in his hat.

7:13PM Speaking of unforced errors, Obama just mentioned “failed energy policies.” Like the Democratic ban on oil drilling that Democrats just allowed to expire because they weren’t brave enough to actually go and change them?

7:14PM I’m glad to see McCain placed equal blame on Washington for once, and not just on Wall Street. But it took him a week to get there?

7:15PM “What would you do to lead the country out of the financial crisis?” McCain: Control spending. And then on to earmarks. Yes, McCain has had two unforced errors, but he’s also pretty adept at turning questions to his strengths.

7:16PM Wow. McCain just claimed that Obama has earmarked almost a million dollars a day as a senator. Can someone look that up, see if it’s right? Obama just took one on the chin, then weakly claimed that NOW he’s refusing earmarks.

7:17PM Ah. Under McCain, 300 billion in tax cuts to the “rich,” says Obama. It’s starting to get nasty. Which means it’s almost time for a second martini.

7:18PM Has anyone factchecked Obama’s claim that he can cut taxes for 95% of families when one third of taxpayers pay no income tax at all?

7:19PM McCain just accused Obama of being a johnny-come-lately on earmarks, and that “maybe that kind of money” isn’t serious to Obama. Right now I’m liking this fight.

7:21PM Obama is begging off on the numbers, and claiming he’ll go “line by line” through the budget. Well, fine. But instead of arguing “change,” Obama is arguing about earmarks. McCain has forced him off that hill called Hope and Change — and that’s an operational, maybe strategic, little win on his part.

7:22PM 15 minutes in, it’s clear that McCain is missing chances to throw uppercuts. But he’s ahead on jabs.

7:23PM 95% of you will get a tax cut! I’m giving you money! Vote for me!

7:24PM Is Obama really claiming that American businesses don’t actually pay enough taxes?

7:24PM But I’ll give Obama this much credit: “Loopholes” is usually a Republican complaint. He’s taken that one away. But now he’s talking health care and against free markets and this is a foreign policy debate?

7:25PM McCain just took one of those uppercuts. It’s not connecting, quite, but at least he finally tried one.

7:25PM What a wasted chance. McCain is stumbling now. But Obama says, “It’s just not true, it’s just not true.” But he never says how it isn’t true.

7:26PM Lehrer has done OK, I suppose, but this ought to be his last major debate.

7:27PM Obama: “I don’t have a plan.” OK, he didn’t quite say that, but he does say we need “energy independence.” And then he gave a nice little reach around to Detroit automakers. Hello, Michigan’s 17 electoral college votes!

7:28PM Affordable college? Infrastructure? What was the question again, Barack?

7:28PM Joe Biden has possessed the body of Barack Obama. He just. won’t. stop.

7:29PM “It’s hard to reach across the aisle from that far to the left.” “I oppose ethanol subsidies.” I know McCain wasn’t planning to take Iowa, but I wonder if he just kissed off Indiana and Ohio, too.

7:30PM If this were Oxford, it would start like this: “Resolved: That we would like to hold all of the primaries over again.”

7:31PM Obama says some things “will have to be delayed.” Lehrer says “What?” Obama answers with stuff he doesn’t want to delay, and stuff he doesn’t want to cut, and taxes he wants to raise. And college tuition! Somebody’s got to pay off his wife’s loans.

7:32PM Obama’s liberalism is just “opposition to Bush’s failed policies.”

7:33PM McCain would freeze spending on everything but defense and such. Obama says, “yes, but…” Which has been his entire performance so far tonight. That’s playing defense. That’s playing to lose.

7:34PM McCain just put Obama on defense again on energy. “You can’t get there from here.” I’m starting to wonder if the old guy has been laying low this whole time.

7:35PM I understood that there would be a foreign policy debate. And that there would be no math.

7:36PM “Spending 300 billion dollars on tax cuts.” That right there explains why I haven’t voted for a Democrat for President since 1992, and would rather not until they beat that sentiment out of themselves. Preferably using ball-peen hammers.

7:38PM “I just have to make this point, Jim.” Obama his hitting McCain hard for voting for “most” of Bush’s budgets.

7:39PM “It is well known that I haven’t been voted Miss Congeniality” in working with Bush. And then McCain outlined lots of places where he has parted ways with Bush… while sneaking in an endorsement for Palin. Nicely turned, McCain. More of this, please.

