Is Sarah Palin Receiving Preferential Treatment From The Press Because She’s A Woman?

Miami Herald columnist Carl Haasen says if Sarah Palin were a man, the press wouldn’t be playing by the Republican party’s rules and leaving her alone five weeks before the election. Is it really because she’s a woman? Or is it because they don’t have any choice? Katie Couric asked her tough questions as did Charles Gibson when they got the chance. Heck, Oprah Winfrey turned down the chance. And Carl’s column certainly isn’t the first we read of Palin ducking the press, so obviously he’s wrong when he says, “except for a few grumps, the media have reluctantly accepted the Sarah snub as the new order of things.” Yeah, because the media is usually so chivalrous toward female celebs, right, Carl? Look, by calling this a sexist move in her favor, you’re only setting Palin up to be defended by feminists like us who wouldn’t vote for her if you put a gun to our heads.

You see, Carl, it really has nothing to do with male or female. George Bush escaped worse heat with the Patriot Act. These are the scary, new Republican rules. Not the “Sarah Rules,” as you dub them. This problem is much bigger than this campaign. It’s about the old guard who want to blindly have faith in their leaders, like children, because the alternative is too scary. Whose foreign policy is sticking their fingers in their ears and going, “La la la la…” Versus those of us who question our leaders without feeling unpatriotic. On the contrary, we consider it our patriotic duty because we realize, like it or not, we are part of a larger global community and that implies ramifications far beyond how many taxes we’ll pay next year.

If Palin were a male candidate, for example, she would again be asked (as Charles Gibson did) [...]

See, you negate your own argument, Carl. And that makes it easy for Republicans (which your state is full of) to lump all Obama supporters in with you and your sexist argument full of holes. For the sake of clarification, everybody, it’s just Carl.

If Palin were a male candidate . . . [Miami Herald]