Palin Pokes Fun At Herself At Journalists’ Dinner

Palin pokes fun at herself at journalists’ dinner
WASHINGTON

Sarah Palin poked fun at herself in a speech to journalists Saturday night, drawing laughter when she announced she “came down from my hotel room and I could see the Russian embassy.”

The 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate also joked that she had orginally thought of titling her book “How To Look Like a Million Bucks, or Only $150,000” before settling on “Going Rogue.” In one of the controversies surrounding her candidacy, the campaign spent about $150,000 on her wardrobe.
Palin was the Republican speaker at the winter dinner of the Gridiron Club, an organization of Washington-based journalists.
Rep Barney Frank, D-Mass., represented the Democrats.
Palin targeted her hosts, Democrats and Sen. John McCain’s campaign staff, as well as herself.

If the election had turned out differently, she said, “I could be the one overseeing the signing of bailout checks and vice president Biden could be on the road selling his book, ‘Going Rogaine.'” Biden has sparse hair.

The crack about seeing the Russian embassy from her hotel referred to Palin having told an interviewer during last year’s campaign that her qualifications for high office included that “you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.”

As for her hosts, she said she was glad to be appearing before an elite audience of leading intellectuals, “or as I like to call it, a death panel.”

McCain’s campaign staff also came in for a barb from the former Alaska governor when she said she is touring the country by bus as she sells her book.

“The view is so much better from inside the bus than under it,” she said, referring to the poisonous relations between her and some of the McCain campaign staff.

Focusing on criticism she has received from Steve Schmidt, a senior strategist in McCain’s presidential campaign, she said, “If I need a bald campaign manager I guess I’m left with James Carville,” a Democrat.

In her book, she wrote that Schmidt felt she wasn’t prepared enough on policy matters and even wondered if she was suffering from postpartum depression following the April 2008 birth of her son Trig, who has Down syndrome.
Palin, who resigned as governor following her vice presidential campaign, is a potential contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

Greta Van Susteren managed to obtain the text of her speech. Below is an excerpt:
Greta’s site
Good evening. It’s great to be in Washington and I am loving the weather. I braved the elements and went out for a jog! Or, as Newsweek calls it, a cover-shoot. It’s a privilege to be here tonight at the Washington DC Barnes & Noble. Tonight, I’ll be reading excerpts from my new book. Perhaps you’ve heard of it? “Going Rogue”
Yukon wasn’t sure if I’d go with that title and somebody suggested I follow the East Coast selfhelp trend and go with, “How To Look Like A Million Bucks…For Only 150 Grand.” Todd liked, “The Audacity of North Slope.” Hey, I considered not having a title at all. I’ve said it before, but you Beltway types just don’t seem to get it. You don’t need a title to make an impact.
But anyway, let’s get started. I’ll begin my first reading on Page 209.
It was pitch black when we touched down in Arizona late on August 27, 2008. The next morning we drove to John McCain’s ranch in Sedona. John was waiting on the porch. Before he can say a word, I tell him, I’m quoting now. I know why I’m here, and I’m ready. But, I’m worried. The cost of credit protection for the largest U.S. banks is rising precipitously. Have you given any thought to the run on the entities in the parallel banking system? Do you realize the vulnerability created when these institutions borrow short term in liquid markets to invest long term in illiquid assets? John said, “you betcha!” I thought, “you betcha?” Who talks that way?
Well, sometimes you just have to trust your instincts. When you don’t, you end up in places like this. Who would have guessed that I’d be palling around with this group? At least now I can put a face to all the newspapers I read. It is good to be here and in front of this audience of leading journalists and intellectuals. Or, as I call it, a death panel.
To be honest, I had some serious reservations about coming to visit your cozy little club. The Gridiron still hasn’t offered membership to anyone from my hometown paper in Wasilla, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley Frontiersman. And my dad thought it was just a plain bad idea to leave the book tour for some football game. He might have a point!
I’ve been touring this great, great land of ours over the last few weeks. I have to say, the view is much better from inside the bus, than under it! But really, I am thrilled to be with you. And I’d like to thank the Gridiron for the invitation and Dick Cooper for his introduction. To paraphrase John F. Kennedy, this has to be the most extraordinary collection of people who have gathered to viciously attack me since the last corporate gathering at CBS.

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Wild Thing’s comment……….
LOL I love it.
She has been through so much yet she has the ability to just smile, take it all in, and keep on laughing. This is great, sounds like she had a great time. And the media was obsessed with her, there were lines before the event with members of the press and others who attended waiting to shake her hand.

….Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67