Sarah's Shameless Self-Promotion

[Anthony K. S.]

Somebody just pointed this out to me today, and even knowing everything I do about her, I still couldn't believe it.

First Look : Sarah Palin's Alaska (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZbKeNJqYTA&mkcpgn=semtlc2)

This woman has no shame. I have heard of self-promotion by politicians, but an 8-week television series solely to bolster her own public image . . . ?

People keep asking, "Why are we still talking about Sarah Palin? Didn't she lose the election?"

Well, this, right here, is the answer. We keep talking about her because she won't go away!

Now, a friend of mine suggested that this could actually be good . . . Sarah Palin has hardly ever been able to open her mouth without shoving her foot right in it. So this series might provide us with some good entertainment, albeit perhaps not in the way that Sarah Palin would like. We will see.

By the way, you will notice that the closing shot looks just like every other public appearance Sarah Palin has ever made, with her family right behind her. Even after everything they've been through, Sarah Palin is still throwing her children into the harsh glare of public scrutiny.

I feel sorry for her kids.

[HYHYBT]

I'm glad she has the show and hope it gets her the nomination.

[Greenday]

I'm glad she has the show and hope it gets her the nomination.

You must really want Obama to win again, don't you?

I don't mind the show. If it shows her to be more normal, it makes me feel a little safer about her running for president (even though she doesn't have a shot at winning).

[protege]

Uh, how is this any different than Obama being on TV constantly with more speeches...including a few where he tried to bolster his party's reputation ;)

[Dreamstalker]

He doesn't try to hide political appearances behind "wholesome family values". All this series is is political posturing bathed in the reality TV that people love...I bet a lot of viewers will tune in hoping to actually see Alaska.

http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2010/11/12/sarah_palins_alaska_follows_a_mama_grizzly_in_her_ natural_habitat/

One can always hope she gets mauled trying to cozy up to a real mama grizzly to make some sort of point...

If she did ever attain President (seventh sign of the apocalypse right there) I don't think she'd be able to stand up to the scrutiny and decision-making.

[AdminAssistant]

Uh, how is this any different than Obama being on TV constantly with more speeches...including a few where he tried to bolster his party's reputation ;)

It's different because he's the President, and he should be on TV all the time telling the American people what's going on. At least he's out there, instead of hiding on his ranch pretending everything's okay.

She was a governor who quit her job for a book deal, and who has no problem pimping out her family for her benefit (can anyone else explain Bristol Palin on DWTS?)

[Anthony K. S.]

Uh, how is this any different than Obama being on TV constantly with more speeches...including a few where he tried to bolster his party's reputation ;)

When elected officials speak, they are trying to push an agenda.

Sure, they will try to make themselves look good if they can, but their goal is (and should be) to try to drum up as much support as possible for the policies and programs that they want enacted.

Besides, as has been pointed out, making speeches is part of the job. The public tends to get suspicious when mayors, governors, and especially Presidents won't talk about what's going on.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, isn't trying to push anything but herself. This entire 8-week series is, when it comes right down to it, nothing more than Sarah Palin screaming, "Look at me, world! Aren't I a great person?!"

And, as usual, she's exploiting her children to do it, which is another thing that really irks me.

By the way, just for the record, I don't need to defend Barack Obama in order to criticize Sarah Palin. I firmly believe that both parties suck.


She was a governor who quit her job for a book deal

You know, I still chuckle a bit whenever I think about the time that political commentator Cenk Uygar mentioned the fact that, under the terms of Sarah Palin's contract with her publisher, she would not receive any of the royalties from "Going Rogue" until after she was no longer governor of Alaska.

Uygar then went on to say, "Now you ask, 'Why did Sarah Palin resign as governor of Alaska'? Oh, oh, oh, yes, that is a tough one . . ." :D

[Greenday]

(can anyone else explain Bristol Palin on DWTS?)

Hm, young woman, 20 years old, asked if she wants to go on national tv. I'm sure it took her mother convincing her to get her to do it.

