OLBERMANN: The man who was effectively John McCain's campaign manager served it up like the proverbial softball. Steve Schmidt said months ago, if she were the Republican nominee, 2012 would be a, quote, "catastrophic election." Our number one story, Sister Sarah is denied permission to make a speech on a US Army base, but does manage to solicit political contributions while signing books there. "Saturday Night Live" decided to illustrate the motion picture possibilities of Mr. Schmidt's remark: Sarah-pocalypse now.
The "Going Rogue" tour bus rolling into Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Army regulations banning any politician from using politicians for political platforms. But a Fort Bragg spokesman says Palin falls into a gray area because she's, quote, not a political figure per se.
So instead the military offered her a compromise, no speeches, no posing for pictures, no personalized messages in books. But as the Associated Press reports, that did not stop the Palin camp from encouraging donations to her political action committee. Allowing Palin's father, Chuck Heath (ph), to call President Obama's handling of the military, quote, "scary. People used to be afraid of us and respect us. They're not afraid of us and don't respect us anymore."
I guess he's in touch with Kim Jong-il. The scary extending beyond the fort Bragg stop to the Mayan calendar's warning of Armageddon and the Hollywood CGI spectacle chronicling of civilization end. "SNL" pitched perfect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening from Capitol Hill. What a day this has been. The nation has a new president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sarah Palin
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are scared.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know what I'm going to be doing in 2012.
SARAH PALIN, FMR. GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: As for my running mate-it was an honor to stand beside a true American hero.
GLENN BECK, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I'm sorry. I'm just a guy who cares an awful lot about my country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Holy-
PALIN: Thanks but no thanks on that bridge to nowhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: See, but that's not how I imagine it. In my imagination, it's really bad. Joining me now, MSNBC political analyst, author of "Renegade, the Making of a President," senior strategist at Public Strategies, Richard Wolffe.
Good to see you in the flesh.
RICHARD WOLFFE, AUTHOR, "RENEGADE": Good to be with you.
OLBERMANN: Stipulating that I recognized that I was zinged in there, in out loud fashion, and/or complimented at the same time, there's some on the right that interpreted this as a compliment to Sarah Palin. How exactly? Do you know.
WOLFFE: God bless them. They are testing to the extreme the idea that there is no such thing as bad publicity. The real disaster movie for the Republicans is if she runs, let's face it, because either she's the nominee and most of the American people say that she would actually be a disaster and can't see her as president, or she runs, she fails to get it, you have all of these disappointed grassroots people who then have to cheer for Tim Pawlenty or Mitt Romney That would be a horror movie.
OLBERMANN: One of the interpretations I read was that you see this and it's obviously she's been elected or she's been inaugurated, and then there's an apocalypse. They decided to look at it the other way. It's like, oh, there's an apocalypse and Sarah Palin saves the country, after the apocalypse, which is apparently OK with people on the far, far, far, far, far, far right.
WOLFFE: That's one big tea party, that's what that was.
OLBERMANN: A Biblical prophecy fulfillment.
WOLFFE: Exactly, which is why she said all of those Jews will be going to Israel.
OLBERMANN: Flocking.
WOLFFE: In the days and months.
OLBERMANN: Months, weeks, days to come, in that order, or whichever order it was. The event at Fort Bragg today, she-obviously, she's waved military flags like she invented the gun-the Gatling gun. Why not follow the rules? Because clearly they bent them to do some politicizing there when they were told not to.
WOLFFE: You and your pesky rules. Don't you know that only dead fish
go with the flow? There is a new set of rules for Sarah Palin I mean, she
did quit being governor of Alaska for a reason. I'm not quite sure what
the reason was. But, in any case, the bigger issue here I think politically
because she does have political advisers-is wrapping yourself in the flag. It's easy. It's a simple talking point. It's trite but it works for many people.
Problem is, it didn't work for George Bush in 2006. It didn't work for John McCain, a decorated war hero, in 2008. Why would it work for someone who hasn't served in the military, running against the commander in chief in 2012?
OLBERMANN: As we saw on the "Newsweek" cover, she looks good in red. That's my explanation for it. On a serious note, Frank rich wrote this in "the New York Times": "Palin is far and away the most important brand in American politics after Barack Obama, and attention must be paid." What kind of attention is actually appropriate in the situation.
WOLFFE: As much as possible. If she is a serious politician-and clearly there are thousands of people who are treating her as a serious politician - then the press needs to do its job. Hold her to the same standard as any other candidate. Scrutinize all her statements. Compare them, contrast them with what she said before. Fact check them against reality. That's the kind of scrutiny she's inviting now. We'll see if she's up to it.
OLBERMANN: Then the problem becomes what if her supporters don't believe in reality? This is a big question to ask as a news show concludes. But take 45 seconds and answer it. Who is her parallel in American history? Do we know yet? Is she Barry Goldwater? Is she Huey Long? Who is she?
WOLFFE: I think she is Ross Perot without the charts and the ears and maybe the billions. She'll have millions after this book. But she is trying to tap in-look at what she put in her seminal text, which is the Facebook entry. It's about deficits. It's about the military. It is a conscious avocation of everything that happens so successfully and wonderfully for Ross Perot, not once but twice.
OLBERMANN: Millions, she got it up front, right? Because she's not going to get millions if they're selling this book at Newsmax for 4.97. You and I as authors understand, get it up front, right?
WOLFFE: We would hope bob Barnett did his job that way. Look, she is turning out the crowds. This book is selling. Let's hope people are reading it.
OLBERMANN: It's 4. 97. If we sold books for 4. 97, they'd be stacked up here and people would be taking them as they went home.
WOLFFE: We'll try that next time.
OLBERMANN: All right. Good idea. Richard Wolffe of MSNBC, author of "Renegade" and also with Public Strategies. Good to see you, sir.
WOLFFE: Thank you, Keith.
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