LA NOW Prez on Palin: ‘America, This is What a Feminist Looks Like’

Fascinating. First NOW breaks with their policy of not endorsing a presidential candidate and they do so BECAUSE a woman is on the ticket and they want her to lose. And now this. Which is more stunning?

NOW is very interesting, they only support certain women, not all women. My message to them, listen “SWEETIE”, if women don’t support women. . . men certainly won’t support them. When you discuss bigotry, lets talk about how liberal women treat conservative women.

John McCain OPPOSED the LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT.
John McCain and his not-ready-for-prime-time running mate believe that woman are not capable of making moral choices when it comes to control over their own body.
If you want a president who treats woman as children, you should definitely vote for John McCain.
Some background on Lilly Ledbetter:
Of all the appalling decisions the Roberts Court issued last year, one of the worst was the 5-4 ruling in Ledbetter v. Goodyear, which gutted the equal-pay provisions of the Civil Rights Act and overturned a decades-old employment-law precedent.
The plaintiff, Lilly Ledbetter, worked for nearly two decades at a Goodyear Tire plant in Gadsden, Alabama. She brought an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint against Goodyear after she discovered that for years she had been paid less than male co-workers with the same job. The justices ruled that employees can only file a wage-discrimination complaint within 180 days of when the payroll decision was made.
After the Supreme Court issued its decision, which leaves women and minorities in Ledbetter’s situation with no recourse, congressional Democrats pledged to pass legislation that would give employees two years to file a complaint, in accordance with the law before the Supreme Court issued its decision.

Ahh get back in the intellectual prison ladies. Don’t DARE you think for yourselves. Leave your opinions and critical thinking to the “experts.” Now, go away. And wait until we TELL you before you do something or attempt to think for yourself!

I find it interesting and refreshing that an officer of NOW thinks for herself and does not toe the line.
We need more of this.
Good article Jake! Hard to find this kind of stuff thourghly reported anywhere else.

I liked Gov. Palin’s quote from Mad Albright: “There is a special place in hell for a women who don’t stick up for other women.”

this woman is as dumb and self serving as Mccain.
never mind transparent.

Given the disgraceful misogyny directed at Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin during this campaign by Democrats and certain members of the media for the sin of challenging Barack Obama, women’s groups continued blind support of Obama/Biden makes them look more and more like battered wives.

Captain America, after making up the quote “I told Congress, ‘thank’s but no thanks’” and the discovery that her Reagan quote was from an attack on Medicare, Palin cannot even get the quote from Albright correct?

“National Organization for Women Political Action Committee (NOW PAC) joined with many allied organizations representing a broad and diverse cross-section of U.S. women to endorse Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Both have long records of service, fighting to improve the rights of women, families, and working people.”
Maybe I’m missing something, but what is Obama’s “long record of service?”

It’s like seeing the political landscape realign. I wonder if history will judge President Clinton and Hillary Clinton for reversing a decades alliance between women’s groups and the Democratic Party.
The more McCain distorts John Lewis’ support for a McCain administration or a Jewish organizing group tries to pull together an event in New York so that Palin and Clinton can share a stage, the more people are seeing that McCain puts the campaign first and the truth last.

WOW!! The tolerant and all do goody left has spoken, right pascal? As for the LA NOW babe….be careful cause you could recieve a drive-by from Dikes on Bikes over your endorsement of the RIGHT!

I hope everyone captures “commrat72″‘s post and sends it to Ms. Mandell.

“America,” Mandell said, “this is what a feminist looks like.”
——————
What exactly is the message here? The future for American women is to be stupid and wink a lot? Make no mistake, Sarah Palin may be politically savvy, but from what I can tell, from an intellectual standpoint, she is a borderline idiot.
She does not provide a good example for my own daughter, who, though much younger than Palin, actually is capable of speaking in complete sentences and reads. Palin does not support women’s rights and does not support equal pay for equal work.
Sarah Palin is not what “feminism” or even American women look like. She is just what Sarah Palin looks like and is.

