WRITING ON THE HAND THAT FEEDS YOU

Dear Readers,

This past Saturday, amidst all the breathless hype for Super Bowl 44, a version of the Teabag Party movement held a 'convention' at a hotel in Nashville. The Teabagggers are riding high at the moment, after a successful summer of tar-and-pitchfork rallies, rages and meeting-busting, followed by elections in New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts that they claimed as victories for themselves over the dark forces of state-sponsored 'socialism'. While the established parties look on with a bemused- but- nervous curiosity, the fact is that these people may have tapped into something that might eventually reconfigure the body politic. The demographic of this movement may have all the diversity of an Osmond family reunion, but it does seem to be fulfilling a perceived need, and providing a home for people who probably haven't actively participated in public issues - nay, perhaps have never even voted -in their lives.

The meeting's climax on Saturday night was the appearance of Sarah Palin, recently retired Governatrix of Alaska, flop GOP Vice-Presidential candidate and best selling author of a fictional romance book, Going Rouge. Palin, with characteristic, down-home, easy-to-understand, simple-minded rhetoric, delivered a speech to the restricted-country-club-looking crowd. With apparel, makeup, hairdo and shoes that must have easily eaten up most of the reported $100,000 appearance fee, our Sarah gave the teabags what they wanted - an aggressive, down-the-line recitation of the 'party's' manifesto, probably to avoid being lynched as much as agreeing with the intolerant organization's stated beliefs. Actual socialists could only dream of such unity that was evident in this crowd of rabid, anti- socialists.

There wasn't anything new about what Palin gassed on about, nor the predictable reaction from the Knotts-Berry-Farm-loving audience, but what was new was some crib notes our Sarah had written on her hand and was plainly picked up by the cameras as she spoke. I think this should not be interpreted in a negative way by progressives, but applauded, as she finally seems to be taking her role as president-in-waiting seriously. After all, she spent a few lines of her speech dissing President Obama for his extensive use of teleprompters (even when reading bedtime stories to his children, apparently), but avoided the pitfalls of extemporaneous remarks by giving her palm a quick peek every now and again to keep her train of thought on their rickety tracks.

My only question about the Tea Party Convention and it's associated entertainments is who's paying for all this? Even at $549 a plate for the Palin speech, the math doesn't quite work if our Sarah trousered a cool $100K for the blab. Could it be dark forces on the right, carefully planning their Manchurian Candidate for 2012? Sarah herself, is probably oblivious to the machinations going on behind the curtains, but at least somebody with advice-rights to our next President has opened up the possibilities of using one's skin as a place for cram notes. John McCain is probably kicking himself right now for not thinking of that back in 2008.

So, thanks to a sharpie and a dry palm, Sarah Palin remains the pinup gal stuck to the inside of the right-wing's gym locker. I didn't see the whole speech and Q and A with her, but has anybody commented on the possible symbolism that she kept referring to the notes on her left hand? Those were bad enough, but God only knows what she might have had scribbled on her right.