Thanks to a tip from DCap, I just read Mike Lupica's column reacting to Sarah Palin's speech at the National Tea Party Convention this weekend: Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin has delusions of grandeur if she thinks she can be President.
It's a smart, unheated rendering of why she is (and should be treated as) a joke that for me is remarkable because Lupica does not once resort to sexism to take a swipe at her. A feat far too many progessive men can't seem to pull off.
It's all the stronger for avoiding references to gender-based issues (how many kids she has or how they've turned out, how she dresses, or the writer's unsoliticed sexual fantasies) which would never be trotted out to illistrate the unsuitability of a male candidate for leadership. Lupica does remind us that her base tends to support her for sexist reasons but doesn't play the game of "so therefore I can take a crack at objectifying her as a woman myself".
I see no reason why we can't all keep it this clean and substantive. I mean, they give us plenty to work with.
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