Posted on 02/22/2010 1:05:59 PM PST by Kaslin
Last week Sarah Palin appeared on Bill O’Reilley’s show discussing a crude joke levied at her on the animated television show - “The Family Guy.” For those who may not have seen either the show itself or the O’Reilly interview, here’s what happened.
In the animated show two Sundays ago, a teenaged character named Chris is romancing Ellen, his classmate. She has Down Syndrome. As Chris delves into Ellen’s background, she makes this statement, “My dad’s an accountant and my mom is the former governor of Alaska.” The fact that the actress who does the voice for Ellen, Andrea Fay Friedman, has Down Syndrome in real life complicates this story. In fact, Freidman attempted to make Palin the bad guy by saying that the former governor has no sense of humor.
In an e-mail statement sent to the New York Times Friedman went on to say, “I thought the line...was very funny. I think the word is sarcasm... My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life.” Not a bad statement for an adult with Down Syndrome.
Friedman’s plausible defense of the program is obviously self-serving. Unfortunately, she reminds me of a black comedienne who uses the “N” word in her routine; but would picket any white person who did so.
Even more ironic than the fact the Down Syndrome actress wants to secure her career at all costs, is the fact that the program was aired on the Fox Family Network. The Fox News Network has hired Sarah Palin as a commentator, and is obviously very protective of the governor. This glitch shows that the Fox News Network operates independently from its entertainment branch.
Before I go forward with my comments, let’s take a moment to define Down Syndrome. The WebMD says that most kids with this condition have: “Distinct facial features, such as a flat face, small ears, slanting eyes, and a small mouth, a short neck and short arms and legs, weak muscles and loose joints though muscle tone usually improves by late childhood, and below-average intelligence.”
For my money, Bristol Palin gave the quintessential comment on the matter in a statement on her mother’s Facebook page. Bristol declared: “People with special needs face challenges that many of us will never confront ... why could anyone want to make their lives more difficult by mocking them? ... If the writers of a particularly pathetic cartoon show thought they were being clever in mocking my brother and my family yesterday, they failed.”
As the national debate rages about the latest set of tasteless remarks about the former governor and her family, there is a shift in the tone and tenor of the criticism levied against her. The comments about her do not reflect a new level of political persecution; instead they reflect the fact that the ex-governor is starting to reach icon status. Cultural icons like Sarah Palin and Tiger Woods are famous because of who they are - not just because of what they do. Icons don’t just make the news; they are the news. Their fans dote and their detractors perseverate. They fight the harassment of the paparazzi and the gratuitous use of their names and images. Simply sighting an icon can be a life-defining event versus sighting the garden-variety celebrity.
A great example of how one rises from celebrity to iconic ranks is the meteoric ascent of Paris Hilton. Her family name brought her into the limelight and her “jet set” lifestyle made her the envy of everyone on the celebrity party scene a few years ago. Suddenly she stepped into the icon zone. Wikipedia defines her career as follows: “an American socialite, heiress, media personality, model, singer, author, fashion designer and actress.” This means that she has no permanent job other than being a celebrity.
Returning to the assertion that Sarah Palin has become an icon, let me quote Time Magazine, which said last week, “Palin hits the same mystic chords as Clinton. A woman who goes to war against the 19-year-old boy who knocked up her daughter and then posed for Playgirl is far more comprehensible to most Americans than deficit spending is. In her Fox interview with Chris Wallace the day after her Nashville speech, Palin said she'd been focusing more on ‘current events’ since she quit as governor of Alaska.”
Even her political allies are starting to weigh in on the love vs. hate Palin campaign. A prominent Tea Party leader from Texas (Dale Robertson) is warning that the movement “is becoming nothing more than a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Republican Party.” He goes on to slam Sarah Palin as being a part of “a growing insider's attack to the heart of the Tea Party.”
Contrary to Mr. Robertson’s sentiments, countless newspapers and magazines are hailing Palin as the de facto leader of the Tea Party movement. If these writers are correct, her best selling book Going Rogue may become a manifesto. In addition, her commentaries on Fox may help focus and refine the insights of millions of followers.
