What Are "Mama Grizzlies"?

Oh that wily Sarah Palin; she's up to no good again. She is endorsing 34 political candidates around the country, only 14 of whom are women. The conservative icon has promoted these candidates as "standing up and speaking out for common sense solutions" for women's issues. Even though she sounds as if she is rocketing women's rights into the Republican party, her real agenda would send women back to the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant.

Jessica Valenti explained in a recent Washington Post op-ed:

It's not a realization of the importance of women's rights that's inspired the change [in radical Republican rhetoric]. It's strategy. Palin's sisterly speechifying is part of a larger conservative move to woo women by appropriating feminist language. Just as consumer culture tries to sell "Girls Gone Wild"-style sexism as "empowerment," conservatives are trying to sell anti-women policies shrouded in pro-women rhetoric.

"Sarah Palin has predicted a rising tide of mothers and women voters will support her so-called 'Mama Grizzly' candidates," explained a feminist organization. "We call upon women -- and men! -- to let their voices be heard and to reject Palin's reactionary candidates and backward-looking agenda."