S.E. Cupp on Palin Critics and the Fragile Woman Myth

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In a NY Daily News column, S.E. Cupp lambasts Sarah Palin critics who say the former governor can't handle being a pundit for FOX News. Excerpts:

Excuse me, but what century are these guys from? The idea that a former governor, a seasoned politician and a mother of five from Alaska isn't capable of chiming in every now and then on issues with which she is already intimately familiar is downright archaic. It's also preposterous. When did television punditry become the vaunted decathlon of the political Olympics? As a pundit myself, I can tell you it's a job Sarah Palin can more than handle. In fact, it's a job at which she can excel. But this kind of hyperventilating over Palin's skill set isn't just antiquated and uninformed. It's also sexist.

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This is a woman who - inexplicably, if you believe these guys - became the first female and youngest governor of Alaska. She also, incidentally, ran for vice president of the United States, single-handedly resurrecting a dying campaign, delivering powerful speeches, adroitly handling Joe Biden in a televised debate, and navigating the blood-soaked waters of the liberal press. If her ad-libbed "pit bull and a hockey mom" joke during the Republican National Convention speech was any indication, she can think on her feet just fine.

Clearly, for the skeptics, the hand-wringing over her future at Fox is little more than wishful thinking. A number of strategists, including CNN's Paul Begala, have decided the move to television means she won't likely run for office in 2012. Also wishful thinking.

Like every other new challenge Sarah Palin has taken on, she will handle her FOX job just fine, and she will bring millions more viewers to the network in the process.

The full column is here.

- JP