Bristol Palin is returning to Dancing with the Stars’ (DWTS) 15th season as part of their first “all-star” cast. Including Bristol Palin, the cast will feature a dozen past contestants including athletes Emmitt Smith (Season 3), Shawn Johnson (Season 8), Apolo Anton Ohno (Season 4) and Helio Castroneves (Season 5). The winners of the first two seasons, Kelly Monaco and Drew Lachey, will also compete, along with past second-place finishers Kirstie Alley, Joey Fatone and Gilles Marini, plus Pam Anderson and Melissa Rycroft. Three other former dancers, Carson Kressley, Kyle Massey and Sabrina Bryan, will compete to be the 13th contestant; one will be selected by online voters in August.
At a news conference after the Friday July 27th announcement, Palin apparently drew most of the questions from the media, on everything from gay marriage to whether she’s making reality television a profession. Bristol was also pressed as to what her main reason to join this season of the show was, even though she had already answered the question several times. Then E! Online reported that Palin grew a bit defensive at times during the briefing. (“Do I like to provide for my son? Yes, I do,” was one line E! reported.) She seems to have her mom’s spunk!
Bristol finally turned the table blaming the press' overbearing nature as her prime reason for doing DWTS, saying "God provides opportunities for me… The press is going to be talking about me no matter what, so I may as well be having fun."
When asked again if she believes she has made herself more of a target by doing reality TV instead of quietly going home to raise her son after the 2008 election, Bristol replied, "Like I said before, this is a fun gig. I'm not whining; I'm not complaining about anything. I'm gonna go out there and I'm going to have fun. You guys, the media, you will talk about me whether I'm in my little Alaska life or doing this."
The Palin family has certainly done their share of reality TV the past couple years. Mom Sarah had “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” in winter 2010, featuring the whole Palin family. Bristol and her son are featured in “Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp” on Lifetime. And dad Todd Palin will be a contestant in “Stars Earn Stripes” this fall, a show featuring military exercises and missions.
DWTS executive producer Conrad Green has revealed that it is "impossible" for the new cast—including Kelly Monaco, Gilles Marini, Drew Lachey, Anderson, Helio Castroneves, Palin and Rycroft — to have the same partners as before. The pairings will be announced Aug. 13. "We are at their mercy!" Pam Anderson joked.
Last time around Bristol was known for being an unwed teen mom turned advocate and not necessarily for her dancing, who brought the buzz last time around. Twitter took off increasing ratings when mom, Sarah, also known as 2008 vice presidential nominee and former Alaska governor and Dad, Todd, dubbed first dude by many, showed up in the front row of the dance floor. Then a Wisconsin man shot his television in anger over Bristol’s success and there was a police involved scare at the studios. This time around Bristol’s reality TV and life experience may have given her more expertise to apply to the ballroom floor. And she surely will no longer be billed as a “teen activist.”
Last time around the whining left complained that Bristol had an edge with her politico mom campaigning not only for her dancing daughter but for tea party candidates; Bristol finished third. (The tea party did pretty well, too.) So the question is will Palin’s presence revive the controversy — and high ratings — of her original competition in Season 11?
I’d say that is probably a yes and in a year when all eyes are on politics, Palin’s selection is without a doubt a surefire way to get “Dancing With the Stars” plenty of attention… especially if mom and dad stop by again.
Today, Tuesday 06.28.11, both Obama on so-called official business and Sarah Palin for the opening of Undefeated were in Iowa… Wanna guess who drew the largest crowd? Hint: It wasn’t Obama!!
Why Palin Can Win
One of the most talked about subjects in politics is whether or not Sarah Palin will run for the presidency. It's frankly anyone's guess which direction she will go with her decision and when she will make the decision.
However, if Palin doesn't run it will be a disaster for the Republican Party and quite possibly the country.
Aside from the fact that there isn't another libertarian-conservative in the race, at least not another one who isn't an international isolationist, if Palin doesn't run, it will represent an enormous victory for the Republican beltway establishment and the big players in the left-wing-dominated media. Furthermore, the leftist media will learn a fool-proof means to destroy any political opponent in a manner that will likely result in another four years of Obama.
In watching the coverage of the announced candidates, the alarm bells should be clanging violently. The fact that the leftist media hasn't really gone after the other Republican politicians in the race should be a violent warning to all conservatives and libertarians out there. It's totally out of character for the leftist media to not bring up Newt Gingrich's infidelity every ten minutes, or to have squads of reporters interviewing every foster child of Michele Bachmann that can be found to try to dig up some dirt. The rigorous inspection that has been visited upon Sarah Palin hasn't even started on the remainder of the Republican field. However, that doesn't mean the media has tacked suddenly to the center; far from it.
Throughout the last two years the media has embarked on a vitriolic, obsessed campaign to destroy Sarah Palin, not just as a politician but also as a person. They manipulated the legal system to try to bankrupt her while in office; they hacked her personal email and forced the release of her official email. When all of that produced nothing consequential, they simply made up the stories they wished and put them out to be in every headline for two weeks until they have the majority believing their deceits. As an example, ask any ten people you know who said, "I can see Russia from my house," and probably most of them will incorrectly name Sarah Palin rather than the comedian Tina Fey who actually said it. To the media, facts are unimportant so long as the story forwards the agenda.
If Sarah Palin doesn't run for president, the operatives in the media and Beltway establishment will have learned a fool-proof method of destroying any political opponent. If they are allowed to successfully paint a politician as stupid without any facts, merely because they disagree with the "aristocracy," America will be left with a choice of RINOs or progressive socialists. If that happens then the transformation of America from a libertarian culture to one of socialism and government dependence may very well be irreparable.
