Picture of the Day

Palin. Shit. I'm still writing about Palin.

So Sarah Palin got all dolled up for her triumphant return to Fox News and was predictably greeted by the paparazzi she'd called in advance. I always thought it was needlessly snobby for the truly wealthy to look down on the nouveau riche, but taking this sight in from head to toe, I kind of get it now. If the first thing that pops into your mind as you feast your eyes upon Palin -- in her reflective wraparounds and Valentino-meets-Jeffrey Campbell high-heels -- isn't the old adage about money not buying class, well then it had better be something along the lines of "The nannies have tucked the kids in -- it's girls night out in Orlando, ladies!"

Pretty soon I'm going to return to this site in a very authoritative way. I'm going to do it because, quite frankly, I miss my home and I feel like I've drifted too far away from it. For now, though, let's resurrect a classic from the DXM vault that dissected Sarah Palin's initial transformation from dumb-ass backwater hick to phony-baloney populist belle of the ball.

The Meta-Metamorphosis of Sarah Palin (Originally Publishes, 10.24.08)


Remember Sarah Palin's hilarious appearance on Saturday Night Live last weekend?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

The truth is that Palin's SNL cameo was, by almost any reasonable standard, entirely uneventful -- shocking only for its complete lack of shock. I'm not sure what most people were expecting, but given her reputation for self-satisfied feistiness I think it's safe to say that Sarah Palin-as-barely-there-window-dressing probably wasn't it. Think about it: the woman who's been a weekly punching bag for a bunch of New York City wise-asses who can barely hide their disdain for her finally gets a chance to turn the tables and take a few shots of her own on national television and what does she do? Nothing. She talks to Lorne Michaels, shakes hands with Alec Baldwin, doesn't even speak to Tina Fey -- who's been personally responsible for the merciless mocking which many believe has helped to cement her image as a worldwide laughing stock -- but instead allows Fey to shoot her a look of absolute contempt, and throws her hands in the air for an "Alaska Rap" that makes MC Rove's little dance a couple of years back look like Chris Brown.

Sure, the writers likely had plenty of say in just how Palin would be used on the show -- but she's a candidate for the second highest office in the free world. Don't think for a second that she couldn't have flexed some muscle to ensure that she'd come off less like a wallflower and more like the kick-ass Vice Presidentrix holding her own in the lion's den against the snooty liberal onslaught she regularly rails against in small towns across America.

She could've done that. She had the chance -- not to be rude or vicious, but to be sharp and assertive -- and yet she didn't take it.

Why?

Simple.


Because no matter what she says to the robotic throngs of Joe Six-Packs who show up at her rallies -- no matter how strenuously she demonizes the so-called elitism of those Times-reading pseudo-intellectuals on the coasts -- make no mistake: She loved every second of being on Saturday Night Live.

Loved it.

She couldn't get enough of hearing the audience laugh.

It thrilled her to no end to shout, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!"

She got wet when Alec Baldwin stroked her hand and spoke to her in that soothing tone.

Sarah Palin was, in a word, starstruck -- both by those around her and, yes, by herself and how far she'd come. There she was, living out her Small Town TV Reporter/Miss Alaska Pageant fantasy of being on one of the biggest entertainment stages in the country, surrounded by celebrities. And she was the hottest thing there -- the belle of the ball.

We know this because according to SNL costume designer Tim Broecker, Palin was somewhat of a prima donna, upset that producers wanted her to wear the same kind of red skirt suit that Tina Fey's dead-on impression of Palin wears each week -- the kind Palin herself wore when she first hit the campaign trail. As it turns out, however, Fey's parody may not be so dead-on anymore, at least not when it comes to the way she dresses. Put simply, Tina Fey's version of Sarah Palin's fashion is so September, and Palin saw no reason to go back to that frumpy look, even for a comedy bit -- not when she'd worked so hard and spent so much of the Republican National Committee's money over the past few weeks to carefully cultivate a new image as America's Next Next-to-Top Executive.

By the way, now might be a good time to remind yourself of that whole Obama-Paris Hilton comparison that John McCain shamelessly pushed earlier this year and marvel at how the entire McCain campaign has become one constantly constricting Ouroboros of bald-faced hypocrisy.


Sarah Palin honestly thinks she's a star -- a pop culture icon. She now believes her own hype.

