Irene sent me this video of Kate Gosselin saying all this improbable, crazy stuff about how she is going to win on "Dancing with the Stars," and I have been thinking about it all day. And I have to say that rather than being irritated by it, I am actually glad that she is running her mouth this way.
Here's my thinking: Everyone reading this knows that dancing is something you either can or cannot do. It's like playing the trumpet or speaking a foreign language; in the end, you can't fake it. You might fake a few steps, but a whole number on that stage, no, it can't be done. She can fake, signify and pose all she wants, but there will come a night when she will have to hit that dance floor with millions of viewers -- many of whom do not like her -- watching. That's a night of reckoning to think about.
And it goes to the heart of what our discussion of "Jon & Kate Plus 8" has always been about. TLC said, "Hey America, here is an ideal mom," and thousands of mothers in the audience said, "No she's not." And many of those moms helped educate mainstream critics like me who started out happy to buy into the cable channel's hype.