Politicians tend to protect their children from media intrusion. Sarah Palin sounds like she would like to do the same. But... who put her children out there? Who took them out of school to campaign around the country? Who did it again to sell books? Who invited the cameras into their lives to record an abysmal "reality" show?
Sarah Palin has a hotline to TMZ and People magazine. Were Sarah Palin's daughters dragged into this shoot kicking and screaming?
Who made her children part of the narrative, each with a particular role? Who are Track the soldier, Bristol the brave, Willow the wise, Piper the cute and Trig the ultimate pro-life prop? Who assigned them these roles?
Who linked her daughters to tales of perversion and rape?
Most people don't know the names of other politicians' children. In some cases, we don't even know whether they have children at all.
Greta didn't say anything about children, but Sarah more or less jumped on her neck when she said they were going to question the candidates aggressively. Again, Sarah herself brought the children into the conversation.
The tabloids have an interest in running explosive stories about celebrities' families, but they don't do political interviews. When was the last time the National Enquirer ran a story about energy issues? When did TMZ run a article about unions or healthcare? Did People magazine discuss the economy recently?
Is Sarah Palin really implying that the tabloids are the important sources of information on candidates' political records?
She only answers pre-screened questions on Fox News and when she spots real journalists, she runs a mile. Failing that, she labels them as perverts who have an unhealthy interest in her... daughters.
Politicians' children should be off-limits, I agree. But it's the parent's job to set these limits. Sarah Palin made her children part of her record. She made them into state officials to justify free travel around the great state of Alaska. She paraded them around the country, used her daughter's pregnancy to squash the rumours about her own strange pregnancy. She encouraged Bristol to become an ambassador for a foundation that uses sexual images as a marketing tool and to stomp, shake her stuff and writhe on the dance floor.
If her children had stayed in Alaska during the 2008 campaign, if Sarah had based her narrative on her record alone, we wouldn't know anything about her precious children.
Sarah Palin won't answer questions about her record and invariably uses her children as shields.
"What do you read?" is a gotcha question. What would she call probing questions about a certain dairy, her church, Alaska Natives, mining, ethics, special needs or any other topic? Would she answer them or somehow bring the children into it as a diversion?
Here are some screenshots of the interview with Greta. Sarah Palin became very excited when she started talking about her children and the media.
Sarah Palin's son Track got married. Who broke the news? The Washington Post? The New York Times? No, it was People magazine.
The Palins are a tabloid family. Sarah Palin is tabloid material. It makes sense that the tabloids will the ones to vet her on her political record...