An uproar over Palin — Bristol, that is-Critics charge Tea Partiers Gaming Balloting

[RamboLiberal]

When TV viewers voted Bristol Palin into the finals of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," one of prime time's most popular shows, her opponent Brandy cried, a Wisconsin man shot his television in disgust, and the blogosphere lighted up like a Christmas tree on fire.

It was the seventh consecutive time this season that the 20-year-old newcomer to dance performance had beaten out an opponent despite having lower scores from the judges on TV's second most-watched program, which draws an average audience of more than 20 million. The reason for her surprising success, charged fuming critics and some viewers across the Internet, was that "tea party" activists had spearheaded a campaign that essentially stuffed the show's ballot box in favor of Sarah Palin's daughter.

This latest reality show tempest highlights the power of popularity over talent when mostly unregulated public voting is involved and, perhaps more dramatically, the polarizing effect of the Palin family name, which received prominent attention earlier this month in one of the most heated elections in recent memory.

The brouhaha began almost immediately Tuesday evening after Bristol was named a finalist, with celebrity websites like Jezebel.com declaring that "Palin Conservatives are Cheating" ABC's voting system and late night talk host Jimmy Kimmel calling Brandy, a popular singer and entertainer, the victim of "Hurricane Bristol." The dust-up lost little momentum Wednesday as radio host Rush Limbaugh predicted a Bristol backlash in next week's final voting, while Joy Behar told her colleagues on the "The View" that the young Palin will take the grand prize.

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But critics charge Palin supporters found a way to exploit the network's e-mail voting system, primarily through creating a flood of false e-mail addresses that allowed them to grossly over-vote. The show, which won't reveal details about its voting results, permits only five votes per phone line and five per e-mail address.


http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-1118-bristol-palin-20101118,0,3641255.story

[Canuckistanian]

1. I don't understand. What use are the judges?

It they're only going to get overruled by public votes?

Why even have the judges?

[pacalo]

22. Exactly -- use them or lose them. And cut out the phone/internet voting entirely.

Viewer voting is a popularity contest, not for grading talent.

The Palin kid vote is strictly based on politics & doesn't reflect the spirit of the contest. I'm surprised more viewers aren't shooting their tv sets. :silly:

[Horse with no Name]

25. The judges CAN do something that would be highly unpopular

They could game the system themselves and take Bristol out of the equation.
They could give the top 2 contestants perfect "30" scores and give Bristol "3" (1 from each judge).
There is no mathematical way that there would be enough phone calls to overcome that but it would basically put it in the voters hands between Jennifer Grey and Kyle.
It would work.
But they won't do it.

[DonCoquixote]

2. Silver Lining

This will make people see that a lot of her Mother's appeal is just as rigged.

[lob1]

3. I think this could really hurt the show down the road.

My 18 year old niece is totally apolitical. She's very disgusted with the show because, she says, it's obvious Bristol shouldn't be winning. My guess is she'll keep watching to see how this all turns out, but I think she might stop watching after that. She says the show has lost all credibility If that's the general feeling, I think then it's just a matter of time. Just my opinion.

[DJ13]

4. The same folks now known as tea baggers did it before on American Idol

Season eight finale vote: "Textgate"

In May 2009, following allegations in the media of an American Idol texting scandal dubbed "Textgate", one of American Idol's corporate sponsors AT&T, admitted providing free mobile phones and texting services for fans of Kris Allen at parties organized on the night of the program's final episode.<7> Company representatives also provided Allen's supporters with lessons in how to send "power texts" which send ten or more votes with the touch of a single button. Bobby Kierna, one of the 2,000 guests who attended just one of the events, told reporters that she had voted for Allen 10,840 times. AT&T denied attempting to "fix" the contest and apologized, saying that employees had been "caught up in their enthusiasm" and promised that it would not happen again.

The refusal of American Idol's broadcaster, FOX, to reveal any details of how the scores were counted, or how many votes Allen and Adam Lambert polled has led to speculation that FOX was part of an organized effort to rig the finale votes by supporting Allen, a clean-cut traditional Christian over Lambert, an openly gay singer, with American Idol suffering from falling ratings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_Idol_controversies#Season_eight_finale_vote:_.22Textgate.22


That the same kinds of people would do it again shouldnt surprise anyone.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. Strangely, I automatically lose respect for anybody who gives a fuck about this

The only sane response to the whole matter is a universal shrug, like, whatever.

