Sarah Palin's classic double act: Empty speeches and empty wallets
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By Patrick
It is good to be young and politically active. You make experiences which can shape your views for the rest of your life. You can choose to fight for example against war, poverty, growing inequality and the rule of the rich. On the other hand, you can also choose to fight for the Tea Party and Sarah Palin. That's the pleasure of living in a democracy: You have a choice!
Our little story today goes like this: There is the young and enthusiastic "Teen Conservative" Emily Baxter, who is apparently only 19 years old, and who is already very busy writing for websites like "Youngpatriots.com" as a "staff writer" and "Collegepatriot." Three cheers for Emily and her activism! I can relate to her, because when I was 19 years old, I was also already politically very active and at this age stood as a candidate in local elections (almost got elected, actually). I certainly made very valuable experiences back then. You can learn a lot!
Emily had the great idea to bring her idol Sarah Palin to her college for a speech. Hurray! Don't we love it when Sarah Palin speaks at colleges! We will never forget the epic disaster that was the CSUS Stanislaus speech in 2010. It was not only a disaster from beginning to end for Sarah Palin and her supporters, but also had very positive political consequences. The very short version can be found at Wikipedia on the page for California State Senator Leland Yee:
In April 2010, Yee filed a public records request to discover if any state funds were used by California State Stanislaus Foundation to hire and pay former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin $75,000 to speak at the school's 50th anniversary celebration on June 25. The foundation refused to divulge the any information about fees paid to Palin.
In response, Yee introduced SB 330 which would require groups to abide by California's Public Records Act. On May 28, the Los Angeles Times reported that two California State sources disclosed that Sarah Palin will receive $75,000 for her speaking engagement. Officials would not confirm the amount of the disclosure. In response to the disclosure, Yee said, "It's rather disappointing that Sarah Palin is asking for nearly $100,000 to speak at this anniversary event when we're looking at state increases in student fees, cancellations of classes and the fact that this money could be going to scholarships… She could do wonders for all of us … by taking this money and donating it back to the foundation." Palin's speech brought in a then record $200,000 profit for the Cal State Stanislaus Foundation.
Oh, yes, the profit. Well, the companies of the conservative organizers donated like crazy, in order to avoid an embarrassment. So everyone was happy in the end: Sarah Palin got a lot of money for spewing garbage in a speech which was riddled with errors, the CSUS Foundation got a lot of money, California after a few hickupps finally got a new law, and the lives of two activist students, Alicia Lewis and Ashli Briggs, who Sarah Palin called "dumpster divers" in her speech, were influenced through these incidents in a major way.
At Palingates, we had lots of fun with the CSUS speech back in 2010, and disclosed Sarah Palin's fee actually several days before the LA Times did, as the very first "media outlet" - bad, bad Wikipedia! You just don't like us because we are the "Trig Truthers", right, Wikipedia...?
The "icing on the cake" was the infamous "open mic incident", when journalists were caught making very disparaging comments about Sarah Palin after her speech at CSUS Stanislaus - they completely failed to recognize Sarah Palin's genius, the liberal bastards:
So yes, we all think that Sarah Palin speaking at colleges and/or universities is simply a great idea! What could possibly go wrong...?
Emily Baxter therefore certainly receives our full support, when she today commented today at C4P (or the "peepond", for insiders):
Hey y'all!
So in few weeks I'll get approval from the president of my college to bring Governor Palin here. First off, money's an issue. We're super small. I'm probably going to open this up to all six private colleges in the area. I'm hoping that will help.
I'll be selling tickets. Cheap ones for students (because I am aiming for that) and really expensive for everyone else.
Yes, money is an issue! But how big of an issue? Well, Emily found out, and commented:
If I open this up to all 6 private colleges, we'll have a lot more interest. I think some people here are interested, but not willing to say so. The booking agent told me $90,000 plus hotel (1 day I'm assuming) meals, and stuff like wifi for up to 3 people (Todd, a kid, and her).
Wait, what? Not exactly on on the cheap side, the one and only Sarah Palin! But why be cheap, when you have fans who believe it to be simply invaluable to hear their goddess speak?
Emily Baxters response after learning about Sarah Palin's speaking fee is priceless:
"I found out her speaking fee and about died."
It comes as no surprise that Emily Baxter later deleted the part of her comment which included the amount of $ 90,000 (plus perks) after a suggestion of another member of the Palin cult. Well, too late. Our great reader "annettek", who is also a diarist for the Daily Kos, copied the comment before it (partly) vanished. Sweet!
Screenshots - from C4P:
Screenshot from the comments at Politicalgates:
So now there is proof that Sarah Palin still does what she always did best - emptying others people's pockets.
But the educational aspect should not be underestimated. It is certainly money well spent, as past experiences show.
Therefore: Go for it, Palin-fans! Sarah Palin needs the money, and we need the laughs!
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UPDATE:
Emily Baxter confirmed over at C4P that we reported her deleted comment correctly:
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