Sarah Palin's Last Gasp in Tennessee Thursday night. The low lights. (Plus a little gossip from her appearance on the Tonight Show in 2010.)

Photo courtesy of Saul Young

Okay folks I did my best to dig up some info on last night's pathetic Teabagger support group in Tennessee and there is barely a hint to be found that the thing even happened.

(If a conservative teabags you in the woods, and you don't notice it, should you still feel disgusted?)

The local ABC outlet jotted down a few notes:

An event featuring a former vice presidential candidate like Sarah Palin and other well known politicians wrapped up in Sevierville around 11 p.m. They were speaking for a series called America's Last Stand. 

6 News could only take pictures inside where well known politicians like former Senator Rick Santorum and former Governor Sarah Palin spoke to dozens. Other speakers included Fox News personality Judge Jeanie Pirro and Col. Allen West. 

The 6 News team asked to interview Palin but were turned down due to "limited time in her schedule."

Yeah right!

Or it could be due to the fact that she looked like this:

Source

Looks like she brought one of those feisty uncooperative wigs with her.

However thankfully there were a few folks tweeting during the event.

One Breitbart News contributor provided these gems:

- @SarahPalinUSA says that Cochran team chose to "manipulate and exterminate" the integrity of the Mississippi primary
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 27, 2014

- @SarahPalinUSA says she carries a gun because a cop is too heavy to carry...
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 27, 2014

- @SarahPalinUSA says that govt can have her moon pies and R/C Cola when they pry it from her "cold sticky hands"
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 27, 2014

- @SarahPalinUSA now mocking liberals who slap coexist stickers on their "Berkeley branded butts" while military is fighting terrorists...
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 27, 2014

"God doesn't drive parked cars" - @SarahPalinUSA says encouraging Americans to get involved
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) June 27, 2014

Hang on I have to take a moment to breathe into a brown paper bag at the memory that she was once the governor of my state.

But wait, there's more.

Fashion report: jeans, tank top, with a UT orange shirt. #PalinRally pic.twitter.com/EkZHZn9dZP
— Bean Counter (@TNBeanCounter) June 27, 2014

Palin: The radical left is so dimwitted when they try to call us racists. #PalinRally pic.twitter.com/GxcrCyzCmz
— Bean Counter (@TNBeanCounter) June 27, 2014

From what I can gather this was yet another incoherent speech gleaned from various conservative bumper stickers delivered by what looked like a bag lady that somebody lured in off of the street.

Earlier the organizers had bragged that CNN was going to cover the event, but if that was true it kind of looks like partway through they said "Fuck it!" and walked out.

Well since that whole thing was barely newsworthy I thought it appropriate to share something a little more interesting.

Here is an excerpt from a new book by longtime Tonight Show producer Dave Berg, where he discusses the crazy requests made by guests. Including one from 2010:  

PALIN'S PLANE 

Sarah Palin asked for a private jet to fly her from Alaska to Burbank for her 2010 appearance. The cost? $35,000. She got it. 

Who in the hell would spend $35,000 to fly this loser down from Alaska,  when they could have bought 1st class round trip tickets for the whole family for around $12,000?

But of course this fits the well established pattern that Palin is known for of trying to get as much money or swag as possible.

Remember this is the woman who charged the state of Alaska a per diem to stay in her own house.

President Obama on the Tonight Show. "There is no spying on Americans. We don't have a domestic spying program."

“We don’t have a domestic spying program,” Obama told host Jay Leno. “What we do have is some mechanisms that can track a phone number or an email address that is connected to a terrorist attack. That information is useful.”

That was not the only controversy the President addressed last night.

The President also discussed  relations with Russia, his lunch with Hillary, getting older, and the repair of his relationship with John McCain.

I have to say that for  the Tonight Show this was a fairly informative and interesting interview. I am not a huge Leno fan but it looked like he did his homework and was good about letting the President answer the questions completely.

I have to say I thought the President was a little evasive, and overly diplomatic, a few times, but overall I think he answered many of the questions that the American people have wanted to hear him address. (But sorry Right Wingers, he did not talk about the Benghazi or IRS "scandals.")

The rest of the interview can be seen here, here, here, and here.

