Sarah Palin and the New Clear Power

You know, something is bothering me. It’s been in my mind since Sarah Palin was debuted in St. Paul. When her speech rolled by on the teleprompter, those watching the screen could see that the word “nuclear” was written out phonetically, as “new clear,” so she wouldn’t mispronounce it.  There is so much mystery in my mind about this that I haven’t even mentioned it. And it’s very Orwellian, expressing nuclear power as “New Clear Power.”

The whole thing is like filo dough, layer after layer of nuance and mystery. WTF goes on in people’s heads?

Another strange thing about that moment is that she saw fit to use it in one of her special lies later. She said that the teleprompter malfunctioned, and she had to dig deep within herself and just wing it. She said that she looked into the eyes of the people from the Ohio delegation, took a deep breath, and just “talked to them.”

She must have forgotten that there were hundreds of people who could see the teleprompter, and who noted how well she was reading from it, pausing where it said “pause,” and punching the words or sentences that were underlined. These lies and embellishments are particularly pointless in light of the Magnificent Interweb, and its limitless capacity for storing YouTube videos.

She also told three different versions of the moment at which she accepted McCain. In one version, she didn’t blink. She said yes on the spot, like a Decider would. In another version, she discussed it with Todd, and they weighed it, decided yes, and kept it from the kids for a few days. In that storyline, the kids didn’t know until right before the announcement.

In the third version, she discussed it with her female children, and gave each of them one vote. The family consensus was yes.

WHY, all of these lies? These fabrications that are so easy to shoot down? It is so incomprehensible to me that I just have no working theory at all. It’s rattling around in my head, I can’t get a bead on it.