Hong Kong can lay claim to be the cradle of major revolutions in Asia. Sun Yat- sen, Jose Rizal and Ho Chi Minh all lived in the city as they plotted drastic changes in their homelands.
Now, Sarah Louise Palin - who, we'll grant you, is not of the same political pedigree - is coming to town.
"What she's going to talk about is not that important," said columnist Chip Tsao, who is not on the CLSA invitation list. "What's important is she is here for CLSA. Many people look forward to what she will say. She might even give her thoughts about Chinese cooking."
Hah! Or, if Levi Johnston is to be believed, she can talk about Chinese takeout.
Cookery might not be on Palin's mind, though, according to another observer not invited to attend.
"It will be interesting to hear the comments of someone who ran for vice president," said Allan Zeman, the businessman dubbed the "Father of Lan Kwai Fong." "I always say you can learn from everyone."
Well that is true. For instance having Palin for my governor taught me that the word "transparent" actually means:
"1. hidden from view, impenetrable to light; not allowing light to pass through."
"2. not shining or bright; dark; dull."
"3. dull, stupid, or unintelligent."
Who knew?
Zeman says that "for better or for worse" she is another US political personality and so it will be "interesting to hear what she has to say, if we have a few hours to spare."
That may be the funniest line from this article. However as somebody who has personally sat through a number of Sarah's speeches I have to remind my Chinese brethren that you will never get those spare "few hours" back. Not to mention the hours you spend later trying to make sense out of what you just heard.
(Hat tip to Expathk4 for bringing this article to my attention.)
You cannot get what isn't there.
ReplyDeletePalin is a curiosity and a joke to this group. They are going to have great fun at Caribou Barbie's expense and she doesn't even realize it. And they'll definitely be checking out and commenting on her ASSets. Do you think she'll wear that teeny,tiny mini-skirt she wore to the Memorial Day ceremony? I actually feel sorry for her.
ReplyDeleteI've been reading the comments by this commenter, on HuffPo. This person sounds like they are intimately acquainted with people who have spent time very close to Palin, and dislike her a great deal. Any thoughts on who they might be? Any chance of you contacting them for a one-on-one?
ReplyDeleteJust trying to overcome this stagnent feeling,
Penny
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/users/profile/inmyopinion?action=comments&display=all&sort=newest
Daily Kos also has a story about Sarah's coming trip to Hong Kong. Another speaker at the event (according to DK) is David Roche, an economic strategist. Let's see: economics expert who used to work at Morgan Stanley and some one whose idea of economics is to quit a high profile four year job in order to cash in big time. Well, we know who the most important speaker will be.
ReplyDeleteSpecial note to people in Alaska: It's getting to be time for Sarah to start packing for the Big Trip. If she is speaking on the 23rd, she should arrive no later than the 22nd in order to shake off the jet lag, do some sightseeing and get her brand new clothes pressed. She should be leaving any day now, for example, to arrive on the 22nd, she'll have to leave on the 21st (International Date Line; Hong Kong is almost ready to start tomorrow).
So, if one of you guys will stake out the airport, maybe you can snap a picture of Sarah and we can see for ourselves just how rested and maybe rejuvenated Sarah looks.
Maybe Sarah's function is to pass out the Fortune Cookies at the end of the function?
ReplyDeleteAre they going to allowed to ask questions there within the Sooper Sekrit Sealed Speech Room? Because Chinese businesspeople are no fools.
ReplyDeletePat in Texas
When you take the Chip Tsao comment -- "What she's going to talk about is not that important" -- in context with what was written in the article just prior to that comment, Chip Tsao's comment has a heckuva lot more significance: "a preliminary schedule simply describes her speech as 'A conversation with Sarah Palin.' "
ReplyDeleteI cannot fathom why anyone, but ESPECIALLY a group of foreign institutional investors, would pay $100,000 or more to hear a stream-of-consciousness "conversation" from a woman not noted for deep thinking or a vast store of knowledge.
Of course, the point was made in the article that the investors might be interested in hearing Palin talk about her version of her career in local, then city, then state, then national politics, and her version of raising her family.
The Belgian banker suggested Palin's "conservative values" (again, her version!) might be a topic, but wouldn't that put them to sleep?