By the way the President just canceled his meeting with Putin this morning which would have taken place during the upcoming G-20 Summit. That kind of makes me think that Obama's feelings about the NSA leaks might be more troubled than he was willing to let on during his interview.

Jay Leno on the Bristol Palin/Melissa Rivers "Celebrity Wife Swap."

Okay I admit, THAT really made me laugh out loud.

Believe it or not Jay Leno, yes THAT Jay Leno, may have conducted the most revealing interview with Mitt Romney yet.

Once again I find myself impressed with how Matthews is conducting himself during this election cycle.  It is as if he has now decided to channel Will McAvoy from Newsroom.

I love how the Republican apologist, John Feehery, cannot even begin to really justify Romney's rationalizations. Matthews and Bob Shrum easily made him their little bitch by the end of this segment.

 Jay Leno, whoda thunk it?

Does anybody really think that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan receive THIS kind of reaction when they visit a state fair?

President Barack Obama gets a hug from Joy Dannelly as he visits the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, August 13

Now the President is not the ONLY popular member of the Obama family. Here is his much more popular wife on last night's Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
There the Obama's go, being adorable again.

You can see the next two segments by clicking here.

(H/T to the Obama Diary for the photos.)

The Tonight Show has some fun with the President over his reaction to yesterday's Supreme Court decision.

Okay, THAT was pretty funny!

The dastardly duo of Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity continue their assault on President Obama. Their choice of weapons? Bill Maher, David Letterman, and Bristol Palin's ghostwritten blog.

I have to say that I find it rather fascinating that in order to hold their "poor Sarah pity party" these Fox hosts first feel it necessary to show all of the jokes about how stupid she is. It almost makes me wonder if they are not getting their OWN shots in before they have to meet their contractual agreement to defend Klondike Kardashian.

In any event I think some of those jokes are still pretty damn funny, and I like the idea that they keep being shown to Fox viewers, because you just KNOW that some of them are laughing at her too.

And it only makes it MORE humorous that, since this interview, like so many before it, is solely focused on bitching about how Palin was "treated" by the comedians, that she starts off by saying that it doesn't bother her.  Obviously it's drives her fucking crazy, THAT is why this segment exists!

After that opening Hannity, essentially frothing at the mouth (Doesn't Santorum have "frothing" copyrighted?), discusses Michelle Obama's recent appearance on the Letterman Show in a pathetic attempt to smear her by bringing up a three year old joke.

Palin's response is to take hypocrisy on a steroid binge:

"Yeah see you have a choice as to whether you will participate in that environment of the Leno's, uh not necessarily Jay Leno, he's been relatively good, but the Letterman's, and the Bill Maher's, some of the ESPN sports network teams even that have been..really ruthless against unwed teenage mothers, and those with handicaps (The entire Palin family), and women, and Christians, and Conservatives. You have a choice as to whether you will perpetuate what it is they spew by being a participant or not, and I choose not to."

Really Sarah? YOU are not a participant when somebody says horrendous things about women? Is that your claim?

Courtesy of Politico:

“I think the definition of hypocrisy is for Rush Limbaugh to have been called out, forced to apologize and retract what it is that he said in exercising his First Amendment rights and never is that the same applied to the leftist radicals who say such horrible things about the handicapped, about women, about the defenseless,” Palin told CNN in an interview from Wasilla, Alaska. 

“So I think that’s the definition of hypocrisy, and that’s my two cents for you,” she added.

Essentially the entire reason that this attack on Bill Maher, and President Obama, has been launched using the Palin family as a cudgel, has been to provide a false equivalency smoke screen to protect Rush Limbaugh. Who is currently suffering greatly for attacking Sandra Fluke, and suggesting that she was a prostitute, a whore, and asking that she post tapes of herself having sex so that Limbaugh and others could watch them.

Palin apparently had NO trouble "being a participant" in that controversy. Did she?

Hannity quickly segues into discussing the post on Bristol Palin's Nancy French's new blog, as if Bristol had actually written it. And the Grizzled Mama does her part by pretending that she was not the person behind the site and is NOT using it in order to hide behind her children while continuing her attacks on the Left and President Obama.

