Wyoming Vote Tracker

Do you ever have one of those weird days where the totally unexpected happens? Today was one of those days for me. I am a big fan of Fox News (I know, you’re shocked beyond belief at that statement). Last month, my parents had Fox News on their Dish Network free previews. Sadly, the free preview was half over by the time we discovered it.

So, I spent weekends at my parents to take in all the free Fox News I could. I mourned the last Monday (Mar. 2nd) that I would be able to watch Fox News at my parents. The next weekend I arrived at my parents for Sunday dinner and Mom notified me, much to Dad’s disappointment, that Fox News was still available. Later on, I checked the free preview channel, and it wasn’t listed as a free preview, but nevertheless, the receiver still picked up Fox News. I watched another weekend of Fox News, uncertain if it was just a fluke, perhaps someone forgot to flip the switch. Maybe a producer or IT person at Fox News was reading my @foxnews laden tweets that spiked on Sundays and Mondays and called up Dish and told them to keep Fox News on my parents account. Maybe Fox News was now in the lower bracket my parents were in.

This weekend, I arrived for Sunday dinner again, and this time Dad told me that they were still getting Fox News, this time drawing protests from Mom, as if I wasn’t going to be curious enough to find out on my own. Besides, I know deep down, Mom likes having Fox News, because she now has a draw for me to spend more of my limited time at their house.

As I was watching, I decided to peruse the Dish Network site, and discovered, that in addition to changing the names of their packages again, that Fox News was in fact in the lineup of channels available in the second-to-lowest-priced package, which is the one my parents have.

Why you needed to know all that, I don’t know. It just adds an interesting flavor to the story. I was watching Fox News, just prior to Live Desk coming on the air. A Live Desk tweet came up that asked about the Bristol/Levi break up. I couldn’t believe that story was still in the news.

I’ve tweeted in reply to Live Desk before, and I will in the future. But I couldn’t help but tweet in reply to this. So, I tweeted thusly @livedesk:

• I’m not sure Levi should’ve gone to the press the way he did. Makes him look bad and builds support for Bristol.

• I think it would be great if they got back together, but they both need to be committed to the relationship.

I then realized, my first tweet my be misunderstrood, so, I wrapped up with

• BTW, I have no problem supporting Bristol. Her family and real friends support her, which is needed. Levi should have thought more

Now, did I expect to get read on the air? No. Fox News, as much as I like it, is HUGE. It hasn’t happened before, though I have had media exposure thanks to KCWY in Casper, Ruffin Prevost of the Billings Gazette, and one of the Park County Republican Women.

Live Desk came on the air and I watched with anticipation to find out what others were going to say. I already knew what I had said. Meanwhile, an email arrived in my inbox that LiveDesk was now following my updates. *GASP* Was this a sign of things to come? A weird coincidence? Now I was watching even more eagerly.

Finally, the moment came for Trace Gallagher to go see what Molly was reading on Twitter about Bristol and Levi. She started reading, and then the camera switched and I saw MY picture next to the words I had tweeted earlier in the day! Molly went on to read “I think it would be great if they got back together, but they both need to be committed to the relationship. I’m not sure Levi should’ve gone to the press the way he did. Makes him look bad and builds support for Bristol.”

Of course, I had to tweet THIS experience! It’s not everyday a blogger/tweeter from little ol’ Wyoming gets mentioned on Fox News, let alone having two tweets read on the air on the same subject! Talk about your Rocky Mountain high (even if it wasn’t in Colorado)!

So because you can only say so much on Twitter (140 characters or less), I figured a blog post is due.

I have for several months been a Sarah Palin fan. Ever since I first heard her mentioned by Rush Limbaugh, shortly after Sen. McCain became the presumptive GOP nominee. After a lot of thought, she became my favorite choice for Veep, though I saw it as a long-shot pick. Sen. McCain didn’t seem like the type to pick her.

