Palintology: You left the mike on again?

So I was over at politico.com, because that's where I flee when I want to unwind the spin that's spun, and I ran across yet another "hot mike" moment.

Check out these comments on Sarah Palin that NBC caught when the cameras were supposedly off. Pundit Republican consultant Mike Murphy and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan are publicly in her corner. Didn't they learn anything from Jesse Jackson? I borrowed the You Tube link from Ben Smith's blog.



Palin's speech was pretty much what I expected, but she has a timber and a delivery that grates on my cheddar. I had to force myself to sit through the whole thing. I'll read her speeches in the future or nibble on sound bites.

This is going to be fun. How can the Democrats attack Affirmative Action and diversity.

When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism, or maybe a sharper microscope put on her, I think, 'Man, that doesn't do us any good, women in politics, or women in general, trying to progress this country-- Sarah Palin

(Another version, found at You Tube They seem to be having problems with embeds right now.)

And how absurd is it?

I've been having a hard time writing about Saipan lately.

It's just that things have gotten so absurd that it isn't funny. Except that it is. I can picture some late-night comedian saying "it's so ridiculous that...."

The Governor proclaims a State of Emergency because the Power Plant may blow up.

The U.S. Congress adds a special 'CNMI only' labor category because the local government says existing rules will Osterize our economy-- and the Governor wants to sue because no other U.S. jurisdiction has to put up with these onerous requirements.

The closed-door meeting to push for his suit has to be postponed because of a power outage.

The public is brought into the discussion when the Governor posts his talking points on You Tube.

My son asks me if it's true that the (new) Public Utility Commission is to blame for our power problems as the Governor claims.

The Commonwealth Utilities Corporation has more liabilities than assets but the Legislature wants to require a minimum bid for privatization.

Questionable hiring practices have plagued CUC, but the Legislature wants to ensure jobs are "protected" during privatization.

There's no money in the budget for retirement contributions but the Retirement Fund is being asked to risk its dwindling reserves investing in CUC.

The government is bloated (also see retirement contributions) but is trying to argue that there just aren't enough local workers to staff private businesses.

CUC keeps promising to train local workers this time if they just get another extension to hire contract workers.

The Northern Marianas College's director for institutional advancement moves over to shaky private Emmanuel College.

That's just off the top of my head. Now, what did I miss?

The real Bill

So my brother was telling me about Newshounds. Motto: "We Watch Fox So You Don't Have To." He said he stopped because, well, it was just like watching Fox News.

It will fade for me too, I'm sure. Meanwhile, how about Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo finger-wagging each other over immigration? They could almost be on Saipan, discussing S.2739, now PL 110-229.



BTW, it reminds me of the younger Geraldo who crawled over walls to report on mental institutions. I liked that guy.

The younger O'Reilly? Let's travel back to Inside Edition. It's alright, he says it's okay to rummage through people's past like this.

Update with a sigh: the following O'Reilly rant has been pulled by You Tube for the second time that I'm aware of. Instead of constantly cutting and pasting new links, if it disappears again I'll just refer you to the fine folks at RatTube. This is the Year of the Rat, after all.



A lazy blog; I've got four or five Real Important Things on my mind. But no bloviating, because I'm also short of time, tired and a little burned out by the CNMI's continuing trainwreck.