Emily's list, the American political action committee (PAC) dedicated to electing pro-choice Democrat candidates to office has launched its own new online campaign to counter Sarah Palin's high profile lobbying of Republican activities, reports Bloomberg today.
The campaign, called simply 'Sarah doesn't speak for me' aims to contrast the policies of right wing Republican candidates with their own preferred Democrat candidates. The website highlights the extreme views put forward by many of Sarah Palin's preferred candidates on issues including:
Hurricane Katrina - "We're not going to cry 'emergency' every time we have a Katrina" (Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn)
Social policy - "We've got to get rid of this 'protecting the weak'" (Yes, really!) (Senator Clint Didier)
Abortion - "I am hopeful that one day soon the courts will re-examine and reverse Roe v. Wade," (Governor Mary Fallin)
President of Emily's List, Stephanie Schriok was unequivocal about her reasons for launching the campaign, “Sarah Palin and her endorsed candidates are extreme and bad for America. We didn’t want women across the country to think that there’s only one voice for women. And we didn’t want Sarah Palin’s voice to go unchallenged.”
Sarah Palin has not yet passed comment on the campaign, but Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Washington Susan B. Anthony's List, which promotes pro-life candidates for office felt the campaign is a purely defensive measure that only serves to illustrate Sarah Palin's success.
“Emily’s List is running scared, and it shows. Clearly, in this ‘Year of the Pro-Life Woman,’ which Sarah Palin helped make possible, women have found their political voices.”
And I'm all for the healthy debate, although the clustering of women's political interests solely around the issue of abortion troubles me somewhat, particularly in a time when the current financial crisis is deepening the feminisation of poverty across so many western nations.
Despite this, as a left-winger myself, I love this campaign. In fact, I'm wondering how we can manage something similar over here, but 'The coalition doesn't speak for me' isn't that catchy. Any takers on 'Theresa May, but I won't stand for sexist budget cuts'? I'm taking orders for t-shirts now.