7:40PM If I’m not mistaken, there’s been a foreign policy question, and an answer to match. “We are winning in Iraq… with honor,” says McCain.

7:41PM OK, quick question: Without peeking, repeat one thing Obama has said.

7:41PM Obama opposed Iraq. Who knew! But didn’t he also oppose the surge that McCain endorsed before Bush and before the Pentagon? “Distraction… Afghanistan… blah blah blah.”

7:42PM Obama has GOT to stop counting the costs of the Iraq War, at a time when Americans are feeling better about it. It’s bad politics, bad strategy, and absolutely shitty leadership. If you’ll pardon my English.

7:43PM McCain says the next President won’t decide IF to go into Iraq, but HOW to exit and WHAT to leave behind. And it’s there that Obama’s judgement has been wrong for years.

7:44PM I’m going to miss some stuff now, while I go shake another martini. I trust you’ll understand and forgive.

7:46PM Ahhh.

7:46PM “Obama doesn’t understand the difference between a tactic and a strategy.”

7:47PM I haven’t been paying attention to CNN’s audience-o-meter. Can someone tell me how the candidates are doing? It’s a gimmick, but I’m curious — and I have to LISTEN to these debates while I focus on typing on the screen.

7:48PM I live and breathe this stuff, even while drinking, but I can barely follow Obama’s answers. McCain is hardly inspiring, but he at least seems to make sense.

7:49PM Wasn’t Obama promising to reduce our troops in Iraq “in 16 months” at least 12 months ago? Why won’t the left call for his warmongering head?

7:50PM Obama has got to stop doing that half smile thing. I know, because I do it too. All the freaking time.

7:52PM I just spent HOURS talking to Austin Bay about Afghanistan last weekend. And his assessment — wise when Obama was writing junior high school love poems — does not match up with that of the senator from Illinois.

7:53PM You know, Obama is right — and has been right — about calling for more troops for Afghanistan. But now he’s calling for more eradication of poppy seeds… and extending the Drug War to Afghanistan is the single biggest mistake Bush has made in that country.

7:54PM “You don’t say that out loud,” says McCain, about Obama’s promise to invade Pakistan. My exact words, from the first time Obama made his stupid, juvenile threat.

7:56PM “Nobody talked about attacking Pakistan,” says Obama. This must be Obama v2.0. Three-point-oh?

7:57PM Heh. Obama just slammed McCain about “prudence” after that “Bomb bomb bomb Iran” song. It’s a fair cop.

7:57PM This is Obama’s first really solid answer. So I can promise you it’s the one all the news outlets (save *maybe* Fox) will be running tomorrow.

7:58PM Now there’s a bit of history I’d forgotten. McCain voted against his “dear friend” Reagan’s deployment of Marines to Lebanon. Kind of squashes that whole “prudence” complaint.

7:58PM Do a shot every time McCain says “I have a record.” He doesn’t *need* to say, “And my opponent doesn’t.”

8:00PM Can I vote McCain for Best Old Uncle?

8:01PM “No soldier ever dies in vain,” says Obama. That’s in direct contradiction to something he said during the primaries. Can someone look that up for me, please, while I drink? (I’m lazy, it’s true.)

8:02PM “You’d think Obama would have gone to Afghanistan.” And then McCain further slammed Obama for hiding behind Senate rules (although I doubt many people caught that one).

8:03PM Lehrer says they’re even on time. But that they’ve run out of five minute thingies. Give it to Lehrer for running an even debate, if nothing else.

8:04PM In the comments, Dave writes, “‘Paahkistaahn’ might be closer to the correct pronunciation, but it comes across as effete. (Jenjiss kaahn?)”

8:05PM The best way to hurt Iran is to lower oil prices. McCain ought to be hammering that fact as part of his Drill Now, Drill Frickin’ Everything mantra.

8:06PM Oh, and he slid it in under the wire, but every Jew watching just noted McCain say “never again.” Obama should have followed suit, but so far hasn’t.

8:07PM Obama just said sanctions haven’t worked against Iran!

8:08PM But yet we need “tougher sanctions.”

8:08PM “Tough, direct diplomacy against Iran!” I wave papers in your general direction, you Persian sons of hamsters!

8:09PM Pardon me as I wet myself while McCain spanks Obama over his promise to negotiate with Iran “without preconditions.” It’s like gay porn, only this stuff turns me on. (Sorry, Bruce!)

