And Bristol Palin thinks Obama's not a good parent.
In a world where semi-literate teabaggers will believe most anything from FOX
News and live vicariously through the exploits of the Kardashians, it
is not surprising that Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol, can pontificate on the
parenting skills of the President and get away with it.
But now Palin's own parenting has come into question, and it's a matter that
reflects on more than just a reality-star mom who is the daughter of a
half-term governor of Alaska: for in the viral video of Tripp's famous quips
lies the sentiments of Palin's beloved Tea Party and it's blase attitude
towards bigotry.
From The
Examiner.com:
Bristol
Palin is just like any proud
mom--absolutely thrilled to shared her toddler's early aptitude for homophobia.
In a new
video clip of the hapless abstinence
advocate/teen pregnancy advocate/irony advocate, Bristol lays on the couch with
her sister Willow and tells 3-year-old Tripp that he can't take a swim in the
complex pool cause there might be "some drunk people" down there. In
classic Palin form, Tripp calls his Aunt Willow a "f*ggot" when she
threatens to wash his mouth out with soap.
He also says "I hate you" numerous times. (Watch the video below)
This Ain't Art Linkletter, Folks!
Veteran TV personality Art Linkletter hosted a day-time program called
"Art Linkletter's House Party", part of which featured interviews
with various school kids. During it's 17-year run, Linkletter evinced hilarious
(and embarrassingly honest) comments from over 20,000 kids. Interestingly
enough, none of the live comments could have been construed as coming from any
form of foul language or prejudice.*
But today's reality TV engenders a "reality" that is perhaps too real
and inescapably harsh: "warts and all" as a norm brings out fears,
prejudices and ...everyday parenting. And it isn't always a pretty picture:
All Palin-bashing aside, Tripp's slips go past the
"where-did-he-get-that?" response to the
"we-KNOW-where-he-got-it" answer...and it isn't funny. At three years
old, Tripp is doing a remarkable job of imitating his elders who have obviously
used the words "I hate you" many times and "fagg*t" often
enough for Tripp to know it's an unkind slur. It's certainly not a term of
endearment.
"I'm doing a terrible job disciplining Tripp."
The shock - and, lest we forget, amusement - of Tripp saying the word
"fagg*t" was supposedly ameliorated by Palin's statement about doing
a "terrible job" in "disciplining" her son, but the
admission doesn't quite float: the "I hate yous" and
"fagg*t" came from the family, and with enough hatred for Tripp to
deliver them as weapons for hurt.
Teabagger Family Values
Tea Party favorites Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann have both taken
"socially conservative" stances (e.g., each opposing gay rights), but
have stopped short of outright (public) hate speech in regards to gays and
minorities. The common Tea Party man, however, is more uneducated (if that's
possible) concerning social issues and definitely more apt to pass along that
ignorance via everyday family life.
So was Tripp's language an incident of Palin everyday life? Probably. And do
Teabaggers care? Probably not. Therein lies a most serious problem: to them,
Palin's prejudices and parenting are normal.
Indeed, they're American.
*Perhaps
the most infamous child-swearing in television history came from "Bozo's
Circus": the famous clown was conducting a children's ball game when,
disgruntled at his throw, one kid said "sh*t" and Bozo said
"That's a Bozo no-no." Whereupon the kid flung his forearm upward and
said "Cram it, clown!"
