Empty Photo Op

Let’s prop up Sarah Palin and show pretty pictures of her sitting with world leaders—maybe she’ll learn about foreign policy by skin contact, breathing the same air or seeing their souls in their eyes. But no writers, no questions and no substance, please! You can fool some of the people, but don’t try to kid this PR person with your phony world leaders photo op. In a lame attempt to get video and photos of Sarah Palin next to world leaders (and that was about the size of it, her sitting next to them making small talk), the media fought back. The total control freakish McCain campaign wanted the headlines and b-roll, but no editorial questions. Questions are hard. They demand answers, which obviously Palin is not ready to give. She’s still cramming for the big exam. So when the networks joined forces and said they would not run the coveted photos and soundless video, the campaign relented and let a CNN producer in for all of 29 seconds of nonsensical chit chat. “No writers, no writers” was the command from Palin’s bouncers as the press pool entered the room. If the McCain campaign is so proud of their pick, why won’t they let her speak in an uncontrolled environment? She chatted with Afghanistan’s President Karzai about babies (a subject she does know first hand), and his own son born last year, and then press conference OVER. We can only imagine the important world- shaking conversation that ensued: “I love your green kaftan, is that silk?” Maybe in her UN meetings this week, she will pass along a valuable gem of info to John McCain—that Prime Minister Zapatero is nearing the end of his term in Spain and the revelation that Spain is not in Latin America. It’s like watching the movie Fargo, with the accent, the pregnancies, the bumbling--but it’s getting too far fetched and running out of laughs.