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Critical of girl power?

By Ben-Peter Terpstra - posted Tuesday, 16 September 2008


Silly argument No4

This leads to the second major fallacy in Terpstra’s article. Namely, the claim that Palin “may win over Hillary Clinton’s hurting supporters”.

Fact: Team Republican is already winning over some of Hillary “Shame on you, Barack Obama” Clinton’s hurting supporters.

Watch the polls. Indeed, I’ve read their wounded web posts, seen their protest signs, heard their cries on YouTube, examined their pro-Palin arguments, studied the polls, and, reached the conclusion, that they’re not Obama’s tools.

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Across the South and the Midwest, for example, thousands are jumping on McCain’s and Palin’s wagon. But there’s more. Even if, 10 per cent of Clinton’s followers vote Republican, then the Democratic Party is in serious trouble. The figure, I suspect, however, is closer to 30 per cent. A fallacy? Ruby is entitled to her opinions but not her facts.

Silly argument No5

Palin’s views oppose Clinton’s on every single major issue, including the issue of women’s rights.

Is this true? And, should one assume that all voters - male and female - vote along strict political party lines. But just for accountability’s sake, let’s see how Hamad’s thesis stacks up:

Abortion? Clinton now says that "abortion should remain legal, but it needs to be safe and rare". This suggests that she is moving to the right. Less abortion clinics, after all, means more mothers.

Guns? Clinton talks fondly of her hunting memories too. “You know, my dad took me out behind the cottage that my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake Winola outside of Scranton and taught me how to shoot when I was a little girl,” she recalls. “You know, some people now continue to teach their children and their grandchildren. It’s part of culture. It’s part of a way of life. People enjoy hunting and shooting because it’s an important part of who they are. Not because they are bitter” as Obama claims. (April 12, 2008.)

The death penalty? Clinton and Palin support the death penalty for granny killers - and beastly terrorists.

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“Gay marriage”? Clinton and Palin oppose “gay marriages”.

Iraq and Afghanistan? Clinton and Palin back interventionism when it counts, and millions of Kurdish women are very grateful.

In reality, this idea that Clinton will bring us back to the “peaceful” 1990s, and that all of Hillary’s supporters reject Palin’s support of Bush’s “hawkish” policies is a joke, miles removed from reality. Indisputably, they all support interventionist foreign policies.

And did Hillary campaign for Bill? As Thomas E. Woods correctly points out in his New York Times bestseller, The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History: “Clinton dispatched the military forty-four times during his eight years. The U.S. military had been deployed outside of America only eight times in the previous forty-five years.” Thus, Hamad’s anti-war Hillary is pure fiction.

Silly argument No6

Palin, he says, “just may kick butt”. Yes, because men run countries … By focusing on Palin’s gender and not her policies, and repeatedly likening her to irrelevant celebrities and invoking pop culture mantras Terpstra is contributing to the sexism that inhibits women from ever achieving equality in the work place.

Wow! So, my last “devil words” are conspiratorially “invoking pop culture mantras” which are allegedly “contributing to the sexism that inhibits women from achieving equality in the workplace.” And, they say Michael Moore is excessive!

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About the Author

Ben-Peter Terpstra has provided commentary for The Daily Caller (Washington D.C.), NewsReal Blog (Los Angeles), Quadrant (Sydney), and Menzies House (Adelaide).

Other articles by this Author

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Why I've left the Democrats

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