[AdminAssistant]

Hm, young woman, 20 years old, asked if she wants to go on national tv. I'm sure it took her mother convincing her to get her to do it.

I was saying that she's not a celebrity, but is in the public eye because of Mama Bear. She's the child of a politician, who got famous 'cause she got knocked up. (and then went and did abstinence PSAs :rolleyes: Yeah, how'd that work out for you, hun?) It would be like putting the Bush twins on DWTS.

[Greenday]

What about Laila Ali? She sure as hell isn't famous for her own reasons.

[AdminAssistant]

What about Laila Ali? She sure as hell isn't famous for her own reasons.

She's a decently well-known boxer - i.e. she's accomplished more in life than having a famous mom and getting pregnant.

[crashhelmet]

What about Laila Ali? She sure as hell isn't famous for her own reasons.

You must not follow boxing then. Laila Ali is 24-0 with 21 knockouts as a boxer. Albeit, she hasn't had a fight in almost 4 years, but motherhood will do that. yes, she gets notoriety for being the daughter of the greatest boxer that ever lived, but she's backed up that legacy all on her own.

CH

[Greenday]

I really don't follow boxing. Neither do most people, especially women's boxing. If she had accomplished all she had in boxing but her father wasn't one of the most famous boxers of all time, the ONLY people who would have known her are people who follow female boxing. People who don't follow boxing know who her dad is. Her dad had true fame. She's more famous for being the daughter of a great boxer than being a good boxer herself.

[crashhelmet]

Yes, but unlike Bristol Palin, she does have valid reasons for her celebrity status.

[Peppergirl]

Ok - question for those of you who say it's ok for Obama to go on TV constantly because he's the president and has to inform the nation as to what's up:

What about his appearances on various late-night TV talk shows? What important presidential 'business' was covered on *those* visits?

[crashhelmet]

it's still a PR tour aimed at making the people more comfortable. The talk show circuit tried unsuccessfully to get Bush on after 9/11 and Katrina, but his office declined every time. It's understandable considering the heat he took from the regular news media.

[Anthony K. S.]

It's also a matter of scale. As I said in my original post :

I have heard of self-promotion by politicians, but an 8-week television series solely to bolster her own public image . . . ?

Clearly, in some people's view, there is no significant difference between this documentary series and any of the typical self-promoting stunts that politicians (in both parties, I might add) routinely do. And that's fine. That's their opinion, and they're entitled to it.

In my view, doing an 8-part television series with the sole purpose of boosting her own public image, all the while feeding the viewers a line of B.S. about how she's only doing it to show the world the beauty of her home state . . . That, in my opinion, crosses the line into what one television critic once referred to as "The Land of Wretched Excess."

It's not so much the self-promotion itself that bothers me, as the excessive and brazen nature of it . . . Oh, and the fact that she's still using her children as political props to further her own ends. Have I mentioned that?


"This is flippin' fun . . . I'd rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office. I'd rather be out here being free." - Sarah Palin

Yeah, we wish.

[Peppergirl]

. . . Oh, and the fact that she's still using her children as political props to further her own ends. Have I mentioned that?




Yes. Yes, you have.

:D

[Eisa]

I think one of the scariest things someone has ever said to me is when this guy walked up to me in a coffee shop and said I looked like Sarah Palin. :eek: *cries* I think she's out of her mind psycho.

[lordlundar]

What about his appearances on various late-night TV talk shows? What important presidential 'business' was covered on *those* visits?

Have you watched those? He talks about policy and goals for the country as well as showing he's not the type to sit around barking orders. It's simply a more up to date method of getting the message out in a face to face premise, not all that different from the "town hall meetings" he did.

[HYHYBT]

I think one of the scariest things someone has ever said to me is when this guy walked up to me in a coffee shop and said I looked like Sarah Palin. :eek: *cries* I think she's out of her mind psycho.Nonetheless, it would be hard to argue against her being good-looking.

