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John McCain's appearance at the Buffalo Chip Campground at the Sturgis rally brought these blatant signs of misogyny from him and his supporters.
- McCain suggests his wife should enter the Miss Buffalo Chip pageant.
- McCain suggests buying t-shirts depicting nearly naked women to cheer up the campaign staffers.
- "Show your tits for McCain; show your ass for Obama," read a handmade sign created by McCain fan in the audience (as reported on SDPB's Dakota Digest, 2008.08.05; to be broadcast again at 5:30 CDT).
We’re not going to pay $4 dollars a gallon for gas (when I am president) because we are going to drill offshore and we are going to drill now. We are doing to drill here and we are going to drill now.... My opponent doesn’t want to drill, he doesn’t want nuclear power. He wants to inflate your tires. [Mosheh Oinounou, "McCain Rallies Bikers at Sturgis," Fox News, 2008.08.04]
[Brace yourself, church ladies.]
Drill here, drill now: a male metaphor for raping the earth. In word choice (one blunt syllable, starting hard, ending soft) and in repetition (McCain says it four times in quick succession), McCain is evoking sexual imagery.
Wanting to "drill" is an expression of male power, and McCain says Obama doesn't want that power, "doesn't want to drill." Instead, Obama wants to "inflate your tires." That mockery intends to evoke an image of a servile, effeminate Obama giving you a blow job.
Think I sound offensive? This is just the coded language of the old white man who wants to be your president... and can cavalierly joke about his wife baring her breasts at the Buffalo Chip. I'm sick of presidential campaigns based on macho BS. It's time to elect a President who respects women, and John McCain's performance at Sturgis yesterday proves he ain't it.
Update 09:57 CDT: For more whiffs of misogyny (not to mention petrol and pot), read Mayhill Fowler's report from the Buffalo Chip on McCain's visit to Sturgis.
Update 10:05: Todd Epp gets it.
Update 10:35: For the record, some video, courtesy of StopThinkVote.com:
Keep smiling and waving, Cindy, right through the wolf whistles and shouts of "Wet t-shirt!"
What in the world were you drinking this morning, Cory?? The comments you so crudely refer to have been stated for weeks now in the campaign. They were not meant in any way, shape, or manner as you portray them here. Shame on you. You are better than this.
ReplyDeleteNonnie
Looks like McCain was trying to do the George Burns thing without the cigar. In all fairness, it was his fan, not Mr. McCain himself, who made the T/A sign.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the guy supposed to do? Say "Shame on you" to all those drunk, wild, crazy, half-naked, 60-year-old guys and gals?
Some of those rally people have motorcycles worth more than my house. Fifty-one weeks out of the year they're corporate drones, raking in the dough. One week out of the year they let it all out, and we South Dakotans get a pretty good cut!
McCain didn't make the T/A sign, but that's the macho BS mindset he's marketing to. Nonnie, shame on McCain for playing to this lowest common denominator. Obama appeals to our best side, McCain to our sniggering, beer-fueled, woman-hating worst, literally and metaphorically.
ReplyDeleteOh, and Nonnie: orange juice, straight, same as every morning. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYeah, Obama plays to our best side. He misses no chance to divide us on racial lines, no chance to paint his opponents as racist. He cozies up to bigots, hate mongers, people who admittedly don't like the US, and known crooks. And don't forget the lyrics of his latest friend, the rapper whoever.
ReplyDeleteYou can support and vote for whomever you want. That's America. You usually have well founded arguments to back up your point of view, even though I don't always agree with them.
This sounds like the rant of a little kid who has been scolded and is trying to get back at the teacher.
There was nothing wrong with McCain going to the rally. I'm sure Obama could have gone too, but he would consider it way beneath him.
As I've said before, I have never attended the rally and have no desire to. However, that being said, I believe that most attending the rally are there to show off their motorcycles, maybe let their hair down a bit, but they are decent, hardworking, taxpaying citizens of our great country, and no less deserving of a stop from a presidential candidate.
Your attitude in this regard is as elitist as Obama's. And it is shameful. I had thought you were better than this.
Nonnie
Nonnie,
ReplyDeleteI'll take a little issue with you on this "nothing wrong with McCain going to the rally". This is the same guy that is wearing the $500 shoes, several homes, but also the guy that is trying to paint Obama as an "elitist" or a "celebrity" and charges the question of doubt, "so do think he's ready for the oval office?" WHILE offering up his wife to the wet t-shirt/Ms Buffalo Chip contests. If Obama would have said something like this, you betcha the press would be all over it.
McCain spouts off rape jokes -- but his camp says "oh, that's part of his charm, isn't it?". McCain left his former wife for Cindy -- chasing after her while still married. A book sites that McCain also called her the "C" word. McCain in infamously known for his temper. McCain was 5th from bottom of the class in a navel academy. McCain claims to be a maverick, but is advised by lobbyists and morally bankrupt Karl Rove.
Heckuva guy.
I could list again all of Obama's faults and questionable assocations, continually playing the victim card of racist, etc, but what's the point? You either prefer McCain or Obama based on their policies. That's what the race boils down to. I prefer McCain's. I do fear Obama, as he stated lately, but it has nothing to do with race. It has to do with his policies and what I fear they would do to this country. I believe in the Repubican ideals of conservatism, and that is what the race is all about.
