A little background to help explain “..fight this battle like a man!” All too often, women act the victim in their fights (for example, Hillary and her emotional breakdown).

Men handle confrontation differently from women. The arguments tend to be more logically and less emotionally based–this is how I viewed Sarah Palin’s speech. In addressing the media, she proved she was not going to crumble under pressure. This isn’t to say that ALL Women are going to be emotional. General behavioral patterns of women tend to lean toward emotion.

We would be fooling ourselves if we didn’t believe that running for any elected position is not part of “a man’s game.” The majority of positions across local, state, and federal politics are filled by men even though women are half the population.

However, that’s not why I think she’s taken seriously. It’s her ability to clearly state her position, demonstrated successes in Alaska, and strong convictions for the Conservative platform that has the Party so excited.

What I find interesting is that Hillary Supports believe they are the one’s McCain was trying to capture. I believe he knew he needed to capture the Conservative vote of America. He needed something to happen in his campaign that would energize those that believe in a more conservative platform. He found his answer in Sarah Palin. I don’ t think there was ever any doubt that Hillary Supporters would vote for Obama if their voting based on logic and their stance on issues.

Now, for those voting on emotion, there just might be a few votes coming over because “she is a woman.”

Why should there be an expectation that she would be advocating “any political views that are threatening to white male conservatives?” How about Conservatives? As has already been pointed out in the following comments, there is a wide variety of ways to express our beliefs.

She holds the same social leanings as our family as well as stance on issues (especially less federal government interferance). She is the kind of person that I would want to represent my views which is why I vote.

I understand that you believe that religion should be excluded from government, but that is not the law of the land. The First Amendment simply guarantees that the federal government cannot mandate a national religion (as they wanted to avoid that whole Church of England problem). In fact, under the Constitution, individual states still could mandate a particular religion. Religion is a part of government … every session of Congress opens with a prayer, chaplains go overseas with our troops, etc. Should federal lawmakers use their religious beliefs as the basis for legislation? Of course not. But, they should feel free to express and embrace their beliefs … or lack of beliefs.

I want to address your question about how I can support a McCain/Palin ticket since I am not a social conservative, but I believe it deserves more than a comment. I plan to write a blog post later tonight, God willing (ha, ha!).

And, yes, I know that our founding fathers were generally a Christian group, and I am not calling for exclusion of religion in a person’s life - if I did, I would be denying fundamental rights to a segment of the population just because I don’t agree with their beliefs (much like some people want to deny marriage rights to homosexuals because their personal beliefs prejudice them against homosexuals).
BUT - religion SHOULD be excluded from government - as you say, we have no national mandated religion.

As to religion, the founding fathers applied their religion a great deal more than most today. As you should know, the law restricts a national mandated religion, not the exclusion of religion in one’s life or the government.

Also, why is someone expressing something that has happened as God’s will so radical or harmful? Christian beliefs are that nothing happens outside of God’s purpose. We may not know why God allowed something to happen, but if you believe God is God, he did for a purpose, and He knows what He is doing. This belief does no harm to you, you have the right to believe God has, or has nothing to do with anything. I just choose to believe he does, and leave the rest to Him.

I get the impression that her social conservatism is important to her by looking up speeches she’s given in the past, not by looking at the speech written for her for the RNC.

I don’t know if this falls into the definition of “social conservatism,” but in the following video, she refers to the war in Iraq as “God’s will” (which, frankly, is mixing government with religion a bit too strongly for my tastes - religious war, anyone?):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG1vPYbRB7k

And…if Rick can quote Wikipedia, then I can, too:
“Many of Palin’s political views are of a strong social conservative nature: she opposes abortion except when the life of the mother would otherwise be imperilled,[99] and is a member of Feminists for Life; she backs capital punishment,[100] and opposes same-sex marriage.[42″

Rick - you want the government NOT “to be in charge of your lives”? Yeah, me too, which is why I strongly disagree with several of the social conservative viewpoints listed in your post above, ESPECIALLY this one:
“*support restriction of civil marriage and child adoption rights to couples in homosexual relationships”

Tell me: how is restricting the rights of homosexuals the same thing as keeping the government out of people’s lives? Sounds pretty controlling to me.

from wikipedia…

“*Present social conservative issues in the United States
*favor the pro-life position in the abortion controversy
*support restriction of civil marriage and child adoption rights to couples in homosexual relationships
*promote public morality and traditional family values
*protect key American industries like defense, certain raw materials, and agriculture from foreign competition
*promote the nuclear family model as society’s foundational unit
*support government’s involvement in values education and character development
*oppose secularism and privatization of religious belief
*support prison reform, with greater focus on punitive measures rather than rehabilitation
*oppose human cloning and federal funding for embryonic stem cell research (see stem cell controversy)
*protect Second Amendment rights
*oppose illegal immigration and support extensive government monitoring of national borders ….

I have not the will ,or the power, to convert even one liberal mindset to any conservative view that I may have, even though I think there are no rational thought processes behind what they believe,but at the same time, I have never been given the same courtesy from the left.

All a person has to do is favor one aspect from above, and they are branded socially conservative. With this knee jerk reaction, conflict is unavoidable, agreement impossible. The conversation can only end when all agree to disagree.

Gov.Palin advocates, and has had success, reducing waste and corruption in gov. and basically getting gov. out of peoples lives. This threatens only those who want to be in the charge of your lives ,or have corrupt desires. Lib ,or conservative, I would vote for anyone I believed to have “that” desire for our country. It’s refreshing to see someone say what they actually think, instead of what they think you want to hear.

Is she only non-threatening to white conservative males, or conservative males of all hues?

What gives you the impression that her social conservatism is so important to her? Her speech did not focus on such issues. What made you reach the conclusion of where the issues fall on her priority scale?

“…she knows how to fight this battle like a man!”
What the hell does that mean?

And does a woman have to display masculine qualities, whatever that means, to be taken seriously?
You make her sound like a woman who is “playing the man’s” game, which is probably how many conservatives see her, and is probably why she is so popular right now with many conservatives.

She has the thrill of a “tough chick” without advocating any political views that are threatening to white male conservatives.
(Yes, I know women support her, too…including my sister…Sarah, my sister, when did you become so socially conservative…even if it’s the other views of Palin you support - government reform, energy policies, etc. - you cannot deny her social conservatism, and its importance to her).

Ooooh, lookee at the Republicans nominating a woman for VP. I hope no Hillary supporters fall for this. She is a woman, biologically, but her views are not good for Hillary supporters.

A smidgen of condescension (and snide sarcasm) with a smile. You bet she’s a woman and she knows how to fight this battle like a man! There’s no doubt sexism is involved, but the attacks that she’s receiving seem to be coming more from the fact that she’s not Hillary (Thank goodness!!!).

Can a woman really believe in a conservative platform? You bet and she’s their biggest fear!

The general stance of the media has been sickening. In the end, I believe the people will see through the bias and hopefully, make their decisions on the issues.

They have not figured out “How” to counter her.