A woman, 65 years old. Caucasian, fiscally conservative, living in a very wealthy suburb of a major metro area. She’s a widower, enjoys gardening and helps take care of her ailing mother and step-father.
A woman, early 60s. She too is Caucasian, and lives in a semi rural area close to the WV border. She is married, she and her husband are both retired. They take care of her father in law, who still lives independently, more or less. They are extremely active in their parish.
A woman, mid 30s. She’s a mother of one, works full time, and lives in a middle-upper class suburb in the midwest. Also, Caucasian, she enjoys knitting and cooking as her hobbies.
What do these three women have in common? They all come from extremely varied backgrounds- the child of a poor Jewish family in a major urban area, worked through school, college educated and with a master’s degree; one of several children in a Catholic family, no college degree; child of privilege, no college loans, higher degree. Two are devout; one very active in her faith. One traveled out of the country by age 13; another didn’t until she was 51 (save for Canada).
All three women have expressed their anger- their deep seated, visceral anger, that Senator John McCain evidently feels they will simply fall into line because there’s now a woman on the ticket. That these women, so ripe for the Hillary camp, will be easily swayed. That they’ll be blinded to the failings of Governor Palin- by which I mean not the foibles of a child, because you cannot control a teenager, only arm them (and I would argue she failed in the arming, but there comes a point where you let your kids fly or fall). By failings I mean her lack of experience, her willingness to make political hay of her children (eg, the military service of her eldest son, in stark contrast to the dignified quiet of the Biden family on the upcoming deployment), her ethics lapses, her use of office as a bully pulpit to enforce her moral and religious code.- simply because of her gender. That Senator McCain could be so flip, so glib, so ill thought in his decision making process, and what that implies for his habits of mind should he take the highest office in the land.
I’ll tell you what else all three women have in common. Despite their demographics, all three women are Obama supporters in full now.