Do you like peas? - UPDATED

President Obama, speaking of the rapidly approaching expiration of the government's ability to borrow, said that it is time to act, "Pull off the bandage, eat our peas." Interestingly, he said all leaders -- presumably the members of congress involved in the negotiations -- agree that default on the debt is not an option. The President also talked about shared sacrifice, and said that he would not kick the can down the road by signing a short-term deal to raise the debt ceiling.

The ball is in the Republicans' court. Are they capable of leading? Or are they slaves to a failed idea?



Part of a long term solution to the debt crisis is to increase revenue. Personal and corporate tax rates are at historical lows, yet we have a floundering economy. To begin, revenues could be increased without raising taxes by simply eliminating the Bush tax cuts. And let's shore-up social security by raising the social security wage cap. Some people and some corporations aren't paying their fair share.

It's time, too, for Germany and Japan to start paying their fair share of their own defense costs. Our troops there are large, expensive vestiges of the occupation armies of a war that ended more than sixty years ago. South Korea, where a lot of troops are also stationed, is also capable of paying its fair share. Winding-down -- completely -- the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would also reduce the need to borrow.

Those are my ideas. Others may have areas of spending that they would prefer to see cut, or may know of other ways to increase revenues. But let's share the burden fairly by requiring those with the ability to pay to pay their fair share, and let's face facts: a deficit is caused by a shortfall in revenues and excessive spending, and any "plan" that ignores either of those sides of the equation is doomed to failure.

Update: There is an interesting Wall Street Journal article that looks at the President's strategy. The article sums up, "[Obama's] talking points practically write themselves: I offered three dollars in spending cuts for every dollar in tax increases, and Republicans turned me down. Because Republican leaders wouldn't accept any tax increases, everybody will pay more for Medicare and Social Security and get less in benefits down the road."

Bristol Palin on 'Good Morning America'

ABC News' Robin Roberts talked with Bristol Palin:



Yes, Bristol supports Sarah Palin for President! Is that surprising?
Whether Sarah will run has been discussed at the kitchen table, but Bristol isn't telling.

ABC News' story.

Hairhead vs. Airhead - Jay Leno and Katie Couric talk about Trump/Palin

Jay Leno talked with Katie Couric on the "Tonight Show," and it's clear that Couric doesn't think "What do you read?" is a gotcha question.



The video is from "Katie Couric calls Sarah Palin 'fascinating,' says Donald Trump acted like 'a jackass'."

How well do you know Sarah Palin? -- With 4 Classic Videos

The Christian Science Monitor has a 10-question quiz, "How well do you know Sarah Palin?" It can be fun to answer the questions incorrectly, particularly the question about the full title of Going Rogue, but more seriously: Does anyone who answers all ten questions correctly really know Sarah Palin?

During the quiz, you can see several videos, which I've collected here; however, I've added my own questions:


Does Sarah Palin play the flute?





Did Sarah Palin make it in sportscasting?





Can Sarah Palin shoot?





Is Sarah Palin "way hotter in person?"

Politics and Video/Film Editing - Is Sarah Palin Going Anywhere?

Much of a candidate's narrative or "myth" is presented visually, and for that reason it's useful to become familiar with some basic film editing techniques. A Candidate's narrative is often constructed out of emotional associations. In Wikipedia's Film Editing entry, we're told:

... Editors can choose between emotional and storytelling aspects of any given film over continuity -- something that is much more abstract and harder to judge. (Which is why films often take much longer to edit than to shoot.) Emotional continuity, and the clarity of storytelling, can take precedence over "technicalities." In fact, very often something that is physically discontinuous will be completely unnoticeable if the emotional rhythm of the scene "feels" right. If you were to slow down scenes from many of your favorite movies, you could easily find many minuscule physical differences from one cut to the next, which are completely hidden by the course of the emotional events. ...

For a simple example, we're meant to believe that the Going Rogue tour bus is moving while Sarah Palin is being interviewed by Greta Van Susteren:



Is the bus moving during the interview? How do you know?
If you think the bus is moving, is it on the road actually going anywhere?
How many cuts were there? Where are the discontinuities?
Are there any sound cues? Does that bus sound like any you've ridden?
Is that a bumpy road or is someone wiggling the camera?

