Analysis: Joanna Pacitti a "failed pop star"?

Well, it looks like Yahoo! is no fan of 23-year-old Season 8 hopeful Joanna Pacitti. The headline "Failed pop star pollutes 'Idol'" today appeared on the famed web portal, followed by an incredible hack job on Joanna by "Reality Rocks" blogger Lyndsey Parker, in which she was compared to Season 7's sixth-place finalist, Carly Smithson. Read an excerpt of Parker's blog below:

Anyway, I honestly can NOT believe the AmIdol producers are up to their old sneaky tricks in season 8. You'd think after all that Carly hullaballoo, they would steer clear of such blatant favoritism and the inclusion of what are known in the Idol blogosphere as "plants." But...no. Along with an actual (Archuleta-associated!) Osmond and Jason Castro's little brother, this season features a particularly poisonous plant: Joanna Pacitti.

Joanna, who auditioned on Wednesday night's Louisville episode, is basically Carly 2.0.

Parker continued to "expose" Joanna's past by unearthing music videos, an album and other projects that she has worked on in the past.

Now, I believe the situation we have here is extremely different from last season's fiasco. Did Parker not watch the Louisville auditions Wednesday night? Did the producers not blatantly make it known to us viewers that Joanna had a past with A&M Records et al? The situation with Carly was extremely different because the producers tried to keep her past failures in the music biz under wraps (which they have now learned can never happen because someone is going to dig it up).

So although I am very critical of Joanna being included for her past, as I myself have never liked the whole plant aspect that has developed on the show over the past few seasons, I am willing to let her prove herself before crying fowl. I give the producers credit for at least putting everything out in the open.

But "polluting 'Idol'"? C'mon Parker, that's harsh.