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OK, now this one is just fun. We just learned that ex-Governatrix, Sarah Palin's recent appearance on The Tonight Show (with old/new host Jay Leno) was digitally altered to make her appear more appealing. Yep, that's right, according to an individual who was in the audience, she totally bombed in her stand-up routine, and was not nearly the media darling that she appeared to be during the ham-handed, softball interview.

"Who needs teleprompters when a studio can simply insert canned laughter?

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."

Makes you wonder how much of what we "witness" on TV has been faked (yes, I'm talking to you Fox News)

"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."

Oh yeah, truth in reporting makes us want to add that the person who made this blogpost, was not only a former resident of Alaska (says he live there for 12 years), but is no fan of Palin.

In fact the guy also the published Going Rouge: The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book, and had actually brought several to the taping, and passed them out to the audience prior to the start of the show.

Oh yeah, apparently there is a story making the rounds that Palin (who recently lifted everything from an Oscar freebie table) is currently pitching a reality show featuring her.

Talk about the vanishing ratings on TV, eh?

The Perfessor

This just in, Sarah Palin is on the dole...Apparently ex-Governatrix Sarah Palin and her over-blown entourage of assistants, nannies, and security folk, descended "like locusts" on an Oscar swag suite, gloming onto freebies in a binge that "practically cleaned the place out," celebrity gossips reported today. Apparently, the former Alaska Gov's pigout included jewels from Pascal Mouawad, watches by Skagen and a fancy new hairdo for her daughter Willow. Witnesses said that the new coiffure came courtesy of Erick Orellana, Jennifer Aniston's longtime hairstylist.

The Los Angeles Times reported Palin was supposed to donate all of her gift items back to the Silver Spoon Oscar Suite for auction, as well as $1,700 of her own cash, in support of Red Cross efforts in Haiti and Chile.

The entertainment news outlet quoted an unnamed vendor who said that as many as 20 people from the Palin camp swarmed the event.

Nice to know that she is still thinking like a politician, "If i can see it it is mine. If I can put it in my pocket it's mine. If one of my people can pick it up and carry it out, it's is mine!"

The Perfessor

By now you've all heard how the ex-Governatrix (over) reacted to the Valentine's Day episode of The Family Guy, well, as it turns out, the actress (Andrea Fay Friedman) who voiced "Ellen" — the character who was depicted as having Down syndrome — actually does have Down syndrome herself.

Friedman recently responded to Palin's comments on Fox by saying:

My name is Andrea Fay Friedman. I was born with Down syndrome. I played the role of Ellen on the "Extra Large Medium" episode of Family Guy that was broadcast on Valentine's day. Although they gave me red hair on the show, I am really a blonde. I also wore a red wig for my role in " Smudge" but I was a blonde in "Life Goes On". I guess former Governor Palin does not have a sense of humor. I thought the line "I am the daughter of the former governor of Alaska" was very funny. I think the word is "sarcasm".

Friedman then continued her comments by taking the opportunity to deliver her own little Gibb's-slap to Alaska's ex-Governatrix by saying:

In my family we think laughing is good. My parents raised me to have a sense of humor and to live a normal life. My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes.

Yeah, we were pretty hysterical over it as well.

The Perfessor

So, I'm going about my day yesterday, and I see this little bit of nonsense from the Bill O'Reilly show.

It seems that this past Tuesday night, the ex-Governoratrix appeared on O’Reilly's show in her capacity as a Fox News analyst, and was questioned about an episode of The Family Guy in which a female character with Down syndrome is on a date with Chris and says that her mother is the former governor of Alaska. As you all know, Palin, resigned from that post last year, has a son, Trig, who has Down syndrome.

After showing the clip from the episode, O’Reilly asked Palin, “It’s pretty nasty, is it not?”

Palin replied, “This world is full of cruel, cold-hearted people who would do such a thing.”

The odd thing about this bit, for this observer is that, well, to anyone who has watched more than the odd clip or two of the show knows that it is safe to say that, as Chris is something of a brain-dead moron, and his father, Peter is — quite literally — too stupid to live (and was once declared retarded on the show) are both probably more mentally handicapped than the Down syndrome gal on the date with Chris.