But in her fervor to attack President Obama, Palin unabashedly lies about yet another three year old incident: 

"Kind of the point that Bristol was trying to make in calling out the President, and the hypocrisy there on the Left, is that our own President, mocking children and adults with special needs as he referred, mockingly, on late nigh talk show about um you know, acting goofy like those in the Special Olympics. You know that was kind of a hurtful thing for the heart of our country. And I don't think the President ever apologized for that for that. He's got very selective ways of showing compassion and feeling America's pain. Bristol was just kind of pointing out some of that, and I think it was very effective the way she did it."

Of course that entire statement about the President not apologizing after making the Special Olympics joke, which by the way was on the Jay Leno show, is ridiculous. In fact the President called the Chairman of the Special Olympic board BEFORE THE JOKE EVEN AIRED to apologize.

"He expressed his disappointment and he apologized, I think, in a way that was very moving," Tim Shriver, the chairman of the Special Olympics board, told "Good Morning America" today. 

"He expressed that he did not intend to humiliate this population, certainly didn't want to embarrass or give anybody any more reason for pain or just suffering, I would say," said Shriver, who received the call from Obama as the president was flying back to Washington. 

 "He was very sincere, expressed an interest and an openness in being more engaged in the movement, and said he was a fan of the movement and I think, importantly, he said he was ready to have some of our athletes over to the White House to bowl or play basketball or help him improve his score."

Nice try you lunatic, but this President has been very consistent in taking into consideration the needs of ALL Americans when he makes policy decisions, or speaks out on an issue, or inadvertently makes a gaffe.

And speaking of apologizing, when did YOU apologize for claiming the President "Palled around with domestic terrorists?" Or when you claimed that the Affordable Care Act contained "death panels?" And where was your apology to Gabrielle Giffords when your constant hate-filled rhetoric, as well as placing gunsights on her district, resulted in her being shot in the face?

Oh that's right, never!

Update: Here is that link to Palin's Facebook post featuring multiple pictures of Trig looking very cute and happy.  And, as has been noted by others, Sarah is not in ANY of the pictures.

Go figure.

Julianne Moore discusses her preparation to play Sarah Palin in the HBO movie "Game Change."

Courtesy of New York Daily News:

 "I listened to her book on tape, 'Going Rogue,' I went on YouTube and found all of her media appearances, all the speeches, debates, the convention speeches, and put them all on my iPod. I wiped everything off except for 'Ice Ice Baby,' which is the song that my daughter ice-skated to," Moore told Jay Leno. 

"My 14-year-old son was really embarrassed by that. There is nothing worse than a mom who has nothing but Sarah Palin and 'Ice Ice Baby' on her iPod. I'd put it on in the car, I'd listen to it when I was running. I'd listen to it constantly. It was really a total immersion." 

But the Oscar-nominated actress went even further than an iPod reset for the role. Moore's uncanny physical resemblance to the former Alaskan governor was the result of a daily two-and-a-half-hour makeup job. 

"Everything had to change — my skin tone, the shape of my face, my lips, my eyes, I wore contact lenses," said Moore. "Everything was completely changed." 

Ms. Moore is being VERY diplomatic here, and I really do think that she is going to portray Sarah Palin as honestly as she can, but ANYBODY who has to listen to hours and hours of Palin talking simply cannot help but form an opinion of her that would not be very charitable. (Unless of course you grow up dining on paint chips like those sad folks over at the Sea O'Pee.)

Personally I think that Julianne Moore should be nominated for an Emmy simply for having to immerse her self in Sarah Palin's life.

Or maybe a Purple Heart would be more fitting.

For those of you who missed President Obama on Leno last night.

Click here to watch the entire interview.

I thought the President did a good job of delivering his political message, telling the American public that he was still working for them, and demonstrating his sense of humor as well.

And for those of you who are especially drawn to the humanity of our President you should know that he also found time to do this earlier in the day.

Courtesy of SF Gate:  

Moments after landing at San Francisco International Airport on Air Force One, Obama greeted San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee before making a beeline to a crowd of well-wishers on the tarmac. 

Obama spotted 6-month-old Josie Knight, who was crying while being held by her mother, Gina Odom, 37, of Oakland. Odom, a real estate agent who had received an invitation to meet Obama, had dressed her daughter in her prettiest pink outfit for the occasion. 

"It's OK," the president said repeatedly, taking the squalling infant into his arms. 

The baby didn't seem to know what was going on and cried for a moment longer before calming. Obama bounced gently and held her for about 10 seconds before flashing a smile and returning her to Odom. 