Needless to say, I was stunned when the Friday between conventions came and the news broke that Gov. Palin was going to be his pick. Then the rumors came that baby Trig was in fact Bristol’s baby, and the Governor came out said that in fact, her daughter was pregnant; she and the father were planning to get married, she was going to have the baby, etc. I was fine with all that. Less than ideal? Yes, but they were making the best of the situation they were in. The media meanwhile seemed like they were on a full court press to make the people believe that Bristol was the first teenager to get pregnant.

My impression was let the Palin family be the Palin family. I would have loved it if Bristol had not been pregnant, but she wasn’t the one running for office, her mom was. What struck me was that her mom seemed to be like my mom. I seemed to get the impression that Gov. Palin and her husband were the type of parents that were telling their oldest daughter they still loved her and were going to be there for her.  And at the time Bristol announced her pregnancy to them, they probably expressed their loving disappointment to her.

Fast forward to December, Bristol gives birth. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, Bristol gets an interview with Greta! In the interview, which was her choice, she encourages teens to put the breaks on starting a family. “Wait like, ten years” to get your education done and career started, get used to being married. She sounded great. She spoke highly of the “hands on dad” that Levi was. In the interview, America’s Governor brought her first grandbaby into the room and chatted a little with Greta. She talked about how great Bristol and Levi were making of the situation, and how proud she was of her daughter wanting to be an advocate. She noted how Bristol had friends before her pregnancy, but after the fact, many abandoned her and it was in the tough times you found out who your friends were. The ones that had to talk bad about her to the media had abandoned Bristol in her time of need.

Fast forward to a few days ago, and Levi is all over the news about how he and Bristol “mutually broke up a while back.” Now in all this, Bristol has not been on camera, though she has been quoted as being distraught.  I can imagine her being distraught. It wasn’t long ago she spoke highly of her baby’s birth father on national TV. Granted, he didn’t exactly “trash talk” about Bristol, but to (presumably) go to the AP and say “it was over long ago” after Bristol’s kind words? That still doesn’t set well with me, even after the Good Morning America interview-from-the-driver’s-seat-clarification about still being friends, still getting to see Tripp whenever he wants, as well as being too immature to be a dad.

As I impliued in my tweeting this morning, Bristol and Levi need to get back together and continue pursuing their plans to get married. That would be ideal. It would at least make the best of the situation at hand, and it’s likely pretty consistent with the Judeo-Christian ethic that the Palin children have been raised in. Now if Levi doesn’t want to be a part of it, that’s his choice, but he doesn’t need to go talking to media–who utterly dislike my favorite Governor and will do anything to make sure it looks like there’s something terribly wrong with her family–and talking about how “Hey, I’m immature, but I still get to see my kid.” I’m pretty sure America’s Governor would like it if her grandson’s father would keep statements like that under his hat, especially when talking to the press. I’m sure that some years down the road, Bristol doesn’t want to have explain to her firstborn his father’s words in the early months of his life.

If it’s the limelight he’s concerned about, he should have thought about that before he fell head over heels for the oldest daughter of Alaska’s Governor (and if he had been thinking of that, he should have known, sooner or later, she was going to turn heads nationally). Of course now that he’s announced the breakup, he’s in the limelight, being pursued by the press wanting to the how’s and why’s, all in an attempt to, in a round about way, smear America’s Governor. Now in America’s heartland, and other areas of similar mindset, Levi looks bad, whether or not he says “We’re still friends,” and even if it’s not his intent to (emotionally) hurt Bristol or (politically) her mom, it is the left-leaning, drive-by media’s desire for at least her mom’s popularity to be negatively affected, thus their obsession with the story. This too will fail.

As a former Senator from Wyoming has said many times, politics is a full contact sport. Governor Palin, if you’re reading this (or any of your staff), I know you’re tough enough to take the negativity from the press, but I also know it’s not fun, and especially in this case, it’s undeserved. You are a great leader, and you have a great family (including your oldest daughter and your grandson). Hang in there and keep on doing what you do best, loving your family, leading the great people of Alaska, and energizing the base of the Republican party. At the end of the day, those of us in the real world will notice and we’ll be there for ya.’

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