Shelly Mandell has the courage of her convictions. As a life-long Democrat, I’m with her. I can’t do alot to affect the outcome in my state, but I’m from Missouri and I can campaign there.

Networks are now focus on the economy.
The economy is the October surprise. We can’t simply “turn the page”.
Obama should hold a press conference on the situation going on in Wall Street. Force McCain to respond on the economy.

Hillary is the face of modern feminism. Get real. Palin is the face of beauty pageants, weather girls, and bogus talent competitions everywhere. Palin is pretty but stupid. She is not any where near the feminist face of women. Please.

if women don’t support women. . . men certainly won’t support them. When you discuss bigotry, lets talk about how liberal women treat conservative women.
I have also thought we are own worst enemies. We tend to be secretive, territorial, overprotectve and nastily overcompetitive. My worst managers were women who felt compelled to backstab their female colleagues. This is our nasty litle secret. The ideal of femminism exists only in fantasy. And this is why men will never treat us equally until we learn to communicate the way they do.

We sure hear a lot from Palin these days.
Where’s McCain? Is he dead?

As I read some of these entries, I see some people fear as I do: I fear for my two daughters’ futures. We CAN’T go backward and give up everything we’ve fought for.
As fow those who think NOW should just follow blindly behind ANY woman in support, NO! We support the ideals, not the gender. That is what makes the NOW organization independent thinkers.

Here’s the actual Albright quote and please note what it says about what women need to do to earn respect from male collegues:
***”What advice do you have for women who want respect from their male colleagues?” Dana Philbin of Chicago asked Albright for a January piece in Time Magazine.
“Women have to be active listeners and interrupters,” she responded, “but when you interrupt, you have to know what you are talking about. I also think it is important for women to help one another. I have a saying: There is a special place in hell for women who don’t.”***
Notice that
1) it was not relating to politics, but business.
2) Women need to know what they’re talking about BEFORE engaging their mouths (as a woman, I agree). It just makes them, and the rest of us, look stupid.
3) This woman is a supporter of women’s rights and therefore a feminist? Tell that to the rape victims in Wasilla who had to pay for their rape kits and the thousands of others who live in the state with the highest incidence of violence against women in the country. Tell that to the young women in her state that need accurate and effective total sex education (including about abstinence)so that they can avoid the unwanted pregnancies that lead to abortion or the STD’s that they aren’t educated about or know how to prevent.
Tell me, what has Palin done for women, ever?

Palin is an embarrassment for women. She tries to BS or “muddle” her way through things, and it shows so badly with her nonsensical banter. The more she talks, the less she knows.

Brooklyn Dem – funny you mention Paris Hilton. I was just thinking today that Palin seems to be the Paris of politics. But instead of saying “that’s hot,” Palin says “you betcha” and “gosh darn it.”
Palin is a beautiful woman, no doubt about it. I want more and expect more in a female leader. But she is no role model for the beautiful young girls we have, including my daughter, that need to make their way in this world and rely on themselves and have self respect. Beauty AND brains gets more respect than beauty used to get ahead despite the lack of brains.

McCain pays his female staffers MORE than Obama….wake up people. My 14 year old daughter loves Gov. Palin and looks up to her as a role model. You see, I’ve taught her to respect her own, and not trash and diminish other females. LADIES….DOES IT FEEL GOOD TO EAT YOUR OWN? I am a 50 year old woman who will not wait ANOTHER 24 YEARS TO SEE A WOMAN ON THE TICKET….really girls, you think Gov. Palin will put us back….you really are giving her too much power. WE NEED TO SEE A WOMAN LEADER IN OUR COUNTRY, and I am an ex Hillary supporter, who switched to McCain immediately after Hillary dropped out because OBAMA IS JUST NOT FIT FOR CIC….NEVER.
Support your own ladies……Palin moved up the ladder on her own, gals….what have you done for your country lately?
COUNTRY FIRST McCAIN/PALIN
NEVER EGO FIRST B. HUSSEIN

“Tell that to the rape victims in Wasilla who had to pay for their rape kits”
Not true — never happened — completely discredited.
This was a statewide policy in place before Palin took office as Wasilla mayor, and the policy actually was to bill the victim’s insurance company, not the victim.