To be honest I have always REALLY disliked the artificiality of the "politician kissing the baby"approach to campaigning. However it never feels that the President is doing this for show, but rather that he really just likes children. And clearly they really like him right back.

In my eyes that is a sign of character which NO amount of campaign money can artificially simulate.

Bill Maher on Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and the President's speech.

(Don't worry this is the Tonight Show so Bill kept it clean.) (H/T to Politicususa.)

Not that I had any respect left for Jay Leno, but after this pathetic Bristol Palin interview I kind of wish Conan O"Brien would find him in an alleyway and kick his ass. Is that wrong of me?

In my opinion the ONLY true host of the Tonight Show was the late, great Johnny Carson. (Steve Allen and Jack Paar were fine, but Carson was the king!)

Leno has never able to ever come close to filling that great man's shoes.

And this interview did almost as much to make me dislike him as when he threw Conan O'Brien under the bus to satisfy his need to feel relevant, and to feed his gigantic ego. (Gee who does THAT sound like?)

Part One:



Bristol does not waste one second before trotting out her first lie, this one being about why she had her chin done. (Bristol fails to mention that she had undergone procedures to have the fat sucked out to make her face look thinner a few times in the past. And when she says that it is NOT an implant, I don't think even Rickles buys that load of moosecrap.)

"I wanted to be candid in the book?" Really? Then why weren't you?

Quickly. of course, the slams against Levi begin. Essentially Bristol claims her parents never liked him, and knew he was no good.

The idea that Sarah never liked Levi is undoubtedly accurate, she really does not like anybody besides herself. But she DID have him to living in her house, and running errands for her. Not to mention that he was one of the VERY few people allowed in the hospital when Sarah "gave birth" to Trig.

That does not exactly sound like he was despised.
Leno asking Bristol about her mother running for President: "Is there any reason she SHOULDN'T run?"

Rickles: "Cause she could lose."

This inspires the crowd to erupt in wild applause, which clearly causes Bristol to become very uncomfortable.

Leno: "Do you want her to run?"

BP: "I think so, yeah." Careful Bristol you almost told the truth there.

Again Bristol's version of how she learned that her mother had been tapped as McCain's VP choice does not jive, in any way, with the version that Palin wrote in "Going Rogue." I think they are going to need another visit to the re-education camp family meeting.

Now the only intelligent remark that Leno makes during the interview is to say, after Bristol trots out the "lawsuits" excuse for why her mother quit as Governor (By the way , those were ethics charges, NOT lawsuits.), "That happens with every Governor. Everybody gets lawsuits, its all part of the job." (Again these were ETHICS CHARGES!) However Bristol has been trained well, and insists that her mother did it "for Alaska."

Bristol also says that her mother is not building a house in Arizona. I never heard that she was "building" one but I am unsure if Bristol was denying that she had purchased one or not. Because, you know,  THAT would be another lie, which good "Christian" girls should never tell. (Sorry I made myself choke laughing at that one.)

Part two:



Bristol talks about her reality show and Rickles provides the appropriate unimpressed response. ( I am beginning to warm up to Rickles, who keeps reaching over to touch Bristol's hand which is clearly freaking her out a little.)

Then Leno decides to attack Levi concerning his upcoming book by essentially saying he "dislikes this guy" because he divulges too much private information that the public does not need to know.

Now just absorb THAT for a moment.  Essentially Leno believes that LEVI is airing too much dirty laundry, as if HE was the one to accuse Bristol of getting him drunk and stealing his virginity. Apparently that giant head of Leno's is an "irony free" zone. 

Fucking idiot!

Jay Leno just made Sarah Palin's enemies list.

The Mama Grizzly portion starts at 2:50.)

Someone might need to contact Tina Dupuy and tell  her to update her list.

Jay Leno is coming to Alaska! I guess Sarah needs to make another batch of that moose chili of hers.

I recently heard a rumor, from a very good source, that Jay Leno would be coming to Wasilla this week.

I made a phone call to Leno's publicist Dick Guttman's office and they confirmed that Leno and the Tonight Show are DEFINITELY coming up to Alaska, but did not know, or were unwilling to say, exactly when he was planning to be here.