[Mz Pip]

7. I am in agreement

If this is what plays out as important to the lives of the Tea Party Palin cultists, so be it. If they want to spend their evenings with DWTS on speed dial so they can repeatedly vote for Bristol as some sort of homage to the mama grizzly, have at it.

I. Really. Don't. Give. A. Shit.

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. I can't imagine how *anybody* could give a shit

I'm astounded.

[tomm2thumbs]

8. exactly - being voted 'Queen of the Circus' is important only to the elephants & clowns

please don't let Democrats be counted amongst either

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. So DWTS now has their own version of Idol's "Vote for the Worst"ers.

[mctpp]

9. fear.

Now its probably just all the churches and the repubs sending mass e-mail to supporters to tell them to vote for palin. I bet most of the people who vote for her dont even watch the show.

[wisteria]

10. Bristol Palin should be embarrassed if she wins and refuse to accept first place.

Her Mother's popularity with a segment of the population is the only reason she is where she is. If she has any sense of fair play, any scruples and any class, she will decline the first place title and hand it the the rightful winners.

[Control-Z]

21. Not a snowball's chance in hell.

Like her mother, Bristol thinks very highly of herself.

[Marr]

12. Who... gives... a fuck.

Jesus Christ. I think I've got shit stuck to my shoe that's more important than this, cosmically speaking.

[SoCalDem]

13. They are surprised that a Palin or Palinites would cheat?

Where HAVE these people been:)

Their type cheats..it's just that simple.

If you have judges, their vote should count for at least 75%, and obvious cheating/gaming should be grounds for disqualification..

[spin]

28. Howard Stern was a driving force behind the Sanjaya vote on American Idol ...

I remember having a blast voting for him several hundred times at least.

I did it mainly to show how stupid these programs are.

[struggle4progress]

14. Hey, if they all want to spend their time making sure everybody gets a chance to see

Moose Chili's child dance, it's fine by me

[malaise]

15. I saw a clip on some show

and she doesn't even dance - she can't dance. She was unbelievably bad

[butterfly77]

27. On the last show..

she looked like a bat flapping its wings..

[Tx4obama]

16. See the link below it explains how they are cheating the voting system

How Palin Conservatives Are Cheating The DWTS Voting System
http://jezebel.com/5691445/how-palin-conservatives-are-cheating-the-dwts-voting-system#ixzz15VWXrgQc

[brettdale]

17. I dont trust

These shows, doesnt matter if its palin or not, i dont trust the,

[area51]

18. Isn't it heartworming, er, heartwarming,

how freepers/teabaggers are rallying to support an unwed mother of two? :evilgrin:

[Tx4obama]

19. The next time you hear Bristol Palin say she's a struggling single mom think of what's below....

From wiki answers:

The Stars get paid $ 125,000 for the first 2 episodes and then $20,000 for each week thereafter.
They also get an addition $50,000 bonus if they make it to week nine of the competition.
So it works out to a maximum of $245,000 after it is all said and done.

p.s. Next week is week Ten.
p.s. Bristol and Mark have had the lowest scores for the past three weeks in a row,
with a total of having the lowest score FIVE times out of first nine weeks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_with_the_Stars_(U.S._season_11)

[earth mom]

20. The right wing fundie nutcases pulled this shit on Adam Lambert too so that he wouldn't win

American Idol.

Fuck ABC and the fundies for trying to push the trailer trash Palins on the country. I hope their ratings tank and the show is cancelled!

Karma is a bitch. :evilgrin:

[LawnLover]

23. It's DANCING WITH THE STARS. Who cares? nt.

[Mona Blue]

24. Facebook group devoted to getting Bristol voted off LOL

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vote-Against-Bristol-Palin-on-Dancing-With-The-Stars/142573635792928

[Archae]

26. Who gives a bloody fuck?

It's an asinine concept of a TV show that appeals only to absolute morans.

"Dancing With The Stars!"

"Stars" that are washed-up has-beens, at best.