Editor,
It's nice to see the Republican Party finally discovered that 51 percent of this country is made up of women, 88 years after women were given the right to vote. I think we all know why it is only now that they have joined the 21st century.
It's clear the primary reason the Republican Party chose a woman is because they believe they can pick up all of those disgruntled Hillary Clinton voters we keep hearing about. There is, however, a problem with this theory: They barely even exist. Certainly there are a few people who are incredibly bitter their candidate did not win, and they claim it was primarily because of sexism.
Our laughably irresponsible broadcast media are having fun making them seem far more common than they are by spending countless days on what should be a 10-minute story. These are voters who are so irrationally angry they are willing to vote for John McCain, a man who has voted against women's rights for a quarter of a century, almost without exception. He has consistently stood against everything both the Democratic Party and the average American believe in. These voters are so blinded by rage they would never have voted for Barack Obama anyway.
If Gov. Sarah Palin's nomination is a transparent attempt to win over Clinton's supporters, then McCain is a day late in making this move. Clinton herself has made one of the most glowing recommendations possible of Obama, and the Democratic nominee himself skillfully addressed the concerns of Clinton supporters in his acceptance speech, a speech that quite literally knocked it out of the park.
Palin wins the Republican Party nothing it didn't already have. She is instead a massive dead weight on the McCain campaign. The GOP makes constant attempts to portray Obama as inexperienced, but wanting to place the nearly résumé-less Palin a weak heartbeat away from the presidency makes this charge ring hollow. They want to win over women voters but chose a ragingly anti-feminist woman to fill out their already misogynistic ticket.
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And perhaps most telling of the hypocrisy that has infected the modern GOP to its very soul, they attempt to paint Obama as a vapid celebrity and nothing more, and then they nominate a beauty queen for the vice presidency.
If the Republican Party wants to win over women, they should probably avoid treating women like characters in a '50s sitcom. Democrats everywhere should be cheering because McCain just threw the election. He might as well have made his vice presidential nomination speech his concession speech. If he is going to be so insistent on telling everyone the presidency requires good judgment, then this choice demonstrates he lacks that very quality.
Juan Carlos Holmes
Daily Lobo reader