For a production to come all the way up to Alaska you know they are spending some serious money, so of course the first question would be is this another Sarah Palin publicity stunt?  Or is Leno coming up to interview Drew Barrymore on the set of her new movie?  Or perhaps to spend a day with Levi Johnston as he reads up on politics?  Or perhaps a combination of all three?

Hmm and hasn't at least ONE politician announced their candidacy for President on the Tonight Show?

If I hear more I will let you all know, and in the meantime if any of you hear anything I would appreciate the help.

Update: For those who still doubt that Sarah has every intention of announcing her candidacy at some point I invite you to head on over to Mudflats and become enlightened.

Update2: I just received the following e-mail from a source in Wasilla:

I don’t know what ALL he is coming for, but I DO know that he will be here in Wasilla on Saturday, October 9, arriving around 11:45 for the grand opening ceremony for the new Air Force Reserve Command Recruiting Service, located at 1590 Financial Drive. Jay Leno is a special guest and part of the ribbon cutting ceremony.

That’s all I know, but I am sure there are more reasons than this. I enjoy your articles!

Well now we are getting somewhere.  So Leno is going to be in Wasilla on October the 9th?  That is interesting because according to the calendar of his tour dates he is flying in from Sacramento. (Update: I am going to back off my earlier assertion that the Tonight Show staff is coming up here as well, though I am almost certain that is what the young lady I spoke to in the publicist's office said. However with this new information that I was just provided it could just be Jay himself with a skeleton crew to film some segments for his show next week.)

I wonder what else is on Leno's itinerary for this visit?

Bill Maher takes on organized religions, Sarah Palin, Mel Gibson, Teabaggers, and birthers during his Tonight Show appearance.

Part One




Part Two

Louis C.K discusses his uncomfortable Tonight Show appearance with Bristol Palin after he slammed her mother via Twitter.

If you are unfamiliar with the work of Louis C.K let me just warn you that the language is definitely NSFW and is directed at adults only. If you are easily offended or dislike explicit language then just scroll right on past it.  There is an interesting piece by the Alaska Dispatch, and a fun video from Jon Stewart, right below it. In other words NOBODY is making you read this! I don't want to hear any crap from you people later saying that your virgin ears have been defiled, or that you expected better of me, or that you are now leaving this blog forever and NEVER coming back. (I think the same person has made that last threat at least twelve times now.)

Okay that is my disclaimer so now, only if you want, you may enjoy the rest of this post.
From Comic's Comic:

"It (the camera) cut off my face, while she was talking, and I was really, because I was looking at this monitor, and I'm like, do I go like this (he tilts his face to the left and mugs), do I edge out, which is awkward, because the audience was looking at me. And I didn't want to do this (stands awkwardly), but I also didn't want to go (mugs again). Yeah. OK. I wrote mean things about Sarah Palin on Twitter. And not because I'm political. But because it's fun. I do think she's Hitler. But that's not why I do it. I do it because it's fun. But I let myself have fun at her expense, because she's Hitler. Her being Hitler allows me in my head to say mean things about her, but that's not the reason. The reason is because it's just fun. Because she's just an amazing, beautiful perfect villain. She's just crystalline. She says things that are at perfect right angles to truth and reason, and that blows me away. It's poetry when that woman speaks. And I'm sexually attracted to her boobs. She's sexually attractive, to me. But I do think she's terribly dangerous, and I do think she could really Hitler up the place. And by the way, once, I wrote on Twitter that she's the new Hitler, and I got this immediate -- like, immediate -- email on the same device, from somebody that I kinda, whatever, I don't want to say who, who said, 'You gotta take that down. You can't compare a person in the public eye to someone who killed six million Jews.' And I said, 'Well, I'm not saying that she's that Hitler. She's the early Hitler, when he was building power. I don't know how many Jews he was going to kill. But I know that she's building power the same way. Hitler was voted into office through this weird, like he took a bunch of seats, and he got this party going, and he just started intimidating people, and that's exactly what she's doing. Again. I don't care. I'm not political, but why not? Fuck it. If Hitler was running, I'd say 'Hey, fucking losers, suck my dick, Hitler!' And I wouldn't feel like, oh, that's not that nice. Fuck 'em. He's Hitler.

