Sarah Palin's fake feminism, equal pay for equal work department

By Kathy G.

Here's La Palin on the Ledbetter Act. As you may know, the Ledbetter Act is the proposed legislation that McCain, Palin and virtually every other Republican in Congress vigorously opposes, which would restore to women a right that the Supreme Court took away last year: the right to sue for equal pay even if the employer discrimination the suit is based on began 180 days or more after the suit was filed. The plaintiff in the case, Lily Ledbetter, didn't sue her employer until almost 20 years after the pay discrimination began, simply because it took her that long to discover that men doing the same work she did were being paid significantly more. Yet the Supreme Court ruled against her anyway, saying she didn't have a right to bring her lawsuit to court.

I don't have the patience to deconstruct Palin's nonsense here, so I will leave it to my Gentle Readers to ponder Palin's dizzying leaps of logic, as well as her ongoing assault on the English language.

Couric: Where do you stand on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act?

Palin: I’m absolutely for equal pay for equal work. The Ledbetter pay act - it was gonna turn into a boon for trial lawyers who, I believe, could have taken advantage of women who were many, many years ago who would allege some kind of discrimination. Thankfully, there are laws on the books, there have been since 1963, that no woman could be discriminated against in the workplace in terms of anything, but especially in terms of pay. So, thankfully we have the laws on the books and they better be enforced.

Couric: The Ledbetter act sort of lengthens the time a woman can sue her company if she's not getting equal pay for equal work. Why should a fear of lawsuits trump a woman's ability to do something about the fact that women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. And that's today.

Palin: There should be no fear of a lawsuit prohibiting a woman from making sure that the laws that are on the books today are enforced. I know in a McCain-Palin administration we will not stand for any measure that would result in a woman being paid less than a man for equal work.

Couric: Why shouldn’t the Ledbetter act be in place? You think it would result in lawsuits brought by women years and years ago. Is that your main problem with it?

Palin: It would have turned into a boon for trial lawyers. Again, thankfully with the existing laws we have on the books, they better be enforced. We won't stand for anything but that. We won't stand for any discrimination in the workplace - that there isn't any discrimination in America.

Okay, I will make one small observation: it's extraordinary how frequently the wingnut mind characterizes women exercising their moral agency as poor, deluded victims whose pathetically weak, girly intellects are being manipulated, and who are somehow being oppressed, exploited, or led astray by the evil menz. You see it here with Palin's claim that women who sue for equal pay are merely being "taken advantage of" by trial lawyers.

And, of course, you see it all the time in the wingnut rhetoric about abortion. To the anti-choice freaks abortion occurs only because women have been exploited by their sexual partners or brainwashed by "the abortion industry" -- never because women, as reasonable creatures with full human agency, have carefully weighed their needs, desires, and life situation, and concluded that abortion was the best choice for them, given their circumstances.

In addition to all her other charming qualities, Palin is a patronizing, misogynist ass.

(H/T: Nick Beaudrot of Cogitamus)

Comments

[Scott]

Wow ... these interviews are even harder to read than they are to watch. Thanks so much for posting!

[aesquire]

My God she's an idiot.

[Sara Anderson]

Oh good lord that's embarassing. A long long time ago in the olden days when there was discrimination...

[g]

equal pay for equal work…..boon for trial lawyers …..taken advantage of women ….discrimination. Thankfully, there are laws on the books….woman ….discriminated …..thankfully we have the laws on the books ….enforced….. woman…. laws that are on the books….enforced….. a McCain-Palin administration….will not stand for…. woman…a boon for trial lawyers…thankfully …laws we have on the books…enforced. …won’t stand for…won’t stand for…discrimination…discrimination in America.

Wow. Just wow. Pull the string at the back of her neck.

[jason]

Her comments may have misogynist effect but they do not seem misogynistic in intent. I think conservatives think trial lawyers have some terrible, mystical power that could manipulate men as well. On a tangential point, I will note that conservatives must have been even more uncomfortable than I was surprised to read in today’s Washington Post front page story that Governor Palin supports Title IX: “Nor did anyone question Title IX, the 1972 law that mandated equal opportunity for women in public education. It’s the rare feminist issue for which Palin is an unambiguous cheerleader. ‘I'll tell you, I'm a product of Title IX in our schools,’ she says on the stump. ‘Equal education and equal opportunities in sports really helped propel me into, I guess into the position that I'm in today.’”
(link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/01/AR2008100103437_pf.html)

[libarbarian]

Does the Ledbetter act put ANY time limits on the suits?

Whats wrong with just changing the law so that it specifies 180 days from the day the discrimination was discovered?