Accusations are flying this morning that conservatives have found a way to cheat the Dancing With the Stars voting system in order to keep Bristol Palin on the show. (You only have to click over to coverage of last night's results show to see just how worked up commenters are about the alleged rigging.)
Now, I'll be the first to point out that there seems to be some sort of Operation Shady Business with respect to last night's voting (more on that later), but what I'm not buying about the situation is that the Tea Party is behind it: What is there to possibly gain from having the daughter of a Tea Party hero win some crappy reality show?
(Now, before DWTS fans call for my head on a stick, I'd just like to say that while I think the show is sub-par, I do not think people who watch the show are sub-par. I'm simply reacting to the fact that whenever I've watched the competition, I've wanted to spoon my eyes out from sheer boredom; I'm not making any judgements beyond that. Oh, but I should also reveal that I actually do like Bristol Palin. Moving along ...)
As far as voting fraud is concerned, there seems to be hard evidence on conservative sites that Bristol supporters found a way to trick the system and cast an infinite number of e-mail votes for their woman. They then encouraged fellow conservatives to do the same with rallying words such as this:
You may not be a fan of the show or even Bristol but I firmly believe her continued success on the show demonstrates the power of the tea party.
The only thing this demonstrates to me is that Tea Partiers have a little too much time on their hands, are more tech-savy than I, and have questionable taste in TV. But as far as demonstrating the "power of the Tea Party"? I think the mid-term elections were a little more successful in said demonstration than whether or not Bristol stays on the show.
People, can we please stop confusing politics with mindless entertainment, especially when the Palins are concerned? Frankly, it's ruining the whole TV viewing experience.
What do you make of the Bristol Palin/Tea Party conspiracy theories?