Sarah Palin Blows It on 'BS Your Way to The Presidency' Game Show

On Glenn Beck's game show, "BS Your Way to The Presidency," Sarah Palin lost big-time. The NY Daily News reports:

Oops, she did it again.

Sarah Palin made her latest verbal gaffe on Wednesday, claiming North Korea is one of America's allies on Glenn Beck's radio show when asked how she'd handle the recent escalation between the two Koreas.

"This speaks to a bigger picture here that certainly scares me in terms of our national security policy," the former vice presidential candidate said on Wednesday. "But obviously we've gotta stand with our North Korean allies."

The host corrected her. "South Korea," Beck said.

This gaffe should come as no surprise. The bestseller Game Change reported that Sarah Palin "couldn’t explain why North and South Korea were separate nations." Surely, after realizing that she didn't know the difference between the two countries, her staff would have tried to bring her up to speed. Wouldn't they? They tried and apparently succeeded: "Palin's horrified advisors provided her with scripted replies, which she memorized." Apparently, the information wasn't important enough, in Palin's view, to be filed away in long-term memory.

But why didn't Sarah Palin know what every reasonably well informed person with an interest in world affairs knows? The two Koreas have been front-page news for years; North Korea, especially, for its atomic program and missile tests. On the same page of Game Change, referring to her unpreparedness, Sarah Palin told her staff: "I wish I'd paid more attention to this stuff."

You can read page 397 of Game Change, here, at Amazon. When you're there, type horrified into the search box.

Sarah Palin obviously doesn't read. It isn't difficult to understand why Republicans have told her to sit down and shut up.

Sorry, Sarah. Americans know the presidency isn't a game show prize.

GONG!

Sarah Palin will announce her candidacy on the 'Bob & Mark' show? Seriously? WTF?

It was a surprise to read this at CBS News, in an article about Sarah Palin's appearance with Glenn Beck in Anchorage:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appeared with conservative television personality Glenn Beck in her home state on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11. In what was her first major speaking event in Alaska since resigning as governor, Palin was coy about a future presidential bid.

Palin didn't directly answer when Beck asked her if she would run for president, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Instead, she said she'd make any announcement on an Alaskan talk radio show.

"If there is going to be some big national announcement I'm going to do it where it's most worthy," Palin said. "I'm going to do something big, even bigger then Glenn Beck." Referring to the Alaska morning radio show, she said, "It's going to happen on the Bob and Mark show."

Beck was more forthright, knocking down any speculation he would run. ...

So, is she going to run? The Anchorage Daily News article, cited by CBS' article, may be a little clearer, because it quotes all of Palin's words together, rather than interspersing them with sarah-saids, and provides more context:

At Saturday night’s show Palin and Beck mocked Internet speculation that they would be making an announcement about a 2012 presidential run together. "I'd like to announce that in 2012, we will both be ... voting," Beck said.

Beck asked Palin if she was going to run. She didn’t answer, instead responding by asking him if he was going to run.

Palin said she’d make any announcement on a KWHL drive-time talk radio show.

"If there is going to be some big national announcement I’m going to do it where it’s most worthy. I’m going to do something big, even bigger then Glenn Beck. It’s going to happen on the Bob and Mark show,” Palin said.

What to make of it? I have no idea, but will speculate that Sarah meant, "If there is going to be some big national announcement, it's going to happen on the Bob and Mark show," with a couple tangential or circumstantial thoughts thrown in the middle: "I'm going to do it where it's most worthy," and "I'm going to do something big, even bigger then Glenn Beck." Sarah has been criticized for her "word salad;" what she said might have been better punctuated:

If there is going to be some big national announcement -- I’m going to do it where it’s most worthy -- I’m going to do something big, even bigger then Glenn Beck -- it’s going to happen on the Bob and Mark show.

