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Piper Palin Tries To Block Reporter From Mom Sarah
It looks like Piper is already done with campaigning before the Palins even started yet.
Have you ever brought your kids to work or a work related event? Anyone who has knows that it can be trying to say the least. You hope and pray that they behave themselves, but the biggest problem is usually that kids don’t really belong in most workplaces, and cannot sustain the boredom or long hours the same way adults can. But what if your kids and family played a role in your career?
It seems to many that Sarah Palin’s latest bus tour dubbed the “One Nation” tour is more for her political benefit than her children’s life experiences, and perhaps the constant spotlight has proved a little too much for her ten-year-old daughter Piper. On a stop in Philadelphia, Piper can be seen physically trying to get in between a reporter and her mom Sarah (see video below).
In her defense, she is just ten years old and would certainly rather being doing other things on her summer break (has school let out in Alaska already?) than shaking the hands of middle America just so her mother can gauge her own influence and popularity before deciding whether or not to make a run in the 2012 presidential race.
This past week alone, she and her family made stops at Washington, Maryland and Pennsylvania before coming to New York. Yesterday the Palins visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The day before that, they had pizza lunch with Donald Trump. After this Northeast tour, the next stop will be the Midwest and the third leg of the tour will be the South. It sure looks like a prequel to a nationwide 2012 campaign tour, and it also kind of looks like Sarh is using her daughter and family (or at least their projection as a happy American family) as a campaign tool?
Over the weekend, Palin attended the Rolling Thunder Motorcycle Rally in Washington, D.C. Ten-year-old Piper rode around on the backseat of a motorcycle with her father Todd. While Piper did have a helmet on, a motorcycle is surely not the best place for a child.
Unlike the Obama girls who do take part in family events and press events but adhere to family rules first, Piper appears to not be enjoying the spotlight. Of course, Malia and Sasha join in special moments so they can enjoy them, not so their father will look like a good parent. There is a big difference.
It’s too bad Sarah Palin missed that lesson.
See the video of young Piper blocking reporters here.
Read Danielle’s blog Just Write Mom.
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5 Comments
jenny tries too hard commented on Jun 02 11 at 10:42 amFor starters, the press is actually irritated with Palin because she’s not letting them know about the stops on her tour, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20067591-503544.html, and accusing her of “sneaking” to the actual tourist-y stops that aren’t strictly work-related http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/31/palin-fakes-out-reporters-at-gettysburg-hotel/ so it’s hard to say that she’s taking Piper along to “look like a good parent”. It looks like she’s doing a publicity tour for her speaking/writing/punditry/reality-star/Heaven-help-us-all-please-not-political career and trying to get in some family time and sight-seeing at the same time, more than posing.
Second, it looks really bad for y’all to post a critical piece of non-news on Palin right after moving Carolyn Castiglia’s very balanced piece on Rep. Anthony Weiner’s recent scandal. Yes, I know Palin is a parent and Weiner is not, but Weiner’s scandal involves the new media-world we’re all trying to navigate for and with our kids, sexting (which is definitely an issue parents are concerned about), and the possibility of inappropriate communication between an adult and at least one minor teenager and several college-age young people. I’d say it fits.
Danielle Sullivan commented on Jun 02 11 at 11:27 amI have to strongly disagree here Jenny. Don’t be fooled by any press coverage claiming that Palin’s turning away press for family time. It’s surely a backhanded ploy as well. She knows how to work the media for attention. In any case, that my view. To each his own though.
Gagagolly commented on Jun 02 11 at 1:23 pm“While Piper did have a helmet on, a motorcycle is surely not the best place for a child.”
Oh Jesus, get the stick out of your behind!
jenny tries too hard commented on Jun 02 11 at 5:25 pmThat’s the other thing; if she was just out to make herself look like an awesome parent, wouldn’t she avoid something so controversial (and no, I don’t think it’s that big a deal, either, just not something I would choose) as letting a ten-year-old ride on the back of a motorcycle? Really, people pick on something that the ten-year-old doesn’t enjoy and say she’s obviously not there to have fun, and then also pick on something she appears to enjoy, which doesn’t help her mother’s career at all. Can’t win for losing.
jenny tries too hard commented on Jun 02 11 at 5:39 pmAnd, yeah, we shouldn’t be “fooled” by press coverage claiming Palin is turning press away? She knows how to make CBS and CNN (clearly very Palin-friendly networks, right? Totally in her pocket) lie? She either tried to dodge the press by leaving her bus at the hotel when she went to Philly, where Piper is so obviously annoyed by the press catching up to them, or she didn’t. Either the media is lying or Sarah gosh-darn Palin is smarter than everyone. Both possibilities are scary, so I’m gonna go with this—-Palin is using her bus tour as a way to get her employer (Fox News) to pay for a family vacation, with some opportunities to engage her fans thrown in…and Piper is a typical ten-year-old who gets annoyed at her mother’s work literally intruding on their family time.
And, babble, stop making me defend Sarah Palin. Ignore her, and she’ll go away or at least downgrade into a Fox-only celebrity/talking head. Follow her around like this, write pieces about her parenting, her clothes, any other non-issue, and you’ll just feed the “persecution!!1!” theme that her personality cult looooves so much.
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