Somewhere in the world Gloria Steinham and Marlo Thomas are aghast. Sara Palin is truly scary.

Just because she has a uterus does not make her qualified to be President or even Vice President. Return Sarah to the rent a uterus she was found at immediately.

>>Not to quibble with Ms. Mandell, but I bet if Katie Couric had asked Palin if she supported Title Nine she would have drawn a blank stare before Palin said<<
Actually, Palin mentioned Title Nine at a townhall meeting last month in response to a question about women's rights. She played basketball? in high school.
Also, in case you don't know, McCain pays his female staff more than Obama does… Google for more info.

I am a lifelong Democrat, a male, with 2 graduate degrees and a professional job–I am voting McCain this fall- my first vote ever for a Republican. In these perilous times, I cannot in good conscience vote for a rookie Senator Obama who I simply do not trust with the presidency.
I may disagree with McCain on some issues but believe he will provide some balance as President. On the other hand, an Obama-Pelosi-Reid will be a toxic far left trifecta

Hey Bev – (CNSNews.com) – While Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has produced a television ad criticizing Sen. John McCain’s position on equal pay for women and pointing out that women in America are paid only 77 cents on the dollar compared to men, Obama pays his own female Senate staffers, on average, only 78 percent of what he pays male staffers.
Women on McCain’s staff, meanwhile, earn 24 percent more on average than women on Obama’s Senate staff. McCain also pays his female Senate staff members a higher average salary than his male Senate staff members.
Women occupy seven of the top 10 highest-paid positions on McCain’s staff, and five of the top 10 highest-paid positions on Obama’s staff.
The numbers come from the most recent Report of the Secretary of the Senate, which includes the salaries of every member of each U.S. senator’s staff during the period of Oct. 1, 2007 through March 31, 2008.
Proof enough?

Bev – you and your cronies remind me of the line “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!”

“jblog…First if you have no insurance, then what?”
Then the municipality absorbs the cost — it is not passed on to the victim.
Please, if you don’t know what you’re talking about — and you don’t — then don’t post.

BizBag
Proof of what? You just showed us the flaw in the logic. The McCain campaign happens to have women in higher-paid positions, so of course an average of ALL positions would show that women make more, ON AVERAGE. That has nothign to do with “equal pay for equal work,” because the work is not equal. Not all of the jobs in a campaign are equal.
Nice try, though.

I can handle the truth as long as the truth is being said.
As long as Obama is paying is females the fair salary for the jobs they are doing, it matters not what McCain pays his.
And you are assuming those women who work for Obama are there against their will, please!!!
I won’t change your mind nor will you change my mind…vote for who you think it right and I will do the same.
If I am wrong on November 5th, then I will admit I am wrong, will you?
Obama/Biden ’08

Sarah Palin’s take on feminism: Pay for your rape kit and pray you’re not pregnant,’cause you can’t do nothin’ about it if y’are.
Bully with lipstick…dog of a human being.

Charlie Keating, the banker and anti-pornography crusader, would ultimately be convicted on 73 counts of fraud and racketeering for his role in the savings-and-loan scandal of the 1980s. That crisis, much like today’s subprime-mortgage meltdown, resulted from misbegotten banking deregulation, and ultimately left taxpayers to pick up a tab of more than $124 billion. Keating, who raised more than $100,000 for McCain’s race, lavished the first-term congressman with the kind of political favors that would make Jack Abramoff blush. McCain and his family took at least nine free trips at Keating’s expense, and vacationed nearly every year at the mogul’s estate in the Bahamas. There they would spend the days yachting and snorkeling and attending extravagant parties in a world McCain referred to as “Charlie Keating’s Shangri-La.” Keating also invited Cindy McCain and her father to invest in a real estate venture for which he promised a 26 percent return on investment. They plunked down more than $350,000.
Unfortunately, any lessons McCain learned from the Keating scandal didn’t affect his unbridled enthusiasm for deregulating the finance industry. “He continues to follow policies that create the same kind of environment we see today, with recurrent financial crises and epidemics of fraud led by CEOs,” says Black, the former S&L regulator. Indeed, if the current financial crisis has a villain, it is Phil Gramm, who remains close to McCain. As chair of the Senate Banking Committee in the late 1990s, Gramm ushered in — with McCain’s fervent support — a massive wave of deregulation for insurance companies and brokerage houses and banks, the aftershocks of which are just now being felt in Wall Street’s catastrophic collapse. McCain, who has admitted that “the issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” relies on Gramm to guide him.