"So I write things about her, people living in her cunt, or whatever it is, and then, yeah, so I go on the Tonight Show. I had no idea. Until I arrived, and I'm walking past the dressing room and it's Bristol, her fucking daughter is on the show. And we sat there, and she talked to Jay, but she, to me, I just saw a young girl who's very nervous -- she was terribly nervous -- be on the Tonight Show. And after her segment I told her, 'You did a good job. That's not easy.' And she said, 'Thank you.' She's very nice. So she invited me to stand there and dance. And I knew I was paying some kind of penance, for what I'd done, I'm standing there like this, me, Bristol Palin, fucking Jay Leno, and some dude from Dancing with the Stars, and I'm standing there kinda like this, and I'm like, this is totally karma. Pretty direct karma."

Wow!  And people say I don't have a filter.

If you visit the link I provided above you can watch the incredibly awkward encounter for yourself.

Bristol keeps up the family tradition and lies on national television.

Now the first lie (0.30 in the video) is that Sarah is out hunting.  That is highly doubtful as the Vanity Fair piece outed the fact that she did not hunt (I have heard that from various sources as well), AND she was reported to have been in California with Willow.

The second lie ( at the 1:20 mark) is that Bristol is still working at the dermatologist office in Anchorage.  I know for an absolute certainty that she has not worked there since before she and Levi hooked back up.

The third lie (at 2:20), and the one that has everybody all atwitter, is that she did not attend her prom because she was pregnant.  According to Sadie neither Levi NOR Bristol wanted to go to their prom in 2008, in fact Bristol was not even a student at Wasilla High at that time.  She was supposed to be attending school at West High in Anchorage, but she had mysteriously dropped out. And if she WAS pregnant with Tripp at that time she could only have been a few days pregnant and it is somewhat doubtful that she would have even known yet. (In Vanity Fair Levi says they told Sarah that Bristol was pregnant on May 4.)

And if the theory about her being Trig's mother were true than she would have given birth to him the day before the Wasilla prom which took place on April 19th.  However I am certain that she did not.

Here is Mercede all dressed up to attend that prom in 2008 with a, clearly not dressed for dancing, Bristol Palin. Does she look pregnant to you?

Now if Bristol was talking about the 2009 prom, that would have taken place AFTER she had Tripp on December 27, 2008.  So obviously she was not pregnant then either.

According to People magazine Bristol "graduated" on May 15, 2009 which would essentially mean NO MORE PROMS!  So unless Bristol is talking about missing the 2007 prom, when she would have been a sophomore at Juneau-Douglas High School, then Bristol lied to Jay Leno on national television about missing her prom due to pregnancy. 

Like mother, like daughter.  I bet Sarah is just beaming with pride.

A short excerpt from Bristol Palin's Tonight Show appearance. Update.

Does anybody really buy that her mother is out hunting right now?  That is probably in answer to the Vanity Fair piece which outed the fact that she is not really a hunter.

She gets a few snarky jabs at Levi concerning his run for Mayor of Wasilla.  Of course she knows he can't retaliate because she has him by the short hairs since Tripp is with her in LA.

Is THAT Louis CK sitting next to Bristol? Okay that has got to be awkward considering his gnarly drunken tweets about Sarah Palin just a few nights ago.

Update:  Here is the full episode. Bristol comes out around the 30 minute mark.

Okay now I don't want to get too far into the weight thing but I swear that when Bristol is standing up around the 36 minute mark it appears that she is wearing a girdle.  Am I wrong?

White House Correspondents Dinner. The comedic stylings of Barack Obama VS the old broken down gags of Jay Leno.

I absolutely LOVED the President's segment, but Leno's left me feeling underwhelmed and a little uncomfortable.

You watch it for yourselves and tell me what you think.

Shannyn is going to have Michael Stinson on her show today!

I just got off of the phone with Shanny and she told me she will have Michael Stinson on at around 11:15 Alaska time.

For those of you just joining us Stinson was the guy who posted that Palin's Tonight Show performance was not exactly the home run we were led to believe that it was.

Anyhow I will post the podcast later this afternoon, but if you want to hear it live just click here and give it a listen. It should be quite informative.

Sarah Palin may not have done as well on the Tonight Show as we were led to believe.

