Video

On this quite busy Thursday, there is much to be learned on the ol’ Wrap. For example: Confronting an angry group that was the victims of your biggest campaign gaffe can often lead to absolutely priceless video.

Whoops, did I say “grizzly mammas?” Well, there’s nothing plural about this show. It’s “Momma Grizzly.” If Sarah Palin’s new web video is about a stampede of new conservative female candidates, try to find one in the piece. If the video is about female empowerment, there’s little doubt as to who’s on the power trip (or the Momma Bear). As Digby writes: She is not a serious politician. She is a political celebrity/entrepreneur, collecting money from her fans to fund herself and sell her brand.

On Thursday, when the time came for independent counsel Timothy Petumenos to give former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin her comeuppance for putting private fund-raising above the public trust, he picked as the venue the “Adventure Room” of the Hotel Captain in Cook in downtown Anchorage. The symbolism was almost as thick as the media that crowded the smallish space in the basement of one of the city’s long time cornerstones. The hotel was built by Wally Hickel after the Good Friday earthquake in 1964 destroyed much of Alaska.

CHICAGO — Sarah Ferguson says she had been drinking and was “not in my right place” when she was caught on video offering access to her former husband, Prince Andrew, for $724,000. The Duchess of York made the comments to talk show host Oprah Winfrey in an interview to air Tuesday. The interview was taped Friday in Los Angeles, and excerpts were released Monday by Winfrey’s Harpo Productions. Ferguson tells Winfrey that she’d seen snippets of the video in airports but had not “faced the devil in the face” by watching it in its entirety.

Right off the bat this past Monday, we were hit with one of strongest Funny or Die videos in a long time. Mary-Elizabeth Ellis, also known as the waitress from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” enlisted her BF Charlie Day (along with Fred Savage) for a sketch that she titled “This Fall on Bravo,” but I prefer to call by it’s more direct name “Prince Rapist.” This video was short and intro-y enough that I think more segments could be coming soon.

During the Winter Olympiad out here in California, it became obvious that a big part of Meg Whitman’s strategy for getting elected Governor of California was going to be flooding the zone with ads, drowning out her opponents with her burgeoning bankbook.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (8 PM CST) Ahh sweet Earl Grey Revolution! Sarah Palin knew that speech like the back of her hand. The Q&A answers, however, were on the front of her hand. Or so it appeared. During the Q&A following her speech at the Tea Party Convention, Ms. Palin appeared to read from her hand in answering. The following image was caught by some sharp-eyed Twitter users, notably @jryanlaw -> Tweet Photo link UPDATE #2 : A high-quality video on youtube seems to prove that something was indeed on the palm of Palin’s hand. The question is what.

In a fiery speech before a small crowd of Tea Party convention-goers, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin branded President Obama and the Democratic Party as “out of touch, out of date” and “running out of time.” She mocked Obama’s supporters: “How’s that hopey-changey stuff workin’ out for you?” she asked. And she savaged the whole Democratic program: “The only place the left hasn’t placed the blame is on their agenda,” she said.

Former McCain campaign staffer Nicolle Wallace tore into Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue” Tuesday night, saying the book was “based on fabrications” and exhibited a “bizarre fixation” on past events.
In her book, Sarah Palin wrote that Wallace pushed her to sit down with Katie Couric to boost the anchor’s “self esteem.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) demurred once again when asked to divine the kind of candidate for president his former running mate, Sarah Palin, could be in 2012. “I have a degree of clairvoyance,” the Arizona Republican said, “but in 2009 to predict what would happen in the 2012 election is — I’m not capable of.” While McCain wouldn’t wade into presidential politics, he did offer a bit of retrospection.