Saturday, November 13, 2010
Bristol Palin and dance partner Mark Ballas
Tea Party supporters are keeping Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol, alive in the competition on ABC’s hit show Dancing with the Stars. Despite receiving the lowest scores from the show’s judges for her jive, her Viennese waltz and her instant samba, Bristol Palin, who first became famous for her teen pregnancy during the 2008 presidential race, made the cut to be a part of the final-four dance pairs, thanks to the TV audience vote.
Writer Roger Catlin wrote: “Pro-Palin blogs, awash in their patriotic bunting, regularly encourage readers to cast multiple votes for the young mother, identified weekly without irony as ‘teen activist.’” On air, Palin did address the contradictions in her lifestyle. “I go around and I talk about abstinence,” she said, “and then I’m out here in my underwear doing a dance about sex and stuff.”
Catlin adds that the show has had a “long Republican voting tradition.” During the show’s third season, country singer Sara Evans, supported by former House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas), enjoyed the help of “GOP operatives working on her behalf.”
Dancing with the Stars draws up to 20 million viewers, who tend to be women (70%) and older (median age of 57). It is the most-watched program on any network, according to Nielsen ratings data.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Bristol Palin's Dancing Success (by Roger Catlin, Huffington Post)
`Pistol' Palin Waltzes Through Dance Contest Aided by Tea Party (by Andy Fixmer and Nancy Moran, Bloomberg)
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