Web Letters: Bright, Shiny Object

Wow! Palin is a Rules Girl????? Sara Palin is like a Rorschach test for liberal feminists. Apparently Linda Hirshman sees long hair and sparkly pins as evidence of a Rules Girl. WTF? This baseless mean-girl attack is embarrassing to read from a so-called feminist.

Hirshman attacks Palin for:

1) Never leaving the house without make-up. (Hello! All candidates wear it! Hillary always did. So did McCain and Obama. As a makeup artist, I know that there are two types of women in the world: those who wear sparkly eye shadow and those who don't. Palin does, Hirshman doesn't.)

2) Rarely return media calls and to always end the "first date." (Palin has done three interviews in the space of five weeks while simultaneously campaigning. She hardly hid from the media)

3) Following the rules most "indigestible" to feminists: 1st: Let him take the lead (Palin is the VP, she's supposed to listen to her boss); 2nd: Never tell him what to do or try to change him. (Palin has repeatedly expressed her desire to persuade John McCain on energy policy in Alaska.)

Hirshman's hallucination that the Republicans have used The Rules as a blueprint for Palin's political behavior makes no sense!

"In its day, The Rules was a bestseller on the New York Times self-help list. But using it as a guide for political behavior is a dangerous game in 2008. By setting Palin up as the Rules Girl--the gorgeous, fecund non-Hillary, equipped with all the right answers--Republicans forget that The Rules is a manual for how to attract men."

I mean, what kind of basis for an article is this? At least Katha Pollitt's articles on Palin bother to have some substance. Pollitt's follow up questions for Palin are good questions. Hirshman should stick to criticizing politics and not Palin's attractiveness. Do I detect a hint of jealousy from Hirshman? You know, by attacking Palin's looks, Hirshman leaves herself open to all sorts of granola Birkenstock dyke jokes. I'm just saying... maybe some extensions and liner could do her some good.

Christina Stroz

Brooklyn, NY

Whatever happened to the old Take Back the Night march chant: "Whatever we wear and where ever we go, YES means YES. And NO means NO!"? The chant was about a woman's basic right to wear whatever she wanted and not be judged or mistreated as an object.

True, this is an area of intense prejudice for too many of us: clothing and its use and its misuse. A recurring obstacle for women wherever we go. It determines so much of how much we can make, do and spend, and with whom.

If any "subject" deems a woman" a bright & shiny object" because of what she wears, should her voice be ignored? Her words twisted and turned against her? Should she be a piñata for us to take a fashionable cane to as she swings in the fair winds of blowhard democracy?

Or should we toss the fashion-cane the war-crutch keeps whacking us with and acknowledge the fact that the woman is very smart and up to something very new?

Smythlen Wolfe

Portland, ME

That is exactly what my wife said, down to that diamond flag pin. Wow, and I don't think she read the rules book. We may be in a generational shift, however, and the kids don't seem to be that impressed with "aw, shucks" Palin. I'm 72, which may explain why i thought she was running for Miss Mooseburger of Wasilla. She seeemed really parochial.

JAMES PINETTE

Caribou, ME

If the author could kindly explain away her husband Todd's membership in the AIP, which proclaims no loyalty to the United States, then I will believe that she is somehow benign.

And if we justify the religious beliefs that claim, "when the apocalyspe comes, people will flock right here, to Alaska" with your theory that she is playing to capture men's hearts. And if you can explain away her statement about the vice president taking a more active role in legislation (I didn't just imagine hearing that) as anything but the most radical and fascist statement to come down the pike since... oh I don't know, Cheney claiming he wasn't part of any government branch... then I will accept your premise.

Richard Ray Harris

Desert Hot Springs, CA