Liveblogging Famous Historical War Leader Sarah Palin at the RNC

 
 Guess who hasn't been mentioned at all tonight? America's favorite president, George W. Bush Junior! It's as if Republicans haven't held the White House for the past eight years. Who can remember that far back? So let's welcome the new Geraldine Ferraro, "Barracuda Sarah" Palin -- her own sister just called her that, on CNN -- as she squeaks through a speech destined to give John McCain the SURGE he needs to finish this campaign as a complete sell-out loser who stands for nothing. Go Sarah!

9: 16 PM -- "John McCain's presidential campaign is threatening a lawsuit against the National Enquirer over a print edition story the tabloid ran today alleging that Gov. Sarah Palin has had an extramarital affair with her husband's business partner." Wait, what? 

9: 17 PM -- Just watching Rudy da Rat finish up. Thank the American God that John McCain is not afraid of choosing a strong anti-Islamic war hero as his vice president! It would be so great if Giuliani just fell over dead right now, and was found to be wearing a bondage outfit under that million-dollar suit -- a bondage outfit made ofkorans.

9: 20 PM -- Hey, there's going to be a funny video biography of Sarah Palin, set to banjo music. Let's go refill our drinks and get ready for this great new show, narrated by Waylon Jennings and Sam McGee.

9: 29 PM -- Wait, what the hell, where's the video biography? Rudy just kept screamin' about Arabs forever! Anyway, hi Sarah. Sorry about, uh, this fucking train wreck, which you are at least partly responsible for, because you said "Yes" when Walnuts called.

9: 31 PM -- She already can't lead: She's been dumbly saying, "Thank you ... Thank you so much" like a voice-mail robot for like nine hours now, instead of waving her hand and starting the speech.

9: 32 PM -- Video feed is blinking out as she says she'll accept the nomination -- legally, according to the Constitution, this means she can't be the veep nominee and Ron Paul automatically becomes president.

9: 32 PM -- Let's talk about the look, out of sexism. Well, she looks a lot better than Crazy Cindy! But the hair is kind of ... frivolous, really. The top is okay, although it doesn't work with those (fake?) pearls pushing right down on the collar. And she sounds like a nine-year-old kid.

9: 34 PM -- This whole thing of complaining about "politics" after freakin' Rudy Giuliani gives a spittle-flying insane wingnut-radio rant, that's just quaint. We mean, "bullshit."

9: 35 PM -- Ha, do you know that she believes GOD made Cheney invade Iraq?

9: 36 PM -- Ugh, this is painful. Couldn't somebody with a better voice and command of language just read a speech for her, offstage, the way the Chinese did the Olympic singing trick? 

9: 38 PM -- This isn't a veep nominee's speech. It's a goddamned infomercial for home-schooling.

9: 38 PM -- It's a good thing Sarah Palin will be the friend and advocate of the special-needs kids, should she somehow get to the White House if everybody else running all dies, and all the voters die, in a plague. Because with Palin's advocacy and, say, a personal fortune, you could take care of your special-needs kids!

9: 40 PM -- This is really incredible. We need a new, meaner word for "vapid lightweight."

9: 41 PM -- She grew up with Harry Truman! No wonder people say she aged well -- she's 100 years old!

9: 43 PM -- Ha ha, community organizers help dirty negroes, but mayors of 6,000-population helpwhitepeople.

9: 44 PM -- This is cute, watching her read the attack-dog speech. You are all free to hate her now, because she's a tool.

9: 44 PM -- From ditzy hockey mom to snarling monster in 15 minutes! This really is like a terrible movie about rednecks on oxycontin.

9: 45 PM -- Good lord, this whole crowd is now madly chanting ... NBC? CNN? US Weekly? It's all a mesh of insanity.

9: 46 PM -- Ha ha ha ha John McCain wasted his whole life sucking off the national media, and now snowbilly gets the job of coming out and acting like this never happened, despite John McCain becoming a national celebrity in Nineteen-Seventy-Three and riding that story all the way to the GOP nomination after everybody else dropped out.

9: 50 PM -- Wow, these lies about the "Bridge to Nowhere," which Palin supported, are going to end up being in Obama commercials tomorrow.

9: 51 PM -- But kudos to whoever wrote this part of the speech, because it makes her 18 months as governor sound like actual accomplishments, instead of an artfully constructed list of literally everything she did on every day as governor since 2007.

9: 54 PM -- It's a chamber of commerce speech! (For the oil industry.)

9: 55 PM -- Oh my god that dirty negro wrote two books!!! (Wild cheering, stomping, standing, lynching ropes, etc.)

9: 55 PM -- Ha ha, she is complaining about the roar of a crowd, to the roar of a crowd. Do not try to follow this or your head will explode.

9: 56 PM -- "Victory in Iraq is in sight, and he [Obama] wants to forfeit." Wait, isn'tBushthe president who just agreed to leave?

9: 57 PM -- What will be interesting is seeing this character speaking in front ofanyoneother than mouth-breathing GOP delegates. Because we have never seen such an ugly combination of dimwit "Meet my kids!" and pissy talk-radio talking points.

10: 00 PM -- It's now 10 p.m. in the Central time zone, which means it's 11 p.m. in the Eastern zone, which means Ohio and Florida and Pennsylvania (and Michigan, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia) all just lost their prime-time convention coverage. Remember, these conventions are for the registered-yet-baffled voters who come across the prime-time convention coverage. Good jerb, RNC!

10: 07 PM -- America, we've met Sarah Palin before. It was in junior high. She was that snarling evil god-obsessed nut who punished you constantly and enjoyed nothing more than torture -- seeingyoutortured, that is. And your parents would never quite believe it because she "seemed like a nice lady," from a distance, with her squeaky voice.

10: 08 PM -- But, let there be no doubt, she will be hailed by the cable commentators as the greatest orator in American/World history, and then tomorrow the evil media will get back to reporting on whatever new cheap bullshit they dig up about her wingnut church and seventeen affairs and whatever. Hooray 4 America! Clap for the knocked-up teen-ager!

10: 10 PM -- Ol' Walnuts McCain waddled out, as planned -- he arrived at Xcel an hour ago -- and gave Sarah a semi-human hug. She made the pursed lips.

10: 11 PM -- "Don't ya think we made the best choice for the next vice president of the United States? And what a beautiful family." Honestly, that's what McCain just said. Dear god ....

10: 12 PM -- This weird scene is the only thing prime-time network teevee people saw on the West Coast. It's kind of perfect.

10: 14 PM -- "She is a torpedo aimed directly at Barack and Michelle Obama. This has nothing to do with Hillary Clinton." -- Chris Matthews, just now, sounding kind of shocked and disgusted.

10: 14 PM -- Ha, Olbermann and Matthews are snapping at each other again. After Matthews' pretty astute comments (astute because they are the same basic comments we made, HA), Olbermann says something weird about the name of a character from a movie, which he then has to mention (Election) and the actress (Reese Witherspoon), and then it passes to David Gregory and Matthews is muttering loudly, "Well that's not what I think, that's not my view." Olbermann didn't come to St. Paul because Chris Matthews is going tobeat the shit out of him.)