On today’s political stage, image is everything and substance is just that, filler. As people await the VP debates later this week, the concern is who will make more mistakes, who will fuck up worse and how that will play out in November.

Sarah Palin, held up as a an everymujer, proves herself over and over again as not fit to run a country and it’s not about what she looks(ed) like in a swimsuit.

The blogosphere is debating if the images above, help/hurt or don’t matter at all on the campaign trail. Feminists wonder what message it sends to girls and young women to see a bathing beauty in heels now running on a presidential ticket. As a mujer, I say it’s all about ownership.

Historically, as women, our images and our power have been taken from us and vomited back onto billboards and glossy magazine covers. As women, every high heeled step we take is an opportunity, for us or against us. In terms of her image, Sarah Palin can call her beauty queen past a mistake, part of a past life that she learned from, or part of her current identity as a woman she wants all women to relate to.

Pageants, with their pivots and runway walks, are sexist and even racist, with their idealization of the white female form and mind. Thought of that way, the video fits in perfectly with what Palin and those behind her are selling.

The question is, who is will buy and what will they pay with?