8:10PM “Let’s talk about this,” says Obama. Isn’t that the goddamn problem, you inexperienced, officious little whelp?

8:11PM Obama is man enough to admit that “it may not work” to have the Iranian president over at the White House. Back in high school, we used to say, “No sh*t, Sherlock?”

8:12PM Every time Obama complains that the Bush strategy hasn’t worked with Iran, he reinforces the point that his own plan is just more of the same, only granting Iran even more prestige. How stupid does he thing we are? How naive is he?

8:13PM “I’m not going to set the White House visitor schedule before I’m elected.” And Obama just got another welt across his behind.

8:14PM I don’t know if McCain will win. I still doubt it, and sometimes I dread it. But if he doesn’t do better with Jews than any Republican since… ever, then there’s something wrong here.

8:15PM “Preconditions” = “Preparation,” says Obama. To again put it in high school terms: Studying for your exams is the same as expecting your teacher to just give you an A.

8:15PM “Aw, please,” says McCain. It’s about time somebody said that to this contorted naif.

8:16PM On to Russia …

8:17PM How do you see Russia? Obama: “uh … um … ah … we need to assess…” Maybe even a study group!

8:18PM Do I sound dismissive about the distinguished senator from Illinois? Oh, good!

8:18PM Don’t get me wrong — McCain is hardly my dream candidate. Unfortunately for me, and the nation, Cal Coolidge has been dead for quite some time now.

8:19PM Quoting Obama, “Both sides ought to show restraint.” Both sides including … GEORGIA! And again McCain draws a contrast between himself and Bush. And again Obama comes off as me-too at best, a naif at worst.

8:22PM This debate still has ten minutes or so to go. But it’s not too soon to give you a wrap. McCain is no debater. He wouldn’t last a second during Question Hour in the British Parliament. And yet Obama is coming off in third place in a two-man session.

8:23PM Obama expected Russia to trade its “peacekeepers” in South Ossetia and Abkhazia with “international peacekeepers.” And how did he propose to do that, even prior to the invasion? If you thought I was too harsh calling him a “naif” before, surely you agree with me now.

8:24PM Last question …

8:25PM “I’ve never said I object to nuclear waste.” Then let’s store it on Chicago’s south side!

8:25.5PM I mean, who would notice?

8:27PM Now that it’s almost over, may I at long last say … “oh, the humanity!”

8:30PM OK, I’ll give you a real close now. Obama strikes me as a modern Chamberlain, praising his (oh-so-transient) “peace with honor.” McCain, however, comes across as “peace when we’re done kicking you ass and not one moment sooner.” And since this was ostensibly a foreign policy debate, I give the win to McCain. Oh, and one other thing — Obama is still talking as I write this. But he’s spending his last answer angling for the European vote, which does nothing but reinforce my point.

8:33PM One last thing. McCain is finishing with, “Obama still doesn’t understand.” It’s true that McCain pulled a lot of punches. But he’s won on points — and at the end, I think that was his strategy all along. Had he come on too strong, McCain would have left himself open to those charges of being imprudent. Tonight he was prudent, if sometimes overly so. Obama came across as an impudent naif — and that’s not what Americans want, need, or can afford in times like these.

8:35PM OK, one more one last thing. McCain kinda sucks with or without a teleprompter. But Obama keeps fumbling the easy ones, where all he has to do is segue into his stump speech talking points. If that reminds you of his initial response to the Georgia invasion, it’s for good reason. The man simply is not ready for the burden of this office. But I’m more than ready for another martini. So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll see you next week at the next debate. Cheers! -----------------------------------------------------------------------

But the killer quote came from Henry Kissinger whom Obama had invoked to criticize McCain’s stance that we should not meet unconditionally with Ahmadinejad. Kissinger retorted: “Senator McCain is right. I would not recommend the next President of the United States engage in talks with Iran at the Presidential level. My views on this issue are entirely compatible with the views of my friend Senator John McCain. We do not agree on everything, but we do agree that any negotiations with Iran must be geared to reality.” http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/who-won-the-debate/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's my one piece of personal commentary: Someone needs to tell Obama that Reagan already ended the Cold War. These Kennedy-esque attempts to beg forgiveness for existence from foreign countries will only get more of us killed. And yes, China is launching its third space mission. Congratulations. And guess who's been to the moon already? I don't think our kids need to worry about keeping up with the Chinese.

