There’s been ado about the complete and utter MILF-ish/VPILF-ish-ness of Sarah Palin. Yesterday, I was sitting and eating lunch next to a table of men, all in their 40’s, who were discussing Palin’s hotness, how she would be sexier with her hair down, and that her critics just think she’s “too pretty”. All that got me thinking about how guys feel about Palin—not just her positions on the issues, but her readiness for the job AND whether looks are playing as much of a factor in the enthusiasm for her as the market for VPILF T-shirts would lead us to believe. So I asked the guys on my IM what they think of the Vice-Presidential nominee. In defense of the seemingly liberal slant of this particular post, I really did try and discuss the topic with the lone conservative guy on my IM (aka The Prepster), but I kept getting his Away message.

It’s no secret that women can be incredibly competitive and catty with each other. In yesterday’s post about Mean Girls we argued that no one can bring a woman down faster and harder than another woman. Right now, a lot of us are reconnecting with our own inner Mean Girls when it comes to Sarah Palin. We mock her out, attack her, and put her down in ways only we women really can. But of course, it’s not just Sarah Palin we’ve got beef with, is it? When it comes to other women competing for the same men, the same jobs, even the same last pair of chocolate brown leather riding boots in size 7 on sale for 50% off, we are out for blood. After the jump, 12 things Mean Girls do to take down the competition…

Any female who’s survived the treacherous battleground of a junior high school slumber party knows that no one can bring a girl down harder and faster than another girl. Slumber parties from my past always included as many crying jags, jabbing insults, hurtful gossip, and broken friendships as they did romantic comedies and popcorn balls. So is it any surprise the people who are most aggressively pushing for the immediate downfall of Sarah Palin are other women? In recent interviews, Palin’s comes across like a nervous beauty pageant contestant, and many of us grownup women can’t throw her bra in the freezer fast enough—metaphorically speaking, of course. So what is it about Sarah Palin that brings out the Mean Girls in us? Why are women—smart, savvy, sophisticated women—the first to use sexist tactics to bring a woman down?

CNN’s Campbell Brown totally tore the McCain camp a new you-know-what for banning reporters from questioning Sarah Palin while she was in New York yesterday meeting with world leaders at the United Nations. Don’t have the patience to watch the vid? Transcript after the jump…

While Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was mayor of her hometown of Wasilla, the city charged rape victims for their own rape examinations and her police chief fought to continue the practice as late as 2000. Wasilla was the only city to continuously resist a state law requiring cities to foot the bill for the exams, while Palin was in office from 1996 to 2000, said former State Representative Eric Croft, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation. A state law did however ban the practice in 2000. As the Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Palin often discusses her record as mayor of Wasilla, population approximately 7,000, which has led to close scrutiny of that record. Wasilla’s practice of billing rape victims for their rape exams while Palin was in office has gotten a great deal of coverage on the web and in the mainstream media. However, the question that keeps coming up is whether Palin knew of the practice and the police chief’s determination to continue it.

When I heard that VP-nominee Sarah Palin installed a tanning bed in the Governor’s Mansion in Alaska, I was simultaneously amused and appalled. But Palin isn’t alone. There are tons of celebrities who are STILL fans of visiting the tanning salon despite all the research which shows how dangerous the practice is—of course, some of them do indulge in the much safer spray-tanning craze, as well. Either way, the color their skin turns is hardly what you’d consider…flattering or particularly natural and healthy-looking. Check out the color samples above—those are the actual skin colors of celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, and Paris Hilton—with the imaginary names I’d give them if they actually bottled it in fake tanner formula.  Check out all the celebrities with an obsession for having a bronze glow, after the jump…

Sarah Palin’s lipstick has been in the spotlight ever since her speech at the Republican National Convention, where she deemed herself a lipstick-wearing hockey mom. While we’re not into the frosty pink shade she covets, we hypothesized a makeup company should market a tube of Pitbull Pink. Alchemy of Colour just released Power Pink, which replicates Palin’s look. Of course, this lipstick won’t work for Obama supporters. The company’s donating $1 from each sale to the McCain-Palin campaign. Who knew buying makeup could be so political? [Huffington Post]

Did Bristol Palin get married? According to her Facebook page, the pregnant daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is now going by Bristol Palin-Johnston. Did Bristol marry her fiancé and baby daddy Levi Johnston? One would have to imagine a quickie-wedding might be a tidy boost to Palin’s messy run for the VP seat.

Did you catch Tina Fey portraying her long-lost-twin, Sarah Palin, on Saturday Night Live last night? How do you think she did? Personally, I thought her vocal inflections and mannerisms were dead on—I wonder how much it would cost them to have her play the role for at least the rest of the election?

When Sarah Palin addressed the nation last week at the RNC, the first female Republican VP candidate introduced a topic to the campaign I doubt most people ever saw coming. This week, it isn’t off-shore drilling, the war in Iraq, or even abortion rights that people are talking about, it’s lipstick. Thanks to Palin, we now know it’s what separates the hockey moms from the pit bulls, but as Obama reminded us a few days ago, lipstick won’t stop a pig from being a pig, a remark that’s prompted a heated debate and even brand new political ads. Surely, with all this focus on lipstick, it’s just a matter of time before someone comes out with one named after Palin. But why stop with just her? Why not introduce a whole lipstick line for Campaign ’08 ? I can see it now — we’ll have…

We all know sexism is alive and well in America.  Hollywood’s seemingly endless celebration of the chubby, schlubby, slacker dude is sexist as hell, given that chubby, schlubby, slacker girls get nowhere in Tinseltown, least of all the big screen. And yes, much of the media’s coverage of Hillary Clinton’s campaign was sexist too—and I wasn’t even a Hillary supporter, so this isn’t just a P.U.M.A.’s bitterness talking.

The latest accusation of sexism in the media comes from Governor Sarah Palin, the Vice Presidential nominee for the McCain campaign. Her supporters, her spokespeople, and conservative commentators like Bill O’Reilly assert that she is the target of sexist smear campaign. This is surprising for two reasons: 1) O’Reilly has consistently pooh-poohed claims of sexism in the past and 2) wasn’t it only a few months ago that Palin said Clinton should “stop whining” about sexism herself?

The Presidential Election is mere weeks away! It used to be that t-shirts were the only way you could show your support for a candidate, or just the electoral process in general, but nowadays everyone from Etsy vendors to Forever 21 is selling political related accessories—rings, neclaces, tote bags—with cool graphics and arty pizazz. Check out ten picks after the jump!