Is it possible that Sarah has set her sights set on a career like Glenn Beck's? But bigger and better? He does make a lot more money than she does. Sarah knows that her star doesn't shine as brightly as Beck's, and she may admire and envy him: The crowd in Anchorage "welcomed Palin politely with loud applause, and then went ballistic when Beck hit the stage." Beck's entertainment career began on radio, on a morning zoo. As presidential candidates often return to their roots to announce their candidacies, so Sarah may return to hers to announce ... what?

Beck/Palin Anchorage Show: Big Nothing Burger

Craig Medred's story, "With special guest Sarah Palin, the Glenn Beck show rolled into Anchorage," comes with an interesting slideshow and begins:

Fresh from the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C., the Glenn Beck American revival show rolled into Anchorage Saturday night with special guest Sarah Palin.

What little real news there was came quickly. Palin, the half-term former governor of Alaska and unsuccessful though much-loved Republican candidate for vice-president, will keep the country waiting on whether she plans a bid for the presidency in 2012. Not so for Fox News star Beck. "No, I'm not going to run," he said point blank when asked by Palin, on the stage, about his presidential aspirations. ...

So, it was a nothing burger in terms of an announcement. Nobody should have had to ask Beck whether he was going to run -- Hello, Sarah? -- because he very clearly said -- last month! -- that he wouldn't run. Beck went to Alaska for a vacation and to raise some money by selling expensive tickets to his show.

Alaska Dispatch's story is interesting, nonetheless. Did you know that Glenn Beck was once a girl?


Update: Mudflats has a story about Palin's appearance in Anchorage, and Grypen has a story about her appearance in Wasilla.

High-Def Hucksters and Rodeo Clowns, Palin & Beck, to Appear in Anchorage on 9/11

From the Associated Press:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are teaming up again, this time in Alaska on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

But unlike their free August rally at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Saturday's event at an Anchorage convention center will come with a pricetag.

Tickets range from $73.75 to $225, with the priciest tickets including a "meet and greet." Organizers say most of the 4,500 tickets have been sold.

Event promoter Christopher Cox says the 9/11 date is a coincidence. Cox originally eyed Sept. 4, but didn't want to compete with the Alaska State Fair.

Cox says Beck will be introduced by Palin, a potential 2012 White House contender who hasn't announced her political intentions. Palin spokesman Doug McMarlin didn't immediately return requests for comment.

So, it's a moneymaking event! Surprise, surprise. Will Bunch, author of The Backlash and a senior writer for philly.com may know more about Glenn Beck (and Sarah Palin) than a lot of us. They do it for the money. Their fans are walking ATM machines:

September 11 is a very important day for Glenn Beck. For one thing, the king of all right-wing media talks about it all the time -- more on that in a second. What's more, the horrors of Sept. 11, 2001, as pretty much the event that made the Fox News Channel host into the national lightning rod that he is today -- the vehicle that caused him to complete his journey from a Morning Zoo "rodeo clown" to a political guy who suddenly was replacing the so-9/10 Laura Schlessinger on radio outlets coast to coast and then leading a series of transparently self-serving honoring the troops rallies for Clear Channel.

But Beck has talked a lot about 9/11 over nine years -- and the highly notable exception of his bizarre September 2005 attack on the family members of victims of the terrorist attack -- the emphasis has been on extreme reverence for that day in American history. When he was getting off the ground on FNC, he used the images of 9/11 to launch project he claimed would bring Americans back together.

As recounted in my new book The Backlash, he said on his now imfamous March 13, 2009 "We Surround Them" program of the attacks that...

“[t]he skies were filled with black clouds and our hearts were full of terror and fear. We realized -- for the first time -- how fragile we really were.” As Beck addressed his coast-to-coast audience, viewers saw images of anguished, tearful women, head in hands, mouths agape, staring at the hellish fires of the World Trade Center, then a mother racing down a Manhattan byway pushing two children in a stroller, away from the deadly dust.

