Is attacking Palin sexist?

last updated 8 January 2015

“Sarah Palin is the emblem of what feminism was supposed to be all about,” said Victor Davis Hanson in National Review Online. That explains the rising backlash to the vicious personal attacks the Democrats and the media unloaded on her the moment she was named as John McCain’s running mate. “Palin Derangement Syndrome” could be what “sinks Obama.”

“Questioning Sarah Palin's credentials to be vice president isn't automatically sexist,” said Joan Vennochi in The Boston Globe, “any more than it is automatically racist to question Barack Obama's readiness to be president.” It’s perfectly legitimate to ask whether a rookie governor and former small-town mayor is ready to be a heartbeat from the presidency.

Asking whether Palin can be both mom and vice president is clearly sexist, said Debra J. Saunders in the San Francisco Chronicle, but some of the "media pile-on" was just the predictable reaction to a surprise pick. So “to attribute the whole can of worms to sexism is a mistake. The GOP is not the victimhood party.”