I want Gov. Palin to give me a $1,200 check like she did all Alaskans from big oil companies.
This economic crisis has somehow made Americans think B. Hussein is going to do anything for us when there IS NO MONEY!!!!!
This is just a figurehead election at this point people….there will be NO National healthcare, NO $2,000 for every college kid (he loves to pander to his base).
Palin gets things done, has a track record of bucking the system and her own party as does McCain….they are Mavericks and don’t think Obama campaign doesn’t feel she’s a threat. They really have nothing to go on with McCain so they attack the #2, when THEIR #1 IS A JOKE….ASK HILLARY AND BIDEN….THEY KNOW HE’S NOT QUALIFIED.
LET’S SEE THOSE ADS AGAIN WITH DEMS IN THEIR OWN WORDS STATING THE TRUTH!!!

Palin has the nerve to talk about Obama – when she infact is one step away from being a felon. Troopergate, tax evasion, witchcraft. This is the best John McCain could do????

jblog -
The “rape kit” truth is exactly the opposite of the nonsense you’re peddling here.
In 2000, Wasilla was the only town in Alaska to charge rape victims (it’s true that if the victim had insurance, the town tried to pass the charge onto the victim’s insurance company).
The Alaska legislature, aiming directly at Wasilla, banned this practice and the ban was signed into law by then Governor Knowles in 2000.
It’s one thing to have opinions. It’s another to turn facts upside down and inside out.

It is no surprise that Obama supporters are hyperventilating over Palin’s fearlessness to present the truth about Obama’s inconsistencies and lies about his relationships. In 2004, Obama bragged that he went to hear Rev. Wright every Sunday; yet he “was not present” when Rev. Wright railed against America, etc. On the Ayers issue, we hear new “facts” minimizing Obama’s contact with him. They ignore that Michell Obama worked in the same law firm as Ayer’s wife. And that Tony Resko…and that Larry Walsh….and that Franklin Raines…all charged and/or convicted of fraud. How many of these relationships do there have to be to see the stuff that Obama is made of?
The indignation that Palin’s critics show is really driven by fear that those suppressed topics will upstage their chosen abstract themes.

I can believe what I’m reading….Sarah Palin, charged the price for examining rape victims to the poor, this is help to women

Shelly Mandell was not speaking for Los Angeles NOW, California NOW, or national NOW. California NOW has issued a statement reaffirming support for the Obama/Biden ticket, in keeping with the National NW PAC endorsement:

At war the first casualty is the truth. At this electoral race the truth has been killed by McCain/Palin and the Republicans

Not a bad public endorsement for McCain/ Palin!
Palin is the best thing that has happened to this election cycle. I hope she can help clean out the Augean Congress and return it to the people.

I’m a Pro-Choice Republican.
I’m pleased with the L.A. NOW endorsement Of Palin.
It is time for women to support other competent women. Please.
I don’t agree with Palin’s personal views on choice, I am comfortable with her being assertive enough to get the job done.
We all can’t agree on all social issues.
It is about time we had a lady in the White House. My husband and I would be happy if Palin were President.
Thanks. Go competent Women. Go NOW.

wow, i was undecided, but with first joe lieberman and now Shelly Mandell going for McCain, it just seems simple, he just seems to be the one everyone can agree on

It’s so refreshing to see the NOW organization President acknowledging Sarah and endorsing the ticket. The organization should embrace all women, not just the ones who are embarrassed about their past abortions and have to insult those who choose not to have them. Sarah says she’ll never shove her personal views not to have an abortion on other women. She says she has no plans to push for these views on anyone if elected. It seems the left has grabbed onto this one thing and blown it out of proportion when Sarah has the right to exercise HER OWN CHOICE. One choice is as valid as the other. If the left criticizes her for having her choice to be life, they are nothing but empty windbag hypocrits.

