Bigotry Catapults Willow Palin Into the Spotlight

And then the next thing you know, another Palin pops out of the woodwork. This time, it’s 16-year-old Willow Palin’s turn to frolic in her own notoriety, but hers is not a shining moment to make her mama grizzly proud—or at least let’s hope not.

The drama unfolded, naturally, within the sacred space of meaningful communication and interpersonal exploration known as Facebook, where Willow spoke up for her mom after a schoolmate offered his rather unsupportive critique of her new TV reality show, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” All right, fine, but the manner in which Willow attempted to shut him down was the problem, as she let fly with a couple depressingly common homophobic slurs. This was not an effective object lesson in conflict management and tolerance.

But then, on Wednesday, a group of gay GOPers known as GOProud stepped in to address the controversy. Surely, one would imagine, they’d point out the error of her ways, speaking as they do in her familiar tongue of Republicanese? That’s where one would be wrong.  —KA

Gawker:

Now — days after their well-circulated (and comically received) letter to new Republican leaders to avoid playing up social issues when there are so many economic and government spending problems to work with — they’re defending Willow Palin, who called someone a “faggot” amidst a Facebook conflagration in which every Alaskan child participated ...

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AP / Eric Jamison

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, with daughter Willow holding the then-Alaska governor’s son Trig, campaigns at an October 2008 rally in Henderson, Nev.