Sarah, Plain and Tall is the title of a book and a trilogy of movies known by children everywhere. The award-winning book is a study of the universal themes of loneliness and abandonment. For months many Americans wondered if Governor Palin and her family could survive the rough and tumble atmosphere of modern American politics. Fortunately for Mrs. Palin, her epitaph will not be “Sarah Plain and Tall.” In fact her destiny is to become a culturally defining icon. She will undoubtedly become a role model of what a wife, mother, and citizen can be.
You go girl!!!!
From your comments, I can only assume that you believe that women should just stay home, keep their kids in cocoons, and not bother their pretty little heads about the tough business of politics. Actually, there have been unplanned pregnancies in girls from families that do just that. Amazing, isn't it?
*shakes head*
And politicians HAVE brought their kids along on campaigns. Most of the time we don't realize it, because the younger candidates are usually stumping for state and local races, so they don't make national news. Most Presidential candidates have been older men, and couple of women, whose kids are either not living at home any more, or are involved in things that conflict with a campaign schedule, so they're not as present on the trail.
Barack and Michelle brought their kids along on the campaign, but you didn't hear the MSM trashing the kids continually did you?
Go back to your master in hell.
Yeah and some of them think she’s being to thin skinned with this one. Me? I think that those who think the joke or sarcasm was funny should remember that is they are really trying to get rid of negative attitudes toward people with disabilities, ds in particular, they need to not let any jokes go through. (I don’t watch the show so don’t know) It’s kinda the camels nose under the tent type of thing.
And not all parents with children with down syndrome supported Sarah, there are many who think she needs to stay home and take care of that baby, he takes much more work to raise, etc etc etc..... My self I admire her and the support that her husband gives her to pursue her goals. And many of those moms thinking that she should stay home and take care of her children actually work out of the home. Kinda ironic how they think.
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What, nothing going on at DU?
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Oh, you just have oddinary leftwing dingbat dementia.
I don't mean ignorant. I mean really, really ignorant.
Sorry you Palin-Bot Dementia types can’t handle the truth.
trolls do not smell good.
What, precisely, are you trying to protect? Do you really want a president who has to be protected against people who say mean or inappropriate things?
Who said he's trying to protect anything? Do you understand anything at all?
The poster is acting like an @sshole, and it's being pointed out to him. Think of it as being similar to picking up the dog poo in your back yard.
Or, maybe oneron or whatever, is fat and unattractive. Jealousy is so ugly.
Yup... hit another nerve -- which isn't hard where discussions of Sarah Palin are concerned.
Just look at how hard folks are working to protect Sarah Palin from hard words. Look at the posts on this thread, just for starters. It's like she's some fragile little thing who can't take the sort of language that's commonly employed on other politicians of both sexes.
You really ought to think about that. Is the problem that she's all that weak, or that you think she is (even if you say otherwise), or maybe both.
Don’t worry about Sarah being “too weak to handle it”. She’ll stomp your boy Mitt Romney six ways to sunday. It’ll be vicious and devastating. But since it will be quick, it will allow him time enough to slink away to one of his places for a few months to heal up long enough to hopefully not give a characteristically lame, weak, pathetic speech at the convention.
Don’t worry about Sarah being “too weak to handle it”. She’ll stomp your boy Mitt Romney six ways to sunday. It’ll be vicious and devastating. But since it will be quick, it will allow him time enough to slink away to one of his places for a few months to heal up long enough to hopefully not give a characteristically lame, weak, pathetic speech at the convention.
Your posting history is nothing but senseless attacks on Palin....except for the one post, where you foolishly attempt to defend truther Medina. Are you a Paulite?
“The second she used her kids as campaign props, she brought them into politics.”
Probably no different than Barack with Malia and Sasha, or Dubya with Jenna and Barbara, or any other politician and their kids.
“She already proved she can’t handle a family (Bristol)”
If you’re referring to her pregnancy, you’re apparently indulging in a standard liberal pastime-namely blaiming people for the actions of others.
“Now she wants to be President?”
She said no such thing. I’m a Palin supporter, but while I feel that sometimes some of her supporters can be very (maybe too) passionate, I can understand why they’d be offended by your remarks.
Yeah, I like your analysis...
CA....
And there's another common and blatant idiocy among the Palin crowd. Why is it that not supporting Palin makes you assume that a person must therefore support Romney?
Why should anybody take you seriously?
Why waste a good anvil?
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