Tea Party Blamed for Bristol Palin's Popularity on 'Dancing with the Stars'

November 15th, 2010 5:44 PM

Marisa Guthrie of The Hollywood Reporter has a conspiracy theory of why Bristol Palin is still competing on ABC's Dancing with the Stars -- conservative politics. Bristol's low judges' marks are matched with popular voting from Sarah Palin fanatics, "you betcha."

Conservative radio host Tammy Bruce has led a Twitter campaign to get fans to vote for “Team Ballin” as Palin and her partner Mark Ballas are known. On Monday, Bruce tweeted: “Operation Bristol waltzes in tonight! As #DWTS starts vote at abc.go.com Tweeps pls tweet phone info, will RT.” Bruce only has a little over 14,000 followers, but the ripple effect on Twitter is well-established.

There are also multiple Palin fan sites including bristolpalin.org and her own Facebook page that urges users to “vote for Bristol the pistol.”

On Wednesday, the Yahoo Twitter page said Palin had “received 10X more searches on Yahoo! Than Jennifer Grey this week." Grey has consistently scored higher than Palin.

And Dancing with the Stars indexes in TV’s top-ten among Republicans, according to data from Experian Simmons that appears in the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter. It comes in at No. 9 on the list top shows among Republicans. And while Dancing indexes high with Democrats as well, it still does not crack the top 15 favorite shows among Democratic viewers.

Sarah Palin fans are ruining the dance show with their Tea Party enthusiasm? Really?

Dancing with the Stars executive producer Conrad Green admitted to Bloomberg that Sarah Palin’s popularity could certainly be helping to fuel her daughter’s success. “There’s a strong popular movement behind Sarah Palin at the moment,” said Green. “It’s entirely possible some of those people are behind Bristol for political reasons.”

Added Chan Lowe of the Orlando Sentinel: "She has to be among one of the worst dancers they have had. I mean, she tries, yes, but Ginger Rogers she ain't. In previous seasons she would have been the first or second person eliminated, with good reason. She can't dance. And now she is in the final four of one of the most popular shows going? There is one reason, and one reason only: The tea party."

Veteran watchers of DWTS (including this writer) know that Bristol had a very shaky start, and probably deserved the boot after her horrendous "jive in a monkey suit" routine. But it is wrong to claim she is "one of the worst dancers they have had," as if she's in the same class as Master P or Cloris Leachman, who stayed way on the show way beyond when their lack of abilities should have forced them off. Her recent dances have been much improved, if not finale material. But it's hilarious to see media people lash out at the Tea Party even when it comes to Dancing with the Stars.

Over at Daily Kos, blogger Seneca Doane takes this wacky article and sees a metaphor for the corruption of American politics writ large:

She is evidently clearly inferior to the other contestants, but Sarah Palin fans keep on voting her in not because of her greater talent but as a tribute to her grifter Mom.  Evidently, they're making a political point.

Great -- I wish them luck.  Then, in 2012 and beyond, we'll be able to use the example of "voting for Bristol Palin in DWTS" as a prime example of the Republican mindset of rejecting anything -- science, facts, good policy -- in favor of tribalism and throwing around their weight, while the majority sleeps....

I say: "Go, Bristol!"  By all means, let the Republicans conspire to fix this meaningless election.  I feel sorry for truly talented contestants like Brandy and Jennifer Grey, but if the Republicans are going to turn them into collateral damage (in an attention-getting but intrinsically meaningless contest) we might as well get out of the way.  If Bristol Palin wins, while the judges gag at her weak performances, then finally, we'll be able to explain politics to the apolitical using concepts that they can understand!

Getting voters to understand the corruption of the political system -- by which I mean manipulation rather than simply illegality -- is surprisingly difficult.  DKos readers would be surprised to learn how few people even understand the political terms "liberal" and "conservative" and can assign them (at least in relative terms) to the two parties.  So when an example of how fanaticism can outweigh merit falls into our lap -- hey, this is a metaphor we should use for years!

"Bristol Palin should have lost," we'll say, "but because a bunch of fanatics turned their people out to the polls, she was able to win.  Does that seem fair?  Does that seem right?  Shouldn't merit matter more?"

ABC is getting its just reward for putting Bristol Palin among its more qualified contestants.  And, unlike Tom DeLay, who was featured in its previous season (but whom it was impossible to get people to support), she has a chance of being their unworthy winner -- just as her Mom could end up doing in 2012, thanks to the same combination of social media and relatively few fanatics outpolling the many apathetic.

Go ahead, Republicans -- give us this beautiful metaphor for what's wrong with Tea Party politics! [Emphasis hers.]

[Hat tip: Prancing to Pac-Man Fever]