Assuming that Sarah Palin doesn't run the campaign will go sort of like this: the media will talk up the largest RINO they can find in an attempt to split the Republican Party from within. However, the real dirt will be kept securely under wraps. As the Republican primary nears its close, the research effort will go into full force. They will send squads of lawyers to go into every tiny detail of the candidate's personal and professional life. They will examine every detail of the life of the nominee from the day of their birth. The researchers will talk to every ex-boyfriend or girlfriend, every business partner, and any employees they can find.
After the primary is over, they will start to dump the juiciest tidbits in carefully edited and scripted special stories. National interviews will be granted to jilted lovers and business acquaintances that felt wronged by the candidate, or perhaps could be persuaded to feel wronged with a little interview stipend. The candidate will be mocked for their lack of intelligence and any microscopic mispronunciation or slip of the tongue will result in a weeklong national news cycle about why that candidate is too stupid to be president. The candidate will not have time to counter the perception and, combined with the media adoration of Obama, likely Obama would get another four years.
By contrast, if Sarah Palin runs, the media has already shot all of their ammo. They have done everything they can possibly do to destroy her but she has learned how to counter them via Facebook, Twitter, and streaming video. The accusations against Palin and her children have been flying in for two years and have failed to destroy her. All they have left is to repeat the old tired line of "Palin is an idiot." Of course it wouldn't take more than a debate or two, nationally televised with live video, to dispel that myth with everyone that can possibly be persuaded. The problem with the media is that all they have left to shoot are lies which can't stand in the light of day, and even all the plausible lies have been spent by Palin's opponents. If Palin wins the primary, the leftist media will be left to incoherent rage watched by fewer and fewer Americans.
With a properly run campaign, Palin will be able to easily counter the media perpetuated perception of stupidity with all except those that are so ideologically or emotionally committed as to be unpersuadable. Furthermore, on the issues Palin will be able to bring all guns blazing against Obama rather than being handicapped by prior records of endorsing government-mandated healthcare or global warming hysteria. On the issues, Palin's conservatism combined with her small-government libertarianism will make a stark contrast to Obama who will now be forced to defend his policies rather than run on emotion ad-hominem attacks and catchy phrases.
When the political calculus is done, it is clear that Palin is the only real conservative with libertarian leanings that can possibly be elected in the country. Although there are other conservatives with promise such as Bachmann, Cain, and West, they have not been subjected to the vetting that Sarah Palin has and there should be no doubt that the media will do everything they possibly can to destroy them should they win the nomination.
Political issues, not candidate's private choices are what should matter... And hats off to Obama for agreeing that candidate's families and especially their kids are off limits, so media... give it a rest!
The 17-year-old daughter of Alaska governor Sarah Palin is pregnant. If not for the fact that Senator John McCain has chosen Palin to be his running mate, would we care? I doubt it.
Until last week, few people in the “lower 48” could even identify Palin. Since then, though, there has been an awful lot of discussion on blogs and even some mainstream news sites about Palin and sex. Now we learn that Bristol Palin is pregnant, that she’ll keep the baby, and that she and the father will marry.
Predictably, sadly so, partisans on both sides are showing their worst instincts. The sexual hypocrisy is so thick you can’t see through the fog. Some social conservatives who would use this sort of information to crucify a Democrat whose child became pregnant without benefit of marriage are defending the Palins for “doing the right thing.” Bristol is not getting an abortion, they say. She is getting married. She is living the family credo.
Some social liberals are downright gleeful, arguing that this incident “proves” Sarah Palin can’t control her own family, or that her own conservative sexual beliefs are bankrupt, or most scurrilous of all, that she was covering for an earlier Bristol pregnancy by claiming her new-born son as her own.
In reaction to the story, many comments on Newsvine were so vile I won’t repeat them here. War in Iraq, economy imploding, energy transformation finally on America’s agenda, income disparity threatening the social order, cynicism infecting every corner of American life, a tectonic shift to a multi-polar world, a collapsing educational system, and you want to make the pregnancy of a 17-year-old a political issue?
Stop it. Unmarried 17-year-old girls get pregnant every day in this country — too many of them — and they come from strong, healthy families, and broken, dysfunctional families, and conservative families and liberal families. Bristol’s pregnancy says nothing about Sarah Palin’s suitability to be the next vice-president just as Obama’s youthful cocaine use, or his middle name, says nothing about his suitability to be the next president.
But this country is stuck in junior high when it comes to sex. We either want to condemn it and say it shouldn’t be discussed in any realistic way, or we want to drench ourselves in it.
So we hear all about Palin’s hotness quotient or her local beauty queen victory, all of which is about as relevant as the fact that she has hunted moose. (I’ve spent some time in Alaska, fell in love with my wife in Alaska, and hung out with a lot of Alaskans and can tell you that hunting moose is to Alaskans what lunching at Barney’s wine bar is to New Yorkers. No big deal.)
If we want to talk about sex and politics, how about talking about whether or not the candidates defend comprehensive sex education, or favor abstinence-only sex education? Data has debunked the abstinence-only approach as wishful thinking. Texas, for example, which strongly endorses abstinence-only, and demands parental consent before teenagers can get contraception, leads the nation in its rate of teen pregnancies, dropping only by 19 percent from 1991 to 2004 while the rest of country dropped by over 30 percent.
Meanwhile in California, where comprehensive sex-education is mandatory in public schools, the teen pregnancy rate dropped by 47 percent.
That’s what matters. It is none of my business that Bristol Palin is pregnant or what sexual prescriptions Sarah Palin chooses in her own household. It is my business what prescriptions McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden want to give me.
We have to stop this juvenile sexual innuendo. Bill Clinton has 1,000 mistresses. McCain is a serial babe stalker.
Commentary by: Brian Alexander, MSNBC Contributer and Author
And let's keep in mind that if Sarah Palin were a male candidate with a pregnant daughter, this would hardly be an issue...
