During Sarah Palin’s UNcampaign-campaign road trip some raw footage was shot, posted online and has since gone viral. In fact, I’ve seen the clip on so many sites I can’t figure out who to ht/.
The clip is of Sarah and Piper on the street, stopped by a small handful of reporters. Sarah actually approaches one of the reporters, a gesture I’m sure she meant as an ‘Ok I’ll talk to you guys now’ invitation to chat. Unfortunately, it seems her youngest daughter Piper didn’t get the memo as she becomes physically aggressive towards a man extending a microphone to her mother, literally pushing her own body against his protectively herding him away from Sarah like a trained cattle dog.
In response, the reporter(s) try to move in closer, even as Sarah herself moves towards them, trapping Piper a circle of big people who inadvertantly crowd Piper as a result.
I have many comments to make here. Just as soon as my blood stops boiling and I can focus without seeing red…
Parenting comes with a unique set of basic instincts that helps us protect our children while they’re infants. More often than not those instincts continue to grow as we grow into our roles as parents and our children grow into adults. But some parenting skills need to be learned. Beyond the traditional skills of cooking, nesting and earning a living, there are social skills that we as parents need to learn ourselves in order to instill in our children. Good habits and manners must be learned before they can be passed along. Parents need to learn communication skills to guard against sending our kids mixed or wrong messages. But when the parent is overly wrapped up in his or her own life or work or drama…
Piper’s behaviour in this video clip is clearly learned. She has obviously overheard her mother and father and their friends and security teams and advisors discuss the evils of the media and how important it is for Sarah not to be shanghied by reporters asking questions that would unravel Sarah’s political chances in her uncampaign-campaign for president.
Piper proves this by deliberately interjecting herself into what any other child would perceive as just another adult conversation. In a gesture designed to protect her mother from the evil reporter asking his evil questions, Piper rushes to the rescue. Piper would have no motive to display hostility towards these reporters without being taught by an adult. Clearly she is responding to attitudes learned in the home.
First and foremost, look at the beginning of the clip:
You’re in an unfamiliar town on a crowded street. Put clothes on your kid. It was not appropriate for Piper to be in a crowd of mostly male reporters with hotpants-styled short-shorts. Longer shorts that covered the thighs – perhaps. But if the tee-shirt was meant to set the theme, designer jeans would have been more age-appropriate for this predictable scenario. This wasn’t the desert. You weren’t at the beach. This was a public crowd on a city street which promised to only get bigger as more people identified you as Sarah Palin. Did you really mean for your young daughter to be bare-legged in a crowd full of strangers, mostly male?
Please note in the above still that Sarah was the one to approach the reporter – not the other way around. Sarah crossed in front of Piper to get to the reporter and offer a handshake.
It could be argued that Piper moved in between her mother and the reporter to attract attention but – look how she’s already pushed his right arm against his chest with her shoulder.
And now she’s literally using her whole body to push him away from Sarah – who, by the way, continues to move forward, speaking throughout (and not missing a single talking point) yet clearly overlooking her daughter’s actions, ignoring her presence entirely.
And while Sarah moves closer to the blocked-by-Piper reporter, other reporters are also moving closer and Piper begins to whine. Sarah appears oblivious to her daughter’s unpleasant predicament and just keeps talking.
And here’s the still that almost got lost in the commotion. Sarah’s chatting away, the reporter who is personally blocked by Piper desperately reaches over Pipers head with his microphone while attempting all the while to not crowd Piper in the process, as evidenced by his careful posture and the fact that he placed his other arm between Pipers head and his chest. But the parent in the room is the gentleman reporter on the left…
…that’s what a parent does to protect his child from falling, from being hit, from being crowded. A parent extends his arm to keep the child safe – from walking or falling in harm’s way.
Piper is now whinging, crying out “leave me alone!” and Sarah just keeps talking.
My feeling – and while it’s my own it’s not an uneducated or inexperienced observation – is that Piper has been growing up for the past three years in an atmosphere of adults complaining about how bad reporters are and how much they hurt her mother. Children have their own built-in instincts and Piper is just at the beginning of the age where kids dream of being the hero.
