Dear Washington Square News: Are you guys mocking me personally? Because after the Lieberman thing, and the cabinet thing, it kind of started to feel like that. But those pieces were the run of the mill type of silly. They didn’t do anything like, for example, try to advance the claim that Palin represents the death of sexism in politics.

I mean, with lines like this, it has to be a joke, right?

Sarah Palin has taken us across the Rubicon, and there’s no going back.

Because Palin’s … Caesar? And Rome is, what, sexism? And the Rubicon is a glass ceiling. Made out of water. Or something.

But seriously, folks. I thought that it was pretty clear that a large part of why McCain picked Palin for the VP slot was all about sexism. Does anyone out there honestly believe McCain chose her for her experience? Her foreign policy expertise? Her incredible way with words and magical ability to read every newspaper ever?

No. The Palin pick, at least in part, was intended to shave off disaffected Clinton voters. Which seems kind of ridiculous when you realize that Clinton and Palin have virtually no common ground on policy. But it makes perfect sense if you make the incredibly sexist and condescending assumption that female Clinton supporters will vote for basically anyone with a vagina.

Ann Friedman has more about this. But I’ve got one other point to make here: It’s not a major victory for feminism when the Republican Party plucks an obviously unqualified candidate out of Bumfuck, Alaska and has her proudly champion clearly misogynistic policies–and the McCain-Palin ticket is an aggressively anti-choice ticket. Saying that allowing one successful woman to try and stomp all over the rights of women everywhere is somehow a feminist victory is ludicrous.