That pandering and sloganeering and droppin'-her-g's garbage? That's all a means to an end. I have no doubt that Palin actually buys into the crap she's shoveling -- that she's a True Believer in the power of Joe Six-Pack and a lockstep warrior for nonsensical neo-con values. It's just that over the past several weeks, it's become glaringly obvious that Sarah Palin's primary concern throughout this campaign has always been Sarah Palin. Like the proverbial ingenue, she was plucked from relative obscurity by a sad, aging once-great looking for that last shot at glory -- a guy convinced that her youth and vitality would be just what he needed to finally thrust him into the big time. And like the Hollywood ending that you could've seen coming a mile away, the ingenue quickly outgrew the one-time father figure and realized that he was actually nothing more than an obstacle on her own road to fame and fortune. Just like John McCain now at least partially blames Sarah Palin's shallow ignorance for his spiraling political fortunes, make no mistake that Sarah Palin -- in a breathtaking lack of gratitude -- likewise blames McCain's doddering buffoonery for hers, which is why, if you pay close attention, you can see that she's already subtly distancing herself from her running mate in what some are saying is an effort to sow the seeds of a personal run for the presidency in 2012.

As he often does, Bob Cesca cranked out a pretty entertaining piece for the Huffington Post recently in which he heralded the death of what he calls "Larry the Cable Guy Politics"; the idea being that for years Republican mainstays like George W. Bush have been playing dress-up, pretending to be just your average uneducated dumb-asses in an effort to ingratiate themselves to the real uneducated dumb-asses they rely on to keep them in power -- the same way comedian Dan Whitney has assumed the entirely fraudulent persona of "Larry the Cable Guy" because it's made him really, really rich. Cesca likens it to the meta-performance of Mark Wahlberg playing Eddie Adams playing Dirk Diggler playing Brock Landers in Boogie Nights. But now comes this little twist: that Sarah Palin, despite actually being a hockey mom and working off the premise that she's just Jane Six-Pack when trying to sell herself and her "vision" to NASCAR America, in reality doesn't think of herself as average at all. She in fact sees herself as a fashion plate, some hyper-hottie in a tight leather blazer and knee-high black boots, someone worthy of a $75,000 shopping spree at Neiman Marcus. Sarah Palin is now everything she ever dreamed of being: Sex and the City, right down to the "city" part. Sure, publicly she rebukes and ridicules those cosmopolitan urbanites in their bustling elitist hubs, but she knows damn well that she can't buy Valentino and Louis Vuitton at the Wal-Mart in Wasilla -- and if you don't think that Sarah Heath Palin has always fantasized about wearing Valentino and carrying Louis Vuitton, I've got a bridge to nowhere I want to sell you. She may still be a backwater dingbat, but she's now a very well put together backwater dingbat -- which I'm willing to bet has convinced her that she's no longer a backwater dingbat. If this is true, then it would mean that Palin has essentially ascended to the same position as George W. Bush and her GOP benefactors: she's only playing the part of the rube and is, in fact, secretly talking down to every one of those pick-up-driving Toby Keith fans who show up to her rallies -- the Dickies-clad folk not lucky enough to have won the Miss Vice Presidential pageant and been scooped up to a life of charter jets and appearances on Saturday Night Live.

But the new and improved Sarah Palin is more than just a simple case of someone taking on a part or putting on airs -- "lipstick on a pig," as it were.

I don't think Charlie Kaufman himself could've dreamed up a more Victor/Victorian mobius strip of meta-fiction than Saturday Night Live sticking the real Sarah Palin into her old red skirt suit to play Tina Fey playing Sarah Palin.

It would be enough to make your head spin were we not already talking about a woman whose willful Extreme Makeover had transformed her, ironically, into the very thing she purports to despise.

Of course, I'm not sure that -- as with everything Sarah Palin has shown us to date -- all the folksy indignation wasn't just bullshit anyway.

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over

A special early column this week for the Daily Banter takes a look at the merciful end of Sarah Palin's reign of terror.