Personally, I think Palin's talk will be a long string of lies about her and Obama -- she's still suffering from that delusion she was running directly against Obama, instead of being second fiddle on McCain's ticket.
Wouldn't they have been better off booking Marilyn Vos Savant?
Maybe she will talk about ben wah balls?
ReplyDeleteShe's eye candy to them. Do you think she has the RNC clothes back? lol I imagine Murdoch is flying her there on a private plane.
ReplyDeleteWill she show up? Oh goodness, the suspense of it all.
BTW, I just love clicking on the SarahPac link every chance I get. I put the curse on her nose and click.
ReplyDeleteSarah is busy trying to learn how to say Moo Goo Gai Pan before the 23rd.
ReplyDeleteIt will be just another fashion show, Sarah 'voguing' for Fred Malek's buddies over at Carlyle Group that just invested $20mil in Ellassay, a Chinese designer house. Betcha. (Check her tags...)
ReplyDeleteMaybe she'll hand out swag bags prior containing samples from all of the top 100 corporate entities in China that CLSA promotes - many of which are US - that are right up her alley: Olay cosmetics, sugary drinks, etc. There were a slug load that would fit - no Arctic Cat, alas, but maybe snowmobilin' in China will get a big boost from Sarah.
Of course I'm stretching the latex here. . .not much else to do in the vacuum Sarah has created in her wake. I've scoured the CLSA site investments and speakers, the Malek and Murdoch connections (including Wendy Deng), possible connections between Sarah and CLSA entities organizing the event, connections created by 'wives of' etc. . .trying to find something more tenable than the "Borat" explanation for this invite. I find more contradictions than explanations. It makes absolutely no sense, no matter what lens I look through.
Like so many of Sarah's other trajectories and behaviors.
Lazy P
If we have a hard time understanding Palin's word salad, how do you think it will be received by those in the audience who are not native English speakers? Will they call it Palin Speak Chop Suey? Maybe there is still time to do subtitles.
ReplyDelete(In China, there still are many dialets. Everyone reads the same language, but when they speak, it can sound different from this place to that. We discovered that they ofter use subtitles or projected super titles using Chinese characters for everyone to be able to understand. However with Sarah, that might drive the poor translater crazy, or it will break the machine).
Gryph: Apologies if this is a double post.
ReplyDeleteHubs in currently in China. They are 15 HOURS AHEAD of us so as I type here in AZ, it is Monday early a.m. In order to get there Tuesday, she must be on a flight tonight.
Here's what CLSA ain't tellin' - Sarah is speaking with Marc Faber. She's a foil to an eccentric financial expert. What a show this is going to be! I would give anything to be there.
ReplyDeleteDr. Marc Faber was born in Zurich, Switzerland. He went to school in Geneva and Zurich and finished high school with the Matura. He studied Economics at the University of Zurich and obtained a PhD in Economics magna cum laude at the age of 24.
Marc Faber is a contrarian. To be a good contrarian, you need to know what you are contrary about. It helps to be a world class economist-historian, to have been a trader and Managing Director of Drexel Burnham Lambert when the firm was the junk bond king of Wall Street, to have lived in Hong Kong for a quarter of a century, and to have a contact book crammed with the home numbers of many of the movers and shakers in the financial world.
In 'Riding the Millennial Storm' Nury Vittachi writes: "Faber has style. A ski racer in his youth, he remains a flamboyant character. He plays to the press who call him Dr. Doom; his monthly newsletter, always an excellent read, is called 'The Gloom, Boom and Doom Report'. He wears a ponytail in defiance of the expectation (in Asia, especially) that investment managers should look conventional. His book, 'The Great Money Illusion', written in a hurry after the 1987 crash, was dedicated 'to many beautiful and kind women whose names are better kept confidential'."
A 1998 South China Morning Post polled public figures in Hong Kong with the question, "Have you ever taken Cannabis?" Cannabis is illegal but not uncommon in Hong Kong, and freely available in many countries around Southeast Asia. Most people said no or refused to be quoted.
Faber was more straightforward and more confident: "Naturally, I have smoked a lot of marijuana, but for breakfast I prefer omelette of Balinese mushrooms."
