Hypocrisy

I've been trying to decide what to write about Bristol Palin. Bristol is famous because of her mother, and blog readers know that Sarah Palin is one of my favorite blog topics and not because I admire her. Sarah Palin occupies a strange place in the nexus of pop culture and politics and it's been fascinating to watch her evolution from rising young governor to rock star VP candidate to reality TV wanna-be to D-list-and-fading-fast celebrity. Sarah really isn't very important anymore, which she may not completely understand and almost certainly doesn't fully accept, and the last few weeks, in particular, have to have been excruciating for her.

2015 got off to a bad start for the former governor when she delivered a speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit that was, to put it mildly, not well received. Sarah and her speech were mocked, ridiculed and laughed at and that was by Republicans. (The Democrats had two words: "Thank You.") There was a bright spot in March when she announced Bristol's engagement to former Marine and Medal of Honor winner Dakota Meyer but it's been downhill from there.

On May 18, Sarah had to announce that Bristol's wedding, scheduled for May 23, had been called off. On June 24, Politico announced that Fox News was not renewing Palin's contract, which generated headlines like "Sarah Palin is No Longer News" (Vanity Fair,) and "The Sarah Palin Era is Over" (Salon.) Finally, this past Thursday, Bristol announced that she was, again, pregnant without benefit of wedlock. Thoughts:

Why is this news? Because even fading D-list celebrities make news sometimes, especially when there's conflict, controversy or scandal involved. Ever since Sarah Palin quit her job as governor she and her family have courted fame and fortune via reality television, books, speeches and social media. If you watch closely, which I admit I sometimes do, it's easy to discern a huge disconnect between their so-called conservative, traditional family values posturing and the reality of the way they actually lead their lives. Just as the Duggars learned, when your brand is built on purity (or "abstinence,") and in particular when you spend your time telling others how to live, you'd better be practicing what you preach. If it comes out that you're not, you're going to be excoriated.

Why announce it? In her blog post Bristol asked for privacy and one might ask why, if she's so determined to be private, did she feel the need to make the announcement at all? How hard can it be to just keep your head down and hide out up in Wasilla? Unfortunately, the family's relentless pursuit of fame has come back to bite them. They are, in fact, famous, and my understanding is that both the National Enquirer and RadarOnline were pursuing rumors of a pregnancy, which apparently wasn't completely secret in Alaska. Bristol made the announcement herself before the tabloids could do it for her.

Who's the daddy? So far, Bristol hasn't said. Given that she was engaged to Meyer from mid-March to mid-May and was living with him in Kentucky during the weeks prior to the wedding, the obvious guess is that he is, but she didn't say so in her announcement. (Although Dakota and I will not be getting married, we are committed to raising this child, blah, blah, blah...) Again, one might make the case that it's nobody's business but theirs, but once you've courted the spotlight and enjoyed the good parts of being famous, that spotlight can't be turned off at will. My guess is that all the tabloids are scrambling to get the full scoop and be the first to name the father, especially if it turns out it's not Meyer.

Speaking of Dakota Meyer, what's really going on here? I admit, I'm curious. A surprise engagement to be followed by a quickie wedding two months later seemed a little strange. Then in the week before the wedding it came out that Meyer had been married before and kept it secret, followed by news that the wedding was off. Bristol insisted at the time that she had known all about the first marriage but if so, why was the wedding cancelled? Then came the pregnancy announcement with its conspicuous lack of an identified father. The whole thing is just strange.

When Bristol got engaged to Levi Johnston for the second time, back in 2010, I said that things were getting weird up in Wasilla and it's true again now. I've also said before that I'd love to know what Senator McCain really thinks about all this, and that's true again now too. Stay tuned. This story's not over.