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Did Dems end Sarah Palin's career with sexist attack? Internet blasts columnist's claim: 'She's a complete idiot'

'She was and is a racist, anti-choice bigoted moron with limitless ignorance who claimed Putin could wrestle bears to insult Obama'

On Tuesday, August 11, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was trending on Twitter. Palin was the Republican Party nominee for Vice President of the United States in the 2008 election alongside presidential nominee John McCain. But since then, Palin has not been very relevant in mainstream politics, and now less so than ever. So why was Palin Trending?

On Tuesday, Matt Lewis, a senior columnist at The Daily Beast wrote an op-ed titled, ‘Dems Say Sexist Attacks Are Wrong. Someone Tell Sarah Palin!’ In the piece, Lewis wrote, “Joe Biden’s campaign, in conjunction with influential women’s groups, is preparing to blunt ‘sexist’ attacks aimed at his prospective running mate. That’s all well and good, but where does Sarah Palin go to recover her career?” Lewis further wrote that the Democrats — and liberal elites in the media — were a 'bunch of hypocrites' for their sexist attacks that battered a 'young female rising star'.

Palin was, back in the day, attacked by Democrats over a bunch of issues. A lot of them were political positions that went against the general Democratic party and liberal ethos. Palin is pro-life, she opposed same-sex marriage, she supports the teaching of creationism in schools. Palin is also a card-carrying member of the NRA. But were the attacks on Palin, especially those perpetrated by Democrats and liberals, in any way sexist?

According to a Politico report from 2008, Democratic Congressman Russ Carnahan, while introducing Joe Biden at a campaign event, made a snide remark at Palin: “There’s no way you can dress up that record, even with a lot of lipstick”. Later that same day, Barack Obama used a variation of the lipstick line: “You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig.”

This is not the only example of personal attacks (especially of a sexist nature) to come from the Dems during that era. But on Twitter, not everyone agreed. Liberals on Twitter seemed outraged at the insinuation that the Dems were sexist towards Palin. In fact, Media Matters editor-at-large Parker Molloy responded to The Daily Beast’s tweet with, “Oh f*** off, Matt.”

A Twitter user claimed, “FACT CHECK: Democrats NEVER attacked Sarah Palin for being a woman. We attacked Sarah Palin for being a complete idiot in every sense of the word.”

Another pointed out, “Someone is actually saying that Democrats attacked Sarah Palin for being a woman? Give me a f***ing break. She was and is a racist, anti-choice bigoted moron with limitless ignorance who claimed Putin could wrestle bears to insult Obama. She was castigated because she was a joke.”

Several women pointed out that being critical of Palin did not automatically mean it was sexist. A Twitter user wrote, “I don't need to explain why I will support any woman Biden chooses as his VP and why I never have and never will support Sarah Palin. I only support women who support other women.”

Many also seemed to disagree with the fact that the Democrats’ critique of Palin led to the end of her political career. They believed that only she was to be blamed for that. A Twitter user wrote, “It was not Democratic misogyny that was responsible for Sarah Palin's political death spiral- it was her own unhinged ignorance.”

Another said, “Wait, we criticized Sarah Palin because she’s a woman?  I thought it was because she couldn’t name a single newspaper she read and claimed to be able to see Putin sunbathing from her backyard?”

There is no denying that some attacks on Palin, in the past, were sexist. But for the most part, Palin was attacked by the media and by the Dems because of her positions and her statements.