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May 30, 2011

What if the Media Stopped Sensationalizing Sarah Palin?

By Michael Shaw

Palin Rolling Thunder 1

In other words, instead of glamorizing Sarah like The Times did with this (biker edition) Cover Girl photo and the movie lot “Easy Rider” title, what if the media published photos of Team Palin — in this case, at Sunday’s Rolling Thunder veteran POW/MIA motorcycle ride starting at the Pentagon — as the flimflam they really are?

For example, why not show how Palin created a nuisance for the security people by showing up without an invitation — while, at the same time, photographers from the major newswires somehow knew exactly when and where to find her.

Palin Rolling Thunder 4 HuffPo Still

Bristol Rolling Thunder HuffPo Frame

What about publishing a photo like this screen grab, Bristol Palin casting a look that could kill in the direction of the HuffPo video reporter (Sarah just figuring out who she’s talking to) not there to play the game.

Palin Rolling Thunder 2

And then, I couldn’t find another photo from the event that showed Palin wearing this mega-cross — but for as long as she had it on, it sure looked impressive. As mentioned before (I’m thinking of the Star of David Sarah had on for the length of time she was in the tunnels under the Wailing Wall), she’s got this uncanny ability to accessorize.

Palin Rolling Thunder 3

Finally, supposedly out of camera range, it’s actually refreshing to see Todd (aspiring to Washington) not wearing that happy face. As for Sara, I’m sure most people (mirror, mirror) would understand that wearing that badass helmet does involve relaxing about letting your hair down.

(photo 1: Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images caption: Former Republican vice presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (C) and her family attend a biker meeting in the Pentagon parking lot as she prepares to ride a motorcycle as a passenger in the May 29, 2011, Rolling Thunder motorcycle ride thru Washington, DC, in support of US troops in past and current wars. Thousands and thousands of motorcycle riders come from across the US to attend the demonstration seeking to improve veteran benefits and resolve POW/MIA issues. Rolling Thunder has evolved to be not only a demonstration for the POW/MIA issue but also a demonstration of patriotism and respect for soldiers and veterans from all wars. screen shots 2 & 3 Jason Cherkis/Sara Kenigsberg – HuffPo. photo 4 & 5: Molly Riley/Reuters)

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  • Anonymous

    Has anybody taken a survey of veterans what they think of a motorcycle parade in their honor?  Seems to me that Rolling Thunder are interlopers themselves.  Along comes Sarah Palin and they howl about the indignity of sharing the spotlight. 

    I’ve never really warmed up to motorcyclists, especially in packs.  If they want to ride through the capital on the Memorial Day weekend, more power to ‘em!  But I don’t have any sympathy that Sarah Palin bagged them the way they bagged veterans.  They stole someone else’s issue because it was easily taken.  However . . . wait for this . . . so did she. Power to the prankster.

    • BooksAlive

      You don’t think the Rolling Thunder riders are veterans? I know a vet who rides his “hog” regularly. He was there. I would think that many, maybe most, of the riders are vets. I’ll ask my friend what he thinks.

      This isn’t the only place they ride – there’s a rally in South Dakota which, I agree, would include all bikers, not just vets.

  • dharmatized

    klutzter-bumbed

  • Spaniard

    That’s sad.

    What do people see in her?. I really can’t understand it. She’s as fake as you can get, a fundamentalist, a quitter, completely ignorant… and yet, there she is. Inconceivable.

    • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_EXEFN43ACIIH6LZFWB32RGI5BM Justin Symbol

      Have you met her? Then shut it. 

  • Anonymous

    Somebody sticks a microphone in her face and she claims she didn’t realize they were (HuffPo) media? RIGHT!

  • Glen

    Rented costume, attention craving, photo op. News?

    I am a little surprised and saddened by the photo of Bristol. This is a young woman of 20 or so? The putty-like quality of her face and the brown-out-of-a-bottle of her hair remind me of a 60ish or so comestic surgery dowager I happen to see frequently at some arts fundraisers in LA. What an unhappy transformation.

  • http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ Ralfast

    As long as the John keeps paying….

  • http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ Ralfast

    As long as the John keeps paying….

  • http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ Ralfast

    As long as the John keeps paying….

  • http://ralfast.wordpress.com/ Ralfast

    As long as the John keeps paying….

  • KingElvis

    She seems to be getting a tad jowly. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on being a ‘hot mom.’

    I would agree with DennisQ wholeheartedly. Bikers suck. The name choice is terrible, in that it was a Vietnam carpet bombing campaign, IIRC.

    And yes, the “MIA” issue was mostly a product of Chuck Norris and Stallone fantasy movies where the US ‘wins’ Vietnam on the silver screen – 20 years later.

