Sarah Palin slammed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid last night, and his press secretary responded by calling her speech “shrill and sarcastic.” The term “shrill” is a word we’ve heard used to describe female candidates before. During Hillary Clinton’s campaign, pundits everywhere called her “shrill,” which united and angered women across the spectrum. Margaret Thatcher was likewise criticized for her “shrill English nationalism,” as one Herald writer put it. Now add Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to the list. As Amanda Fortini wrote in New York Magazine in April, “shrill” is a “criticism that is only ever made of a woman.” If the McCain campaign wants to reach out to disaffected Hillary supporters and undecided women, it seems to me that they should play up Harry Reid’s attack on Palin.
Wouldn’t Gloria Steinem have to defend her?
