Saturday, March 19, 2011

Happy Holi! - Live Blogging Sarah Palin's India Today Conclave 2011 Speech

Da-dum. Channeling Black Screen Keifer Sutherland voice-over.

The following words were written between 8:00pm and 10:00pm IST. March 19, 2011. If you were partying with us at IndiaReloaded, you caught it in real time.


Source: Palingates


India's biggest home-grown reality tv show, Hero Honda MTV Roadies (Season) 8.0 Shortcut to Hell is on right now. 13 boys and girls (<30 years old) are selected through a nation wide audition process and sent on a bike ride around the country. For 40 days, they're put through rigorous physical and mental tasks to earn money and immunity from a blind ballot peer eviction. At the end, the last Roadie standing - action hero or politico - takes the pot. There are a lot of flame wars along the way. I couldn't ask for a better opening act.
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Indian actress and talk show host, Koel Purie Rinchet cheerfully introduced Shah Rukh Khan yesterday morning, boasting several people had offered her twice the registration amount or pretended to be the sponsor's niece just to get into the same room and breathe the same air as the King Khan.

The India Today Conclave is nothing more than an opportunity for the rich and powerful to rub shoulders with the rich and powerful.

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Oh my. Headlines Today is doing a recap of the second day of the Conclave starting with a pre-taped exclusive with Fatima Bhutto on Pakistan's blasphemy law. Did Sarah get bumped?
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Now, I've already sent in my questions to Sarah Palin but I doubt they'll get picked. Look out for an audience question from PC, just in case.

Try your luck. Tweet your questions #ITConclave. They're very proud to be "buzzing" on the "world wide web".

:-D
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[Watch the full speech at the India Today Conclave website]
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Red.
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Edwardscissorheadofhair
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Aw, so cute. She takes direction. [Purie tells Palin to "sit".]
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"Sexy" is in the air. Crowd goes wild at the mere mention of the word.
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Aroon Purie hits all the usual buzzwords - highschool sweetheart, barracuda, refudiate, lamestream, serve the country, 1.5 million Facebook fans, American exceptionalism.

Drink! Drink! Drink!

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"Exemplification".

Drink!

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She didn't go to the Taj Mahal.

Drink
!
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Palin remembers Japan. Speechwriter earned his paycheck this week.
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Welcome to the Alaskan love boat part of the evening.
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Ooh...Palin disses "central planning". She knows she's in India, the land of the 12th Five-Year Plan, right?
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Crowd looks zapped of energy as Palin speaks of energy independence. I'm not even kidding.
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Palin insists, "I don't want to mess it up. I am a conservationist." Uh-huh.
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"Billions and billions of barrels of oil. They're just waiting to be tapped." Well, I feel bad now. We should totally rip apart Mother Earth. She wants you to do it! C'mon! Yeah!
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Aroon Purie looked miffed. I think it's because he can't find anything to go on from her talking points.
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Ah, yes. Here comes the pandering. India decided to open up the economy twenty years ago. So now it's on our radar?
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"We are connected with so much in common." looks down to find out what
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Palin disses all the bureaucrats attending leadership conferences...like the people sitting in front of her
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Boom. Nikki Haley name drop!

Drink!

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Palin explains the origin of the name of the Tea Party!!!!

Does she think Indians don't know world history????

Good god. I'm mortified with this one.

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Moose mention.

Drink! 

I couldn't even get this out before

Mother Teresa name drop.

Drink!

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I'm learning nothing new. What a vision!
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Aw. Look how proud she is. She found the connection between America and India.
Greed.

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Oh no, she didn't!!!

She DID NOT just say Dandhi!

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Gratuitous alliteration. Alaska to Andhra Pradesh.

Sorry, Assam.

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It's over.

Phew.

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Good for Purie. He pushes back for a real answer.

Palin admits she "errs on the side of the free market."

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Nice going, Purie. He pushes back again for an answer on outsourcing.

Palin says she is "thankful" for free trade.

Purie glad to hear the commitment.

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Q. Libya. WWSPD?

A. Less dithering, more decisiveness.

Camera pans L.K. Advani, Amar Singh as Palin criticizes Indian foreign policy.

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Q. China. Freedom and human rights.

A. "Dangerous place to be reliant upon for products and services." Trips all over the economic term, "quantitative easing". Sounds like she's never said it out loud before.