Here's the opening shot:

"I have to admit that in the few months immediately leading up to the presidential election of 2008, Sarah Palin provided me with some of the best material I’ve ever had the opportunity to write about and the result was some of the best political stuff to appear on my site, Deus Ex Malcontent. In the years since the 2008 election and the utter evisceration of her and John McCain’s intellectually insulting gambit at the hands of Barack Obama and the American electorate, I continued to bring up Palin, her family of Beverly Hillbillies and whatever new venture they were undertaking together or separately in the name of grifting more money and mileage from their status as political and pop culture celebrities. I did it because it was entertaining — until the point where the Palin shtick became so pathetic and desperate, her patriotic indignation so contrived, that giving it any attention at all merely fueled an unnecessary yet ultimately destructive fire. After a while, the con got old and the act became stale and so it wasn’t even worth commenting on anymore; doing so did more harm than good. For me and a lot of other people, the line with Palin was crossed a couple of years back, but now we can officially say that it’s been crossed by everyone who matters and Sarah Palin has finally fulfilled her destiny of becoming a pop culture has-been. The political version of Paris Hilton. A former reality TV star nobody cares about anymore."

Read the Rest Here

Magic Paul

"The Ryan selection sent a jolt of electricity, and the conservative base, including myself, are energized by it even as it allows Romney now to also appeal to young voters. In one week, Paul Ryan has become a national sex symbol."

-- Sean Hannity

I'm going to borrow a lot of what's in this post from Cesca, because honestly he put it almost exactly the same way I would've and I think this hilarity deserves to be seen and enjoyed by as many people as possible. What you're witnessing right now is a replay of the sexualizing of Sarah Palin that we saw four years ago. I'm sure you remember the National Review's Rich Lowry basically admitting that he couldn't help himself and began jerking-off while watching Palin in the 2008 vice presidential debate:

"Palin... projects through the screen like crazy. I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, 'Hey, I think she just winked at me.' And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it.'"

Well, now it's Paul Ryan's turn. And it sure as hell didn't take long. First came the whispers of Paul Ryan being "Gen X," and with that in mind, Cesca pondered on the podcast recording a couple of days ago how long it would take before the GOP began pushing Ryan -- in the most obvious, shameless and tawdriest of manners -- as some kind of beefcake stud who's suddenly starting to "excite" female voters, if you get my drift. On the podcast, we talked about the prospect of shirtless photos of Ryan turning up somewhere and the near-certainty that those photos would be released by strategists working for the Republicans themselves.


Well, guess what? The "Ryan is Hot" meme has begun on the right -- complete with a set of talking points and, yes, a visual aid.

By the way, one of the questions into this week's Daily Banter mailbag had to do with the chance that the right would try to superficially push Ryan as some kind of sex god. My response was, predictably, just rude as all hell. Free free to take a look.

Oh, and the only upside to this is the possibility that Rich Lowry will truly step up, take one for the team and state publicly and in comically flowery language that he's becoming gay for Paul Ryan. Or maybe, in an effort to keep the Sexy Ryan meme going, the GOP will force Ryan to suddenly and inexplicably pour pitchers of cold water over his head and down his shirt, in slow motion, at all kinds of inappropriate moments -- like when he's speaking to seniors or holding high-level staff meetings. If this keeps up, Ryan will eventually become the Matthew McConaughey of the Republican party: "Uh, ya know, today's vote I think would be a good opportunity to take mah shirt off."

Quote of the Day

"CNN and other news organizations expect politicians to tell the truth; they expect business people to tell the truth; they expect church people, they expect athletes to tell the truth. And they issue a statement like this... I’m guessing the people who watch them don’t like Sarah Palin all that much anyway, which is why they did it, and thought that, like in the old days, they could get away with it. Well, it’s not the old days anymore, CNN. You can’t get away with this stuff."

-- Bernie Goldberg on CNN's claim that playing Pink's song Stupid Girls before a segment about Sarah Palin was an accident

Wait, what?

Look, I don't doubt that CNN is probably lying its ass off when it says that the choice of that particular song before a Palin segment was an innocent oversight; while it certainly could be, because you'd be shocked at how little attention to every small detail is paid in a 24/7 news operation, it was more than likely a joke played by somebody in the control room. But for Fox fucking News to self-righteously claim to be crusaders for the truth and defenders of integrity is goddamn laughable when you consider that just two months ago the network actually tried to make everyone believe that a four-and-a-half-minute attack ad against Barack Obama, produced for Fox & Friends and run multiple times, was an accident and ultimately the fault of one associate producer.

Stick that hypocritical indignation in your ass, Bernie.

Oh, and I happen to think it was inexcusable for CNN to play Stupid Girls before a Sarah Palin segment. Surely Eminem's White Trash Party was available.

The Palin Show

My latest piece for the Daily Banter is now up. It deals with NBC's recent, idiotic decision to allow Sarah Palin to host the Today show -- and how I didn't even need to see the thing to know exactly how it played out and the kind of thinking that went into it.

