Celebrities for Palin. Not.
Lindsay Lohan chimes in on the big race:
"I find it quite interesting that a woman who now is running to be second in command of the United States, only 4 years ago had aspirations to be a television anchor, which is probably all she is qualified to be.
"Oh, and… Hint Hint Pali Pal—Don't pose for anymore tabloid covers, you're not a celebrity, you're running for office to represent our, your, my COUNTRY!"
Lohan—who is rumored to be in a relationship with DJ Samantha Ronson—also referenced Palin's views on homosexuality.
"Is it a sin to be gay?" Lohan asked. "Should it be a sin to be straight? Or to use birth control? Or to have sex before marriage? Or even to have a child out of wedlock?
"Is our country so divided that the Republicans best hope is a narrow minded, media obsessed homophobe?"
In conclusion, Lohan cited an Associated Press story reporting that Palin's church advocates a conference about prayer curing homosexuality. Wrote Lohan: "Palin's Desire to "save and convert the gays"—really??"
I think all of these are valid points and, given the quaility of insight emanating from most cable yak shows, I'm all the more impressed that the case made by the star of Herbie: Fully Loaded and Mean Girls. That said, Palin has said she's pro-contraception, and seems to have answered the questions about sex before marriage and out-of-wedlock births in pragmatic, not moralistic tones. I've read mixed reports on whether the governor believes homosexuality is a sin, but she doesn't seem to have the paper trail of a Mike Huckabee when it comes to attacking gayness as evil. I would prefer to hear her, like Barack Obama, push for equality under the law for all folks, but Obama has fallen too far short of endorsing marriage for gays.
As the People cover above suggests, pace Lohan, the tabloids are in the political mix for the long haul (as John Edwards could tell you). And whatever her politics, most of which I don't agree with, Sarah Palin a bona fide phenomena through whom detractors, supporters, and others feel they can speak; in this she is like a Princess Diana or an Angelina Jolie or an O.J. Simpson.
She has genuinely confused our standard categories, especially in terms of politics, which explains why women-friendly lefties are engaging in misogynistic bashing of a working mother who didn't abort a Down Syndrome baby (what is wrong with her, they seem to say?) and the right is championing a pants-suit swearing tough gal with a handsome, gelded stay-at-home dad (who was George Gilder's absolute nightmare 25 years ago).
Enjoy the confusion while it lasts, because within a couple of months, we'll have forgotten all about the challenge Palin posed to standard gender and political categories, whether she and McCain win, lose, or draw.