Good for Shelly Mandell for being an individual. I know many many Hillary supporters who are now voting for McCain/Palin. You do not have to agree with all of the issues to support a ticket. Furthermore, I do not believe the current polls. Things will start shifting in the next few days. Hillary waited to long to go after Obama because she did not want to come across as a racist. Obama and his campaign can not handle anyone questioning his past associations. What will Obama do when Evil Dictators from other countries start pushing him around. He has slid through the campaign and now we will see what Obama is really made of !

The simple fact of her being a pro-life married mother of five with a thriving political career was–before anything else about her was known–enough for the left and its outliers to target her for destruction. She could not be allowed to contradict symbolically one of the central narratives of the left. How galling it will be to Sarah Palin’s many new enemies if she survives this assault and prevails. If she does, her success may be an important moment in the struggle to shape not just America’s politics but its culture.

But no mention in the story that NOW’s endorsed candidate, Obama, has virtually no women in his senior staff and he pays them a fraction of what he pays men. But he’s all for women. Sure he is.

>>>California’s NOW President, Patty Bellasalma, issued a statement saying that the “National Organization for Women Political Action Committee (NOW
This lady will probably get blasted for doing this. She’s right about Palin. I cannot see Sarah pushing an agenda against women. A mother of 5 children and a career that she worked for on her own. I think Sarah’s awesome and fresh. Sometimes, a regular joe/ jane citizen from the outside can have a better impact towards society and government than a seasoned politican because many of them do not want to give up their jobs and or dirty. Are they for term limits? I doubt that.

Of course, none of the NOW gals bring up that there isn’t even pay parity among the women in the Obama campaign! Obama is a total fraud when it comes to women’s issues.
I really hope McCain/Palin takes this phony empty suit to the cleaners on election day.

I am so sad to hear this news – for those wondering why it wasn’t reported as widely in the mainstream media (although I just heard of it on CNN 3 times today, so I’m not sure what that comment was all about?) it was because Shelley supported Sarah Palin as an individual not as part of NOW -
I’m really saddened to see women being attracted to a woman who doesn’t represent equal pay for equal work, who is running with a candidate who degraded Hillary Clinton and her daughter in public, opposed the Violence Against Women Act and basically has never shown a regard for women until he saw them as a viable voting block he should go after.
I know many of us are supporting Sarah Palin because “she’s just like me” but please be advised women are ever so diversity and what McCain/Palin represent will be detrimental for so many of us..unlike what you like to think Sarah Palin is more a ploy than the real deal. Very, very sad.
I wish we all accepted our differences and worked together as women – I’m not sure why we let these politicians divide us.

Shelly will surely be made to pay by the elite feminist establishment. True feminist should do what Shelly did and embrace Palin. Palin is indeed what feminists looks like: a real woman, from the real world and not in a cloistered ideological cocoon. Yet, she empowered herself and benefited from feminist liberation. We should all embrace Sarah Palin. It is disgusting that so many national leaders and educated women are doing the dirty work for a man that pushed into the ground the most qualified candidate for president and used intimidation to browbeat her and push her from the campaign and then asked her to campaign for him. All the while he himself is utterly unqualified. Sarah and I don’t agree on many things, but she has shown that she puts her country’s interest first and she has guts and we need to support her .I will do so. I am glad Shelly did this and hopefully it encourages other women to do the same.

ENOUGH OF REPUBLICANS MAKING PACTS WITH SATAN.
ENOUGH OF REPUBLICANS USING RELIGION AS A VOTING TOOL.
ENOUGH OF REPUBLICAN LIES AND MANIPULATIONS.
ENOUGH OF PALIN PRETENDING TO CARE FOR WOMEN WHEN SHE IS WILL SEND ALL WOMEN WHO OPT TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHT TO CHOOSE TO JAIL.

