India snubs Palin to protest racial profiling at American airports

Well, well, well.  Look who's standing up for her people, even if it took some high profile incidents with celebrities and elite dignitaries to draw attention to the matter. More power to you, Government of India.

Source: Palingates

So, as 99.95% of India's population (which works out to 1.183 billion people going by CIA World Factbook July 2011 estimates, if anybody's interested) does not know, Tea Party darling Sarah Palin came knocking at our door this week.

Indian weekly independent magazine, Tehelka is now reporting the American Embassy in Delhi requested the Ministry of External Affairs to accord her trip to India, to give a paid speech at the behest of a private media group, elevated official status equivalent to a central government minister.  The ministry declined as a mark of protest for racial profiling and unwarranted airport security checks for Hindus and Sikhs dressed in turbans and sarees, some of whom turn out to be top diplomats or anybody with a Muslim name, some of whom turn out to be international film stars or former Presidents.

With India, the second most populated country in the world, hardening her position in support of expatriates and citizens traveling worldwide, it's hard to believe the choke-hold of organized religion will ease up anywhere, anytime soon, no matter what experts say.

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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!

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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?
--

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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The Day Conservatives4Palin switched to Disqus

A discussion with conservatives4palin


Here's a fun game. See if you can fit the pieces of the puzzle on c4p after they deleted my profile so that it looks like everybody's swearing at a ghost: http://conservatives4palin.com/2011/03/governor-palin-im-very-excited-to-visit-india.html

h/t The Week.

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Welcome to India, Mrs. Palin. I hope you have a wonderful visit. 

I'm certain India Today and sister TV channel Headlines Today appreciate the boost in ratings and international visibility. Rivals NDTV, CNN-IBN, Times Now, Hindustan Times, Times of India, Indian Express are game for some fun on Holi weekend. 

Oh, nobody told you that, did they? March 19 is Holi. Better leave the designer wear at home, grease up your body and oil your wig. Also, watch what you're given to eat and drink. ;-) Holi is the only day in the entire year when it's actively encouraged to party like Charlie Sheen in India. 

bwwahahahaaha

Now, that's what I call a Conclave. Thank you for the entertainment, India Today!


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Sarah Palin's favorability rating among Republicans continues to slide as the former vice presidential nominee mulls a White House bid, according to a new survey.http://www.latimes.com/news/na...


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Here's a more detailed report. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
What part of the methodology is flawed, according to you?


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I don't worry about sample size because that is usually determined on the basis of a formula such as http://www.marketresearchworld... (see proportion, not mean). For me, it is difficult to put too much trust in any poll before looking at the questionnaire. When it comes to qualitative surveys, especially political issues, it's all in how the pollster frames the question and what response options are available to the respondent. 

I think you've hit on something quite crucial. There is a difference between editorial discretion in what polls to highlight (e.g. practically nobody advertises the polls that find Americans are overwhelmingly progressive on major issues -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... ) and the design, methodology and results of the actual poll.


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http://articles.timesofindia.i...

That Feb 28 article, culling together the reaction in the U.S. by the Washington based foreign correspondent of Times of Inda is quite literally-i'm not joking- the only mention of Palin's visit by an Indian media outlet other than the press releases put out by the organizer, India Today.

Translation?

India's got a gazillion other things going on, including cricket World Cup. 

I guess this particular "prophet" shall have to seek honour elsewhere.

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I'm sure the India Today group would be more than happy to host eyeballs from the U.S. and other countries. I'm just not sure the outcome will be quite as honourable as the speaker might hope. After all, March 19 is Holi. People will be pelting each other with coloured water balloons and duping each other to drink bhaang. ;-)

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This discussion thread, started by my response to technopeasant, is regarding Mrs. Palin's attempt to burnish her foreign policy credentials with a paid speech at a high profile annual news-makers' conference in Delhi, images and sound-bytes of which will indubitably be carried worldwide. Her TLC series, airing Mondays starting this week in India, while competently timed by Mr. Murdoch's staff, is immaterial to the discussion at hand.


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Namaste exodus2011

Thanks for your queries. As we can see from miscellaneous comments on this page, you're not the only one to take an interest in me. However, you are the only one to address questions to me directly instead of various pugnacious sleuthing excursions. For this, you have my appreciation.

Naturally, I posted a welcome message by virtue of being in India. Yes, I have seen the entire TLC series. 

Have you?


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I thought TLC put in very high production value and a couple of gimmicks for good measure. I thought Alaska is stunning and must be watched in HD and HD alone. As for the rest, put it this way. "Reality tv" is not real. :-D


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By all means, please tell me what lies or distortions you've heard. I am, by no means, a Palin scholar.


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I appreciate your response exodus2011 and apologize for the brevity of mine due to the late hour (IST).

