Tea Party Plan to Get Bristol Palin a 'DWTS' Win

Conspiracy theories abound, many rooted in solid fact before they ramble off into the hinterlands of people's imaginations, held together by sometimes convincing but mostly thinly pieced-together logic. The latest conspiracy theory of note revolves around Dancing With The Stars finalist Bristol Palin and the fact that she's a finalist on Dancing With The Stars. As Fox News and other media outlets have reported, some believe that Bristol Palin, who just so happens to be the famous daughter of Tea Party flag-waver Sarah Palin, is being kept afloat on Dancing With The Stars simply due to political support from said Tea Party's ranks. Sounds trivial, but the media certainly is taking it seriously -- or they're at least taking the story of the Tea Party conspiracy story seriously enough to keep it in the news.

It isn't clear exactly from where the idea that Palin, seen by many -- including the Dancing With The Stars judges -- as the worst dancer on the show, was receiving help from the Tea Party actually originated but it certainly caught fire over the last couple weeks as she was consistently not voted off the show even though four of the five weeks saw her and her professional partner, Mark Ballas, record the lowest score of the dancing pairs. Yet it may have been Jimmy Kimmel's reference to Tea Party support on his talk show when he interviewed Brandy Norwood Monday night after she was voted off the show, noting that it was an "outrage" that she was eliminated from the show and lesser dancers (implying, of course, Bristol Palin) remained.

Regardless, the idea of a concerted effort by the Tea Party to get a vicarious win for their star, Sarah Palin, was out there and the media ran with it. The conspiracy theory incorporated ideas of orchestration, political motivations, and potential political windfalls for Sarah Palin should her daughter take home the Mirror Ball Trophy.

As can be seen, take a simple subject like a nationally televised dance competition, inject a controversial figure and the idea of voting manipulation or tampering, and you have instant conspiracy theory. Add a barely understood political movement and one has a political conspiracy theory. Again, take a few facts, then let them wander off into lands of ulterior motivations and potential intrigue...

Although it doesn't take dancing aficionados and expert judges to see that Palin is not the best dancer on Dancing With The Stars, it does take someone with quite the agile mind to put together the impetus for orchestrating a concerted effort to make certain Palin wins the contest. If anything, it has made her mother, the supposed vicarious beneficiary of her daughter's DWTS win, more of target for ridicule. And although the conspiracy theory idea might be intended to make Sarah Palin and the shadowy Tea Party political movement into puppet masters of some sort, it only legitimizes the fear of the idea that the Tea Party has voting power and reveals the conspiracy theorist as a potential lunatic.

And just how will Bristol Palin winning the competition actually help Sarah Palin politically? If anything, it sets her up for even more verbal and written derision. If the theory is true, the potential pay-off for the former vice presidential candidate seems either nonexistent or extremely minimal. In short: Exactly how would Palin's winning the Mirror Ball Trophy enhance Sarah Palin's political career?

And whatever happened to rooting for the underdog? Bristol Palin is certainly the very definition of the underdog and Americans truly enjoy a good David and Goliath tale. So is it so counterintuitive to think her low scores have generated enough votes to keep her in the competition?

Or what about her improvement as a dancer on the show, which was pointed out by Fox News' Hollie McKay? She didn't begin the show with an advantage, like R&B singer Brandy (choreographed stage shows) and actress Jennifer Grey (partially schooled in dance with the incomparable Patrick Swayze on the set of "Dirty Dancing").

Or could it be a groundswell of support and sympathy for just-turned-20-year-old who has seen her life become a matter of public record due to massive media exposure and her mother's seemingly megalomaniacal campaign to be remain newsworthy?

Maybe it is a confluence of these things and a few other factors -- like a few un-orchestrated phone calls made by interested Tea Party members -- that has seen Palin rewarded with enough votes to keep her competing on Dancing With The Stars.

But a conspiracy spearheaded by the Tea Party gets better airplay, so...

Perhaps the conspiracy theory hasn't been played out to its proper conclusion. Perhaps the conspiracy theory story about the Tea Party's involvement in keeping Bristol Palin on the dance show to enhance her mother's chances of getting elected in 2012 was generated by some shadowy liberal cabal of left-wing think tank elitists to actually disparage the half-term governor and her upcoming bid for the presidency. Perhaps it is an effort to make the controversial ex-governor seem manipulative, her supporters ulterior-minded and playing against the all that seems fair.

A conspiracy theory to explain a conspiracy theory? Perhaps, but that is the nature of the beast. And so the mystery deepens, broadens, lengthens, and continues...

Once a conspiracy theory is launched, it never settles. People still debate the voting results of Seasons 2 and 8 on American Idol, where the wildly popular Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert (who are, oddly enough, both gay) fell to seemingly far less popular contestants Ruben Studdard and Kris Allen, respectively. And if Palin goes on to defeat actress Jennifer Grey, long the frontrunner (along with Brandy) on Season 11's Dancing With The Stars, and actor Kyle Massey, the latest conspiracy theory about Sarah Palin and the Tea Party will never go away.

It seems that the The Man On The Grassy Knoll and Area 51 theories will simply have to make room for one more conspiracy...

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Source:

Hollie McKay, "Bristol Palin's 'DWTS' Success: Right-Wing Conspiracy or Improved Dancer Who Deserves To Win?", FoxNews.com