The 9/12 Project, which devolved in a matter of days into an anti-Barack Obama backlash movement, was described by Beck as aimed:

"to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001. The day after America was attacked we were not obsessed with Red States, Blue States or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the values and the principles of the greatest nation ever created."

In fact, Beck even told his much ballyhooed Restoring Honor rally in D.C. last month that 9/11 was a sign from the Almighty, presumably to turn Americans away from things like greed and back to the things that really matter:

He has been sending us wake-up calls, and you can send two kinds of wake-up calls. One through fear, like 9/11. Nine-eleven woke us up, and we stood shoulder-to-shoulder for a very short period of time. Politics didn't matter. Color didn't matter. It didn't matter if you were poor or if you were rich. We were Americans together. Beyond that, we were God's human creation standing together.

So, with that all as a backdrop, what matters the most to Glenn Beck on September 11, 2010, the ninth anniversary of the day that terrorists slaughtered nearly 3,000 innocent Americans and ripped apart the lives of their families and friends?

Truth be told, outrageous as Beck's latest scheme is, it's almost hard to work up the outrage at this point because to those of us who aren't drinking the David Barton-fueled Kool-Aid, this is simply who Beck is: One of the most shameless business people in America, who happens to be in the business of entertainment and warping some minds politically in the process. Beck has millions of fans -- and to him they are all walking ATM machines. He thinks nothing of selling the people who admire him overpriced gold coins or surivial seed banks and "Food Insurance" kits, none of which they need, and almost every Beck event not named "Restoring Honor" is designed around maximizing ticket prices.

Will Bunch's column is here. David Barton's Wikipedia entry is here.


Update: The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart has written about these grifters' appearance. Christopher Balfe, President of Beck's media company, is claiming, today, that Palin will only introduce Beck and will not receive a fee, and that Beck intends to donate his fee. More.

Palin Family Circus News - Sunday, September 5, 2010

"Sarah Palin exposed," has a brief summary of the recent profile of Sarah Palin in Vanity Fair and has chosen what it considers the best tidbits:

She managed to spend $3,000 on underwear

Angels protect her

She is a bad tipper

Her Facebook and Twitter feeds may be ghost-written

She now says she wants to meet the Iron Lady, but back in 2008 . . .

She doesn't hunt

You can read the entire Vanity Fair profile, here, and decide for yourself.


Do you suppose Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin are appearing together in Anchorage to boost Joe "Constitutional Scholar" Miller's chances in Alaska's U.S. Senate election?


Much of today's Palin news has been covered in earlier Circus News posts, so there is not much to post about. How long will it be until Sarah starts Facebooking and Twittering again? Time is running out. Sarah's free ride may be ending: msnbc's First Read blog has adopted a new policy on reporting Palin's Facebook posts and Twitterings.

Learn to cry with Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is a clown. Don't believe it? Watch this video:



He may have initially had some problems cursing God, but it looks as though he's got a lot of the upset-baby faces down pat, doesn't it? They obviously had a good time making this video.

Video found in this post at Progressive Alaska, which could be a resource for "inside" information about Alaska's senate race.

Palin Family Circus News - Monday, August 30, 2010

Tonight! We'll learn whether Bristol is going to be on "Dancing With The Stars." Isn't it exciting? Even the Washington Post's readers are interested:

ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," which has recently become an "American Idol"-esque ratings behemoth, is going to announce its celeb dancers Monday -- and appears to have outdone itself. At a televised press conference scheduled for Monday night (which will be live-blogged by the TV Column) show co-hosts Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke are expected to announce former GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol, will be among the high-steppers. ...

... Bristol is more than ready for coronation of Queen of Reality TV, reports The Post's Emily Yahr, as the 19-year-old mother has been a tabloid favorite since her mother ran for office in 2008 and subsequently, Bristol's pregnancy -- and relationship with the baby's father, Levi Johnston -- became A Big Story.

