February 26, 2008 - Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images North America
So we all know I am not the biggest fan of Sarah Palin – OK, OK, I can’t stand her and I hate even the idea of her. I pretty much think she’s the worst thing that has happened to the Republican Party in 50 years, and I think she’s a phony on every level imaginable. So, with that on the table… I would simply like to ask her kindly… to please stop using Facebook like its the Associated Press or Reuters.
I know she’s “main-street” and “small-town Sarah” as she’s flying to Hong Kong to talk for a six-figure payday, but seriously? Facebook? She took her healthcare fight to the social network when she coined the now famous phrase “death panels” and she has just released a transcript of her latest speech on the social site.
In fairness, I should add that if she is simply going to remain a public figure paid to do these sort of speaking engagements rather than re-entering the real political world, then I say more power to her. I mean I’m not upset that the WWE isn’t real or that reality shows suck. If she wants to make a dollar this way then I say go for it. There is nothing more American that getting rich for being a soundbite.
BUTTTT…. if she intends to ever really play a legitimate role in the Republican Party going forward she needs to class it up a bit. Facebook isn’t screaming credibility and lets just face it – she doesn’t exactly have a lot to play with here. I know the President made Twitter famous but if we are all being honest here, Barack Obama throwing a Tweet that his nominee is Joe Biden seems like a cool/novel thing to do….Sarah Palin arguing with Senators and the Healthcare lobby via her status bar and news feed…not so presidential!!
So anyways, Palin shuffled around the world last week to speak at the CLSA Conference in Hong Kong. She’s in good company among previous speakers which most recently included Former President Bill Clinton. The speech was closed to the media but the AP actually got a cell phone clip that is posted below. Palin was pretty hush hush about her remarks until she released part of the speech on Facebook. OMG!
Reports were that her appearance was a pretty big deal. I know. I was surprised too. The camera pools that followed this woman around over there would have rivalled the Jackson funeral procession. Apparently, Hong Kong is enamored with the Former Alaska Governor – and they don’t even know what she’s saying. Guess that’s one of the perks to not speaking English.
AP - Palin, who stepped down as governor July 26, is widely believed to be pondering a run for president. In a straw poll this month, she finished in a four-way tie for second-place among religious conservatives, trailing former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Palin was paid an undisclosed amount, said to be in the low six figures, for the 90-minute speech. She has said one of the reasons she resigned was to pay legal bills that have topped $500,000. The speech was closed to reporters, but Palin later posted lengthy excerpts on her Facebook page.
“This speech had very little to do with advancing her political career and more to do with advancing her financial career,” said former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.
Fleischer, press secretary under President George W. Bush and a self-described Palin critic, gave the speech generally good marks.
“She’s fortunate that she can have a soft landing like this and figure things out from here,” he said. “She can take care of her financial future — which she’s entitled to do — and figure out policy later.”
In her speech, Palin urged China to “rise responsibly” and said the United States “cannot ignore areas of disagreement” as the two countries move forward.
Before she quit with more than a year left in her first term as governor, Palin promised to keep her fans updated on the social networking site Twitter, but so far there have been no messages. Palin updates her Facebook page — which has about 900,000 followers — once or twice a week, with items that alternately criticize President Barack Obama’s health care policy or offer praise for Constitution Day or the Jewish high holidays.
Here is a video by the AP with a cellphone clip of the speech. The “Mainstreet” references make me want to stab myself in the heart.
Here’s what the Libs at MSNBC had to say about her speech.
Here’s Karl Rove’s take a few weeks ago discussing the plan for the trip and her speaking career.
she is so hot man why cant you get off her back for a bit. who cares if shes dumb? just enjoy the show baby!!
To support her bc she is “attractive and smart” does a disservice to intelligent women everywhere. I have met many women far more intelligent and much more attractive than Mrs. Palin. Keep your eyes open my friend.
I saw this the other day. She is a circus act and shoud quietly go away. Whats with Rove getting soft on her? Is he wanting to run the 2012 campaign?
Wouldnt surprise me, but he always has an angle too. He floated her name out there in that letter to Obama a month ago regarding Afghanistan just to get Liberals tails in the air – and it worked. It divided them on Afghanistan while they were trying to unite on healthcare. Kind of a scummy move though if you ask me, bc he is smart enough to know that the people that suffered would be our troops in the field waiting for support
Sarah Palin…is Hong Kong – it took me a minute but I got it.
[...] joined professional/social networking site LinkedIn. Perhaps in an attempt to appear more “professional” or even simply out of boredom, she has posted her resume on the site and even added the [...]
[...] Call it a vacation; call it a business trip; call it what you want; this is no Sarah Palin heads to Hong Kong moment. Unless she’s spinning this thing into a reality show for the Travel Channel, she [...]