Vice President Malaprop

One of the most recent gaffes by Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin this weekend was not a matter of policy or politics, but rather prose.

At a rally this past Saturday in California, Sarah Palin asked women to put their ovaries first (pun intended) and vote for the Republican ticket because after all - "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women."

[records scratch, crickets chirping]

While the Alaska Governor claimed that she was quoting former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright - the larger problem at hand is that she made either a grave assumption or a rather embarrassing malapropism. The correct quote, of course, is:

"There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't help other women."

Nico Pitney of the Huffington Post reports that Palin found the quote just earlier that day on the back of her Starbucks Mocha coffee cup.

So what's the difference between helping a women and supporting her? Well, it turns out quite a lot.

First off - we all know when a politician asks for support, they are asking for your vote. As Ohio blogger, Jill Miller Zimon wrote - asking for a vote with a side of gender, is too much to ask for:

Palin used Albright’s quote as she spoke to a large crowd of women. She predicates her address with references to breaking the glass ceiling. There’s little doubt she used the altered Albright quote to reinforce the idea that women who don’t vote for women are not women who support - or help - other women break that ceiling.

More bluntly: Palin is pushing the “women should vote for a ticket with a woman on it because they are women too” gender card. With a little bit of religious fear thrown in for the women who might think that it’s okay to not vote for a woman just because she’s a woman.

Secondly - while Albright's request for women to help each other can be broadly applied, Palin's request for support from women is narrowly applied and self-serving. While identifying with constituents is one way to attract voters, telling them they might end up in purgatory if they don't vote in line with their gender may in fact leave them in limbo asking:

Would I ever vote against or for my political beliefs just based on gender?