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Sarah Palin Trademarking the Palin Brand
more from Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Sarah and Bristol Palin
Hubris knows no limits when it comes to the Palin clan. How do Sarah Palin® and Bristol Palin® sound to you? Get used to it. The Palin family lawyer, Thomas Van Fein, has filed an application on behalf of each of them to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Sarah Palin’s application (serial # 85170226) was registered on November 5, 2010, just three days after the midterms, while Bristol’s (serial # 85130638) was filed on September 15, 2010, a few days before her appearance on Dancing with the Stars on September 20. It turns out there are some problems with the applications and the Palins have six months to respond. Not surprising that Ms. Attention-to-Detail would leave a few i’s undotted and t-s uncrossed; that will become a part of the Palin legacy.
As Suzi Parker at Politics Daily writes, “Sarah Palin has become an industry.” Let’s face it, this all began when she achieved instant celebrity status during the McCain campaign. Arguably, she was more interested in showcasing herself at the time than she was playing for a win. Sarah Palin’s motto was clear even then: “I love me some me.”
She’s been all about generating income ever since. She quit the low-paying guv’s job to write books and become a public speaker. She tweets, she talks to the world from some remote holy mountain on Facebook when she is not slaughtering moose with poorly-aimed shots. She is engaging in self-approbation on a grand scale, not seen since the Pharaohs, doing Sarah Palin’s Alaska on TLC.
Her daughter has even gotten into the act – single mother, abysmal failure at abstinence, appearing on Dancing with the Stars and then charging thousands of dollars to tell kids not to do what she did as a spokeswoman for Candie’s Foundation. Do they Palin women know how to rock or what? They’re living the American dream.
At this point, they more closely resemble Ann Nicole Smith than they do genuinely important people – celebrities only because they’re celebrities, not because they’re known for any accomplishments. Quitting as governor? Losing a presidential election when you had God on your side? Losing on Dancing with the Stars?
No, if anything, the Palin’s seem more like a prosperity ministry directed at themselves than anything else.
She may well be a political force (a debatable point), even a king-maker of sorts, but her candidates tend to lose – Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Joe Miller…she is at odds with the Republican Party, doesn’t hold office, and polls demonstrate over and over again that the American people loathe her, making the likelihood of her ever again holding office seem remote at best.
But as Suzi Parker points out, “She has become a brand — and she’s trying to protect it by trademarking her name.” A brand. Even Saint Ronald wasn’t a brand. But Sarah Palin is a brand?
If so, the Palin women are a self-perpetuating brand, because that seems to be their raison d’être.
Entertainers might trademark their names to keep people from cashing in on their names or likeness but politicians don’t do it. Barack Obama isn’t trademarked. Neither is Mike Huckabee, or Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney. But then, those men aren’t in it for the money. They’re politicians. Sarah Palin left the nitty gritty for the bright neon lights and glitz, the bling.
Sarah Palin wants to be rich and famous, she wants power without responsibility, and she loves herself just a little more than is healthy. It’s unappealing enough in an athlete so see that kind of narcissism; it’s unacceptable in someone who pretends to care about the average American and in the common good, because the only good Sarah Palin is genuinely interested in is her own.
And as everyone knows (well, maybe not Sarah Palin) the gods punish hubris. Even victorious Roman generals weren’t so overcome with hubris that they didn’t let a lowly slave whisper into their ears that “all glory is fleeting.”
Something Sarah Palin ought to remember before she starts collecting for a statue on the Capitol Mall.
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17 Responses to Sarah Palin Trademarking the Palin Brand
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Sarah Jones
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 8:37 am
This is hysterical. The entire thing- can’t they fill out any forms properly? They have to “redo” their income taxes, their property taxes failed to mention the building they built on a parcel of land years ago, the SarahPAC forms were incorrect and missing required info, etc. But this person thinks she is smarter than the President? See, that’s the problem with narcissism and incompetence combined. She doesn’t know what she doesn’t know and she can’t see good management because she isn’t a good manager. She hires these people (and in the case of her disclosures on her taxes she wrote in her own pen so that’s on her).
Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 8:53 am
There is no end to the hilarity, Sarah. And what about this family lawyer of theirs? Where was he educated? He’s the guy that filed these; isn’t he supposed to make sure all the details are corrected? Sounds like he is as much out of his depth as the clan he represents. I shudder to think what would happen to a country as complex as any modern industrial nation were somebody as allergic to details as Sarah Palin to take the reins of government.
Leah Burton
Feb. 8th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Van Flein clearly dropped the ball, but what cracks me up as you have pointed out – these are the caliber of people *she* views as qualified. That is why she got so much flack over her Administrative appointments in Alaska. They would say that her Cabinet looked like a page out of her yearbook. The woman is clearly a fool – but she is one of way too many. And that is what is REALLY scary!
Gotta say though…it is an ugly world to constantly research and write on, so these totally expected snafus on her part are greatly appreciated. We all need a laugh here and there.
jtl
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 12:44 pm
She only completes part of the task…can not even pay someone to get the job done.. Funny and foolish..!!!
Thousands are getting the tms or rights for all the snarks and labels ahead of her because she did an ‘incomplete’ again!
Truth is stranger than fiction!
Reynardine
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 9:00 am
I heard Vidal Sassoon trademarked himself and successfully forced another hairdresser, who was really named Vidal Sassoon, to change his name. But he was genuinely supplying services and products. So far, Sarah Palin has not even packeted essence de pantiliner under her name as mean old white man bait, and Bristol has not designed a line of split-crotch yet panties, so I fail to see what there is to trademark or patent.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 9:17 am
Maybe she can demonstrate she provides the essential service of “hate” without which the Tea Party cannot function
Sarah Jones
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
I suggested in an earlier post she brand a line of flag-patterned uniforms for Hooters, since the Right thinks Hooters is a family values restaurant. If not that, then late night infomercials are the eventual landing spot for someone who couldn’t hold on to their TLC audience through 8 episodes, though maybe QVC would take her.
Shiva (Moderator)
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 10:18 am
I totally agree with “she wants power without responsibility”. she wants nothing to do with having to work for a living. She proved that as mayor and part time governor.
Its all about the cash and fame. And thats a star that burns out on a regular basis
Reynardine
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 10:44 am
That service is essential, but not unique, since equal in quantity and quality hate is being supplied by Rush Limburger, Glenn Backside, and many another. I therefore cannot see what makes hers distinguishable from others. There is even someone, whose name slips my mind, who is still meaner to animals. As for Ms. Palin’s cheap, floozy, shrieky stridency, that type of delivery was perfected by Karen Black four decades back, and at least Karen Black was acting. So, no unique product.
Ingarose
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 11:49 am
This was a great article on Sarah Palin. I am waiting for a good funny analasis of her speech yesterday at the Reagan ranch.
Anonymous
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Excellent post! It seems that education, knowledge, and professionalism go right out the window with the “Palin” brand but still they make money.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Ignorance sells to today’s conservatives
craigtamy
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Is stupid already taken as a trademark?
Hrafnkell
Feb. 5th, 2011 at 5:27 pm
There’s probably no need; people take one look at her and know who most embodies that trait
Conservative Heart
Feb. 6th, 2011 at 1:52 am
Look out, Nike!!! Look out, “SWOOSH!”
Here comes the Palin “WHOOPS!”
Montana
Feb. 8th, 2011 at 10:45 pm
So America fired the “half term governor” again! It’s so sad maybe we will see a show about Bristal book of knowledge, and then maybe not. Thank You America!