Senator Obama has taken note of and appreciates California’s NOW President, Patty Bellasalma’s support.
”Thanks, Sweetie!”

Mandall has true courage and convictions, both qualities of a true feminist. WHAT A WOMAN!!!!!
This election has exposed NOW for what they really are all about – a liberal agenda that has nothing to do with women’s rights. Shame on NOW for not celebrating Palin being picked as a future VP.

I don’t agree with NOW, but I think they’re right to say that she is speaking for herself as a private citizen and that her views do not represent their organization. That it is misleading and unfair to say they do.
Where they get a tad annoying is turning it into a harangue about Pro-Choice and Obama-love. I mean I think everyone knows that NOW always supports the Democratic candidate for President and pretty much never supports a Republican at any level. You don’t need to beat Mandell on the head for her unorthodoxy. (Or even for being a fool if one feels that)

Shelly, like Gov Palin, is free to be herself…and she is walking the walk…not just whinning. How funny that NOW would have to put out a statement denying one of their top members. What a stab-in-the-back…I guess it is not okay to think for yourselves. NOW tends to hate men…Sarah Palin is no man-hater…Shelly loves the freedom!

It’s interesting that women who promote equal rights for women are aggravated at a women who wants to make her own choice and pursue a political career. Palin’s choice is to not abort her child with special needs. And now Mandell made a choice to endorse a certain candidate; but because she’s not the ‘right’ one, Mandell is suddenly discredited and uneducated.
Additionally, Obama is a mystery and, maybe McCain doesn’t “question his patriotism”, but I do! I simply can’t vote for someone with so many shady companions and advisers.

Break this down:
Taxes, why is it acceptable policy to “take” tax dollars and give them to people who have no tax liability, Obama says that under his plan 95% will get tax cuts. Of that 95% of tax breaks 35% pay no taxes in the first place so why are they getting a “refund” (which should be called a hand out). Higher taxes on business aren’t the answer. The only thing that does is cause business owners to not hire or expand because they have to pay taxes. Lower taxes on business and they grow and hire.
Health Care: Please tell me why it would be a good thing to have Government run Health Care, look at Canada, not a good thing. Think about it, do you trust that Government does well with what we have given them to be in charge of? I don’t. McCain’s health care plan may not be perfect few things are, but one thing it does that Obama’s doesn’t is to give the people a choice, to allow us to make our own decision instead of the Government doing it. Wake up people, Government is not the answer.
Social Reform: why is it acceptable and good to give a hand out instead of a hand up! Why does the democratic leadership think that America “needs” to be taken care of by Government? And why is it a bad thing to teach people to be self sufficient. The Hispanic population gets it and that’s why the majority of the time they do not vote democratic. They see how African Americans have been used and belittled by the liberals who claim to want to “help”. What help is to make someone believe the government can “save” them.
National Security: When Obama wants to set down with Terrorists such as Ahmadinejad (leader of Iran) that is DANGEROUS. In case you haven’t heard about the Iranian ship off the coast of Africa that was captured by pirates who began to die because of a “mysterious” chemical on board, then you need to read up! How can he think we can talk to people who want us wiped off the face of the earth, gone, dead, non existent? I don’t want a nation of do gooders who think we can talk our way out of nuclear war by being diplomatic with killers.
Oh and I also don’t think live birth abortion, late term abortion and saline abortion should be legal… just thought I’d throw that in for good measure because the democratic party thinks it should all be legal.

You Go Shelly! THANK YOU for not being afraid to exercise your First Amendment rights. I’m a supporter of Roe vs. Wade which states CLEARLY that a fetus’ viability is the time limit for which a woman can choose what to do with a pregnancy. When Democrats vehemently defend partial birth abortion and now Obama would have infanticide included in abortion rights, I have to draw the line and say no more. Roe vs. Wade didn’t create a right to destroy viable life. For those that would argue Obama’s talking point defending his vote against protecting babies that survive abortion….I researched the laws on the book in Illinois…Obama lied.

