AND IF THE RED PUMP WERE ON THE OTHER FOOT?

Melissa McEwan despised Michael Joseph Gross's Vanity Fair article about Sarah Palin. She writes:

... Gross' article, however, amounts to very little but "Sarah Palin is the worst because she's in politics...and is A WOMAN."

... What makes this article the worst thing I've read all day is the fact that most of what's in it is the sort of shit that is considered (rightly or wrongly) the mundane business of doing politics, and yet is somehow ZOMG SHOCKING when done by Sarah Palin.

... I remain constantly infuriated at the number of pieces written about Sarah Palin that compel feminist/womanist women to come to her defense, or, at minimum, point out the absurdity of the coverage....

She has a point. But I'll repeat what I said in her comments:

Yes, call out the sexism, but do it in the defense of women, not in defense of Palin herself. She has millions of cultists, quite a few of them with much more media access than you, to defend her -- she doesn't need you. She has the #1 cable news channel at her beck and call. Plus, she and her cult get nourishment from this kind of thing -- it only makes them more resolved to do what they want to do. It empowers them. She's fine. She doesn't need your help. Oh, and one more thing: she'd never extend the same courtesy to you. If you were being attacked in a way that offended her principles, she'd hypocritically pile on just because you're an ideological enemy. So defend women, but shed no tears for Palin.

Regarding that last point, think for a minute: Would Palin take to Twitter and Facebook to defend a prominent Democrat or activist left-leaner who was being called (or whose child or grandchild was being called) a "retard"? Would she defend a liberal or Democrat's teenage child against a comedian's smutty jokes? If a left-leaning radio or TV talker were under attack for using a term that was a group slur, would Palin defend that talker's First Amendment rights?

I don't think the answer is in doubt. Palin doesn't need our help, and there's no way she'd return the favor, unless there was something in it for her and her side.

****

AND: Let's not forget this from 2008:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in a video interview with Newsweek, posted on YouTube, discussed the coverage of Sen. Hillary Clinton. In an interview that appears to have taken place during the Democratic primary, Palin criticizes Clinton for her response to media scrutiny she received while on the campaign trail.

Palin says, "When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or, you know, maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, man, that doesn’t do us any good. Women in politics, women in general wanting to progress this country. I don’t think it’s, it bodes well for her -- a statement like that."

The presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee says that Clinton should just "work harder" and "prove yourself to an even greater degree that you are capable." ...