The truth in all this lies, as per usual, somewhere in the middle.

Where there's a problem is going off on a kid, even if they're 16'ish years of age. I did some pretty stupid shit at that age, and looking back, I would have went off on me had I been seeing me do that. Now, is there a good reason to? Possibly...but I got to remember I made some of the same types of mistakes--maybe not this egregious/high-profile, but mistakes nonetheless. That's what R13 needs to remember.

For the rest of it--Palin put her kids in the spotlight, without teaching them how to handle it correctly. Mainly b/c she doesn't know how too handle it herself, but that's beside the point. Now...her kids should know that whatever idiocy they decide to toss out there is going to end up splashed on the front pages. That's the nature of the media especially these days. The fact that the media took it and ran with it isn't an attack on them b/c they're going to report it b/c they're high-profile people in a high-profile family. Their misstep is news. The media reporting it is not an attack at all. It's a mistake on their part.

When Prince Harry got caught wearing a Nazi uni to a Halloween party a few years ago--there weren't people out there saying the media was attacking him by reporting it. There were plenty of people out there calling him a dumbass for not recognizing that he'd get caught and called out on it because he's Prince facking Harry.