The announcement should occur between 8:00 and 10:00 PM, presumably eastern time, and an announcement will be posted at the paper's TV Blog.

Update: The Post hasn't updated its blog. Bristol will be on the show, according to People magazine. Now, for some more suspense: the celebrity/professional pairings will be announced Wednesday. Are we being played?


The Post's readers want more than news of Bristol. The paper's Reliable Source column posted something with an interesting title, "The Palin paradox: What's real and what's reality show?" What an interesting question. Why would anyone pay Sarah Palin to do a reality show when people can watch her gaffes and pratfalls for free? The paper calls it a "three-ring circus," starring Sarah, Bristol, and Levi. The article has video of Levi's recent appearance on the "Early Show" and Sarah's recent encounter with a teacher in Homer, Alaska.


There is "No chance of a Beck-Palin ticket in 2012, Glenn Beck says he has 'zero desire' to be president:"

President Obama said Sunday he's not going to worry much about false rumors - and "can't spend all my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead."

Obama, who is dogged by boneheaded but persistent accusations that he wasn't born in the U.S., told NBC's Brian Williams, "I will always put my money on the American people" and that he doesn't focus on misinformation.

The President said he didn't watch Glenn Beck's rally Saturday on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial but was not surprised that the Fox News host was "able to stir up" people during difficult times.

Meanwhile, Beck told supporters Sunday that a Glenn Beck-Sarah Palin ticket in 2012 is off the table.

"I have no desire to be President of the U.S., zero desire," Beck said on "Fox News Sunday." "I don't think that I would be electable."

Plus, he's not smart enough, Beck said.

"There are far too many people that are far smarter than me to be President," Beck said. "I'd like to find one with some honor and integrity. I haven't seen them yet, but they'll show up."

Sorry, Sarah. Glenn Beck has apparently ruled you out. He may think you're smart, but he's still looking for someone "with some honor and integrity."

It probably wouldn't work with Palin at the top of the ticket either. "Sarah Palin would be an ineffective president, say 6 in 10 Americans, according to new poll," has the bad news:

Sarah Palin is a force to be reckoned with, but the majority of Americans don’t think she’d make an effective President.

A new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll released Monday found that despite her star status, 59% of Americans don't think Palin would be a hit in the White House.

Even among Republicans, just 40% said the former vice presidential candidate would make an effective President. ...

... Results showed 75% of Democrats and 63% of independents did not feel she would be effective in office.

Only 26% of those surveyed said they felt confident she would be a successful President, including 47% of Republicans, 12% of Democrats, and 21% of independents.

So there you have it. All of today's circus news.

Martin Luther King's Dream vs Glenn Beck's Nightmare

The Week's "Glenn Beck's 8/28 Rally: An instant guide" explains the rally by asking and answering several questions:

Why is Beck holding a rally?

Who is speaking?

Wait, Sarah Palin is speaking? I thought this was non-political.

How many people will be there?

Are people angry about Beck's choice of date and place?

How does Beck explain the choice of date?

What do pundits make of it?

The magazine also has a "Glenn Beck Under Fire" section, which contains several articles about Beck.

Palling Around with Beck

Sarah Palin will appear at a Glenn Beck event on the National Mall, today. From Forbes Magazine of April 26, 2010:

... Beck insists that he is not political: "I could give a flying crap about the political process." Making money, on the other hand, is to be taken very seriously, and controversy is its own coinage. "We're an entertainment company," Beck says. He has managed to monetize virtually everything that comes out of his mouth. He gets $13 million a year from print (books plus the ten-issue-a-year magazine Fusion). Radio brings in $10 million. Digital (including a newsletter, the ad-supported Glennbeck.com and merchandise) pulls in $4 million. Speaking and events are good for $3 million and television for $2 million. Over several days in mid-March Beck allowed a reporter to follow him through his multimedia incarnations, with one exception, his 5 p.m. daily show on Fox News, which attracts just under 3 million viewers. ...