Please, you read, yes?

The Daily Banter: The Palin Show/4.4.12

Quote of the Month

"Oh, Lord. Oh, Lord — what are we just a bunch of numbskulls out here in the heartland of America?"

-- Sarah Palin, last night on Hannity

It's just too easy. Anyone? Anyone wanna step up on this?

Quote of the Day, Jr.

"She is certainly one of the people you would look at. I am a great admirer of hers, and she was a remarkable reform governor of Alaska. She's somebody who I think brings a great deal to the possibility of helping in government and that would be one of the possibilities. There are also some very important cabinet positions that she could fill very, very well. I can't imagine anybody that would do a better job of driving us to an energy solution than Gov. Palin, for example. Tell her that she would certainly be on the list of one of the people we would consider."

-- Newt Gingrich on the possibility of naming Sarah Palin as a running-mate or to a cabinet position

I'm really not sure there's a way for these people to become any more of a joke.

Quote of the Day

"No."

-- Julianne Moore on whether playing Sarah Palin in the HBO mini-series Game Change gave her any newfound respect for Palin

Sometimes less is more.

Best Description of Today's Major Palin Announcement

You know that desperate and sad scene that inevitably pops up a half-hour or so before closing time at every club in America -- when the tramp-stamped drunk girl at the bar starts making out with one of her girlfriends just to get people to pay attention to her?

That's what this is.

And that's who Sarah Palin is -- that poor, pathetic girl.

Lefty Behind

From PPP's survey of 574 GOP primary voters nationwide.

Of course Obama wouldn't be taken in the Rapture. He has to stay here and fight Jesus in a 153-day worldwide cage match before he's finally cast down into the lake of fire once and for all.

(via Slate)

Quote of the Day

"Media catnip."

-- Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post's description of Sarah Palin last night on Lawrence O'Donnell's show, as he reacted to the not-the-least-bit-surprising revelation that Palin was quitting her "One Nation" bus tour halfway through

"We Have Always Been at War with Eastern Liberals"

It really does piss me off that it's so Palin-intensive around here at the moment; the best I can do is promise that in the very near future this topic will once again drop below the radar and hopefully ditch into the Pacific where it'll silently drown. That said, this little tidbit is so unbelievable in the fact that it's actually completely believable that there's no way I can overlook it.

The Huffington Post: Sarah Palin Supporters Attempt To Edit Wikipedia Page on Paul Revere/6.6.11

The reason this is worth mentioning actually has very little to do with Palin and everything to do with one of the most virulent trends finding traction in our new multi-media universe: the notion that reality is now up for a vote, that facts can be adjusted via democratic process and if enough people believe something -- even something fraudulent and false -- it can become socially acceptable to consider it the ironclad truth.

The idea that it's easier for everyone else to get naked so that it isn't quite so obvious that the empress has no clothes on than it is for her to, you know, get some fucking clothes is the definition of mindless conformity, cult of personality and regression as a group. In this particular case, forcing everyone else to be dumber by revising written history so that Sarah Palin looks smarter -- that's the definition of an Idiocracy.

Piper Leery

Okay, fine -- so one more Palin thing (because, dammit, this really is too easy). As Oliver Willis rightly says, this is the creepiest thing you'll see on the internet today.

It's an essay from the amusingly misnomered conservative website "The American Thinker" in which the author "channels" Piper Palin, basically writing from her perspective:

"I’ve met a lot of nice people who really like my mom. They thank her for not being afraid to defend real, American values. Maybe that’s what the media can’t figure out — why so many people believe in my mom when the super-smart media tells them not to. It’s kind of like my 4th grade class elections. My friend Sally was running, but a group of really mean girls made up lies about her because they wanted their friend elected, and then everyone turned on Sally. I don’t think people even believed the lies, but they were scared those girls might say things about them, or make fun of them, so they just went along with it. Well, also Sally promised free ice cream to everyone in the lunchroom.

My mom isn’t so much bothered by what people think she is, especially the media. That’s why she’s not afraid to go to places like the East Coast, where probably not everybody likes her. I mean President Obama won’t even go on FOX News since the Super Bowl or visit a Tea Party rally. What is he so afraid of?"

Wow. That's -- interesting.

First of all, the next person who gives me any crap about occasionally dragging Palin's kids into the strike zone gets a kick to the throat. Second, and along those lines, a standing ovation to the first person who please, please, please writes a piece "channeling" Trig Palin.

