Sarah Palin and the Canadians + some tips on education

Colby Cosh, a Canadian journalist, had to attend Sarah Palin's gig in Calgary and live blogged the event in a very entertaining way. Here are some highlights:

6:19 pm: “Alaska and Alberta!” Palin’s daughter Piper interrupts the first sentences of her speech, as if on cue, and gets a blazing round of applause. Palin talks about constantly having her accent described as “Canadian”. “You did an amazing job” with the Olympics; Canada’s filled with “tough and talented hockey players.” The pandering works.

6:22 pm: Girlish excitement about meeting Shaun White backstage at the Tonight Show. I didn’t know she’d cast her lot with Leno. Bad move! You’ll lose the youth demographic!

6:26 pm: She’s laying it on a little thick with the pandering and cute gags. Of course she can get away with it, but it occurs to me that I’m not exactly sure what the substantive portion of this speech is supposed to involve. Was there going to be a substantive portion?

I can tell you what the substantive portion involved: The usual talking points, small government, lower taxes, energy independence, bashing climate change science, Tea Party, bashing Washington, D.C., all laced with Canadian references to suit the local audience. She talked quite a bit about TransCanada and the pipeline, obviously.

In the Q&A part of the event, Sarah Palin sat with Sen. Pamela Wallin to answer a few questions.

6:48 pm: Here’s Sen. Wallin. With her help, Palin dispenses deftly with the “writing on the hand” thing and the “I can see Russia from my backyard” thing. First things first, I suppose. The former has Biblical warrant (book of Isaiah, people!) and the latter was, or so Palin says, just a Tina Fey quote that got hung on the real candidate. “And she made a lotta money sayin’ it, too,” gripes the Gov.

Same old, same old...

Colby Cosh followed up the live blogging with an article called "The Final Word".

(H/T to all readers who posted links)


Piper was her usual adorable self. I hope she makes it back to Wasilla in time for school on Monday. The poor thing had trouble catching up after the vice presidential campaign. Signing autographs, being cute, waving to the crowds and smoothing Trig's hair with spit were very interesting experiences, but didn't quite make up for the missed lessons. Last year Piper missed a lot of school again, this time making appearances on Oprah, Barbara Walters, signing copies of Going Rogue and looking after Trig, as usual. I expect school gets a bit more complex as the years pass, so she must be really behind with her formal education.

I have an idea that could help Piper. If she has access to a laptop during her travels, she could visit some fun sites with lots of educational games. There's a website with a long list of links to loads of these sites. There's a lot of science, which should please old Chuck, some numbers games and other really great stuff. I'm sure Piper can use a computer, children are very savvy these days. Sarah could join in and learn something too!


I'm not sure if there are many fun sites to help Willow, who has also travelled a lot, but not as much as Piper. Bristol has missed some college classes as well. They had a fantastic experience in Hollywood, but would that help them with their grades and essays?



We know how much the Palins value education and we're just trying to be helpful.
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