[lordlundar]

Nonetheless, it would be hard to argue against her being good-looking.

True, too bad she sounds like a harpy and likes to yell.:D

[blas87]

Back to page one here, if I may.

Nobama doesn't throw his family and family values into everything he does? Really? He doesn't?

Everything him and his harpy anti-obesity-but-always-have-seconds-myself-and-dare-compare-myself-to-Jackie-O bitch of a wife do, they are always flaunting their family and pressing family values into everything.

But, everything this raging extremist believes in is not family values or good for families.

[AdminAssistant]

Blas, why the vitriol against Michelle Obama? Also, after the election was won, the kids really haven't been in the spotlight much. (Wouldn't be good for them at that age, anyway.)

[blas87]

She's a bitch, that's why. I absolutely loathe her. She acts like she's done the world a favor with her vegetable garden, when Hillary Clinton had her own garden that was on the roof, lest we forget, she gets on all this anti-obesity crap when she's known for eating whatever she pleases and isn't perfect looking herself, first Grammy even has said that Michelle is over-bearing on the girls with snacks and food, not to mention she does nothing but nitpick and insult her husband. Nobama is by no means my favorite person, but it shows some real family values to always be putting down your husband, when she and the Family first moved in to the White House, she went around and welcomed everyone, which is totally backwards, the Obamas were the newbies in the neighborhood, the entire Razzle Dazzle that the Obamas and their minions use to get their point across just sickens me to death.

Sorry for the threadjack. I also hate Sarah Palin, it isn't all one sided. She's a brunette ditz if there ever was one ;)

[MadMike]

Nonetheless, it would be hard to argue against her being good-looking.

I don't think she's attractive at all.

[blas87]

She looks pretty good and is in good shape for a woman her age, but she is nothing spectacular.

[Greenday]

Oh, Bristol Palin, if only your mom had half the brains you do:

http://jerseyshore.momslikeme.com/members/JournalActions.aspx?g=437187&m=15349094&grpcat=

[Talon]

LOL, FOX hosts mock Palin's show during off-air commercial break (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2hhtroS49I&feature=player_embedded#!)!

I imagine the crew will be fed to the grizzlies by morning. But I wonder how many other hosts and staff share that view of the half-term, ex-Alaskan governor, and failed vice-presidential candidate :p

[AdminAssistant]

http://gawker.com/5691856/willow-palins-homophobic-facebook-freakout

Such a winning family, right there. :rolleyes:

[HYHYBT]

Oh, Bristol Palin, if only your mom had half the brains you do:

http://jerseyshore.momslikeme.com/members/JournalActions.aspx?g=437187&m=15349094&grpcat=

But her mom DOES have half... nah, too easy

[blas87]

What a family they are.

Sarah and husband don't even sleep in the same bed.

Sarah is an ex beauty pageant brainless bimbo who talks like an inbreed who preached abstinence only and it worked so well her teenaged daughter got knocked up, and she is such a good role model that her 16 year old daughter goes around calling people "Fucking faggot" on Facebook.

What a nice family. They'd probably turn part of the White House into a shooting range and have to remodel to make more room for all of Sarah Palin's clothes.

[Andara Bledin]

Don't make the mistake that she's brainless.

The accent and the "hick" pronunciations are all coached. If you check out videos from before she was the governor, she no only doesn't have much of an accent at all, but she (much like Bush before he was elected to office in Texas) had no difficulty saying "nuclear" properly.

However, I won't argue that she's drunk the koolaid herself and has been making some incredibly poor decisions since she was tapped for the failed bid for vice president.

^-.-^

[Greenday]

she is such a good role model that her 16 year old daughter goes around calling people "Fucking faggot" on Facebook.

Ah, so that's what people in the office were talking about.

[Andara Bledin]

Apparently, if I read the exchange correctly, someone that goes to the same school posted on the show's Facebook page that it was "failing so hard right now," and that opened the floodgates. First Willow and then Bristol went apeshit over it, throwing all sorts of slurs back and forth, with a dozen other people joining in besides. Oh, and nobody in the entire thing knows the difference between "you're" and "your."

