Published: October 12, 2008 09:56 pm            

DRINKWALTER: Tina Fey for president

When Sarah Palin came on to the political scene, my first thought was that she looked just like Tina Fey and “Saturday Night Live” could have a blast with this one! My second thought was that I’ve told Sarah, my daughter-in-law, how much she looks like Tina Fey and therefore looks like Sarah Palin. My Sarah has been wearing her contacts more often than her glasses lately, so she hasn’t heard that from anyone else.

As a woman, I should be happy to see so many women climbing their way up the political ladder, yet I gleefully anticipate Tina Fey’s rendition of Sarah Palin each week on “Saturday Night Live.” We don’t have to stay up late to catch the fun. The Today Show shows clips first thing Monday mornings and SNL bring it to us on primetime TV for 30 minutes on Thursdays for three weeks before the election. I am a huge fan of Tina Fey. In fact, I think we need some “Tina Fey for Vice President” bumper stickers.

Amy Poehler does a pretty good Hillary Clinton imitation, too. I’m not a Hillary fan. Then Palin comes along and I’m critical of her too for her cute little wink on one side and her gun-toting pit bull façade on the other. Maybe we could call it her “Anjoli” moment. Remember the commercial for the perfume in the late 1970s, early 1980s “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in pan and never let you forget you’re a man. Cuz’ I’m a woman, Anjoli!” Most of us women have that “Anjoli” thing going on, so why am I so critical of these women in politics? Too cute? Bad. Too tough? Bad. Too easy going? Bad. Too womanly? Bad. Too manly? Bad.

So what’s my problem? Maybe I’ve been so indoctrinated that men are supposed to be the politicians that I just can’t see beyond that. I bet I’m not the only woman feeling guilty about not rallying around these women during their political ventures.

Then to add to the guilt, I am reminded of women’s suffragists who fought for their right for equality from 1776 to 1920 and beyond. I get this e-mail from my sister-in-law with photos and stories about the National Woman’s Party activists who were arrested, abused, beaten and imprisoned for their roles in suffrage protests. After their release, many of these women went on a cross-country speaking tour that was named “Prison Special.”

They traveled to several major American cities in February and March 1919 to tell of their prison ordeals. In the e-mail, there were names and photos of 15 of these women. I then looked further into this event and found a New York Times headline from Feb. 16, 1919, that splashed:

SUFFRAGISTS OFF IN ‘PRISON SPECIAL’

Women Who Have Been Sentenced For White House Disturbances Will Tour Country

WILL WEAR JAIL CLOTHES

A movie titled “Iron Jawed Angels” starring Hilary Swank was also mentioned in the e-mail. It is a HBO movie made for video/DVD focusing on two suffragists, Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. Both were imprisoned for picketing in front of Woodrow Wilson’s White House for the women’s right to vote. While in prison, they went on a hunger strike, hence they were given the name, “Iron Jawed Angels.”

All of these protests eventually led to the woman’s right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment. And here some of us are dissing these women today who have taken it one step further and have become political candidates themselves. Shame on us.

Tina Fey for vice president!

Deb Drinkwalter is a Lockport resident. Her column runs every Sunday.

        

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