Tag Archives: Sarah Palin

Jumbotron envy

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Giant screens used for political speeches generally have an Orwellian quality. Not always, of course. Newt Gingrich? Orwellian. Steven Colbert? Not so much. Saturday in Madison the best seat for the Sarah Palin/Americans for Prosperity/Koch Brothers/Andrew Breitbart speechifying was at home following the Channel3000 livestream. The Channel3000 camera was fixed on a high platform and focussed on the podium so the only obstruction was the snow that was being driven horizontally past the lens by the 30 mile per hour winds. The microphone was wired directly into the Flash unicast servers so there was no audio interference, regardless of the efforts by the people to drown out the voices of corporate ickiness. It was a good remote set-up.

Locally, there were challenges for the right wing “great communicators.” The big screen displaying images of the speakers seemed better positioned to communicate with the thousands of protesters on the Main Street lawn than with the few hundred teabillies on the King Street sidewalk. The left wasn’t giving anybody slack. Bells, drums, and roaring voices drowned out the sound system. The Americans for Prosperity carpetbaggers–Palin, Breitbart, et al.–were impossible to hear unless you were at the front of the gathering. Even so, at least one local lefty lamented the fact that the Koch brothers could afford better Audio/Visual gear than we can. In truth, this was the first time I’ve seen a big screen mounted on the Capitol wall. I hope they didn’t damage the building.

Asparagus

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Today is the opening day of the farmers market on the square and the day that ill-informed whiners have called “tax day.” Supposedly, if you had to pay all your taxes before you could keep any of your take home pay, today would be the day you would finally be free of the 2024 tax obligation. Coincidentally, Sarah Palin has been hired by the local teabillie faction to share a few of her political insights early this afternoon. It’s thirty-seven degrees Fahrenheit, there’s a constant drizzle and a twenty mile an hour breeze blowing. I hope the teabillies don’t catch cold. They are of course a hardy lot, coming in on buses from all over the state… from places where the snow hasn’t melted yet, from hillsides where today’s 20 mph breeze is the merest zephyr. They’ll be wrapped warm, some in camouflage hunting gear and some in heavy coats adorned with Green Bay Packer NFL licensed logos.

Earlier in the week I saw a Facebook posting suggesting that people avoid a counter-rally and work locally to gather petition signatures to recall the six remaining Republican senators. Good advice, I think, but there will be lots of people who can’t avoid gawking at a train wreck.

I’ve already missed opening day at the farmer’s market so if there was any asparagus on hand, I missed it. As for La Palin, I’m not missing a thing, although I’ve heard that if I can avoid vomiting, I can see her live around 1:30 on this link: http://www.channel3000.com/localvideo/?v=live

Follow the money

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Sarah Palin’s PAC buys copies of her book, “Going Rogue.” She distributes the book to donors. Her publisher pays her royalties for book sales.

Questions: Is she collecting royalties for books sold to the PAC? How much has this kind of purchase contributed to the sales ranking of the book?