"Hi Mom" - Palin's Good-Natured Comeback

Sarah Palin silently poked fun at her critics by writing “Hi Mom” on her hand before speaking at a rally for Governor Rick Perry of Texas. She followed that up by writing “Loggers rock!” on her hand before speaking at a Logging Conference Speech in Redding, California, today.

This was because some on the Left (Huffington Post, MSNBC, CNN) have gone bananas because Sarah Palin had 7 words written on the palm of her hand as reminders for key areas she wanted to emphasize in her time at the National Tea Party Convention Saturday night.

I wonder if any of these critics have ever given a speech before. I have given lots of them and have written main points down so as not to miss talking about one of them.

Most speakers know that in the heat of speaking and connecting with an audience it’s easy to follow a rabbit trail or two on some points and miss emphasizing other points you want to cover.

And sometimes you have to cut content out because of time limitations. So, a reminder of three or four main points to emphasize helps make mental cuts effective while you’re in the heat of giving a speech.

Stefan Sirucek of Huffington Post probably knows this, but his political biases make him follow the most harebrained explanation possible in order to criticize a common tool used by those who give speeches.

Sirucek’s explanation is that Sarah Palin doesn’t know her core beliefs. So, she has to write a word or two to remember them. Sirucek expects us to believe that a politician who has run for Vice-President, been governor of a state and a mayor doesn’t know things any low level political junkie knows about conservatives. They want to:

1. Increase energy supply and options (Though Palin said “drill, baby, drill” hundreds of times in the 2008 campaign, she doesn’t know she believes that?)

2. Cut government spending and taxes (sort of at the core of all fiscal conservative values)

3. Lift American spirits (Does anyone need to be reminded that they believe that? Apparently Sirucek does.)

“Hi Mom” and “Loggers rock!” were the perfect response to Palin’s witless (in both senses) critics. And Palin's comeback was both good-natured and funny. When will her critics learn to be the same?

UPDATE: B.B. in the comments section is so right. Sarah Palin has gotten into their heads so much that Robert Gibbs couldn't help bringing it up at an official White House press briefing!