Sarah Palin on Reality TV
"Are you ready for Sarah Palin's new reality show?" my roommate, a liberal artist, asked me last night over dinner. "It might not be the best idea for someone hoping to make a run for president in a couple of years," she continued.
Sarah Palin's Alaska, premiering November 14 on TLC, will provide an inside glimpse of Sarah Palin's home life. Judging by the trailer, viewers will get to follow the Palin family around as they explore the Alaskan wilderness.
While Palin runs the risk of overexposure, I think the show has the potential to actually help Palin's future political career. Providing viewers with access to her personal life will help reinforce the fact that she's a real person that ordinary Americans can relate to. If done well -- and chances are that it will be -- the show will help solidify that Sarah is a politician of the people.
And lest you have the urge to criticize Palin's decision to create this show, remember that one of Ricochet's most beloved American politicians, Mitch Daniels, had his very own reality show: Mitch TV.
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Aug '10
Re: Sarah Palin on Reality TV
The big news for me here is that you're roommates with a liberal. Is she nice? Do you get along? How do you manage it? (I've been roommates with several, but I was rather in-the-closet about my politics, something you presumably can't pull off since conservatism is part of your job.)
If it's not an intrusion of privacy, I'd like a post on what living in this sort of arrangement is like. Call it an interest in fostering cross-cultural understanding.
Re: Sarah Palin on Reality TV
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
The big news for me here is that you're roommates with a liberal. Is she nice? Do you get along? How do you manage it? (I've been roommates with several, but I was rather in-the-closet about my politics, something you presumably can't pull off since conservatism is part of your job.)
My roommate is actually very respectful toward my views, and we get along great. She even designed the Ricochet Twitter page (which is a work of creative genius, IMHO).
I've lived with liberals since my freshman year of college, and I've found that the situation is good so long as both/all parties are mutually respectful of each other's views. Liberal roommates also provide a great resource for a political writer. You have firsthand knowledge of how "the other side" thinks and reacts to current events, who or what influences them, and how they perceive conservatism. They also keep me more honest because I strive not to mischaracterize them or their views, as is sometimes the natural thing to do when you're observing from a great distance.
Aug '10
Re: Sarah Palin on Reality TV
Blessings on her, then. I don't, er, Twitter, but I hear that it's very important to a lot of people.
I'm glad to hear that you gals get along and she is respectful. There is hope, then...
Of my many liberal friends, there are a few who are mature enough that I can be open about my politics towards them -- at least in private, one-on-one conversations. But with a lot of them, even friends who are otherwise quite dear, I still feel that it's best to soft-pedal the politics, if I say anything at all. For these folks to understand me truly -- as opposed to "understanding" me in light of their prejudices, which are often quite bitter and distorted -- would require a shift of vision that many of them simply aren't ready for yet.
May '10
Re: Sarah Palin on Reality TV
Politicians prepping for a run at the big office usually public a biographical book about their wonderfully typical American upbringing (or, as the case may be, atypical) and the wisdom of their fathers or some such self-hagiography. Perhaps a reality show is just a new take on an old tactic. It's likely to reach a larger audience.
May '10
Re: Sarah Palin on Reality TV
Hey, the WSJ writer Steven Moore rooms with a liberal.
And some of my better friends are liberals, plus most of my cousins. We are careful to avoid certain subjects.
Jul '10
Re: Sarah Palin on Reality TV
Just a thought, but perhaps Sarah Palin wants Americans to learn to appreciate, and be really proud of a traditional view of their country. Alaska is all about the Outdoors, but so are huge parts of the rest of America.
She and Glen Beck seem to be on the same page here.
Jul '10
Re: Sarah Palin on Reality TV
I think we misinterpret Sarah Palin.
I do not think she wishes to be President. I think she wishes to move the culture. And she is very, very effective at that.
What better way to accomplish that than to provide a "real" alternative to the grossly awful female role model omnipresent on TV?
For those of us who do not live in Manhattan or D.C., Sarah Palin represents a very familiar female archetype: the mother and wife who will fight the fires of hell for her family.
I am completely behind her effort to provide a cultural template that young women can embrace.
May '10
Re: Sarah Palin on Reality TV
I disagree, Patrick. While being a big admirer of the Divine Sarah, she is running in 2012.
But this isn't like an MTV reality show, with weekly hook-ups, dishing the dirt on your rivals and eating cockroaches. That's more of a Patty Blagojevich thing. I don't see how it hurts her.
May '10
Re: Sarah Palin on Reality TV
The big news is that Steve Moore has a roommate. He's gotta be my age at least. What kind of Felix and Oscar situation is that?