need I say more?
Posted on 12/25/2010 8:59:56 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
She wasn't running for anything in 2010, but Sarah Palin sure got plenty of attention.
Two years after her failed GOP vice presidential bid and just a year after quitting as governor of Alaska at mid term, Palin remained in the spotlight.
She worked as an analyst for Fox News, made political pronouncements on a weekly basis (at least) and appeared on her television series "Sarah Palin's Alaska" on The Learning Channel. The latter half of the year even brought plenty of attention to Palin's family, though not all of that attention could be considered positive.
The New Oxford American Dictionary tipped a hat to Palin with its word of the year, "refudiate," which she used in one of her many Tweets.
Here's a look at the Top 5 Media Moments, both good and bad, for Palin and her family in 2010.
The good
1. Palin's use of social media. With more than 2.5 million Facebook fans and more than 341,000 Twitter followers, Palin avoided what she calls the "lamestream media" and took her message straight to the people in 2010. And virtually every time she tweeted or posted to Facebook, the "lamestream media" wrote about it. (Guilty as charged, here.)
2. The 2010 election. When Health Care Reform passed Congress in March, Palin targeted 20-some House districts where Democrats voted for the bill. Her political action committee, Sarah PAC, spent most of its early money on, well, Sarah. But she took the bold step of endorsing several candidates in competitive GOP primaries, including several of what she called "mama grizzlies." Many of those won. When South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley was accused of adultery, Palin stood by her side. Having helped some 100 candidates during the election season, Palin likely will be looking for payback if (some would say when) she enters the 2012 GOP presidential fray. And those endorsed candidates in early primary states such as Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina could come in handy.
3. "Sarah Palin's Alaska." The eight-part TLC series is part travelogue, part family reality show, and despite what she may claim, plenty political. Premiering in late November, at the same time as Palin's latest book, the series is keeping the potential candidate in the spotlight during what is typically a political downtime.
4. Daughter Bristol makes the finals of "Dancing With the Stars." When Bristol, apparently a star for having her teen pregnancy announced during the 2008 presidential campaign, joined the popular reality show, it meant more exposure for mom, too. Even the controversy of whether the audience was booing Sarah Palin or a low score for the ultimate winners put the light on the politician. And as Bristol came back week after week, it offered more opportunities for mom to show up on the popular prime time show.
5. Trip to Haiti. Earlier this month, Palin accompanied Fox news gal-pal Greta Van Susteren and evangelist Franklin Graham to do relief work in the country that is still reeling for this year's earthquake. If offered a positive light for someone who is often a lightning rod - and not always in a good way.
The bad
1. Palin's nasty Thanksgiving Day Facebook note. Angry that much was made of her radio gaffe calling North Korea our allies, Palin (or was it her assistant Rebecca Mansour?) took to Facebook with a shrill note lambasting the media. Coming on a holiday, the note struck the wrong tone.
2. Bristol's "middle finger" remark. When Bristol, billed as a teen activist for her abstinence education work, made the finals of DWTS, it stirred up plenty of controversy. Allegations that mom and friends activated their networks to vote for her (not illegal, by the way) abounded. The single mom didn't react so well to the controversy, saying on the final show that if she won "It'd feel like a big middle finger to all the people out there who hate my mom and hate me."
3. Bristol & Willow's Facebook fiasco. When an acquaintance (probably not a real friend) bashed "Sarah Palin's Alaska" during it's first broadcast, the two daughters were quick to defend their mom and her show. Unfortunately, Willow used a gay slur and both used plenty of crude language. Bristol later apologized on her Facebook page. But it left some wondering if the Palin children could use a bit more adult supervision.
4. Having Dad reload for you. Really? Palin used gun imagery in a March Facebook post, urging health care reform opponents to "reload." When radio personality Laura Schlessinger came under fire, so to speak, for using a racial epithet, Palin urged her: "Don't retreat . . .reload!" on Twitter. But when it came to hunting caribou for her TLC show, Palin looked to her father for help reloading by moving the bolt of her rifle. That and the six shots it took her to kill the beast made her claims as a hunter a bit suspect.
5. The political losses. Palin took plenty of political bets in 2010, and she lost on some of her biggest. At home in Alaska, she endorsed tea party candidate Joe Miller over incumbent U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Miller won the primary, but Murkowski won the general as a write-in candidate (even though Miller's still fighting the outcome). In Delaware, she put her name and her cash behind Christine O'Donnell in the primary, but O'Donnell lost big. Other general election losses for Palin included Carly Fiorina in the California Senate contest and Sharron Angle in the Nevada Senate race. Meanwhile, polls indicate that Palin is a divisive figure among independents. Sixty percent in one recent poll said they definitely wouldn't support her presidential candidacy.
What will 2011 hold for her? Will Palin hit the hustings in Iowa and take on the big boys of the GOP in the state hosting the first 2012 presidenial contest, the Iowa caucuses? Or will Oprah's conclusion that Palin's presidential ambitions are nothing to worry about prove true?
Tune in a year from now, when we'll know for sure.
need I say more?
The sights were way off on the first gun she used (as proved after they got back to base camp). When she changed guns it didn't take but one shot.
Didn’t those glasses go out of stile around 1961?
Apparently the idiot that wrote this crap didn’t bother watching the REST of the episode where she clearly showed how the gun’s scope was off..looking at who the author is, no wonder she is so angry, but hey, at least now she can join the military, her kind is unfortunately allowed in now
Sandra Fish? Seriously?
What an angry, bitter homo that chick is
For whatever reason this brought the image to my mind of Mattie Ross shooting the bad guy in True Grit on TWO DIFFERENT occasions.
Yes, she was no firearms expert...but she was not afraid to pull the trigger in the full knowledge of what the result would be.
Now that I mention it...Mattie could be the Coen Brothers metaphor for Sarah.
True Grit.
That's why Sarah will probably have to wait a few years to get elected.
What REALLY sucks is that people like this are TEACHING journalism students.
No wonder Sarah can never get a break.
stile = style. Getting late!
I suspect she will age well and be a decent looking woman even when she's 10 years older.
Yes, but at 56 she will not set off threat alarms in women of child bearing age.
It's just nature and there's NOTHING anyone can do about it.
I dunno - Michelle Bachmann is 54 and she ain’t too shabby!
Those glasses were never in style.
She kinda looks like female version of Alfred E. Newman.
All of these Palin hit pieces really does remind me of the Reagan era. Not a day passed from his early campaign through his presidency, without some lib journalist or political cartoonist attacking him.
She looks while a white female barry. Except her dress is purple and not her lips.
Hey sandy fish - I think you need more adult supervision; someone who can put a truth detector on you when you sit down to write. BTW, dead fish go with the flow and a dime are a dozen.
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