Sarah Palin has been accused of being an addictive substance, in such headlines as (the following links in headlines are ours): “Why is Sarah Palin the crack cocaine addiction of the liberal party?” and “America’s addiction: Sarah Palin,” in which writer EL Marr says, “Sarah Palin is the *Movie Star* of American politics”– and we all know how deeply addicted America is to movie stars.
Writer and editor Andrea Higbie once warned that the country would have to get over its addiction to Sarah Palin. She put it this way:
As with any other addiction, people who need their daily Palin fix should expect to experience withdrawal pains from the daily headlines, the talk-show hilarity and all the communal fun they’ve come to count on to feed their daily habit.
But that was written more than two years ago, back in October of 2008, and it hasn’t happened yet. Palin’s son supposedly is or was addicted to something or other, and she has been accused of being addicted to oil, as well as to cheating the taxpayers by collecting travel allowance payments for sleeping at home in her own bed, as described in this video clip, “Sarah Palin’s Per Diem Addiction.”
One thing Palin has never been accused of is reluctance to share her feelings. Her latest assault on common sense was an interview in which she slammed the First Lady’s efforts to curb the childhood obesity epidemic. As everyone in the world has heard by now, this happened on a radio show hosted by Laura Ingraham. Sam Stein wrote for The Huffington Post,
For the second time this week, Palin threw jabs at Michelle Obama (the first instance came with the publication of Palin’s book), this time calling her campaign to improve child nutrition another instance of a philosophical devotion to big government.
Stein is a political journalist who has written for Newsweek, the New York Daily News, and the Center for Public Integrity. His post about this controversy chalked up almost 17,000 reader comments. He quotes Palin’s criticism of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! program to reduce childhood obesity:
What she is telling us is she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat… just leave us alone, get off our back, and allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions…
Well, it looks like Sarah Palin won’t be subscribing to the Food Addiction Paradigm any time soon. But in the unlikely event that she is reading this, we’d like to repeat some of the things said by children and teens who tell their stories at Weigh2Rock. They have not only admitted their addiction to food, but named the particular substances that they struggle so hard to give up, including sweet fizzy beverages like the one Palin is pictured with at the top of the page.
What the kids say:
I’m addicted to pop. If I don’t have at least one a day, I get migraines…
I am addicted to chips and pop, I can’t stop eating them.
I am addicted to Diet Pepsi… A big thing I have to work on is not drinking pop… I have to slowly stop this because I am addicted and if I don’t drink any caffeine I get horrible headaches that I sometimes pass out from.
One of my weaknesses is hot cheetos, I’m addicted to them, literally. I eat them almost every day.
I eat pretty healthy (besides 4 tablespoons of peanut butter a day cuz I’m an addict!!!)
… banana chips… just can not lay off of it. I’m totally addicted to it.
I’m addicted to frosted cereals.
I am addicted to cookies love them.
I just feel like I’m addicted to candy and super simplistic sugars that I know are horrible for me.
I’m addicted to McDonalds… and chocolate. I love chocolate so much I use a least 1500 of my calories a day to chocolate sometimes.
I am addicted to fatty and sweet foods.
I always have cereal, I’m like addicted to it, Cheerios mostly but other kinds too.
I have a candy addiction. Candy is my Kryptonite.
Get a clue, Sarah! Listen to the kids!
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “Getting Over Sarah Palin,” The Morning News, 10/23/08
Source: “Sarah Palin’s Per Diem Addiction,” YouTube.com
Source: “Palin Slams Michelle Obama Again, This Time For Anti-Obesity Campaign,” The Huffington Post, 11/24/10
Image by asecondhandconjecture, used under its Creative Commons license.
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