Wikipedia has some basic information about film editing. Some things can be learned there that may be of assistance in evaluating a candidate's narrative, even her "reality show," more effectively. The See Also section at the bottom of the Film Editing entry has links to some of the cuts commonly used by film editors. Film Editing: Great Cuts Every Filmmaker and Movie Lover Must Know is well written and illustrated with movie scenes.

But more than cuts can be used to fool people; compositing can be used to place someone where they're not. That's how the TV weather person appears to be standing in front of a weather map. And there are even more tricks available to Sarah Palin ... .

We can enjoy TV and movies, because we willingly suspend our disbelief. We shouldn't always do so.

Bristol Palin like the 'white Precious' -- Kathy Griffin

Divas |Divas Photos |Divas Video |Celebrity News

Via MTV

The backstory (explains a 'White Precious').

Sarah Palin Quit 'the best job anyone could think of' -- Mitt Romney

Mitt Romney went on Jay Leno's show last night.
Jay Leno asked him about quitting a governorship:


Via The Source

The Washington Post's Alexandra Petri wrote quite a bit about the show, which she liked.

Republicans Need To Man Up, Take Sarah Palin Down -- Morning Joe

Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," wrote:

Republicans have a problem. The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected. And yet the same leaders who fret that Sarah Palin could devastate their party in 2012 are too scared to say in public what they all complain about in private. ...

... What man or mouse with a fully functioning human brain and a résumé as thin as Palin’s would flirt with a presidential run? ...

... Still, Palin is undeterred, charging ahead maniacally while declaring her intention to run for the top office in the land if “nobody else will.” Adding audacity to this dopey dream is that Palin can’t stop herself from taking swings at Republican giants. In the past month alone, she has mocked Ronald Reagan’s credentials, dismissed George H.W. and Barbara Bush as arrogant “blue bloods” and blamed George W. Bush for wrecking the economy.

Wow. That’ll win ’em over in Iowa.

One can only guess what comes next on Palin’s bizarre road show. ...

Scarborough is a Republican. In this short video, after comparing Republicans' silence about Sarah Palin with their silence about George W. Bush, he tells palinbots not to waste their time e-mailing him about it!



Everything Scarborough wrote can be read here, in his opinion piece at Politico. Near its conclusion, he writes:

[I am] one Republican who would prefer that the former half-term governor promote her reality shows and hawk her books without demeaning the reputations of Presidents Reagan and Bush. These great men dedicated their lives to public service and are too good to be fodder for her gaudy circus sideshow.

Of course, there are other reasons for opposing Palin. But if Republicans have their own reasons, why should we discourage them? Politics makes strange bedfellows.

Scarborough criticises Palin for blaming the Bushes for the economy's problems and for calling them blue bloods. Palin's criticism of the Bushes occurred during her recent interview on Laura Ingraham's radio show. We have a post about that interview, here. Palin may have criticised the Bushes in an attempt to get even with them after former First Lady Barbara Bush told Larry King that Palin ought to "stay in Alaska."

Warning: Scarborough is a card carrying Republican. He praises Republicans -- well, most of them -- and criticizes Democrats. If you're a card carrying Democrat, some of what he wrote may offend you.

Sarah Palin Puts ALL THREE Of Her Feet In Her Mouth

She slams former First Lady Barbara Bush, blames the Bushes for the economy's problems, and blows it on the "BS Your Way to The Presidency" show. ABC's George Stephanopoulos reports:



ABC's story is here.

Oh! And she slams current First Lady, Michelle Obama, for taking an interest in children's nutrition! Imagine that. It didn't occur to me that Sarah has four feet. My mistake! I wish I'd paid more attention when she talked about being an animal. She says grizzly bear, but I'm not so sure about that ... .

You can read my post about Glenn Beck's game show, "BS Your Way to The Presidency," here.

Thanksgiving - November 25, 2010

Sarah Palin has done her part to add to the traditions of Thanksgiving.


Via Hullabaloo

Digby wrote: "If you have five minutes, take a few minutes to watch it all the way through if you haven't seen it in a while. The symbolism is amazing."


Oz Mudflats has "How A Real President Pardons A Turkey" (with video). During the ceremony, President Obama humorously mentions Dancing With the Stars.


Ken Tucker writes a column for Entertainment Weekly eponymously named "Ken Tucker's TV." Today he's got four things to be thankful about:

Taylor Swift: Speak Now, tonight

A new Fringe episode, next Thursday

Dancing With the Stars is over!

A new Walking Dead on Sunday.