In the short time since I discovered Palingates, I have come across the assertion that Mrs. Palin was not pregnant in 2008 with a great deal of photo and video documentation on the Palingates site and others such as The Atlantic and most recently several outlets carried new information from a mysterious woman named Shailey Tripp. I suppose nothing short of personal medical records will settle the matter conclusively and one wonders why Mrs. Palin has not released them. (Aside: But then, papers aren't what they used to be in the United States, for some inexplicable reason, as President Obama knows only too well.) 

Your second and third examples also sound familiar and if I'm not mistaken, I think several major news outlets including Fox News filed stories relating to the second and third, did they not? Alas, Mrs. Palin is in the news far too often to remember each story with crystal clarity without resorting to a search engine. If memory serves, I believe Mr. Frank Bailey's revelations did assert Mrs. Palin was previously unfamiliar with Africa and stories from 2008 suggested Mrs. Palin looked into censorship and fought with the town librarian.

Congratulations to C4P architects and contributors for building an archive of Mrs. Palin's record. It's good to know there are several non-government parties engaged in this activity so that all perspectives are covered for posterity.


------


It is not hard to separate facts from speculation. It is also not hard to separate emotional connection from objective analysis. 

It would be nice if there was indeed a coherent presentation of the other side of the story so that the story could be put to bed. Deflections and untruths only serve to exacerbate frustrations. In addition, there are plenty of instances when Mrs. Palin appears to damage her own reputation, through no external assistance, such as the ethics review following which she erroneously declared herself clean or the disastrous blood libel video or her death panel claim judged lie of the year by the fact checker guys (is it Politifact?) or the money she was forced to return from her legal defense fund because of ethics violations. 

I know a lot of people are instinctively attracted to her persona and now, her celebrity rather than her political agenda (sometimes, because they are proudly unaware of it). I fully understand the powerful hold of identity politics, trust me, it's a big part of politics in India, with language, religion and caste being the key factors. I just happen to be one of the neutral secular people who doesn't buy into the idea that my leader has to look like me.

Since I'm not the kind of person who blindly loves or hates anybody - people in my daily life or celebrities of any kind, I am not predisposed to be biased on a particular story regardless of whether we are dealing with proven facts, first person accounts or juicy speculation.

You'll note I never once said I believe things that have not yet been proven. You'll also note I never once said I don't believe things that have already been proven. 

:-p

And with that, at this very late hour, I bid you goodnight and wish you well.


======

h/t x4mr.

Update. More disqus discussions at the IndiaReloaded Sarah Palin log. 

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Sarah Palin's Alaska starts airing Mondays in India on TLC

Starting from the day she was picked as GOP VP nominee because of her gender, Mrs. Palin derives much of her political juice in the United States from her vapid, narcissistic personality-driven approach to policy issues. 

I implore Indian viewers to read any of the dozens of recaps and reviews this flop one-season 100% staged "reality" TV series received in the American MSM and blogosphere. In particular, I recommend the funny, sharp and insightful reviews written by contributors at www.palingates.blogspot.com, Blogger's Choice Best Political Blog 2010. The American viewing audience including celebrity bloggers at the Huffington Post like Oscar winner Aaron Sorkin called her out for the fraud she is. 


As former McCain-Palin adviser, Nicole Wallace told fellow Republican Joe Scarborough on MSNBC, the only one who can beat Sarah Palin is Sarah Palin. She continues to self-destruct a little every day. You just have to watch her with your eyes open, not closed like the Indian Express reviewer.


I've seen the entire series. It's really really not worth your time.  You can barely appreciate the breathtaking Alaskan landscape in the background with all the shrill craziness in the foreground.

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Sarah Palin, Swagatam.

So, the object of my ridicule, Sarah Palin is coming to India to deliver the keynote address at the India Today Conclave.

Here's what I told the Americans at HuffPo and IM,

Before any of you fret and wring your hands over this too much, let me reassure you a little bit.

Atithi Devo Bhava. (Guest is God)

I'm sure Indians will go all out to make sure the Palin camp has a safe and memorable visit.

I'm sure lots will fawn over her celebrity status.

But I'm also fairly confident we are all in on the joke. Indians, broadly speaking, love politics and are keenly aware of US-India relations and India's position on the global stage.

The Living Media conglomerate that owns the India Today weekly magazine (compare it to TIME) and runs this annual conference has previously invited Pakistani dictator and former President Musharraf and American film maker, James Cameron post-AVATA­R.

So my first reaction to this news is, it's all about ratings.

It's a pretty smart exploitative nationalistic calculation by the organizers. The India Today people know Palin's participation guarantees unprecedented internatio­nal media exposure which will boost the profile of their annual event. The Palin obsessed American MSM will cover every minute of this trip.

I would pay to be a fly on the wall if Palin meets Sonia Gandhi.

I would love to see how Palin reacts to the people, the food, the dress, the intellect, the socialist traditions, the political philosophies, the youth, the business community, the poverty, the history, the culture, the religions, the free press, everything.

This should be a riot.

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