Here's an article about Bristol apologizing for both of them being such idiots on a public venue.
Bristol, Willow apologize for Facebook tirades (http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/11/19/bristol-willow-apologize-for-facebook-tirades/)

Despite the headline, there's no mention that Willow has any idea she did anything wrong, and I'm not sure what Bristol said on her Facebook page (now with their real last name and not the fake name they originally were using) is what she feels or what she feels would be best for her image.

^-.-^

[blas87]

Oh yeah, I forgot it was "Your a fucking faggot"

One failed sex ed, both failed English.

[Peppergirl]

Lets give them a break.

How angry and bitter would YOU be if you and all your siblings had those fucked up names? :D

[protege]

How angry and bitter would YOU be if you and all your siblings had those fucked up names? :D

...or had to deal with 24-hours of darkness at times :p

[AdminAssistant]

I actually watched the show with some friends last Sunday, and we were all struck by how little time she actually spends with her kids. The kids even mentioned that she's basically glued to her Blackberry, and there was even a scene of Willow sneaking a boy upstairs while Sarah was typing away. Then Sarah and Todd were jetting off to various adventures...and who's watching the kids?

I also loved that she had the gall to complain about her neighbor invading her privacy. So, she was complaining about a lack of privacy on her own reality TV show. Uh-huh.

[Dreamstalker]

We watched some of it too. The "fishing" encounter was obviously staged; if you looked closely the riverbank didn't line up across shots (Palin brood and bears), not to mention I really don't think they could have gotten that close to a real mama bear without serious problems.

As for the "nosy neighbor"; it looked like the poor guy was just reading a book on his porch.

[smileyeagle1021]

Despite the headline, there's no mention that Willow has any idea she did anything wrong,

^-.-^

I have no doubt that anyone in the Palin family realizes that she did anything wrong. I would not be surprised to find out that in their narrow worldview homosexuals aren't truly human and insulting someone by calling them a "fucking faggot" would be no different than calling them a rat.

[Andara Bledin]

Actually, I suspect that most people who use such phrases as insults aren't homophobic at all. They're just parroting phrases they hear their peers using.

I help run a video gaming room at a convention and some of the kids are the worst trash talkers, spouting all sorts of things without any care for what is actually spilling out of their mouths. It's just what they hear all the other people playing their FPS games say, so they say it, too.

When I'm not busy shutting down the trash talking entirely, I'm usually challenging them to think about what it is they're saying. Most of them have the good grace to look embarrassed.

^-.-^

[Ipecac Drano]

Actually, I suspect that most people who use such phrases as insults aren't homophobic at all. They're just parroting phrases they hear their peers using.

I help run a video gaming room at a convention and some of the kids are the worst trash talkers, spouting all sorts of things without any care for what is actually spilling out of their mouths. It's just what they hear all the other people playing their FPS games say, so they say it, too.

When I'm not busy shutting down the trash talking entirely, I'm usually challenging them to think about what it is they're saying. Most of them have the good grace to look embarrassed.
Maybe with the kids, but a lot of adults get swept up by herd mentality and feel that they must accept all values issued by a group; such as if they should take a conservative stance on one topic, they should be that way on all topics.

Politically, I'm a moderate. I own firearms and when I go to gun shows and get caught up in discussions over other political hot button issues, the other people are either confused or suspicious if I offer a left-leaning view on something. Granted, I am not saying that all Conservatives are that way, but I have met quite a few who feel that they must agree 100% with Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, et al.

[jackfaire]

I will just say this she lost any and all credibility with me when she was declared the running mate to McCain and her acceptance speech consisted of her going, "Look my kids are awesome people doing awesome things elect them oh wait I mean me vice president"

It was made worse when come to find out that while a lot of politicians will put their cronies into jobs they will at least pick the competent ones and she forgot the part where they should be able to do the jobs she was giving them.