On a side note: I have long been admiring Cindy McCain's fashion sense. I'd sell a kidney to get an appointment with her stylist. But what was Michelle Obama wearing? From whose curtains did she steal that dress?

UPDATED --- Kill the Bill!

Scroll down for update It's time to contact your Congressmen and Senators. Tell them to kill the bailout bill and not use our tax dollars to bail out irresponsible lenders. Our Congressmen and Senators need to know that their constituents do not support this hasty, foolish move to throw good money after bad.

This would be a bold move, crossing the President's recommendations last night. Our representatives in Washington need to know that we will support them in that, and that party lines need to disappear on this issue.

Go to this website:

http://www.capitolconnect.com/oklahoma/default.aspx

Fill out your information and you will be given a list of your Congressmen and Senators, along with links to their websites. You can directly email them and tell them to Kill the Bill.

------------------------------------------------------------------------- UPDATE: Your emails and phone calls are working! If you have not yet contacted your Congressmen and Senators, do so now and encourage them to keep up the fight against this bill! Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson fears the Wall Street bailout deal is falling apart after a chaotic White House meeting, sources say.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/09/stephanopoulo-6.html Paulson walked into the room where Democrats were caucusing after today's meeting at the White House and pleaded with them, "Please don't blow this up." Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chair of the House Financial Services Committee was livid saying, "Don't say that to us after all we've been through!" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "We're not the ones trying to blow this up; it's the House Republicans." "I know, I know," Paulson replied.

Also see:

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/09/25/kill-the-bailout-call-your-gop-representative/ http://monicamemo.typepad.com/weblog/2008/09/deal-or-no-deal.html http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D93E28NG0&show_article=1

Feminists against Palin - shame on you

Phyllis Schlafly

Sunday, September 21, 2008

The nomination of Sarah Palin for vice president is a big step forward for women, but a long backward step for the movement we have been taught to call feminism.

That is obvious from the anguish, indeed the fury, of feminist commentators. They are so intemperate in their criticism that they are incoherent. Men who are clueless about feminism naively think all women should be cheering. Sarah Palin is a woman who has done it all; she has a successful and even more promising career, five children and a supportive husband.

She crashed through the ultimate layer of the feminist fiction -the "glass ceiling" - and she joined those very few women destined to be known only by their first names. What more could any woman want?

The denunciations of Sarah can't be only because she appears to be a conservative Republican, and the feminists want only liberal Democrats to win. In this era of independent voters and respect for a maverick, surely the milk of bipartisanship should soften feminist angst about Sarah.

But, no. Feminist anger against Sarah has exposed the fact that feminism is not about women's success and achievement. If it were, feminists would have been bragging for years about self-made women who are truly remarkable achievers, such as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, or former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, or Sen. Elizabeth Dole, or even Margaret Thatcher. Feminists never boast about these women because feminism's basic doctrine is victimology. Feminism preaches that women can never succeed because they are the sorry victims of an oppressive patriarchy. No matter how smart or accomplished a woman may be, she's told that success and happiness are beyond her grasp because institutional sexism and discrimination hold her down.

When Hillary Rodham Clinton failed to get the Democratic nomination for president or vice president, she and her allies rained a torrent of tears all over the media about the injustice of it all, ranting that rampant sexism denied her the nomination she was due. The aging Gloria Steinem opined on CNN that it is "clear that there is profound sexism." She whined that Hillary couldn't crack the "glass ceiling" because there are "still barriers and biases out there."

Oh, the unfairness of it all! Steinem bemoaned that women find it so "difficult to be competent and successful and be liked." Au contraire, Hillary and women like her are not disliked because they are competent and successful, but because they are chip-on-the-shoulder feminists, living in an unhappy world of their own making and spreading their discontent like a virus. Feminists convey a notion of entitlement, as though they deserve special privileges today because of wrongs in past years that no one any longer can remember, such as women not having the right to vote. The bad attitude of victimhood is indoctrinated in students by the bitter feminist faculty in university women's studies courses and even in some law schools. Victimhood is nurtured and exaggerated by feminist organizations using their tactic called "consciousness raising," i.e., retelling horror stories about how badly some women have been treated until small personal annoyances grow into societal grievances. The feminists resent Sarah because she's the exact opposite of Hillary Clinton. When the liberal media sharpened their knives against Sarah, some chivalrous McCainiacs cried foul about media unfairness, but we didn't hear any whining from Sarah. Sarah has been successful because of hard work and perseverance, not because she's a woman, and she's not going to pull any crybaby act now. Sarah didn't need any Equal Rights Amendment, which Hillary is still promoting even though it was declared dead by the Supreme Court 26 years ago.