ReplyDeleteWell, I just watched the footage, and if I can take Mrs. McCain's response for anything, she doesn't seem offended. McCain is obviously joking about it, and she finds it just as funny as he does. While her husband was grinning, she was grinning and waving as well. Not that I would never want my wife to engage in a wet t-shirt contest, but I would certainly playfully joke about it too. Plus, my wife would know I was joke.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they should not have gone, but "redneck's" deserve a vote too. I am glad that he came to South Dakota. I guess we also have to consider the crowd he was talking to, the message will always be adjusted for the recipients.
AS for the use of the word "drill"? I think you are reading way too much into it.
People are starting to get emotional about their choices, which maybe isn't all bad, but let's keep an open mind. Here's the thing: Not wanting to drill the last drop of oil is a conservative approach. As someone mentioned we need oil for many things other than transportation. Even Bush was willing to say we are addicted to oil. We can't go cold turkey, but we can look aggressively for an alternatives. Obama seems like a really decent guy.
ReplyDeleteeveryone knows Bob Barr is the real candidate of choice for us red blooded true amercians....not grandpa mcCain or Mcdreamy obama....a vote for either of those two is a vote for big goverment.....and the status quo....Bob Barr and true Conservative American Candidate....
ReplyDeleteReading into the drill now rhetoric some sexual innuendo is as silly as all of the recent "race card" talk in regards to comments and commercials. It is all feeble-minded jabs at opponents that the accusers have no intent to listen to objectively anyway. Going to Sturgis to rally support and not speaking to the lowest denominator is like Obama going to the NAACP and not resorting to racial rhetoric (which I would call racist) A more noble candidate would have simply not stopped in Sturgis at all. I also didn't take much offense at the mysogeny. Nonnie was right in drawing distinction between making a joke that sexually objectifies his wife in a rather small way, and actually having her DO anything demeaning. I do see Obama as having more class than to have done that.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said:
ReplyDeleteI believe in the Repubican ideals of conservatism, and that is what the race is all about.
A picture is worth a thousand words on what conservative
means.
I feel compelled to weigh in on this topic as a voter, a mom, and an educated woman.
ReplyDeleteI saw the same footage as you all and I was sadly disappointed in the attitude with which McCain treated his wife. I am raising sons and I am committed to ensuring the way they treat their mother will reflect on the wife choice they make and how they treat her. It is an issue of respect and every womam deserves respectful treatment. I cannot ascribe to a campaign that is so cavalier about crude and rude comments, a campaign that actually finds them funny and attempts to swing the vote. As an educator I see firsthand what the effects of a lack of respect and a sense of entitlement do. I find it disadvantageous to the moral compass of this nation to place an individual in office that finds that type of disrespectful behavior funny. What message does that send to our young people as they struggle to determine who they are and what they believe?
In terms of the language conversation, alas, Mr. HEidelberger is correct. If the phrase was used once that would be incidental, the fact that the phrase was used repeatedly was no mistake. Speech writers are trained to analyze an audience and deliver words that will pack the most punch. The speeches are written and delivered to motivate, question, coerce, inspire, and srengthen their position. Again we see the campaign and their fearless leader supporting the same crude language that will create the most "appealing" shock effect. To this band I cannot hitch my wagon.
I'm just curious... would there be this much uproar if Obama had visited Sturgis?
ReplyDeleteIn any case, the Reps are about as bad as the Dems in terms of big government. I believe it was Jefferson that said the best government is one that governs the least. Which is why I'm a Libertarian and I'll be voting for Bob Barr in the election.
And if you even think of saying my vote is a "wasted vote", let me counter by saying..
1) You're a moron.
2) Jesse Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota thanks to "wasted votes"
anon 8:24, would you rather hitch your wagon to a star that listened to and praised the bigoted, hateful Rev Wright for 20 years, that thinks Ludacris is a great talent, that continually injects race into this election? I wouldn't base my vote on what happened or didn't happen at Sturgis. I'm basing my vote on the polities of each candidate and where they intend to take the country in the next four years. That's the bottom line.
ReplyDeleteNonnie
Jackrabbit: just in case you didn't realize this yet, but voted for Jesse Ventura WERE wasted votes! However I will likely vote on a third ticket as well, partly because my state isn't up for grabs anyway. I just want as big a pile on non-donkey and non-elephant votes as possible to send a giant "you all suck" message to DC.
ReplyDeleteAnon Mom: Think less like an educated women and more of an educated voter. Not voting for a candidate because he makes jokes you don't like is as lame as the voters who pulled for G.W. because he was "a guy you could sit and have a beer with"
"makes jokes you don't like" -- nice job belittling a woman's principles, Phae. How about not voting for someone because he perpetuates a disrespectful and destructive mindset that persistently denies women true equality?
ReplyDeleteIf you follow that mindset, then go read the lyrics of Obama's friend, Ludicras.
ReplyDeleteMcCain made one comment in jest at the bike rally, and all of a sudden he hates women?? Come on now.
I imagine you supported Clinton. How did he respect his wife???
Sorry, Anon, you have to fight reality, not the enemies you prefer to imagine. I did not support Clinton... either of them. Bill Clinton set a horrible example with his infidelity and public embarrassment of his family. McCain set a horrible example by embarrassing his wife on stage with his suggestion she enter a wet t-shirt contest.
ReplyDeleteLudacris is not on the ballot. Obama denounces such misogynist language. McCain uses it to play the good ol' boy and win votes.
CAH: "because he perpetuates a disrespectful and destructive mindset that persistently denies women true equality?"
ReplyDeleteIf there was any sign of that I might agree with you. Neither the joke nor any policy I've seen from McCain would support that accusation though. You don't think that if Mrs McCain had turned it around and suggested her husband join the contest too while leering at him, that it wouldn't have gotten just as much of a laugh and wouldn't have been just as objectifying?