Quote of the Day

"Nothing she's done since resigning her position as governor of Alaska really suggests she's planning a serious presidential candidacy, nor are her current activities indicative of any real commitment to public service. What they do demonstrate is an understanding that outrageous statements, calculated controversy and the blurring of the line between candidate and celebrity are a sure route to lots of attention -- and lots of money."

-- From a piece in today's Salon from Alyssa Battistoni called "Sarah Palin and Profit-Motive Politics"

I realize that there's nothing especially revealing about this quote; it pretty much states the obvious. But it gives me a chance to say something I was going to put in the comment section last week. Despite a few Palin-related posts in the past couple of work days, I'm sticking by my pledge that I'm not returning to, as Glenn Beck might say, a pre-1/12 mentality (that would be the date this year that the Idiot Queen unleashed her staggeringly narcissistic and tone-deaf "blood libel" accusation in the wake of the shooting of Gabby Giffords).

Still, there's something I wanted to expound on a little in regard to Palin, fame, and why she's no longer worth spending too much time on. I alluded to this before, but the above column in Salon kind of hints at why the Palin "brand" is well past its expiration date. When all of this post-election insanity first started three years ago, after her political fortunes had tanked miserably, Palin made a conscious decision that her career trajectory was going to be exactly what it's turned out to be -- that of a reality TV star. She peaked early, saturated the market, oversaturated the market and consequently created a backlash among all but her most obsessive fans.

Anyone who follows these kinds of trends will tell you that in order to restart your fame clock after it winds down to oblivion, you have to do something new -- and by new I don't mean just clumsily inject yourself back into the spotlight, I mean show people something they haven't seen before. In case you haven't been paying attention, so far the Palin 2011 Tour has brought us exactly what you'd expect from an aging act well past its glory days: a predictable roster of stale greatest hits. In Palin's case, there have been the red meat talking points, the comically dumb misstatements coupled with an almost astonishing level of moral and intellectual certitude, the cryptic and thoroughly meaningless allusions to a potential candidacy -- really, she may as well be ending every appearance by doing My Generation. In other words, there's nothing to see here, folks -- may as well move along. Granted the lapdog political press is far too stupid, gullible and desperate for something to fill airtime and copy space to completely ignore Palin's publicity stunt -- but for most of the rest of the country, barring her getting an emergency brain transplant compliments of Stephen Hawking or saving a bus-load of infants from going over a cliff, it's the same old, same old from Sarah. To twist a bit that comic Larry Miller used to do years ago, expecting anything new from the Sarah Palin brand at this point is like putting sour milk back in the refrigerator again hoping it'll somehow be better in a couple of days.

Later this week, 24,000 e-mails between Palin and various subordinates -- all from her first 21 months as governor of Alaska -- will be released to the public. The political media is giddily anticipating a few potential bombshell revelations within these correspondences but Palin is already shrugging off the hype, saying, "Every rock in the Palin household that could ever be kicked over and uncovered anything, it's already been kicked over."

And you know something? She's absolutely right for once. That's exactly the point.

Assistant Picture of the Week

From a Palin "clambake" photo-op in Seabrook, NH yesterday

Quote of the Day (And Favorite Thing of the Week)

"He who warned, uh, the, the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringin’ those bells and, um, makin’ sure as he’s ridin’ his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that, uh, we were gonna be secure and we were gonna be free and we were gonna be armed."

-- Sarah Palin describing Paul Revere's ride

Contrary to what one commenter said last week, the groan-inducing return of Sarah Palin to the national media spotlight doesn't mean I'm going to have a lot more material to work with around here. As far as I'm concerned, Sarah Palin is the exact same thing this week that she was last week or last month: a D-list reality show nobody whose 15 minutes of fame mercifully ran out right about the time Gabby Giffords took a bullet to the head and who's only making news because the drooling boobs in the mainstream press inexplicably call her current publicity stunt "news."

But every once in a while it's good to let Palin remind us why she shouldn't be allowed out of bed without a protective helmet on much less be allowed to even flirt with the notion of trying to become President of the United States. Hence the above quote -- and this fucking moron's lack of even an elementary school-level knowledge of American history and inability to so much as fake her way through a serviceable answer to a simple question without choking on her own tongue or resorting to stale talking points.