There are entertainment alternatives to the Palins.


Shopping tomorrow? Check out Pulp History. One of the series' creators says:

“We definitely did not want to make history like spinach, good for you but boring. We wanted to do the stuff that wasn’t good for you, with good guys, bad guys, blood, guts and sex.”

and

"You can't make this stuff up."

The story's writer, Patricia Cohen, says, "They [the Talbots] are the mild-mannered creators of a new book series called “Pulp History,” rip-roaring nonfiction tales with enough purple prose, gory illustrations and va-va-va-voom women to lure in even reluctant teenage male readers.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski Tells Katie Couric: Sarah Palin lacks 'leadership qualities' and 'intelluctual curiosity'

From CBS News: Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowki told CBS News' Katie Couric today that she would not support Sarah Palin for president because Palin lacks the "leadership qualities" and "intellectual curiosity" to craft great policy.

"You know, she was my governor for two years, for just about two years there, and I don't think that she enjoyed governing," Murkowski said. "I don't think she liked to get down into the policy." The Alaska senator added that she prefers a candidate who "goes to bed at night and wakes up in the morning thinking about how we're going to deal with" important issues.



There are additional segments from the interview, at the CBS News link, above.

Senator Murkowski has gone even further than those who won't say that Palin is qualified to be President; she has flatly said that she would not support a Palin candidacy. What the Senator says about Palin's lack of interest in governing is true. If Palin were interested in anything more than the ceremonial duties of office, she would work to find solutions to the country's problems rather than continually sniping at President Obama in her quest for attention, and she would not have quit on the people of Alaska when the going got tough.

Republican Party Puts Speedbumps, Roadblocks, Tollbooths and Detours Along Sarah Palin's Path To The Nomination

Walter Shapiro of Politics Daily attended Sarah Palin's recent address at the annual Ronald Reagan Dinner in Iowa, then wrote an interesting article about Palin's prospects for winning the Republican nomination should she decide to run. Shapiro wrote, in part:

... A little-noticed change in Republican Party rules for the 2012 presidential season may play a role in shaping Palin's ultimate decision [on whether to run].

Palin's most likely path to the nomination would depend on sweeping the Iowa caucuses (made-to-order for a high intensity candidate in a multi-candidate field), surviving a probable setback in New Hampshire (those pesky independent voters) and then roaring back to win the all-important South Carolina primary (the Kingmaker State whose likely next governor, Nikki Haley, was one of the first Mama Grizzlies). After that, Palin would have a serious shot at sweeping a series of major state (California, Texas, New York) winner-take-all primaries or winner-take-all by congressional district, even though she probably could never hit 50 percent in a contested race.

But that theory exploded when the Republican National Committee recently voted to switch to proportional representation (the system that was used by the Democrats during the protracted Obama-versus-Hillary Clinton battle) for all primaries held during the first two months of the 2012 season. What that means is that it will very difficult for a divisive candidate like Palin to sweep the table before the party establishment (buffeted though it may have been recently) can regroup. ...

Awarding delegates proportionately makes it much more difficult for Palin to get the nomination. The winner-take-all approach might have helped her to the nomination, like it helped her reach Alaska's governorship with less than fifty percent of the vote, with a plurality rather than a majority. Now, Palin will have to try to appeal to moderate Republican primary voters, which, if she does, is guaranteed to turn off her fans.

Shapiro came up with the three-state plan nearly a year ago, and since then that plan has become "common sense" among Palin's fans. It became so ingrained in their thinking that this Republican strategist still believes in it:



The Democratic strategist, Karen Finney, appears to be more realistic than her Republican counterpart. Finney doesn't think Palin is running for anything more than a payday.

Palin Family Circus News - Monday, September 20, 2010

Bristol can dance!



ABC News has a brief article, here.


The NY Daily News has an article, with video and pictures of Tripp, here.


CBS has a story about ABC's show! here. They say, from Access Hollywood, that Sarah Palin will be in the audience.


Update: Bristol and her partner dancing on DWTS can be seen on YouTube. ABC will probably have better video available, later, after it's aired in the west.


Update: From Reuters:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stripping off an office power suit, the daughter of conservative politician Sarah Palin performed a short parody of her mother in launching her bid to win television's "Dancing with the Stars" on Monday. ...

... Her sparkling grey office suit imitated the style worn by her mother, but it was soon stripped off to reveal a short, red dress with tassels.