Dear sweet little adorable Sarah…
Since we’re talking about guilt by association, I am sure that you will not be upset when the Democrats start airing ads showing that your husband was a member of a group that favored Alaskan secession from the United States.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones……
Let not forget Sarah Palin association’s with the radical Alaska Independence Party that wants to secede from this great country, the United States of America.
And here is a quote from Alaskan Independence Party founder Joe Voegler:
“The fires of Hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government, and I won’t be buried under their damn flag!”
I wonder how Palin explains her husband”s verified membership in the “ALASKIAN INDEPENDENCE PARTY?” Seems she doesn”t believe in the UNITED States of America, does she??
and also don’t forget McCain’s pastor(s) the one who said New Orleans desrved what it got, it was punishment from God….
hey Sarah, go ahead and bring up Obama’s pastor…
I’ll take an angry marine pastor over some witch doctor…
—-
Are you kidding me. You are comparing this to all of the fithly associations Obama has in his life? Especailly with an adimitted TERRORIST that has set off bombs in our country????? Please get some credibility will you.

I’m getting of the Ayers accusations.
Here is some truth for you.
William Ayers is a professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, with whom Barack served on the board of a charitable anti-poverty organization in the mid-1990s. According to the Associated Press, they are not close: “No evidence shows they were “pals” or even close when they worked on community boards years ago …”
Smear groups and the McCain campaign are trying to connect Obama to acts Ayers committed 40 years ago – when Barack was just eight years old. Here’s what the New York Times reported on the connection:
But the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called “somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.”
Barack has publicly denounced Ayers’ radical actions from the 1960’s:
Senator Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an eight-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost forty years ago is ridiculous.

The wife of Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel plans to endorse Democrat Barack Obama.
Lilibet Hagel has scheduled a 10 a.m. news conference in Alexandria, Va., on Tuesday with Susan Eisenhower, the granddaughter of Republican President Eisenhower. Susan Eisenhower also is an Obama supporter.

Charity says Response to earlier comments…Pro-choice is about having a CHOICE!! if you are Pro-life…good for you, but why can’t you at least agree that others should have a CHOICE according to their situation. Get real. Having an abortion is not a fun option for anyone, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get to choose how they live. Why are pro-lifers so worried about controlling other peoples lives?
I say – you DO HAVE A CHOICE TO have protected sex or deal with what happens when you don’t. That would be a baby. I mean, the choice should start when you decide to have sex. You decided to have sex unprotected you must have decided that if you get pregnant it’s no big deal! GET REAL and wrap it before you tap it!

I was totally offended that the LA President of NOW would introduce Sarah Palin, knowing full well than an inevitable comparison would be made. People would automatically assume the NOW supported Sarah Palin. I wil never again contribute to or support NOW as I find Sarah Palin to be so anti everything that NOW stands for.

Any man or woman who can’t see right through Palin’s sociopathic act is an idiot.

I am so surprised and pleased that an officer of NOW sees Sarah Palin for her qualities. She has been a relentless fighter in Alaska to break up the politically corrupt good old boys network. She’s non-partisan. She fights for what is right, regardless of political party. The USA needs a lot more politicians like her in Washington.
Thank you, Shelly Mandell!!!

I am appalled that Shelly Mandell would endose Sarah Palin. Neither Sarah
Palin or John McCain embrace a woman’s right to choose, he voted against equal pay for women, she is against abortion in the case of rape or incest. This duo
would set women back decades. Just because Sarah Palin is photogenic and “folksy” does not make her presidential material. We are not electing a prom queen! And for those of you who keep referring to Senator Obama by his middle name. Get a clue…he was named for his father. He is not a Muslim. Wake up and admit your racist inclinations.

Shelly Mandell should be fired for endorsing and promoting an anti-feminist candidate and doing so while mentioning her position at NOW.
I am a member of LA NOW and I am completely disgusted.