    • Banji Lawal

      They probably picked the name because it was a bombing campaign.  And much as I personally do not care for bikers in packs I believe most of the participants in Rolling Thunder are vets.  And since so many of them were in Vietnam they called it Rolling Thunder for the sound their bikes will make and to remember their Vietnam experience.

  • KingElvis

    She seems to be getting a tad jowly. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on being a ‘hot mom.’

    I would agree with DennisQ wholeheartedly. Bikers suck. The name choice is terrible, in that it was a Vietnam carpet bombing campaign, IIRC.

    And yes, the “MIA” issue was mostly a product of Chuck Norris and Stallone fantasy movies where the US ‘wins’ Vietnam on the silver screen – 20 years later.

  • j a sieffert

    Yes please – stop reporting about sarah palin . period..

    • http://www.bagnewsnotes.com Michael Shaw

      Actually, the Bag’s not interested in Palin so much as interested in how much the media is interested in Palin and how the public is seduced by the coverage. (You notice we skipped today Trump “pizza summit,” for example, and on and on). The timing and point of this post actually keys off Palin choosing to re-inject herself into the GOP celebrity-stakes. I hope I’m helping up the cynicism on the part of the media consumer … and the fact that several hundred people replied to this same piece cross-posted on Huffington, I believe, speaks to some impact in that direction.

  • Ermise

    Sounds like someone is suffering from Palin Envy…..

  • Ermise2

    I guess Obama could have shown up riding his bicycle that day.  Or Allen West might have let him ride on the back of his motorcycle…

  • gulati

    That big-ass cross looks terrific between her (augmented?) mammaries!

    • Ermise2

      How ’bout posting a shot of your dick now..I would like to see if you still have a pencil dick or you got the #2 most asked for plastic surgury in the country now…Oh, and for the record, women really aren’t stupid – we do know if you have a penile implant or not, we just laugh about it to our friends the next day. :)

    • Ermise2

      How ’bout posting a shot of your dick now..I would like to see if you still have a pencil dick or you got the #2 most asked for plastic surgury in the country now…Oh, and for the record, women really aren’t stupid – we do know if you have a penile implant or not, we just laugh about it to our friends the next day. :)

    • Ermise2

      How ’bout posting a shot of your dick now..I would like to see if you still have a pencil dick or you got the #2 most asked for plastic surgury in the country now…Oh, and for the record, women really aren’t stupid – we do know if you have a penile implant or not, we just laugh about it to our friends the next day. :)

  • http://www.bagnewsnotes.com Michael Shaw

    Sorry for removing those last two comments. I think we can keep this at a higher level, though.  

    -M

  • Anonymous

    Yes, we’ve met her. We have her rammed down our throats daily. We can’t escape her.

    Make. It. Go. Away.

  • Glen

    Actually, if anyone could have the opportunity to present herself as she wishes the public to see her, it’s Sarah Palin – famously accepting only the press opportunities she approves, and sending out her words supposedly by her own “pen” on her social media – without the “filter” as she claims.

    Yet it’s that public persona that she has chosen to craft for herself that reinforces the distaste most people feel for her.

    You can’t have it both ways. Have we met her? Yes, we have – she’s shown herself as she wants us to see her. No wonder her approvals are down.

  • quincyscott

    We aren’t allowed to have an opinion about Sarah Palin unless we’ve met her?  I have never met Barack Obama, Kurt Vonnegut, Abe Lincoln, Jesus, or Adolph Hitler, either.  Should I refrain from forming opinions about these folks, too?

    Seriously.

  • Mirror

    We know she abandoned the people of her state in the middle of her term as governor once she realized she and her family could make the big bucks touring the country spouting right wing blather.  She is a blatant quitter who doesn’t care about anyone but herself – bailing on her governorship proves it.  If she had anything substantive to offer as a public servant, she would have been happy to show her stuff in the Alaska governor’s office, but she is a coward who knows she’s incompetent at even marginally hard jobs.

  • Anonymous

    Vietnam veterans aren’t helped at all by being portrayed as angry outlaws.  Motorcycle gangs should adopt another issue.  I don’t really care whether they gather in South Dakota, but I do care about them trivializing Memorial Day.  Every year they also trivialize September 11th with a noisy parade past Ground Zero. 

    Incidentally, this POW-MIA “issue”  is kooky.  If any group other than a motorcycle gang adopted it, the kookiness of the issue would be the story.  For some reason, the additional element of kooks on wheels makes it straight news.  And these guys have the nerve to call Sarah Palin an interloper.

  • Squeaky McCrinkle

    The POW-MIA issue is complicated . . . there’s some scammers involved, preying on grieving families with doctored photos that they claimed proved that prisoners were still being held log after the war ended.

    To his credit, John McCain took some of those bastards on, earning the everlasting hatred of a lot of people.

    But a lot of bodies were never recovered from Vietnam (and Laos), and the search for them goes on. Rightly, I think.

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