Sarah Palin did not attend the taping on a Los Angeles soundstage. Instead, she hosted a viewing party at her home in Alaska, and declared on Twitter that she was "over-the-moon excited and happy" for her daughter. ...

Update: Better video (H/T Gryphen):

Values Voters Do Not Want To Give Sarah Palin The Keys To The Car

Republican and Democratic strategists are talking about Palin/2012. Here are two of them. It's clear the Republican strategist doesn't know what he's talking about when he expresses the view that Sarah Palin could win the nomination, because, he says, three states, Iowa, New Hampshire and S. Carolina, decide the Republican nomination:





ABC News has a report about yesterday's Values Voter Summit, which was attended by Republican activists who will play a large part in deciding who will be the Republican nominee:

Conservatives came out in full force Saturday at the Values Voter Summit to hear the speeches of several rising Conservative stars and cast their ballots for who they think should head the 2012 Republican presidential ticket. The results of that straw vote might surprise you.

There has been a lot of speculation about Sarah Palin's prospective run. ...

... But while all the hype has been about Palin and the Tea Partiers, she came in fifth place in Saturday's straw poll, with just 7 percent of the vote.

Instead, the social conservatives at Saturday's event favored Rep. Mike Pence, a seemingly low-profile Congressman from Indiana who -- despite flying under the national radar -- struck a chord with those in attendance by speaking their language.

"I am a Christian, a Conservative and a Republican -- in that order," Pence promised the cheering crowd. ...

The article continues with a list of issues important to Values Voter attendees.

ABC News provided a video summary of their report:

Does the Value Voter poll tell us who the nominee will be? The LA Times noted:

Straw polls such as this one are hardly reliable predictors of a potential candidate's viability as a presidential hopeful. Other Republicans seen as potential candidates lagged in the field; Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who did not attend, asked that his name be removed from the ballot.

Palin did not attend, choosing instead to deliver the keynote speech Friday at the Iowa Republican Party's Reagan Dinner.

Palin Family Circus News - Friday, September 10, 2010

California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has weighed in on Sarah Palin: From the NY Daily News:

The "governator" took a shot at Sarah Palin as his plane flew over Alaska Friday, making fun of her claim during the 2008 presidential election that she could see Russia from her home state.

Using Twitter, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger fired at the "mama grizzly," saying, "looking everywhere but can't see Russia from here." ...

... For good measure, Schwarzenegger included a photo with his tweet of him gazing out of the plane's window.

"Will keep you updated as search continues," he wrote.

Meghan McCain appeared on "The Daily Show" to promote her book, Dirty Sexy Politics. She's tamed an elephant, and Bristol Palin's name came up during her appearance:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Meghan McCain
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

The Washington Post has a story about Ms. McCain's appearance on the "Tonight Show," with two videos.


From a Huffington Post story of September 3, updated this afternoon with breaking news:

Alaska Republican Joe Miller is telling his supporters that he is refusing to take corporate and out-of-state money, yet the Tea-Party-backed candidate has hired a prominent K Street fundraiser to help with his bid for the Senate.

Miller, to date, has relied extensively on the Lord to raise funds for his Senate run, his campaign told supporters in an email sent Sunday evening that was obtained by HuffPost.

"So far the Lord has always provided the money in this grass roots campaign, and this time God is going to use you to provide!" Miller's campaign told supporters, inviting them to attend a fundraiser with Miller and his wife. "It cost alot of money to run a clean campaign and we all know that Joe's campaign isn't receiving any monies from corporations or from out of State entities."

That pledge, however, runs counter to news, broken by Roll Call, that Miller has hired Mike Gula, a high-powered Washington fundraiser with The Gula Graham Group. K Street will now be supplementing the Lord's work.

Palin Family Circus News - Saturday, September 4, 2010

The NY Daily News' "Vanity Fair reporter, Michael Joseph Gross, on article about GOP Sarah Palin: I made a mistake," omits the truly ugly part of Sarah Palin's response to Gross' article: She called him "impotent and limp." We haven't heard male politicians calling female reporters hormonal and frigid.

Instead of refuting any of the points Gross made, Palin mounted an ugly ad hominem attack on the author. That attack confirmed one of the major points of Gross' article: Sarah Palin has a terrible temper. Was her response the sort of response we would expect from a President? No. It was the response of a mean-girl.