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Q. Tea Party.

A. It's too good to have a leader. Grassroots movement from the ground up.

Has she not heard of the Koch brothers?

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Q. Presidential campaign. What did you learn?

A. You can't trust the media, not in the U.S. I appreciate you clearing up the Alaska-Russia story. [Applause]

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Q. Why did you lose the election?

A. 'Cause of the media. Then switches to "change"

Purie pushes back. "You could've been the change too"

"I wasn't the top of the ticket."

Front row [Rahul Bajaj, LK Advani, Todd Palin] love it.

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Is Sarah Palin on first name basis with Hillary Clinton??????
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"It's not impossible for a woman to become the President of the United States of America. In fact, I think it is time."

Socialite Maureen Wadia loves it. Whispers to Todd.

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Q. Terrorism.

A. Greatest threat.

Purie pushes "What would you do"? He seems to be bemused and amused.

A. Strong military presence.

Purie recaps "global threat from China, terrorists getting nuclear weapons, China is a global power." Would you increase defence budget?

A. Chop the waste and fraud. No.1 job of our federal government is securing our borders. First spending would be national defence.

Role model question.

A. I got to see Reagan live out the principles. Lincoln. That's why I'm a Republican.

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Shout out to Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen in the audience.
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Look at her face. She's got a new thought! "We're going to need each other."
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Ladies and Gents, I give you game, set, and match.

"I want peace on earth."

Hello Miss Wasilla Runner-Up!

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Purie puts across the Indian complaint on U.S. lethargy on Pakistani terrorism on Indian soil.

Moment of Seriousness.

Palin got therapy lessons! Says "I hear that."

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I'm a mom.

Drink!

[Applause]

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I like the mustached man in the crowd. He looks like he's horrified.
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Last Question. "Will your husband be called the first man?"

Crowd wakes up.

Oh, look, everyone, she plays well with strangers.

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Palin schmoozes with unidentified silver haired Caucasian man as Indian foreign secretary looks on. Moh'd Azaruddin, politico and disgraced former cricket captain, jumps for the privilege to be the first to shake her hand.
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Hilarious man on the street video from the fun folks at IndiaReloaded.  Watch what REAL Indians think of Sarah Palin.  Happy Holi!




--
What's everyone saying?
Politico                             Washington Post              Outlook Magazine
PoliticusUSA                    Yahoo News                     IndiaReloaded's Farewell
Hosts India Today             Frum Forum
New York Times               MSNBC.com
The Hill                             Globalpost before
Huffington Post                 Globalpost after
--


Bonus Round.

Questions Palin was not asked:

1. In India, we value formal education and are proud of our tradition of according deep respect to the guru-shishya (student-teacher) relationship. My question to you is: Which of the five undergraduate colleges you attended was your favourite and who was your favourite teacher? Why? How are your children able to excuse themselves from public school and travel with you several times a year? How do you feel about your two oldest children choosing not to go to college? Will you encourage your three younger children to pursue a college education?

2. In the 2010 mid-term elections, 93% of campaign contributions from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce went to Republican candidates. Given your strong public position on American Exceptionalism, how do you balance the demand for American jobs in this time of economic downturn, with the push for off-shore outsourcing by corporate donors to you and your chosen candidates all over the nation?

3. Your hometown, Wasilla, Alaska went from zero to $22 million in debt at the end of your six years as Mayor (1996-2002) in which time you hired a lobbyist to get federal pork for Wasilla at the cost of $140,000 per year for four years. How do you reconcile your actions with your common sense small government conservative slogan?

4. Which Indian, alive today, do you most admire, and why?

5. Why are you here?
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I laugh. You laugh. I laugh. Then we all laugh. 


Tweet this post with #ITConclave to your friends, family and favorite celebrities to let the hosts know how you feel. Heck, tweet this to @SarahPalinUSA.


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What does it all mean?

Sarah Palin instituted a media blackout during her trip and reporters were denied access to the speech at the very last minute. Consequently, there's practically no Indian coverage and Headlines Today/India Today has the exclusive.


On a personal note, in the past two days, this live blog recap has received practically no attention from the Indian audience either via IndiaReloaded (which is brand new, unknown in India and headquartered out of USA) or any Indians visiting American news sites and blogs.
Yahoo News is right. Sarah Palin remains irrelevant in India.

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