Bristol Palin – Dancing With Danger?

Is Bristol Palin being in the spotlight of ABC's Dancing with the Stars becoming too much for the politician's daughter? 

Last week, a 67 year old Wisconsin man shoots his television, points gun at wife, threatens to shoot himself, ultimately leading to a 15 hour stand-off with police over Palin being on his favorite show.  According to The Smoking Gun he became upset that "a political figure’s daughter was dancing on this particular show when he did not think that she was a good dancer."

Then last Friday, L.A.P.D.'s Haz-Mat team was called to the the set of D.W.T.S. over a "suspicious white powder" scare.  The white powder turned out to be talcum powder TMZ reported.  Today, TMZ says Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas have received death threats, demanding heightened security.

I remember sitting next to my morning show's News Director at the radio station I worked for a few years ago.  He absolutely LOVED the show.  Aside from delivering the news, I tried to get this little soft spoken elderly gentleman to talk with me on-air about anything non news related.  The only thing he was willing to talk about was Dancing with the stars.  He didn't care who it was dancing, popular or not, someone he liked or not.  It was about who actually IS a talented dancer.

I guess the question now is, has the show gotten to the point of being nothing short of a popularity contest?  As I read article after article on this, folks on the "right" say "NO!  She's adorable and sweet and she is a fantastic dancer!"  While folks on the "left" say " Bristol is still there because her mom has a huge fan base that is voting for her."

So which is it?  Is Dancing with the Stars really a best dancer competition, or is the call-in voting format show simply a popularity contest?  Also, is Palin in danger of what some say, "shoving politics into popular television shows" and suffering the consequences of actual physical peril?  Or is this stuff just played-up to boost the show's ratings?

Please, tell me how you feel.  I am not inserting MY political views into this one, but tell me if you think the show has turned into a political popularity contest.  And yes... I know murder-1 on your television set is nutty.