Context!

Grar! Feminism!

Part of the mental illness that is PUMA is the delusion that Sarah Palin is a super-secret liberal.  PUMAs hold this belief despite Palin’s stated positions on the issues, her actions as governor of Alaska and mayor of Wasilla, and her lack of any positive record when it comes to gay or women’s rights.  To PUMAs, it’s as if simply having a vagina confers all sort of progressive credibility on Gov. Palin,  never mind her self-professed status as a right-wing fundamentalist wingnut.

None has been more outspoken in this delusion than Egalia, the proprietor of Tennessee Guerilla Women.  So it’s no shock, then, to see Egalia gushing over Palin’s recent pick of Morgan Christen to the Supreme Court of Alaska.  Christen is a former board member of Planned Parenthood and seems to be legitimately on the right side of most issues.    To Egalia, this is proof positive that Palin really is the pro-choice feminist of the PUMA hivemind’s dreams, and Gov. Palin is somehow owed an apology by those who (correctly) called her pro-life right winger during the campaign.

If this was all there is to the story, that might very well be right.  However, Egalia and her PUMA friends are purposely ignoring quite a bit of context to this pick.  From the Washington Times writeup (HT:  Andrew Sullivan):

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin had to make a tough choice in filling a vacant slot on her state’s Supreme Court: Appoint a woman who once served on the board of Planned Parenthood, or risk giving an environmentalist lawyer, also pro-choice on abortion, the chance to become an activist judge.

…

He admitted, however, that Mrs. Palin was “backed into a corner” by the state’s system for selecting judges, known as the “Missouri Plan.” Alaska’s constitution requires an independent panel to vet and then submit choices to the governor when positions on the court open up. The only names the panel submitted for consideration were Judge Christen and Mr. Smith – neither an obvious conservative choice.

“She didn’t have the ability to go out and pick anyone she wanted,” said Palin communications director Bill McAllister.

(Bold mine)

So Palin was forced by Alaskan law to choose between a liberal pro-choicer and a liberal pro-choicer and chose a liberal pro-choicer.  Egalia wants to give Palin credit for this?  Especially when Palin’s own staffer says that Judge Christen would not have been Palin’s pick had she a freer hand?

I’m sure Egalia’s next project is to portray Laura Sessions Stepp as a radical feminist.  With a little bit of quote mining and a whole lotta lying, it should be a snap.

Photo by Flickr user smiteme used under a Creative Commons license.