The diverse crowd featured a large number of students, as well as a legion of members of Trinity United Church of Christ (the South Side church where Wright spoke) and a number of public figures, most notably another person whose ties to Sen. Obama got national attention: former Weather Underground member William Ayers.

The proximity of these two controversial national figures set off a chain reaction on the sub-atomic level that was felt from the Fox News studio in New York, where Sean Hannity’s head exploded then collapsed on itself live on the air, to Wasilla, Alaska, where Sarah Palin gave birth to and was immediately eaten by a silicon-based alien life form that has yet to be fully identified.

Elsewhere around the nation, observers witnessed fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, rivers and seas boiling! Forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes! The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!

And the AP has the background story:

Sarah Palin unwittingly took a prank call Saturday from a Canadian comedian posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and telling her she would make a good president someday. … The call was made by a well-known Montreal comedy duo Marc-Antoine Audette and Sebastien Trudel. Known as the Masked Avengers, the two are notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state. Audette, posing as Sarkozy, speaks in an exaggerated French accent and drops ample hints that the conversation is a joke. But Palin seemingly does not pick up on them.

As much as I love the concept, something about the execution rubs me the wrong way.  Maybe it’s because as much as I think Sarah Palin is a joke, I’m not sure how I feel about the rest of the world getting in on it.  Sarah Palin is obviously not a good look for America.  But as an American, I feel a kind of knee-jerk defensiveness of– not so much her, but maybe us, our politics.  By and large, America isn’t nearly as unserious about the world as Palin’s presence on a major national ticket would suggest.  Well, half of us anyway.

My other problem with the execution of the call is that it’s easy to rehash all the old jokes– lipstick on a pig, hunting, seeing Russia from Alaska– and just see if Palin gets it (and it’s not clear that she ever does).  But they could have really gotten some insightful cracks in there.  Imagine fake Sarkozy asking Palin what she thinks about some really important but slightly obscure recent development in, say, the Iraq War.  Or French-American relations.  It’s one thing for her to stumble through those kinds of questions from the “gotcha” liberal media elite, but how would she react to actually having to demonstrate basic foreign policy knowledge to a head of state?  It was definitely a missed opportunity.

And here’s a pretty entertaining behind-the-scenes chat with John and Cindy McCain on their history with SNL. Check out when Cindy says something like, “It’s what I do best; I just stand there and look good.” Do I sense a little tension?

If for some reason you are standing up while surfing the Internet, you should go ahead and sit down right now.  Because this is probably the coolest thing you’ll ever see.

Cashing in on election fever, EA today announced that, as part of an upcoming update for Mercenaries 2, both Sarah Palin and Barack Obama will be made available as playable characters. Palin in her trademark red jacket and hair, Obama in his trademark…suit. Sounds a little nutty, but seeing Obama punch a swarthy Venezuelan in the face is a lot funnier than you can probably imagine.

In the first two weeks of October, Sarah Palin spent more on hair and makeup– over $32,000– than she did on her entire college education (a four-school, six-year bachlor’s degree in communications-journalism).  The New York Times reports:

Who was the highest paid individual in Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign during the first half of October as it headed down the homestretch?

Not Randy Scheunemann, Mr. McCain’s chief foreign policy adviser; not Nicolle Wallace, his senior communications staffer. It was Amy Strozzi, Gov. Sarah Palin’s traveling makeup artist, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission on Thursday night.

Ms. Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy award for her makeup work on the television show “So You Think You Can Dance?”, was paid $22,800 for the first two weeks of October alone, according to the records. The campaign categorized Ms. Strozzi’s payment as “Personnel Svc/Equipment.”

In addition, Angela Lew, who is Ms. Palin’s traveling hair stylist, got $10,000 for “Communications Consulting” in the first half of October.

Meanwhile, the L.A. Times reports that America’s next top VP spent less than that for her communications-journalism degree at the University of Idaho, where she was enrolled off and on between 1985 and 1987:

Tuition at the university ranged from $485 a semester to $520 by the time Palin graduated. Generous educational loans from the state of Alaska helped her pay her way. So did beauty pageants.

Maryline Blackburn, who beat Palin for Miss Alaska in June 1984, said Palin, who competed as Miss Wasilla, earned at least $1,250 [in scholarships] when she placed third and was named Miss Congeniality.

Adjusted for 21 years of inflation, those tuition costs amount to less than $5,000 a year.  Even accounting for Palin’s six years of college, that’s still less than her two-week $32,000 extreme candidate makeover bill.  Of course, the cost of an education does not necessarily speak to its quality.  But neither the University of Idaho nor the three other schools Palin attended (Hawaii Pacific University, North Idaho College, and Matanuska-Susitna College) are even ranked by U.S. News and World Report.

None of this is to suggest that Sarah Palin is an unintelligent person.  She’s just vastly undereducated and dangerously unprepared for the highest office in the world.  And the numbers– including the over $100,000 spent on high-end clothing in the last two months– don’t lie about her priorities: image first, policy and substance a distant second.

It’s no coincidence that the McCain campaign has tapped the best and brightest from the superficial world of reality television to sell America on Sarah Palin.  But maybe they’d be better off if they’d simply tapped the best and brightest for their VP selection instead.

So you think she can govern?

This is actually pretty infuriating. What is terrorism if not politically-motivated violence with the threat of more violence? And doesn’t that describe abortion clinic bombers exactly?

Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground may have bombed empty buildings, but they never killed or injured anyone except their own members. On the other hand, violence against abortion clinic doctors and workers has killed 7 Americans. It has also accounted for “17 attempted murders, 383 death threats, 153 incidents of assault or battery, and 3 kidnappings.” It’s no coincidence that those read like statistics from neighborhoods in Iraq.

So what is the difference, Sarah? If you’re asking to lead the war on terror, and if you’re going to make your entire campaign about Barack Obama’s association with terrorists, it’d be helpful if you actually understood the concept.

And while Palin’s soft stance on domestic terror is astonishing, John McCain may have an even bigger domestic terrorism problem:

McCain’s terrorism problem dates back to the early 1990s, when he sided with right-wing domestic terrorists and voted against tough new legislation cracking down on a wave of anti-choice domestic terrorism targeting women who visited abortion clinics, their doctors, and clinic staff.

In both 1993 and 1994, McCain voted against the anti-terrorism measure. On each occasion, McCain was one of thirty radical anti-choice Senators to oppose the bill. Fortunately, despite McCain’s opposition, it passed the Senate by a 69-30 margin.

I think part of the reason why McCain and Palin are pushing the Bill Ayers thing so hard is because for the first time in a long time, the Republican ticket is getting out-muscled on national security. McCain wants to spend another four years policing Iraq, Obama– like most Americans– wants to go after Al Qaeda where they live. Obama strongly denounced a man who bombed empty buildings, hurting no one in the process, 40 years ago; the strongest word Palin can muster up for abortion clinic terrorists who are responsible for countless threats, assaults, and murders against American doctors is “unacceptable.”

UPDATE: Just so we’re all clear, if a right-wing Islamic extremist shoots an Iraqi doctor in Baghdad, it’s terrorism and we must spend $10 billion a month overseas and cripple our own economy to defeat it. If a right-wing Christian extremist shoots an American doctor in Birmingham, “I don’t know if you’re gonna use the word ‘terrorist’ there.” Got that?

“When you think of John McCain, think of me, George W. Bush. Think of this face. When you’re in the voting booth, before you vote…….. picture… this… face.” Too funny!

But when placed in proper perspective, $150,000 for seven weeks of clothes, hair, and makeup really isn’t that much.  Let’s break this down a bit:

– Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe would only pay for less than half of Cindy McCain’s Republican convention outfit.

– Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe would only pay for 6 months of John and Cindy McCain’s household servant budget. 

– Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe would only pay for John McCain’s 3 foreign cars, but not the 9 other ones.

– Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe would only pay for 10 months of McCain campaign manager Rick Davis’s Freddie Mac lobbying fees.

– Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe would only pay for 4 years of the average plumber’s salary.

– Sarah Palin’s $150,000 wardrobe would get a tax cut under Obama’s plan.

POST SCRIPT: Shortly after the news broke, the McCain campaign said that Palin’s new outfits will all be donated to charity.  Because the reason you gave money to the RNC was so our homeless can finally get those $2,500 Valentino jackets they so desperately need.

Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That’s not America. Is there something wrong with a seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel particularly strong about this because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay, was of a mother at Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards – Purple Heart, Bronze Star – showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the head stone, it didn’t have a Christian cross. It didn’t have a Star of David. It has a crescent and star of the Islamic faith.

And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life.

And here’s the picture Powell was referring to:

So the next time someone tells you they can’t vote for Barack Obama because he is a Muslim, it’s fine to correct them and let them know he is in fact Christian, but it’s also imperative to respond as Powell does: “So what if he is?”  Right now, there are Muslims– and Christians and Jews and athiests and Hindus and non-white, non-gun owning, latte-sipping, big city liberals– who are dying in American uniforms.  They deserve our respect.  And their children deserve to know that in this America– our America, the real America– they too can grow up to be President.

The second skit was a lot funnier. First of all, Amy Poehler has some serious skills on the mic. I would buy her album. Second, the Todd Palin background dancer was great. And third, Barack Obama has nothing on Palin’s dance moves. Watch how into it she gets when they shoot the moose. Hilarious!

– Burn some books 

– Waterboard Katie Couric

– Accidentally start a nuclear war

– Call for a plumber

Mavericky!!

First, Palin is apparently one of those U.S. Americans that can’t locate the New Hampshire on a map. She tells a New Hampshire crowd that she likes visiting there and ”other parts around this great Northwest” and promptly gets booed.

And not to be outdone, Joe Biden seems to be more concerned with Main Street than he is with Sesame Street. How many letters are in the word “jobs,” Joe?

This post is brought to you by the number four.

Sarah Palin’s reaction to the Legislature’s Troopergate report is an embarrassment to Alaskans and the nation.

She claims the report “vindicates” her. She said that the investigation found “no unlawful or unethical activity on my part.”

Her response is either astoundingly ignorant or downright Orwellian.

Page 8, Finding Number One of the report says: “I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act.”

In plain English, she did something “unlawful.” She broke the state ethics law.

This is the equivalent of the New England Patriots, after losing to the New York Giants in a Super Bowl watched by 100 million people, breaking out the champagne, putting on the 19-0 championship hats, and holding a ticker tape victory parade in the streets of Boston.  Palin’s response to the Troopergate report is designed to appeal to people who can’t read, don’t watch TV, and whose lack of critical thinking skills prevent them from independently operating light switches.  It is literally her own alternate version of reality.

Doctors actually have a word for the behavior exhibited by Palin over the past two months.  It’s a word defined as “a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality.  It most commonly manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking with significant social or occupational dysfunction.”  It’s called schizophrenia.

We really do have a choice to make in this election.  Either Sarah Palin is the most incompetent, transparently dishonest politician to grace the national stage in years, or she is mentally unfit to serve as vice president and deserves all of our deepest sympathies.  It’s up to us to decide.

POST SCRIPT: Here’s video of Palin displaying all the classic symptoms of schizophrenia.  I really do hope that someone close to her steps in soon and intervenes. Warning: this may be difficult for some viewers to watch.

Whichever McCain staffer thought up the idea of sending Sarah Palin to a hockey game in Philly to drop the puck should be fired. No questions asked, no excuses.

This might have been the easiest call in sports/politics history. I mean, in the middle of a heated campaign, you’re sending a Republican with sky-high negatives, into the bluest, least BS-tolerant area of Pennsylvania for a cutesy photo-op with the kids in front of 20,000 rabid hockey fans. There was simply no other way for this to turn out. Maybe next they’ll have Palin walk through a few neighborhoods in Baghdad. Don’t worry, it’s been safe since last March.

For the record, this is officially my new favorite sports/politics train wreck moment. Replacing this one:

In honor of yesterday’s long-anticipated Troopergate report, and Sarah Palin officially taking her place as the worst vice presidential pick in American history, I made this PALINdrome:

Id like to respond about the corruption if you will in that Alaska with the straight talk I can assure you that im a rules and regulations maverick

(Click the link.  It’s funnier in her own voice.)