Seth McFarlane (the show's creator) has literally mocked every target in his sights, so to say that he is a hater, seems, well, a bit odd. Further, every episode holds virtually every cast member (especially Peter) up for ridicule. So, when watching you have to look past what you are seeing, to try and see what McFarlane is really saying.

What this (and various other tactics from the Right) seem to indicate the lopsided notion that free speech is for everyone, so long as you agree with what we have to say. This was never clearer than in the Presidential campaign when Former Secretary of State, Colin Powell came out in support of Obama, and the Republican spin machine stepped up to say that "Real West Virginians" were squarely behind McCain.

Such a dick move is the way these people try to discredit anyone who disagrees with them, as if there is only one opinion and it ids theirs. Sure you want to spin the story to you, but I'm so tired of the way they try to do it by running the other guy down. This is such a juvenile way to do it, and well, it is really starting to backfire.

Needless to say, Family Guy Rules, ad Palin (and O'Reilly) are tools.

The Perfessor

Yeah, everyone likes to kick a loser when they are down, and well, these days, everyone's favorite target seems to be the ex-Govenatrix herself, and well, we'd feel sorry for her, but, well she we know that she seems to invite this type of firestorm on herself, all by herself, even without the "assistance" of the "Liberal, elite media".

This time around, it is none other than the White House Press Secretary himself that has jumped on the bandwagon...

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, in a nod to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, wrote a faux shopping list on his hand in dark pen Tuesday in response to reports over the weekend that Palin had written notes to herself during the Tea Party Convention this past weekend.

By way of comparison, I want to point out that if a student had done this (write answers on their hand) in school, during a test, they would have, in all probability, been suspended and flunked the test. The least thing she could have done was to apologize for having committed such a gaff, but she didn't. Nope, she came out the next day with the words "Hi Mom" written on her hand for the cameras to catch.

You just know that if a Democrat had done that she wouldn't have found it nearly as funny.

I can't help but to think that the Republican party so deserves this bimbo.

The Perfessor

Yeah, yeah, I know that Walt posted a link to this in his response to an earlier post, but I felt that it was so funny (I nearly wet myself when watching it live last night), that I felt that it deserved its own post.

You seriously have to love this guy.

The Perfessor

As much as I enjoy Jon Stewart, I totally love Louis Black:

Don’t ya just love this guy?

The Perfessor

Well, we all know what a media whore that Sarah Palin is, and while none of us like negative publicity, she is especially sensitive to it (especially if she was the one who caused the bad press). Well, you have to know that these days she is apparently in something of a rage because there’s plenty of bad press swirling around her in the news these days.

Not is there the whole reading off her hand thing, and the not Gibbs-smacking Rush Limbaugh over his use of the "R" word. Well on Sunday it seems as if she wants the President to invade Iran.

“Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decided really to come out and do whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do,” Palin told Fox News’ Chris Wallace Sunday. “That changes the dynamics in what we can assume is going to happen between now and three years.”

Yeah, I’m so totally gonna vote for this one.

Not!

Oh yeah, and then there is also this.

Arianna appeared on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" Friday and explained that Sarah Palin's refusal to call out Rush Limbaugh for his use of the word "retard" proves that she is afraid that offending the radio host and arbiter of the conservative movement could hurt her image.

Earlier this week, Palin called for Rahm Emanuel to be fired after he used the same word.

Arianna argued that Palin's decision to go after Emanuel, but not Limbaugh is all part of Palin's "cost-benefit analysis" operating procedure:

Link to Huffington Post video

The Perfessor

And now from the files of "only Democrats are bad," Alaska's former Governatrix is leading a campaign to stop the public use of the "R" word; that is to say the derogatory usage of the word "retard," only it apparently collided with her campaign to maintain her popularity with conservatives today, with very confusing results.

A Palin spokeswoman seemed to back away from earlier criticism of conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. Yesterday, when asked for comment on Limbaugh's use of the "r" word in a recent broadcast, Palin spokeswoman told Greg Sargent of the Washington Post, "Governor Palin believes crude and demeaning name-calling at the expense of others is disrespectful." Today, Stapleton claims the statement was meant generally and she was not specifically referring to Limbaugh. Still, she declined to say that Palin believes Limbaugh's statements were acceptable. Sargent reprinted the email he sent Stapleton in which he specifically asked about Limbaugh's statement.