I don’t for a moment believe Piper has been vying for attention in this or any of the road-trip-from-Hell photos taken of her restless, apparently rude behaviour. I believe she thinks she’s coming to her mother’s rescue. Putting herself betwen her mother and the enemy would be a brave thing to do.
And if you’d lived in a home where the media was constantly portrayed as evil, vile, lame and ‘out-to-get-you’ – you’d probably think it was brave, too.
June 1, 2011 at 8:56 pm
Excellent post! But whoever said Quitler is a good example for parents? Only in her twisted mind…
June 1, 2011 at 9:03 pm
I did not see the things you did Oz until you pointed them out. I’m glad I looked again with fresh eyes. How’s your itchy heel?
June 1, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Good analysis and I totally agree. She’s not looking for more attention from Sarah (not that she’d get it anyway) but I do think there is a fantasy that she can be her mother’s protector.
What a sad, sad commentary that is on all things Palin. That child will pay for all this commotion as she navigates her way toward adulthood.
June 1, 2011 at 9:21 pm
palin totally ignores her daughter’s posturing and continues to engage the reporter. As a mother, I cannot fathom how palin was able to ignore that and keep on talking. Our instinct is always aimed at our children. I KNOW I would’ve stopped the interview and taken her aside to find out what was going on with her. This is NOT normal behavior and that child was dressed inappropriately.
June 1, 2011 at 9:25 pm
And..where is Trig?? Not that I’m suggesting he should be on the magical mystery tour with her but ever since he grew into toddlerhood we havent’ seen or heard anything about him. This woman is the worst excuse of a mother I’ve seen. You’d think after the way she used him as a prop she’d make some kind of effort to at least appear as though he’s important to her now even though his ‘job’ is over.
June 1, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Hey Toad,
Man up and stand up to your wife and demand that these kids go home to live a normal life. Poor piper can’t even depend on her dad to protect her, she already knows her mom is useless. Where are grandma and grandpa, aunts and uncles…….sick.
June 1, 2011 at 11:03 pm
Trig is most likely chloroformed and hung in a closet until the ‘family’ returns.
There are no maternal instincts in the slut dressed in pink.
Sadly, Dad, Grandpa, Aunts, cousins galore are there, but nobody is paying attention to the child body guard. She is growing up fast. Her legs are already bigger than her mother’s.
June 1, 2011 at 11:26 pm
Thank you for this. I have said all along that Piper is a victim. This underscores my belief. Her behavior is learned. Watch how she moves. She has been used as a shield by her mother for years, and her reaction is immediate and so very sad.
June 1, 2011 at 11:35 pm
To be fair, Palin was crossing over to shake hands with the veteran-looking senior, not the journalist. However, Palin’s ignoring of her daughter’s safety was exactly as you say.
June 1, 2011 at 11:46 pm
I think there’s also some genuine exhaustion with the whole traveling circus shtick on Piper’s part.
It’s entirely possible that she’d like to have a shot at being a kid. You know, go on vacation with the family and not have mom jumping in front of the camera to complain about the media or to pop off with the same talking points she spewed at the last guy with a microphone and a camera…
I can well imagine how tedious much of this is for Piper, especially if she’s used to getting her way. She looks increasingly impatient and disapproving of the entire freak show and I can’t blame her.
June 2, 2011 at 3:03 am
Here’s video of Palin’s lame attempt at parenting – ‘Piper to apologize’ but is done by Palin herself. (at end of video)
Confirms that Palin or someone in the circle reads the ‘Blogs’!!
http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/sarah-palin-in-jersey-city-20110601-KC
June 2, 2011 at 4:12 am
But that was not an apology, Piper walks away clearly not giving a crap that her mother read a blog and now wants to apologize for her “behavior” in a very half ass way.
June 2, 2011 at 6:06 am
Very good post. The nonverbal cues are so right on and are very important. There are many, many nonverbal cues when Palin is on film, especially with Piper, and Bristol.