The feminist tirades against Sarah are mostly so tiresome, but one line of their complaints is really funny. After 40 years of telling wives and mothers to get out of the home (which Betty Friedan called "a comfortable concentration camp"), put their children in day care (tax-funded, of course) and join the workforce, these same feminists now tell Sarah to stay home with her children.

Sarah doesn't need feminist approval for her lifestyle; the only person whose OK she needs for her double career as mother and politician is her husband's, and he seems very happy with Sarah.

Sarah Palin is an exemplar of a successful, can-do woman, and the feminists simply don't know how to deal with her. I hope she will usher in a new era where conventional wisdom recognizes that feminist negativism is ancient history and American women are so fortunate to live in the greatest country on Earth.

Phyllis Schlafly is president of Eagle Forum, an attorney, and the author of 20 books, including "Feminist Fantasies." Contact us at insight@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/21/IN5U13026F.DTL

This article appeared on page G - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle

The Pitbull With Lipstick

Sarah Palin has done for women what liberal feminism has failed to do for the last 40 years. Sarah Palin is what women like Hillary Clinton only hope to be.

Palin worked her way up through the ranks, serving on the PTA, city council, as a mayor, and then as a governor. Most people would call that "multi-level experience." It's what the late, great Peggy Carter called "trenchwork."

And unlike Hillary Clinton, she did it all without the benefit of riding on her husband's name.

Palin saw the flaws in her local and state government, and started at the beginning - her local PTA. Sarah Palin understood that political effectiveness isn't measured by how many people know your name, but by how many people benefit by your efforts and think that it just happened that way.

Rather than wait for someone else to fix Alaska's Republican party, or whine about the corrupt elected officials in her state to her neighbors, Palin took on the system and went to battle for her fellow Alaskans. And it worked – she's the only governor in the United States with an 80% approval rating.

And now she is running for the chance to go to battle for us, her fellow Americans. We should be so lucky as to have her serve us as Vice President of the United States.

The condescension coming from both the MSM and the uninformed men-on-the-street here in our state shows a complete lack of understanding of what grassroots conservatism is.

In one sense, we have no one to blame but ourselves for this predicament. We have allowed the voters in Oklahoma and America to remain apathetic and rely on the MSM to think for them. We talk amongst ourselves about ballot initiatives and legislative actions without bringing the information to the people en masse. We only are at their doors and in their mailboxes during major election cycles. We are now seeing the result of this.

People by and large seem to think that a qualified politician is someone who wakes up one day and says, "Hmm, to bring to fruition my life's aspiration of being the youngest governor elected in my state, I'm going to run for State Representative and start to make a name for myself." Or else, they were recruited by the evil political machine that is oozing its way through our state government, and therefore they are assumed to be qualified because they have recognizable names and large PAC donations backing them.

Sarah Palin does not fit this profile, and so people feel comfortable calling her "inexperienced."

Palin didn't wait for someone else to fight the corrupt, embedded Republicans in her state. And she didn't wait for a high-profile opportunity to come available. She didn't join the corrupt Republican power brokers in her state to make her political road easier.

She didn't care about the notoriety. She didn't care about the difficulty. She knew she would be fighting against her own Lance Cargills and Chris Benges and Jeff MacMahans and Gene Stipes and Brad Henrys and Aubrey McClendons and Clay Bennets, and that they would fight dirty.

And she did it anyway.

That is grassroots politics, and grassroots Conservatism. Sarah Palin has real experience, not drummed-up politicized "experience" based on who her political connections are.

She put in the time on lower levels because she cared more about making a difference than about making a name for herself. She moved up the political food chain as duty called her, not as ego drove her. Sarah Palin was willing to do the work that elitist Republicans wouldn't do.

Sarah Palin came from a "small town" to become Governor of one of the largest states in our union because she is effective. She is accomplished.

She has experience.

To say otherwise is to be willfully ignorant of the facts. I pity the fool.