In the spirit of disclosure, I am the mother of two intelligent, talented and beautiful daughters. I am extremely proud of the young women they have become. So, I will be putting on my mother hat for what follows.
Every time I hear someone say, “Sarah Palin is a great mother,” I want to ask them on what do they base this statement on. I do not see it. What I see is a woman who’s only interest in her kids is in the role of political props.
I remember the first time I ever doubted that Sarah was not the great mother she claimed to be. It was during the Presidential campaign. It was the day she announced to the world that her teen daughter Bristol was pregnant. And it wasn’t because of anything that would warrant that announcement, like people suspecting it so you get ahead of the story. (And honestly, did anyone REALLY suspect anything before that?) It was for the sole purpose of SAVING HER OWN ASS!!!
I cannot even imagine doing anything REMOTELY selfish, much less to my own child. As a mother, I want to do everything in my power to protect my children. They are my first priority, and everything else in my life takes a backseat to them. I cannot describe the anger I felt as I watched her throw her daughter under the bus of her national political ambitions.
Over the years, we’ve watched this family paraded all over the media. We were all introduced to Track the Patriot, Bristol the Brave, Willow the Wise, Piper the Adorable & Trig the Miracle. They have been sold to us by the media, the Republican Party, the evangelicals and Sarah herself as the perfect family. I have one question for them. Have you been watching the actual footage of this family?
On the train wreak that was “Sarah Palin’s Alaska”, (or as we call it at our house, “Sarah Palin Actually Sees Alaska for the First Time”), Willow the Wise was shown to be disobedient, disrespectful, apathetic and mean-spirited. First, after she is told that boys are not allowed upstairs, she has one snuck up anyway. The episode where she wanted to teach Willow the value of hard work was an utter disaster. She ignored her mother, talked back to her and gave her looks that were a cross between shock that her mom was actually trying to discipline her and a knowing that any threats of punishment would not be carried out (which they weren’t, for the record).
Piper is on the road so much with her mother, anyone with half a brain has to wonder, “How is she keeping up in school?” She even admitted after the campaign that she was having a hard time making up all the work she’d missed. Then there was the bus tour/family without the family vacation/SarahPAC promo footage fiasco. Besides being the only child to be with her the whole, abbreviated time, she was shown to have to fight for her mother’s attention to the point of manhandling journalist. I never saw that she was happy in any of the footage that was shown. Especially when she is referred to as Piper the Diaper. You cannot tell me any kid would be thrilled with that nickname. And please tell me when it was ever appropriate to let a 10 year old wear high heels, makeup, tight fitting shirts with suggestive phases and short shorts.
Then there is Trig. I cannot accurately put into words how absolutely pissed off I get then I see how that poor child is treated. Let’s cover some of the highlights; he is constantly passed from one person to the next, carried around like a sack of potatoes rather than a child, displayed constantly like Simba from the Lion King, brought out into public at all hours of the night so his mom can show him off briefly to all her adoring fans, never has his glasses or hearing aids on even though we have been told by Sarah herself that he has them and is to constantly be using them, taken out in below zero temperatures wearing only a shirt and a diaper. But the most infuriating moment is during a book tour stop in Florida, where Trig, when everybody got tired of “dealing” with him, put him on the ground in a parking lot amongst the gravel, cigarette butts and broken glass to just crawl around completely unsupervised. This is just so wrong on so many levels. Who in their right mind does this with a toddler? We have not seen Trig in the public eye as of late, and I feel that is a good thing for him. I hope he is having all his needs met in his time out of the spotlight.
Track is the only one we do not see constantly and have shoved down our throats. And I say good for him. You’re life must be so peaceful. I hope one day all your siblings can have the same thing.
Sarah complains constantly that the media will not leave her children alone. Yet she is the one that put them out in the spotlight to begin with, and hasn’t stopped since. If you asked me how many other politicians’ children’s names I know, I could name almost none of them. If she wants to blame the overexposure of her kids on anyone, all she has to do is look in the mirror.
