NEW CONTROVERSIES DOG PALINS
In words that her detractors might be ready to claim applies to her daughter Bristol, former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has struck out at the “talent-deprived” contestants on American Idol, who, she suggests, suffer from “the cult of self esteem.” 
Writing in her new book, America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, Sarah Palin remarks, “No one they have encountered in their lives — from their parents to their teachers to their president — wanted them to feel bad by hearing the truth. … So they grew up convinced that they could become big pop stars like Michael Jackson.” Her words were being published on the same day that her daughter Bristol’s talent was being subjected to intense criticism by fans of Dancing with the Stars, the ABC reality series on which she is a contestant, and her daughter Willow was being taken to task for letting loose with homophobic slurs on Facebook at a high-school acquaintance who criticized Sarah Palin’s Alaska, which launched on TLC last week. Meanwhile, Maksim Chmrekovskiy, the professional dancer who was singer Brandy’s partner, has expressed outrage at Bristol’s accusation that he had publicly criticized her performance. “Every time I’ve opened my mouth about Bristol, I’ve been nothing but supportive,” he told E!Online. He also criticized the show’s voting system, which allows viewers to vote multiple times, calling it “flawed.” But Conrad Green, the show’s executive producer, told the Chicago Tribune, “Who knows if the process is ideal? But what you can say is it’s fair for everyone. … It’s very clear what you need to do to vote. You’ll find many people who are outraged didn’t vote at all.”
