Palin brings gender politics back in US polls

Palin brings gender politics back in US polls
Sarah Jacob NDTV.com
September 17, 2008

Perhaps it is ironic. Days after Sarah Palin joined team McCain, on Wednesday 6 national women's groups announced they were endorsing Barack Obama.

Kim Gandy, president of National Organization for Women, says, "Sarah Palin does not support the things that NOW stands for. She believes that no abortion be allowed under any circumstances not even in the case of a child victim of rape or incest. Her positions are completely out of touch with American women."

Palin's stand on abortion may be difficult hurdle for feminists to come to terms with but polls show America's most famous hockey mom boosting GOP nominee Senator John McCain's popularity among white women and independents.

Latest polls show Senator McCain has pulled even with Senator Obama in national polls, thanks to a 20-point swing among white women, who now favor the McCain-Palin ticket by 12 points.

Brian Darling, an analyst with the Heritage Foundation, says: "There are two very good reasons why McCain made this pick. One it helps shore up his credentials among conservatives. He has picked some body who is pro life, some body who is pro family some body who is very good conservative credentials also and fits in the maverick frame work that McCain has wrapped up and also it helps him with women."

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Palin brings gender politics back in US polls

NOW's political PAC says no to Sarah Palin

LA Times blogs
NOW's political PAC says no to Sarah Palin (while avoiding broaching her name)

On the one hand, it is an endorsement that comes as no surprise.

On the other hand, the decision by NOW's political arm to officially embrace the Democratic presidential ticket is a step out of the ordinary -- traditionally, the group does not announce a pick in the fight for the White House.

Kim Gandy, the president of the 42-year-old National Organization for Women, in a statement released Tuesday, called it "very unusual" for the group's political action committee "to endorse in a presidential election." But referring to Barack Obama, she added, "this is an unprecedented candidate and an unprecedented time for our country."

The statement, after detailing specific policy areas in which Obama's record squares with NOW's agenda, offers this summary:

For more than a decade, Barack Obama has said "yes" to women's rights, while John McCain has consistently said "no" -– NO to pay equity, NO to contraceptive access and reproductive rights, NO to appointing Supreme Court judges who will uphold women's rights and civil rights, NO to funding shelters and other anti-violence programs, and NO to supporting working moms and dads with policies that support work/life balance.

In the statement that supports the ticket that does not include a women while turning its back on the one that does, no mention is made of Sarah Palin.

On a similar note, Obama running mate Joe Biden gets an approving nod in a lengthy New Republic article reviewing his record on women's issues.

Writer Fred Strebeigh notes that since Biden got tapped for the vice presidential slot, he "has been pitted against women, first taking the job that many Hillary Clinton supporters felt was her due, then facing off against another historic woman, Sarah Palin, who could become the first female vice president of the United States. ... But the irony of this assessment is that Biden has some of the best feminist bona fides around."

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NOW's political PAC says no to Sarah Palin