Still ruining everything: Palin paved the way for Obama to kill “feminist”

The death of the word “feminist” was broadcast on the evening news. In September 2008, at the height of the presidential campaign, Katie Couric boarded John McCain’s airplane, took a seat with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and lobbed the first in a series of softballs: Did Palin consider herself a feminist? Palin’s response:

I do. A feminist who believes in equal rights, and I believe that women certainly today have every opportunity that a man has to succeed, and to try to do it all, anyway. And I’m very, very thankful that I’ve been brought up in a family where gender hasn’t been an issue. You know, I’ve been expected to do everything growing up that the boys were doing. We were out chopping wood and we were out hunting and fishing and filling our freezer with good wild Alaskan game to feed our family.

“Feminist” isn’t the only English-language word that suffered from Palin’s candidacy, of course (see “maverick,” “terrorist”). But while other terms employed by the Alaska governor withered from twisted meanings, “feminist” experienced a more symbolic death. Palin killed “feminist” not by altering the meaning of the word—its meaning has never remained consistent in a century of use—but by eliminating its taboo.

Read More “The Feminist Mystique: How Election 2008 Killed a Notorious Word” »

Stay tuned here for The Sexist’s play-by-play of the 2008 vice presidential debate.

While you’re at it: Take the edge off the Sarah Palin/Joe Biden showdown by playing along with The Sexist’s 2008 Vice Presidential Drinking Game.

The debate begins at 9 p.m. EST; I’ll be live-blogging here starting around 8:45.

In preparing for tonight’s much-anticipated Vice Presidential debate, the Internet has been a-twitter about Sarah Palin’s tendency toward making horrific, embarrassing gaffes, and Biden’s . . . tendency toward making horrific, embarrassing gaffes. In order to boost tonight’s debaters a bit, here’s some positive footage of the two candidates:

Jed Lewison of the Huffington Post has compiled this video showing Sarah Palin performing well during the 2006 Alaskan gubernatorial debates. Since Alaska is just a “microcosm of the United States” . . . maybe, just maybe!

A great Joe Biden moment, from last year’s Democratic Presidential debates. Moderator Brian Williams asks Biden about his “uncontrolled verbosity” and characterization as a “gaffe-machine.” Biden’s response:

Another person with access to the Internet is horrified at the prospect of Sarah Palin ever being close to being their president. But instead of getting mad, they’re pressing “Fwd”!

“We may have thought we wanted a woman on a national political ticket, but the joke has really been on us, hasn’t it?” reads an e-mail chain that’s been making the Internet rounds. The e-mail then suggests a joke of its own:  Instead of donating to the Obama campaign, protesters should make a contribution to Planned Parenthood—in Sarah Palin’s name. Interested parties are also directed to list the McCain campaign headquarters address with their donation so that “when you make a donation to PP in her name, they’ll send her a card telling her that the donation has been made in her honor.”

The ruse is directed at those Palin haters who feel they “can’t support the Obama campaign financially” but are still open to “fiendishly brilliant alternative” ways to spend their cash.

Full text after the jump.

Read More “Chain E-mail Suggests Dastardly Palin Subterfuge” »