As a feminist, I am mortified

What the hell? Seriously. I don't know where to start with this. I was a child of "Free to Be You and Me" and therefore embraced the idea that women and men are all equal and everyone should be free to be themselves and do whatever they wanted with their lives at a very early age. This record, memorized from repeated listening, made me laugh at "old" ideas that there was a cookie cutter future for all men (strong silent fathers who had manly jobs) and women (wives and mothers who sighed into the sink and wished for something different). But apparently I was wrong.

Apparently all you need to court women voters is to put a woman on the ballot. It doesn't matter that this woman is a politically under qualified, hypocritical Christian conservative who believes that birth control equals abortion and therefore supports her 17 year old daughter's teenage pregnancy instead of perhaps WANTING HER DAUGHTER TO GET AN EDUCATION, BE INDEPENDENT AND DO SOMETHING GREAT. It doesn't matter that this woman has seen virtually nothing of the bigger world outside Alaska. It doesn't matter that this woman is called a "hero" because she didn't abort her 5th child when she learned he had Down's Syndrome (I don't call that heroic. I call that normal -- what mother would?) All because she has a vagina and that, apparently, is all we (women) need. Ridiculous!!!

I want a woman strong enough to stand before her congregation and admit to having an abortion when she was young. I want a woman strong enough to stand before her friends and tell them that having five children is, perhaps, irresponsible in the face of overpopulation and diminishing natural resources (but apparently not in Alaska, where there is an entire wildlife refuge filled with oil to suck out of the earth). I want a woman who made bad choices. Who hated God at times. Who triumphed. Who worked hard, hard, hard! Who is smart and tough and can take care of herself. Who raised children who didn't resemble one of the Spears girls or their husbands. I want a woman who doesn't make a love of Jesus a prerequisite for morality. I don't think this is too much to ask, especially for the second most powerful person in the USA.

If I didn't believe that conservatives like this woman judge first and blame second, I wouldn't care so much. But the Fox News channels of the world make me believe different. Women like her are mouthpieces of the right. Soldiers for the likes of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney. They don't want to hear or consider any ideas different than theirs, and therefore are the most frightening, and unladylike people on the planet. I know I want to come back to the USA soon, but not if the USA considers women like this to be acceptable leaders. I wouldn't let her walk my dog.

ROAR!!!