Reason Writers Around Town: Katherine Mangu-Ward on Cindy Vs. Sarah

In the fourth installment of her weeklong debate in the Los Angeles Times with blogger Amanda Marcotte, Katherine Mangu-Ward asks the most important question of the 2008 political season: Is Cindy McCain the Martha Stewart to Sarah Palin's Rachael Ray?

Read today's exchange here.

Day 3 here, Day 2 here, Day 1 here.

Comments

[Dagny T.]

So Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama are only acceptable to Marcotte if they live their lives according to her very specific prescriptions?

Gee, that sounds like a fun and inclusive philosophy she's got there: respect individuals, only when they do exactly what I want them to.

[The Angry Optimist]

Yeah, I'm not sure when feminism got to be the new Puritanism, but it sure is a freakin' drag man.

I mean, it's harshin' my buzz 'n shit 😀

[PiledhighDeep]

I thought Rachael Ray was a terr'ist because she wore an ugly scarf one day.

[Episiarch]

Her fidelity to the 1950s housewife shtick is so intense that she even once managed an addiction to prescription pain killers

ZING

We almost forgot that Clinton's pathway into Washington politics was her stint as first lady

So riding your husband's coattails is the feminist thing to do and becoming governor of Alaska on your own merits isn't. Check.

Hopefully once Palin does an interview there can be non-idiotic things to complain about.

[Orange Line Special]

~~~ OLS REPLAY ~~~

I've been fast-forwarding through that article for the past five minutes and both of them still have their clothes on. What gives? Maybe both of them should have been better prepared.

[Dagny T.]

So riding your husband's coattails is the feminist thing to do and becoming governor of Alaska on your own merits isn't. Check.

All of these rules would drive anyone to substance abuse. Too bad Cindy picked the non-feminist-approved drugs.

[Tom]

Man, Rachael Ray is such a cutie.

[Pro Libertate]

Ick.

[Episiarch]

All of these rules would drive anyone to substance abuse

It's driving me to it right now!

[Dagny T.]

It's driving me to it right now!

OK, you and TAO can stop rubbing it in. Some of us on the West Coast are still sober and hard at work.

[GILMORE]

Rather than drool over kinda-boring-hot rachel ray, I will offer the most sexist comment of all...

Who cares?

Who cares if shes (palin) a chick? She's a D-level political hack from fucking alaska - most corrupt state in the union.

Shouldnt that just end the debate? I dont see a whole lot of shades of grey that merit an intellectualized debate among chicks about how her chickitude plays on a meta-level.

[Franklin Harris]

Rachel Ray is a bobblehead.

[Franklin Harris]

Who cares if shes (palin) a chick? She's a D-level political hack from fucking alaska - most corrupt state in the union.

She's the state's governor, and you're confusing Alaska with Louisiana and/or Mississippi.

[Episiarch]

Some of us on the West Coast are still sober and hard at work

Wait, they don't let you drink at work?

"I told my people to drink gin at lunch, and not vodka, because in the afternoon meetings I wanted the clients to realize they were drunk and not stupid."

[Franklin Harris]

Some of us on the West Coast are still sober and hard at work.

And some of us in the Central Time Zone work nights.

[Urkobold?]

THE URKOBOLD IS ALWAYS HARD AT WORK.

[Enough About Palin]

"Yeah, I'm not sure when feminism got to be the new Puritanism, but it sure is a freakin' drag man."

Camile Paglia does:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/09/10/palin/

[R C Dean]

We almost forgot that Clinton's pathway into Washington politics was her stint as first lady

Speak for yourself. Some of us never forgot it.

Man, Rachael Ray is such a cutie.

But, that voice. Please, just make it STOP!

[T]

Am I the only one here who finds Cindy McCain a little, well a lot, creepy? She's got this whole Stepford wife vibe going on.

[Gorgeous Gus the Wonder Dog]

"Am I the only one here who finds Cindy McCain a little, well a lot, creepy? She's got this whole Stepford wife vibe going on."

She's the billionaire half of the marriage, so that makes very little sense.

[jason]

f you were ever wondering ?what the next four years be like with MCDADDy AND HIS PUPPET get elected, please click on the link bleow. i hope you enjoy? the reality of the next 4year?s with MCDADDY and his puppe?t get elect?ed!?!?!?

http:?/?/?www.? youtu?be.? com/?watch???v=?CWuuX?peqNN?w

[Gorgeous Gus the Wonder Dog]

"http:?/?/?www.? youtu?be.? com/?watch???v=?CWuuX?peqNN?w"

Cute clip, but shouldn't you be studying for tomorrow's Freshman Remedial English pop quiz?

[SKR]

Ack, are they even reading what the other wrote? They write about abortion, since it seems like the only other real point of contention between the socially liberal and socially conservative camps, but they don't even argue. The obvious argument why you can have a socially conservative feminist on controlling her fertility is that she believes that she must control her fertility before she conceives, and that after that she blew it. She could take the pill or enforce condom use, but there are ways to control fetility before conception. After that you would have to face the consequences and have the kid. I would guess you would then get into the necessary evil argument for rape, but even then an argument for killing babies could be made. But they just talk past one another.

Also, why does homosexuality need to be brought into feminism? It would seems more like a solidarity of the oppressed than a direct correlation of issues. KMW just lets it slide.

But then what do I know, I am just a straight white male, the most obvious tool of patriarchal oppression.

[San Antonio Lawyer]

Thanks for an informative article. Keep it up!

[LarryA]

the latter's accomplishments as an executive, which are strong for an ordinary person but still remarkably weak for a vice presidential candidate.

Palin doesn't have a lot of executive experience. True.

It's also true she has more executive experience than the other three candidates and Clinton, combined.

[LarryA]

To suggest that John McCain is the puppet master of both women gives them far too little credit -- and him far too much.

I keep remembering an exchange in Species. Egghead Xavier Fitch is explaining how they got space DNA and created a monster which inevitably escaped, and finishes with, "We made it female, so it would be easier to control."

World-weary Preston Lennox, the hired gun, responds, "You don't get out much, do you?"