Black & White and Cardinal Red All Over

Making Money, Sarah Palin Style

The Quitter is back. I knew she couldn’t stay away long. That heady trip she took courtesy of John McCain last fall really got to her. It got to her so much that she started believing her own hype and the hype of radical right entertainment outlets like ClusterFox News and now she wants to capitalize on it. She quit her day job and now she’s out making money to support her family. I guess Todd’s day job at IHOP in Wasilla wasn’t cutting the mustard for Little Miss Sarah.

Her first attempt at a post-governorship money making scheme was a speech she gave to a group of investors in Hong Kong the other day. At a gathering of some of the most astute investors in the Chinese economy, they choose to invite one of the least astute American politicians of the last half century. I mean, could she have picked a more unfamiliar audience than this to have her coming out party with?  Probably not.

She banned the media from the speech and denied the speechgoers an opportunity to ask questions. It sounds more like what the Chimpster George Bush would do for a speech than anything else. But she gave the speech anyway, all 80 minutes of it. Personally, given it was Sarah Palin and that it was her attempt to show folks that she had something on the ball besides her looks, I think the speech was 70 minutes too long. I’m pretty sure that the entirety of what Sarah needs to tell us on ALL subjects could be dealt with in under ten minutes, don’t you?

Think about it: she’s only been out of the country twice and neither time was for broadening her horizons in a political way, her foreign policy credentials were summarized by Tina Fey in one sentence (I can see Russia from my house), nothing she said on the campaign trail with regards to the rest of the world is even being quoted today one year later much less being remembered as being wise or savvy, and, with all due respect, her name is this decade’s version of a political joke. Dan Quayle thanks her in his prayers nightly for lifting the mantle from his shoulders.

From all reports, Palin used her speech to these investors, in a conference hosted by Chinese Communists in Hong Kong, to bash the current domestic policy of the United States, not only in trade issues but in military issues as well. If a Democrat dared to do this, the rightwing sound machine would have been screaming bloody murder and been all over it like stink on shit. These same hypocrites said nothing about Sarah’s critical remarks made on foreign soil but that’s not surprising, to tell you the truth.

The speech itself was a bust. A number of invitees walked out and those who stayed were tepid in their comments about her performance afterwards. I’m not sure if they themselves had to pay to hear her speak but I’m pretty sure they did not get their money’s worth. Warmed over rightwing rhetoric barely plays well at home. It doesn’t play at all well in the rest of the world. A failed politician like Sarah doesn’t really have the standing to offer the Chinese government (or a thousand of the world’s wisest investors) any policy advice or geo-political advice but Sarah gave it to them anyway.

I got a nickel here that says she won’t be invited back. Any takers?