It is appalling that the president of an organization that professes to be for women’s and human rights would endorse Palin, a woman who is against safe legal abortions, who had rape victims pay for the the rape kits used in the emergency room, who forces her teenage daughter into a marriage, and who is against even teaching about birth control and prevention of unwanted pregnancies.
And to those that may think my objection is only about being PRO abortion – no- it is about supporting safe and legal abortions for women who choose to have one.. All birth control is not 100% reliable, and accidental pregnancies do happen. Deciding to have an abortion is a painful and personal issue.
If abortions are outlawed, women will be forced back to the dark ages of back rooms, infections, perforated uteruses, and even more unwanted children.
It is not pro abortion , it is called pro choice!

If you want to read and an original and intelligent take on the Sarah Palin phenomenon, check out Camille Paglia’s several observations throughout this week’s Q/A column of hers over at Salon.com. Camille is a strong Obama supporter who, nevertheless, admires Palin on several counts. Kool-Aid drinkers need not waste their time on this… It’s tough to get that Kool-Aid down when your comfortably simplistic, Party-line thinking is being challenged.

With additional thought, I see these actions of the group as purely political. I have said long ago when Hillary and Obama were bickering that the true motives and ideas of the party will surface. I believe the support for diversity and women’s rights has been nothing but a facade for the Democratic Party to gain control over diverse groups. This is evidenced, I believe, by the ridiculing and condemnation of Sarah in what really should be celebrated as a wonderful time in our nation’s history.

kd state in her posting: His only association with him was an involvement in a volunteer committee that Ayers happened to be on.
Oh my dear you have been misinformed Palin is hitting it on the head! They served on the Woods Fund board together for 3 years. They have appeared together on joint academic panels and Obama was appointed co-chair with Ayers of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which by the way was a disaster. Oh, let’s not forget Mike Klonsky. Research and read and you will learn so much about Obama. Personally, his politics scare me and his socialistic views of how the government will take care of me are down right wrong.

Please, please, please, educate yourselves about Obama. It is all IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. This man is not honest, and not really in favor of women or individual rights for ANYONE. He is as close to a Marxist as I have ever seen in a presidential race.
Since when did feminism equal socialism? I believe in the individual. So does Sara Palin. I believe in Choice. That means I have to give the pro-life people a choice to be pro-life, while I fight to keep my own right to choose. It is ALL about education. Make your own informed decision. Do not believe any “single ” source. There are a lot of facts available to you, Find them!

kdk..you have got it so right so obvious transparently right on the $$$$

The Gods know I’m not a feminist all the way type of woman, but I still believe that things should be fair and equal FOR women. To stand up there and endorse a woman who wants to see women basically going backwards in time, is frightning. Everyone who knows Palin KNOWS that she does not represent any woman let alone the American women. My heart is pounding for you American women who could be led back to the stone age if you don’t stop McCain/Palin right now!

…I find it hard to believe that a whole organization that is supposed to be based on the premise of women’s rights, can ban together and oppose Sarah Palin as V.P.
I also think that there are many, many more like Ms. Mandell, many women who understand Gov. Palin’s point of view even thought they may not completely share all her opinions. If anything, those of us who support Palin might question our own tendency to let her courageously voice a difficult position for us, and to let Shelley Mandell do this for us as well.
There is much to the abortion issue, including that it is being misused, that young women and men are smart enough to know that it is not the answer to many situations it is now being used for. Mother Theresa raised a valid question when she observed that a society was in trouble when its women started killing their own children.
I am proud of Sarah Palin, whose life has differed from my own in many ways, and proud also of Shelley Mandell, who brought tears to my eyes when she introduced Gov. Palin in Carson.
I just received an email from my employer, who is a woman, expecting me to forward it around about NOW opposing Sarah Palin and her candidacy, and supporting Obama. Of course I will not do that. I believe there are many women, in NOW and otherwise, who love Sarah Palin and will defend her right to participate in our democratic system and applaud Shelley Mandell for coming forward. No matter what the election result, I will always be inspired that I was able to be there to watch a historic moment. Thank you for this place to add my comments to a vital subject.