This article is way too kind. These people are conservatives. And it sounds like most of the audience she will be speaking to are also conservatives. (Sarah Palin would never speak to a crowd that does not adore her.) Of course, they are going to say nice things. It sounds to me like these people were exaggerating her popularity here in the U.S. (Which is what conservatives always do.) Most people in the U.S., including in other countries don't like Palin. It's funny this article should mention her female supporters. Most women don't like Sarah Palin. Barack Obama got most of the women voters. It is mostly white MEN who like Sarah Palin.
ReplyDeleteIt is also very telling that Sarah Palin is still being sheilded from the media, and only surrounding by people who will worship her. And who cares what a bunch of Chinese business men think? I heard Barack Obama is not very popular in China. So, if Palin bashes Barack Obama in China, they won't care. This is perfect Palin territory. She's got a lot more problems than just a lack of foreign policy experience. She's crazy! And her "views" will take this country back 700 years! And she has no ideas, she's just a puppet. Sarah Palin does not have broad appeal. People like her only appeal to the tea-bagging minority in this country. The 2012 election is a long ways away. And her base, will have possibly shrunken by the time 2012 rolls around.
Yes, I am a tea bagger, but don't think all tea baggers approve of Palin. If Palin is the candidate in 2012, I would vote for Obama.
ReplyDeleteI still don't get it, unless I will wake up and it will just be a funny dream. How can a world coming out of what was almost a global depression accept sarah barracuda from wassila as a speaker at an international financial conference? Either murdoch is playng a sick joke (on us? on her?) or he is one very dangerous man.
ReplyDeleteI am 100% convinced that the ONLY reason she's been brought to China is so a novelty item manufacturer can get a real good look at her in person.
ReplyDeleteNaturally, they will want their Sarah Palin Blow Up Doll to look as realistic as possible in order to ensure brisk sales to the Tea Party crowd.
I hear Bill Kristol has already pre-ordered a case of 'em!
-Bea from Mudflats
@Bea, they want Palin to post for the Sarah "Bare-Acuda" Blow-Up Doll. That's how Bill Kristol likes to think of her.
ReplyDelete"Yes, I am a tea bagger, but don't think all tea baggers approve of Palin."
ReplyDeleteOMG! Thank god!
First of all, most folks in Hong Kong speak English. It is a former British Colony. Lot's of business is conducted in English in Asia as it is a common language between the different countries.
ReplyDeleteI think Scarah was invited to scare the investors into keeping their money in Asia. If she came "this close" to high office in the USA it's time to reconsider further investment in the US. I'm sure they will be as dumbfounded by her word salad as we are.
Off topic, but is our intrepid blogger here going to address the ACORN embarrassments and proof of conspiracy to engage minor illegals in prostitution less newsworthy than a Chinese talk-show host chiming in about Palin?
ReplyDeleteI think I have my answer but I'd like to hear it from you, the self proclaimed champion of truth have been mum on one of the biggest stories of 2009.
You missed the funniest quote:
ReplyDelete"she should at least be able to squeeze out something about Sino-American collaboration in energy or environment protection to talk about"
Yeah, lets hear a speech from Palin on climate change, from a Biblical view, in China. Keeping fingers crossed!
@2:20 - what is your primary news source? I think I have my answer, but I'd like to hear it from you, the PR person for Faux Noise in this comments area.
ReplyDeleteI think that Sarah will be in for a suprise when she sees finds out that the whole event was taped. Does anyone think that our intelligence offices will just allow a subversive to address a communist audience and the U.S. not know the text of the speach and whom she spoke to. I would like to see her face when she sees her "TALK" on tv.
ReplyDelete@8:09, ITA. It so totally will be taped. SP may even know that; the secrecy thing is just so she can cry "victim!" loudly later. Like you, I cannot wait to see it go wide.
ReplyDeleteWasn't her son to come home on leave this weekend?
ReplyDeleteIs she leaving while he is here on leave?
To go amoung the heathens and the land of forced abortions?
For her first paid speaking engagement? Out of thousandsof offers?
I'm really really trying to imagine the interpreter, having to translate what she says, while realizing it makes no sense.
2:20 the biggest news of 2009?
ReplyDeleteOh at Faux?
Yawn...they are always yapping about ACORN!
Every heard of BABYGATE????
Now THAT WILL BE THE BIGGEST STORY OF 2009! You betcha!