June 2, 2011 at 6:17 am
Piper may feel a need to protect her mother because mom has so often played the victim. Still, it’s obvious the child has never been schooled in the art of decent public manners and doesn’t know how to behave appropriately. Someone else here noted her inappropriate clothing for this event, another characteristic often on display by her mother.
June 2, 2011 at 6:40 am
I agree with you Oz – and the more you look at the footage, you realize that instead of using body language or position to change the dynamic, Sarah exacerbates the situation by reaching out to the reporter, by boxing Piper in more tightly.
I hate the fact that the first reporter has pushed the microphone literally right into Piper’s face.
I hadn’t thought of the short shorts, as you did, but it’s a very good point. And what kind of shoes is Piper wearing – are they sandals? Again, if you were escorting your child through a location that you expected to be a crowd and a crush, wouldn’t you tell them to wear sneakers instead?
As to the non-apology apology – it shows me that Palin hasn’t a clue about proper social ritual. She sets up this pointless public gesture of apologizing to a completely different group of reporters, for an offense that none of them experienced. And when Piper bails on her, she just flings the flowers at random people – it’s clear to her that it really doesn’t matter who receives her apology, only the fact that she can be publicly shown uttering it.
Plus, the most lasting takeaway from the public apology is that it puts Piper’s rude behavior once again in the news cycle; in fact, the poor child is publicly shamed by her mother, who tells everyone that Piper was rude yesterday.
June 3, 2011 at 3:32 am
I have zero respect for Sarah and Todd as parents. Children deserve to have their privacy and dignity respected, regardless of the ambitions of their parents.
It was exceedingly unwise and exploitive for the Palins to put their children on a reality TV show (just ask Kelly Osbourne if spending one’s teen years on reality TV is a good idea).
Now, on Sarah’s ego trip, poor Piper is not being protected by her lousy parents and grandparents. It is painful to see the girl so mistreated, and shamed, in public, by the very people who should be protecting her from the glare of the spotlight.
The Bushes and the Clintons vigorously protected their children from the media circus. Completely aside from politics, I admire them as parents. I have total disdain and contempt for the Palins as parents.
June 8, 2011 at 1:52 am
This whole scenario just makes me feel so bad for this little girl. How exposed she is! I have an 8 year old (nine in September) and to see her push her body up against the journalist who is trying to do his job while protecting his integrity and her little girl just blows me away. Free Piper!
Do you have a larger image of the first shot? I swear Sarah’s shoes look like they’re three sizes too large.
June 8, 2011 at 3:40 am
@Karen – no I tried enlarging this because the shoe size also caught my attention – but it pixelates on me so this is all I have.
This is not the only pair of shoes that look too big for her feet (google ‘sarah shoes too big’ and you’ll get images of her in others)- I have no clue how she walks in oversize shoes but she seems to manage so maybe it’s an optical illusion?
I have a foot that swells from sitting too long and when I need to go out I wear a shoe one size up – but inevitably the swelling goes down and I end up hobbling like crazy and walk right out of it. So if Sarah’s shoes are in fact too big – I’ve no idea how she stays upright.
August 5, 2011 at 2:52 pm
“It was not appropriate for Piper to be in a crowd of mostly male reporters with hotpants-styled short-shorts.”
Oh come on. I live in Adelaide. My 10yo wears short shorts and Crocs all the time. A lot of her friends do too. Now I don’t like Sarah Palin at all. But I won’t hold her kid’s choice of clothes against her.
If she did follow your advice and tell Piper to wear more “appropriate” clothes — because the child’s clothes might be sexually stimulating to middle-aged male reporters — then I’d think even less of Palin’s parenting than I already do. Not only would that be a bizarre lesson to be teaching your daughter, but the implication of paedophillic letchery is also deeply insulting to the reporters too.
I really think you let your dislike of Sarah Palin shine though in that comment, because it doesn’t stand up to any thought at all. I doubt you set out in writing your article to show that Ms Palin is more of a feminist that you are, but that’s what you’ve ended up doing.
August 27, 2012 at 1:53 am
glen please, it’s also her mother just letting them dress any type of way, another way of not protecting, raising them at all.