LA NOW President Shelly Mandel Endorses Sarah Palin

When I originally saw this post on Wizbang, I skipped over it. The title is "America, this is what a feminist looks like" and the still of the YouTube video showed Sarah Palin. So I cataloged it away as one more pro-Palin piece by Kim Priestap, who has been an ardent Palin supporter, and moved on.

Upon further review, I see that I missed the point of the post. Shelly Mandel, the President of the LA chapter of the Nation Organization for Women, gave a speech in which she praised Sarah Palin and endorsed the McCain-Palin ticket. The linked video starts with a humorous montage scripted to AC/DC, but the speech itself is serious in tone and delivery.

Note that Mandel was forced to start her speech by separating herself from NOW--who are probably very upset in her joint appearance with Palin and the content of her speech.

Kim Priestap makes the following observation:

I was talking to my husband about this and told him that this is probably the reason why she went to California. The endorsement of the president of one of the largest chapters of NOW is huge, which explains why the MSM isn't reporting it.

I had wondered about her reasons for visiting CA myself, and this is a pretty plausible explanation.

What is more astonishing though? The fact that a prominent member of NOW is supporting a Republican ticket or that it is, in fact, worthy of amazement that a member of the National Organization for Women shows support for a woman candidate for Vice President?