Even so, she's still funnier than Jay Leno.

Oddly, this is very much in keeping with the morality and standards of all teabaggers. She truly is their saint and guardian!

What the fuck is the deal with rich people getting free shit? That... that's just fucked up.

For transparency it should probably be mentioned that the sound engineer is also the creator of goingrouge.net, and is shilling Sarah Palin comic books that poke fun at America's sweetheart. Not that I doubt his story, but there shouldn't be any confusion that he was an objective observer.

Thank you, Sarah Palin. Keep up the good work.

@4,
Life in the U.S.: Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor.

@4, that's funny, because my response was "Such white trash!" (not very nice of me I know, but the Palins are just so NOT comme il faut)

I'm confused. How do you clean a place out of fancy hairdos?

I was wondering how the crowd response could have been that positive.. it seemed strange. And very much ditto @10!

@4: it is totally fucked up. I believe the "point" is that then the celebrities are photographed with the free shit, thus bringing the brands some marketing recognition. Apparently, Palin refused to be photographed.

The sound engineer's creditability is also somewhat damaged, in my opinion, by calling Palin a "prick tease"...

Actually, leek, I'm afraid I'd have to agree with him on that.

Wasilla white trash, indeed. Even gee-dub had more class than this greedy, uneducated, lying opportunist.

Please, God, let Sarah Palin be the 2012 Republican nominee. Please please please please.

@16
I guess that really would play into the land of opportunity. Anyone can be president - even uneducated white trash liars.
Granted, I'd hate to think what would happen if we had another Diebold-like voting machine issue and somehow the votes went to her instead. Don't think the supremes can be trusted to make the right decision these days - especially not with Gollum/Roberts as the chief.

i took a look at the interview's audio waveform and spectral images. It's not immediately obvious that the laughs are canned (other than listening to them) but the same whistle @ 3000 Hz appears a lot. The "applause" also comes on from none to full on in less than .10 seconds which means the "entire" audience moved from respectful silence to screaming and clapping in unison in less than a tenth of a second.

that's some German efficiency, right there...

@5 When it comes to Palin, no one is an objective observer.

The Wasilla Hillbillies strike again!!

YeeHaw!!

Shouldn't Leno's show be held responsible for producing propoganda? This woman would have no voice whatsoever if the media didn't keep her in front of the cameras. As to her being the candidate in 2012; are you sure she wouldn't be elected? I'm not.

GE owns NBC owns Leno. why they bother with MSNBC i'll never understand.

I was absolutely struck that the wild cheers and applause were way out of proportion to the funny. I mean, some people laugh at anything, but my impression was that the audience must have been so packed with Palinites that they intentionally overreacted to every word out of her mouth. So messing with the audio is a perfectly plausible alternative explanation. Also, there were plenty of occasions when you could hear a whole mix of reactions - from cheers to boos - which easily could have been rebalanced to de-emphasize the boos.
I wouldn't say the show gave Palin special treatment by messing with the laugh/applause track - I'm sure they do this for every dying comic - including Jay - just to keep the home audience involved.

They do have suites at the Bel Age and other very upscale hotels in the WeHo/Beverly Hills area where Academy members can swing by and pick up $1500/oz. parfums, $800 sunglasses, $600 Hermes scarves, etc. gratis. It's pretty much a tradition now. It may be to get some famous names behind brand recognition. It may be a "little something" to encourage non-Hollywood Academy members to fly in for the ceremonies. Seems to work. I know renting a car, any car, for instance, anywhere in Los Angeles during Oscar week is a very, very pricey proposition if there are any cars available at all).

It's the award presenters who make out like bandits. The Academy doesn't "pay" presenters, but they are given a gift bag that is valued up around $75K (world cruises for two, jewelry, Prada bags, etc.). The nominees only get a lunch, a lot of press, and an ego boost, so they probably hit the suites as well.

What really scares me is the notion that Palin probably watched the re-edited broadcast and now firmly believes that's the way it really went down.

Man, sometimes I wish I suffered from cognitive dissonance - life would just be so much easier!

@24:

On the plus side, a good percentage of nominees, especially in the acting categories, usually get selected to be presenters for the following year's ceremonies, so they don't totally lose out on the swag, they just have to wait a bit to collect, is all.

@16 I can't stand the Wasilla Hockey Mom either, but she is INSANELY popular with some folks in this country. So much so that I would NOT want to risk the leadership of this country being turned over to another folksy nincompoop...again. Can't handle that thought. Too scary.

Logic, intelligence, and qualifications go straight out the window when some people gaze at her hem line.

Please do not wish Palin into running in 2012. Do remember we are the country that "voted" Bush in.... twice. I don't have any doubts in Palin being able to do the same.