The author has said he made a mistake when he misidentified Trig Palin, but he has not said that he is mistaken about the substantive issues he raised. He won't do that unless Sarah Palin engages the article on the issues and can point out an error of fact associated with them.

If you missed it, here's Bristol with Jay Leno, last night:





Sarah Palin is part of the team! She is the new makeup artist for Glenn Beck's show! The article doesn't mention it, but she has also lent the use of her TeeVee studio backdrop to Joe "Constitutional Scholar" Miller.


Gail Collins has written "The reality-TV show known as Sarah Palin:"

Sarah Palin is going to Iowa to be the headliner at a Republican fundraiser. In the state that will be the first to hold a contest in the 2012 presidential campaign, even if it has to do it in 2011.

Her staff says this means nothing whatsoever, but let us acknowledge that Palin is on a roll. She's got her own TV show, not counting Fox News. And she Twitters! Or somebody does it for her. Hard to tell which. Her twit on the president's Iraq speech was: "may make u want to dig out ur old Orwell books so rewritten history can be deciphered."

On the one hand, the sentence construction does have that Sarah ring to it. On the other, how many of you think that Palin has old Orwell books hanging around the house? May I see a show of hands? ...

... A new Vanity Fair profile by Michael Joseph Gross suggests that Palin does still cut costs by being an extremely bad tipper. The piece also resurrects the charge that she does not actually hunt, and claims that Todd had to scour the neighborhood to find some moose to put in that chili when a TV crew came to call.

This is not the first time Palin's hunting creds have been questioned. I think it is time for her to take a pool of reporters out into the woods, bring down a moose and dress it on the spot. Maybe she could compete with other allegedly outdoorsy politicians, like Joe Miller. Maybe they could call it "Shooting With the Stars."

In "AP Interview: Author leaving home next to Palins," we learn that Joe McGinniss is leaving the the house he rented next-door to Sarah Palin. He has finished his research and will begin writing his book, The Lies of Sarah Palin.

Will the fence come down? McGinniss said of Sarah Palin's concern that he was there to spy on the Palins:

Anybody wanting to spy on the Palins, McGinniss said, would be better off in a boat.

"That's the funny thing," he said. "They live in a place where anybody who wants to look onto their property, all they have to do is get a boat and park 10 yards off shore and they can sit there all day and look at the Palin's yard, if that's what they want to do. But I don't know who would want to do that."

The NY Times' William Yardley has taken an interest in Joe "Constitutional Scholar" Miller, the Republican candidate for Alaska Senator. His latest article, "Alaska Winner, Lover of Privacy, Loses His Own," is here.


Finally, Robert Reich has written "How to End the Great Recession," which has some background information about what has been happening to the middle class during the last thirty years.

Palin Family Circus News - Friday, September 3, 2010

The Hollywood Gossip writes:

The author of a blistering Vanity Fair article on Sarah Palin says his attempt at a positive piece went so awry, he couldn't even include all the bad stuff he found out.

"The worst stuff isn't even in there," Michael Joseph Gross said on MSNBC.

"I couldn't believe these stories either when I first heard them, and I started this story with a prejudice in her favor. I have a lot in common with this woman." ...

... You can read the Vanity Fair article yourself and draw your own conclusions, but he paints Palin as an abusive, combative figure with an extreme ability to lie.

"This is a person for whom there is no topic too small to lie about," he said of the ex-Alaska Governor and mother of Bristol Palin. "She lies about everything."

Meghan McCain has nothing on this. As for Palin's political future?

"If we decide to let her keep lying and getting away with it, she's gonna still be around," he said. "But if we start returning to the standard that a politician has to talk with people, and a politician has to tell the truth, then she's outta here."

"Because she can't stand up to that." ...


This must be the msnbc video THG referred to:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

While looking for that video, an interview with Gross on "Hardball" was found:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In The Washington Post's "A limp response from Palin," Ruth Marcus, while she says, "As it happens, I think Palin had a legitimate beef with the Vanity Fair piece. It was very short on identified sources. You could hear a lot of axes being ground in the background," criticizes Palin's response:

... There are sexist aspects to the commentary about Palin, as with other female politicians. Sometimes sexism is imagined or overplayed; sometimes it is real and deserves to be called out. A new campaign, Name It, Change It, has been launched to expose such episodes.

Fine, but women politicians have to keep to the high road if they don't want men making fun of their high heels. Impotent and limp? No male politician accused a female reporter of being hormonal or frigid.

