Why are we even allowing women to be pushed back?  And why are we trying to use it to make political hay?  I don't think I can adequately express how offensive it is to see women be subjected to overt sexism, and fear facing it myself, after years of trying to really move forward past it, and then be told that ultimately, that may be a good thing.

What makes me, and many others, so angry is that we've already spent a long time fighting these battles, and should not have to be fighting them again, from several steps back from where we had gotten.

Worse, the attitude seems to be that we don't really have anything to complain about - women can do and be whatever they want, right? - we want to be equal, but we can't take it like the men do - we want it to be easy to be equal.

And now, we have this environment where people who had been keeping their bigotry and prejudice out of sight feel like they now have permission to let it all out - when the president does it, it must make it okay for everyone to do it, right?

No, it isn't enough to talk about how qualified Sotomayor is; how, exactly does that counter the sexism?  We know it is possible to nominate and promote women and still be a sexist, because we saw the sexism in practice in the primaries and since - putting Clinton in the Cabinet and Sotomayor on the Supreme Court does not erase Obama's past actions - especially when he sees those appointments as being the end of the discussion, and feels no obligation to speak out about what is happening now.  

"Tone down" my "self-righteousness?"  What's next, "don't get hysterical?"  

And you're doing again.  You're essentially saying that using all those tactics was fine because Palin shouldn't be anywhere near the proverbial red button.

No wonder we're getting nowhere fighting sexism. You guys are too busy rewriting my words and attacking other feminists.

I don't EVER silently sit back and pull the lever for the D candidates. I've been fighting sexism my entire life. And if  you "submit that feminists are our best chance at furthering feminist goals," then why am I being attacked for saying that the sexism we see happening right now gives US the chance to fine tune our response to the sexism we will assuredly see from Republicans in the Senate during the confirmations?

We have women who are so desperate to be accepted by men that they pay thousands of dollars to mutilate their bodies and stuff silicone in their breasts in order to "help them feel better about themselves."

We have Clarence Thomas.  `Nuff said.

As far as your point, which I appreciate the clarification, I guess I just disagree.  

How about this, Im a Native American and quite proud of my culture/heritage.  But lets say theres a really, really stupid person who happens to be Native American, and, of course, people start calling him stupid.  Thats not racist.  I suppose I could make a case for it being racist, since my race has been called the "noble savage" race (talk about your backhanded compliments) and being called a savage denotes a level of stupidity, and therefore I could say that anyone calling him stupid is because stupid has been tied to my people centuries.  But I wont do that because I know that being stupid isnt an aspect of race.  This person happens to be stupid, but its not because of his race.