From Sullivan (who is famous for his constant attacks of Palin) The Unstoppable Bristol Palin, Ctd
A reader writes:
ABC may have shot itself in the foot with the casting of Bristol.
Judging by online posts and comments, there is a real outcry from longtime fans of the series at the apparant hijacking of the process by the Palin cult. Take into account that many of the Palin voters are either not watching (as admitted in several of those message boards cited on Jezebel and others that I've seen firsthand) or watching only for Palin, and chances are you're likely going to be losing those viewers in subsequent seasons no matter what. I seriously get the impression that a Bristol win might irrevocably damage the show's standing amongst the core audience who simply want to see the best dancer win.
Another writes:
The ABC message boards are hopping with people threatening to never watch the show again. They say that people are on to the Palins, and feel that ABC/DTWS producers have also helped rig things for ratings. In fact, there are some postings about how this is supposed to be "Dancing with the Stars" - and when was Bristol ever a star?
Another:
The message boards of some of these conservative pro-Palin sites have been scrubbed - just since last night. Moderators of these sites are now put in the embarrassing position of trying to hide the evidence of the inflated voting due to a technical snafu on ABC's website. Previously the messages on that board encouraged and bragged about taking advantage of that weakness in the system.