I’ve dealt with sound engineering for 30 years, as a film maker, interviewer, musician, working with master reel to reel tapes/decks at EMS Music in Seattle in the 80’s as a sound duplication engineer, or setting sound levels for my and other bands in live situations at shows. I won a Hollywood award for animation in 2000. I know sound. And it’s my opinion that audio portions of Sarah Palin’s March 2nd appearance on Jay Leno’s Tonight show were added or amplified, edited before broadcast to make it appear that Sarah Palin was more welcome than she was.

I know. I was there.

They added laughter where there was none during uncomfortable portions. Well, there was some laughter. Mine, of derision. During those pregnant pauses in her performance I was laughing long and loud, couldn’t help myself as much of what she was saying was utterly surreal, ridiculous, hypocritical - nonsense, spewed platitudes, pushed buttons. I was seriously thinking of leaving as it was getting hysterically unfunny.

After sitting through the taping of the show in the studio I can recount many portions where there was little or no laughter or response, but at the later broadcast they are smoothed over with applause and laughter that WERE NOT THERE at the taping. Groans, hoots, grumbling, or just dead silence - all missing.

Well now isn't THAT interesting?

You know I wondered how Palin was able to elicit such big laughs from an audience that I assumed was probably made up of mostly progressives. This fellow's explanation certainly makes sense.

From my seat to the right of the stage, by the band, I could tell that an average of 70% of the audience did not like Sarah Palin. Many literally sat on their hands. This is LA and I wondered when we went in, just how many people would be into Palin here. C’mon, this is LA, man! Make no mistake, the national figure for nutjobs were represented, the same insane 30% of the country that always believe in racism, GWBush, War, Torture, the Libertarians, Teabaggers were there too, and quite vocal. Throw in a shotgun microphone and you’ve got yourself a laugh riot with these guys.

Now in the interest of full disclosure it should probably be noted that this guy is NOT a Palin fan, and in fact he and his wife created the “Going Rouge: The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book”.

However that alone does not insinuate that he is a liar. In fact, using my own personal measuring tool for determining if a person is lying, the very fact that he reports the opposite of what Sarah Palin wants us to believe virtually assures that he is being honest.

Check out this guy's description of what Sarah's stage presence looked like from the audience and decide for yourself if it does not jive with other times you have seen Palin in front of a live audience.

Jay came out to raucous applause, hell, we clapped too, I like the guy, not as much as Letterman or Connan but I’m a comedy fan, and some of the show as funny. Shaun White was way cool, funny, authentic, there multiple ovations, and Adam Lambert ROCKED the house, as the latest and future incarnation of David Bowie. Lots of fun.

But when Jay brought out Sarah Palin, she was completely nerved. Watch the video, check out her breathing, she’s Freaked and talks a mile a minute. Both my wife and I agreed - when you actually get close enough, she’s just plain Creepy, and those yech vibes filled the room. Nevermind the applause sign - something that’s a staple of late night shows.

Now as somebody who has witnessed a number of Sarah Palin speeches first hand, this rings very true. Even while giving her speech in front of her hometown crowd she was often frantic, with her voice changing pitch in the oddest places throughout her speech.

Now what I am REALLY interested in is whether having the Tonight Show technicians put a positive spin on the audience reaction was part of her deal for showing up. And whether that is also the case when she appears on other programs.

If true it absolutely guarantees she will never do a David Letterman show, or sit with John Stewart, or even Stephen Colbert. THEY would never provide cover for her on their shows. And I have NO doubt that Palin would never expose herself to their hostile audiences without some protection.

And speaking of protection check out what our friend says about Palin's security.

The basic rules for the studio audience were simple: NO Eating, NO drinking and NO shouting anything out. Other than that, knock yourselves out, have a good time. Yet, judging by the Security surrounding the stage where Palin brought the Silly, shouting out, “Hey Sarah, How many wolf puppies have you gassed?!” would have been suicidal.

What the hell is she so frightened about?

"Hey Sarah! Liberals don't use violence! You don't have to fear us. The only thing we would assault you with is the tru......oh....now I get it! I guess in Sarah's world truth is the scariest weapon of all."

(Just click the title to read the rest of Michael Stinson's very interesting post.)

Update: The "Take back the Media" site is down so my title link will not work right now. But if you want to read the whole article you are in luck because somebody posted the whole thing over at the Daily Kos.