The Favorite Thing of the Week that I referenced in the headline, though? It's this -- Brooke Baldwin's reaction to Palin's Revere revisionism:



I could watch Brooke read Tolstoy for two-hours a day, she's so stunningly gorgeous. But this -- the look on her face that says what she can't: "idiot" -- has earned her a place in my heart next to Häagen-Dazs white chocolate raspberry truffle ice cream.

One more thing: If you liked Palin's doofus version of what Paul Revere's ride was all about, you're gonna positively swoon over this whopper from two days ago. I give you Sarah Palin -- on the true meaning of the Statue of Liberty:

"Lady Liberty is the symbol of unity and friendship we have with other freedom-loving nations. It’s also a 'warning' of sorts, as France encouraged us to keep democracy alive as the recipient of this gift -- basically telling us not to blow it. Thank you for this reminder, France!"

If that sounds familiar (or just gives you a throbbing ache in a very specific part of your brain, one that you recognize) it's because last year Palin said this about Lady Liberty:

"This Statue of Liberty was gifted to us by foreign leaders, really as a warning to us, it was a warning to us to stay unique and to stay exceptional from other countries. Certainly not to go down the path of other countries that adopted socialist policies."

Right. Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses -- an inscription written on a statue in what's essentially a national park. Nope, no "socialist" agenda there.

Stupid, stupid woman.

Quote of the Day

"The threshold question, not usually asked, but it’s in everyone’s mind in a presidential election. ‘Should we give this person nuclear weapons?’ And the answer (in Sarah Palin's case) answers itself."

-- George Will

In case you need a quick primer on the long list of important stories the mainstream political press is currently chasing down and concentrating all of its considerable resources on, here it is:

1. A dick pic on Anthony Weiner's Twitter account

2. Sarah Palin riding around in a bus

God bless America.

The Dumbpire Strikes Back

This is really great news, because with Trump now out of the picture the Republican 2012 presidential clown car is in desperate need of a driver:

Real Clear Politics: Palin's Secret Weapon: New Film To Premiere In June/5.25.11

That's right. Not content to be simply the reality TV politician -- pardon, the Celebrity Rehab-era D-list has-been reality TV politician -- Palin is now stretching her wings and making the jump to the big screen in a film directed by conservative DeMille Stephen K. Bannon.

Here's the pertinent info for those who don't feel like even going so far as to scan the upcoming 6% rating at Rotten Tomatoes:

"The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska's most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home. When it premieres in Iowa next month, the film is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin's prospective presidential campaign -- an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won't run... Bannon, a former naval officer and ex-Goldman Sachs banker, sees his documentary as the first step in Palin's effort to rebuild her image in the eyes of voters who may have soured on her, yet might reconsider if old caricatures begin to fade. The film will also appeal to staunch Palin supporters who have long celebrated her biting rhetoric and conservative populism yet know little about her record in Alaska and have perhaps written her off as presidential material."

Because if anyone knows how to rehabilitate an unpopular brand in the eyes of the public, it's a guy who used to work at Goldman Sachs.

Either way, prepare yourself -- she's ready for her close-up. Again.

Yawn.

Quote of the Day

"I really believe Sarah Palin would be a good opportunity. Michele Bachmann is excellent -- she’s very sharp and a strong person."

-- Tim LaHaye, author of the Left Behind series, on who he'd like to see become president in 2012

The irony of the guy who wrote a bunch of books about the end of the world imagining Palin or Bachmann as president, better yet as an "opportunity," if you get his drift -- it's just pretty much perfect.

Incidentally, along those lines, these are just two of the "four" choices he's concentrating on. Once again, just perfect.

Quote of the Day

"Oh my goodness, that's a great question. Um, gosh, that's a great question, I have to think about it, OK? Because there are many."

-- Sarah Palin, when asked at the White House Correspondent's Dinner who she thought was the most influential journalist today

The question, by the way, was asked of several of the attendees and each of them -- even Bill Hader from Saturday Night Live -- had no trouble coming up with journalists both well known and obscure.

It's also worth mentioning that after the first "that's a great question," Palin turned to her husband, former Alaska "First Dude" Todd, for an assist and he basically shrugged his shoulders. Because if she couldn't come up with even one, there was no way in hell he'd be able to pull a name out of his ass.

Now the kicker: As Palin walked away from the pesky reporter askin' all her fancy questions, she ran into her BFF Greta Van Susteren, then turned back and shouted, "Greta Van Susteren is the most influential journalist!"

Which immediately calls this to mind:



Sarah Palin: the Brick Tamland of American politics.