Less than 24 hours after the historic selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate, a quick perusal of the National Organization of Women (NOW) website provides a telling window into the world of feminist politics. NOW is the largest feminist organization in the United States, claiming over 500,000 contributing members in over 500 local and campus affiliates. Its self-stated purpose is to “take action to bring women into full participation in society–sharing equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities with men, while living free from discrimination”. You might think that a woman being nominated to become vice president of the United States would certainly qualify as “full participation”, worthy of a glowing statement of support and a cry of “victory”!

You might think that, but you’d be wrong. On the NOW website a day after the Palin selection you see two stories that tell you all you need to know about how feminists view the nomination. The first story is about Sarah Palin: