1 Puppet Master; 1 Cut Out; 1 Repeat-After-Me; 4 Teleprompters (And More Than A Dash Of Schwarzenegger)

I feel I'm just waking up from a 10-day-long hallucination ... and, I suddenly have no idea why I went to the trouble of scanning that Newsweek "Palentology" cover.   (Right, no link.)

Let David Gergen compare the Alaska Gov to Harry Truman as she finishes her homecoming speech in Fairbanks.  For my money, the key element in the picture were the 2 teleprompters -- and the script, the script, the script.  (I'll probably get some emails for this, but I didn't even think they had teleprompters up there.) 

So, where to (re-)start? 

I say we go to the source, to Steve Schmidt -- or, Karl Rove with a (more) sadistic streak.  Although it was mostly on the q.t., Schmidt himself accompanied Palin to Alaska for high-level hand-holding -- which makes sense, considering she's "The Franchise."  (By the way, you did see what happened to Mac this afternoon once he was left to his lonesome?  No, it wasn't pretty.)

Anyway, the photo above wasn't taken last night or yesterday.  It was taken back on the 31st just before this.  What's salient about it, however, is how it reveals the puppet master, the great and powerful Oz behind the GOP smoke-and-mirror show.  Shades of Professor Higgins (or, the roll-out of Schwarzenegger, including the crash time frame, the celebrity angle and the press choke-hold).   And, variations on a theme, how clever was it to capture Steve on the campaign plane with this cut-out of his older creation.  In my mind, at least, the curtain only adds to the Oz effect.  And then, I leave the snapshots to your speculation.

Am I a little wired tonight?  It's probably from straying beyond the newswire stills and actually catching two nights of cable news. Or maybe, hopefully, it's a Palin rebound.  Meanwhile, check out the captions on both of these pics:

(image 1: Mary Altaffer/AP.  caption:  With a cutout of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. at left, McCain adviser Steve Schmidt comes to the back of the airplane to speak to reporters on board the Straight Talk Air campaign charter airplane, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008.  image 2: Charles Rex Arbogast/A.P. caption: Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, sits in her vehicle with an unidentified man after arriving on a chartered plane with Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for the Republican National Convention at the Minneapolis International Airport in Bloomington, Minn., Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008)

Comments

[Anonymous]

Palin does look a bit like a cutout in the second shot.

I was reading an article in Salon (I wish I could remember which one, title possibly about "Where's the feminine outrage"?) and a phrase caught my attention : "Republican blow up doll"

The way she seems shuttled about and used as a bit of verbal foreplay before Mac's speak give the feel that she is some sort of public sex toy.

It doesn't help that she essentially is repeating her RNC speak verbatim everytime she appears with Mac. She's only got a small list of things to say and they are always the RIGHT things that want to be heard.

[grumpy old man]

Oh My GOD!!! Mrs Palin sitting with an unidentified man WHO IS NEITHER A RELATIVE OR HER HUSBAND!!!!! A public flogging is too good for her!!!! Stoning to death is the only punishment!!!!
Er, This IS an election in the USA, isn't it?

[DennisQ]

Arnold Schwarzeneggar became governor in a referendum on the job performance of the aptly-named Gray Davis. Davis had very little going for him except a fondness for denying parole to convicted felons. Arnold was simply a roll of the dice. Can McCain pull the same stunt? Probably not, because Obama is the roll of the dice in this election. McCain is not going to get the here goes nuthin' vote that Arnold got. He's not different enough from George Bush to present himself as the change candidate.

I honestly don't think the Republicans are going to pull it off. Their strategy isn't winning any new converts; all it's doing is reaffirming the choices of people who were planning to vote for McCain anyhow. Palin is not a player. The reason she gets away with ducking the press is that nobody really cares what she says or thinks. The weak spot in my argument is that Arnold got re-elected. Then again, so did George Bush. I'd like to think it's not that easy to pull the wool over voters' eyes, but the evidence contradicts me.

[steve]

If I were her husband, not – ew, the second photo would really piss me off.
That guy Schmidt isn't looking down at his notes ... and they are close enough together that it looks beyond professional. She seems excited by the closeness. Republicans are all a bunch of coke-heads just looking for the next thrill, the next moment, not thinking about the long term future. Palin is certainly not thinking about her family in the second photo.

Schmidt isn't either. Values?

Every time I see her all I can do is think about her retarded infant son, and wonder where is he? Who's caring for him, he needs extra attention because of his condition, plus the fact that he is an infant! He needs love. Where's that love most mother's have? Palin doesn't show it – in her short time in the public eye, I've registered no love from her towards her children. That type of caring behavior doesn't fit in with WAR, WAR, WAR, DRILL, DRILL, DRILL.

The vagina candidate is a short term positive for the coke-head Republicans. Unless they create a major diversion soon, she will be a negative to her ticket in November. It's not surprising that eight weeks before the election that Bush has decided it's finally time to go after Bin Laden in Pakistan – announced on 9/11 by chance.
It's not about capturing him, it's about winning the election.

Stranger than fiction.

[Some dude named Tract]

Okay, I will say it if no one else will. She looks like she is about to give baldy's pork sword a tongue bath. That mouth already open, her body adjusted sideways so she can lean forward into his lap. Yeah, if I was the first dude, I would be hiring a private investigator. Unfortunately all of the Alaskan ones are busy right now going through the Palin sock drawer.

[Quiet Jim]

Yeah, that was my first thought too. All men are pigs, with or without lipstick.

[delfinajones]

McCain really looks cut out with scissors
in the first pix. By the way there is a great expose on McCain's coverup of Cindy's drug use at

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Whistleblower_breaks_15year_silence_to_allege_0911.html

[g]

I, too, thought the Palin image was a cut-out at first.

[black dog barking]

The top pic is Election 2008 in a single frame. Wonderful shot. Behind the scenes at Straight Talk '08. Coming to a tarmac near you!

If I'd seen the second pic a month ago I'd assume we were looking at a National Enquirer cover story, some celebrity's squeeze caught in flagrante with the business manager or the baby sitter's step dad or any of the infinity of possibility in the infidelity firmament. Busted!!! 60 point bold!!!

Love the "Republican blowup doll" description. The biologic imperative replaces better judgment yet again and biochemistry trumps responsible behavior. Wicked, but fun. Another bit of snark I can't source — "female female impersonator".

[trigger's ghost]

One thing I noticed on the day she was added to the ticket was how utterly miserable her children looked. Perhaps there is a meme to mine in this vein. Their sullen stares (except for the headlicking, admittedly adorable little girl) screamed out to me. They did not seem happy.

The first few months of life are critical to the development of a child. Bonding, which can only be done in person, is out the window if mom is busy parroting lies about her own record and Obama's record all over the country during the rest of this campaign. Not to mention whatever strain travel as a veep may require in the nauseating possible eventuality that they steal this election too. I guess it is a good thing that the child is probably her daughter's anyway.

Also, someone should ask her (if it is deigned to be deferentially done) if she is billing Alaska's taxpayers for the current campaign travel....
TG

[donna]

I read yesterday her handler is the one who gave California Arnie, too. Look how well that's turned out, peeps -- we went from 6 billion in debt to 10 billion, woohoo.

We have to get over the culture of political celebrity in this country -- even with Obama, I've warned a lot of people he is not what they think he is. Get over it and start asking the hard questions already, or this country is going to continue to be a mess.

We should get all these smarmy operatives out fo the game -- make them illegal or something. I'm sick of this garbage.

[Some dude named Tract]

Okay, last comment, but there is something else about the second picture. She is sitting in a posture that indicates she is an eager neophyte, or at least not the person in the car with authority. She is not the center of gravity in that car. Baldy should be turned toward her, she should be in control of the situation. She looks, frankly, girly, like a teen telling her BFF a story about that hott hockey player she is going to let slip past the five hole.

[GeorgeF]

@ Some dude...: Isn't there a fascinating similarity with the image of Monica, rushing up to congratulate Bill?