OK, life can be bizarre at times – got an email from my friend Steve asking "would you be willing to go on TV and talk about the influence of the TEA Party on "Dancing with the Stars?"
Riiiiggghhhhtt! You ARE putting me on, right? While TMEW is a fan, I pretty much am just a presence in the room when it is on. I can marvel at the athletic ability to do the dances, as a political blogger, it really isn’t (pun intended) my cup of TEA.
He wasn’t kidding. A few minutes after I emailed yes, I got a call from NECN asking if I would do an interview. Really? Me? What the heck do I know about dancing? Well, the premise of the question is
"Is the TEA Party influencing the vote for Bristol because of Sarah Palin’s connection with that movement (both her to it, and it to her)?"
Well, they schlepped all the way up from the more southern part of NH and did a 1/2 hour worth of time interview. We recorded them recording my response (bizarre that, as well); the YouTube starts a couple of moments after they started:
My overall reaction? Perhaps, but don’t conflate entertainment so much with politics. While I may watch because of The Most Esteemed Wife’s interest in the show, I do believe that there were better dancers technically that have been let go earlier, but to try to pin one on the other? Sure, she has improved (for the little time I actually watch the show), but to the level of the others? There may be some truth in it (TEA Party influence), but I think more on the side of “not TEA Party but Sarah fans”. But really folks, I think that the vast majority of the TEA Party folks have much more serious things on their minds than a reality TV show…