I mean, you can spin this any way you want to, but here again we have yet another example of Republicans saying one thing and doing another. I'm telling you that this girl is a train wreck waiting to happen.

The Perfessor

Yeah, Yeah, we love Gibbs-smacking the former Alaskan Governatrix around, but please be aware, that she makes such an easy target of her self. Take this (so called) circle jerk...er contrived interview-cum-lovefest with a seriously smitten interviewer and an adoring brain-dead audience. Still with (apparently) all the prep time in the world, Palin, still couldn’t seem to keep those silly old facts straight in her head, and to needed a cheat-sheet just to get through the event.

Just watch her left hand.

Did you see it? take a second look, this time in bullet-time, er, slow-mo.

and now, for the folks in the cheap seats, here she is looking down.

and now for what she seemed to be looking at on her hand.

And this just a couple of days after she criticized President Obama for his use of a teleprompter. Oh isn’t the use of cameras (by the liberal media) such a problem for this girl?

The Perfessor

So, you might have heard, Sarah Palin is now a commentator on Fox News. Ya gotta wonder how that’s gonna turn out (and will she quit halfway through her contact).

Still, all of the news these days isn’t goofy silliness, there was this thing that happened in Haiti:

Until Dick Cavett comes back on the air, I’ll stick with Jon Stewart.

The Perfessor

They say to err is human, and we all know that we all make mistakes, and well, since News organizations are made up of humans who, well occasionally make mistakes. Still, when Fox News makes mistakes, they tend to suspiciously tilt in a consistent direction, that is to say, favoring conservatives and Republicans over liberals and Democrats.

It happened again Wednesday, when host Gregg Jarrett, introducing a segment on Happening Now, described the "huge crowds" that were turning out to greet Sarah Palin on the promotional tour for her book, Going Rogue. "These are some of the pictures just coming into us," Jarrett said as images of Palin surrounded by throngs of supporters flashed across the screen.

While Palin may indeed be drawing big crowds, it didn't take long for liberal watchdog blogs like Think Progress and Media Matters to point out that the masses Jarrett touted on Happening Now had nothing to do with Palin's book; the footage was from a 2008 campaign rally. Called on the switcheroo, Fox blamed it on a "production error" and issued an on-air apology.

The whole thing might have gone unnoticed had it not been for an eerily similar incident last week in a much more prominent venue, Sean Hannity's primetime show. In this case, the crowd Hannity was hyping was the one that gathered to attend a rally against the healthcare bill on November 5. The footage he showed, however, was from the much larger Sept. 12 "tea parties." In that case, it was The Daily Show that blew the whistle, forcing Hannity to apologize on the following day's show.

At some point you have to wonder if they actually employ fact-checkers or what. Anyway, you can read more about what a crappy, sloppy “news” organization Fox is here.

The Perfessor

While I haven’t run out to burn, er buy my copy of Sarah’s book, I did watch Stephen Colbert review it.

Last night on The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert discovered the one under-the-radar story that nobody is talking about: Sarah Palin's new book, "Going Rogue." Naturally, it was only fair for him to review it.

You know, listening to Stephen ‘splain about the book just makes everything clearer.

In fact, the only thing that could help, is Jon Stewart chiming in as well:

Perhaps, with a helping hand from John Oliver.

Ahhh, I feel better now!

The Perfessor

It seems that these days Sarah Palin’s Claims are being fact-checked by Fox News. Yep, you read that right, it seems that the bell of the Republican party is being called out on her erroneous claims about the new dollar coin:

As Fox News anchor Bret Baier noted this evening, picking up on a Politico report, Palin said this past Friday that there had been a lot of "change" of late, and talked about the dollar coin -- how the phrase "In God We Trust" had been moved to the rim of the coin, rather than on the face. "Who makes a decision like that?" said Palin, seemingly pointing to the Obama administration, adding: "It's a disturbing trend."

Needless to say, it seems that the coins in question were actually commissioned not by President Obama’s White House and the Democratic Majority, but way back in 2005 by the then Republican-led government. Plus, as Baier points out, a later Congress acted specifically to change this coin in 2007. Fox then displayed a newer James K. Polk Presidential coin with the phrase “In God we trust” on the coin’s face.

Can’t you just see the tide turning?

The Perfessor