Governor, there were any number of other adjectives you could have used. You didn't need to go there -- and you shouldn't have.

Doesn't Palin's response to the article confirm one of the article's major points? That Sarah Palin has a foul temper?


Hey! These guys understand Sarah Palin:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

msnbc's First Read blog has adopted a new policy on reporting Palin's Facebook posts and Twitterings.


A Jay Leno tweet has Bristol on his show tonight.


People magazine has the before and after pictures (of Bristol Palin's dance practice).


And, dont miss "Bristle Dance."

Anonymous sources?

Michael Joseph Gross gave a lengthy (for TeeVee) interview with CNN. They discussed his article, "Sarah Palin's Sound and Fury," which was published in Vanity Fair:



On the use of anonymous sources, this part of Gross' article was briefly discussed:

One person who has been a frequent houseguest of the Palins’ says that the couple began many mornings with screaming fights, a fusillade of curses: “ ‘Fuck you,’ ‘Fuck this,’ ‘You lazy piece of shit.’ ‘You’re fuckin’ lucky to have me,’ Sarah would always say.” (This person never saw Todd and Sarah sleep in the same bed, and recalls that Todd would often joke, “I don’t know how she ever gets pregnant.”)

"This person never saw Todd and Sarah sleep in the same bed, and recalls that Todd would often joke, "I don't know how she ever gets pregnant." Who is the source?

In "Me and Mrs. Palin," Levi Johnston appears to state:

After the nomination, Sarah and Todd wouldn’t go anywhere together unless the cameras were out. They’re good on television, but once the cameras would leave they didn’t talk to each other. In all the time Bristol and I were together, I’ve never seen them sleep in the same bedroom. (I don’t know how she got pregnant.)

Apparently, Levi hung-out with Todd, or hung-out within earshot, or talked with someone who did.

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 - Tuesday, August 31, 2010

In case you missed it, here is last night's big announcement:



Did Bristol take a style cue from Michelle Obama? The belt? What will the palinbots think of that?

Bristol isn't going to be wearing any skimpy outfits. No."Bristol plans to wear the 'most modest outfits' on DWTS," has:

Bristol Palin might be stepping out of her comfort zone this season on Dancing With the Stars, but she won’t be stepping into any of the show’s skimpy costumes.

“I think I will be the most dressed [contestant and have] the most modest outfits for sure because that’s who I am,” she told PEOPLE Monday night in Los Angeles at the announcement of the show’s new cast. ...

... “I have no experience in dance,” [Bristol] says. “But I come from an athletic background, so I’m thankful for that. [I played] basketball, volleyball, soccer, everything.” As for temporarily relocating from Alaska to Los Angeles for the show, Bristol is still adjusting. “I feel like I’m melting,” she says. “It’s so hot here and there’s so much traffic.” –Melody Chiu

The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog has posted a video, writing:

The web site Funny or Die has made excellent comedic use of footage of Sarah Palin playing the flute to create a segment of “Betwixt the Music” that focuses on an imagined collaboration between Alaskan singer/songwriter Jewel and the state’s former governor. As told by the “Behind the Music” narrator, the pair met at a venue in Wasilla called The Crab and Coffee and were soon jamming at “The Dojo,” Palin’s storage shed/rehearsal studio decorated with posters of Bob Marley and Ronald Reagan.

Here it is:

Betwixt The Music: Jewel & Sarah Palin from Jewel

Meghan McCain's book about the 2008 campaign is out. In "Sarah Palin caused 'stress, drama, panic' on campaign trail, says John McCain's daughter Meghan," we read:

... In her new book "Dirty Sexy Politics," Meghan McCain says Palin brought "stress, drama, complications, panic and loads of uncertainty" to the campaign.

"She was not just an overnight success or even a political Cinderella story," McCain writes in an excerpt obtained by ABC News. "She was a sudden, freakishly huge, full-fledged phenomenon. It seemed too much. And it seemed too easy."

Speaking out about the former Alaska Gov. for the first time, McCain admits she once wondered if her father's loss "was Sarah Palin's fault." ...

Meghan McCain appeared today on "Good Morning America." She has a website, McCainBlogette, and she is a columnist for The Daily Beast, here.


Breaking News: Lisa Murkowsi concedes to Joe Miller. The Anchorage Daily News has a story, too.