Sarah Palin can’t handle a prank call, let alone the Presidency:

In an over-the-top accent, one half of a notorious Quebec comedy duo claims to be the president of France as he describes sex with his famous wife, the joy of killing animals and Hustler magazine’s latest Sarah Palin porno spoof.

At the other end of the line? An oblivious Sarah Palin.

The Masked Avengers, a radio pairing notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state, notched its latest victory Saturday when it released a recording of a six-minute call with Palin, who thought she was talking with Nicolas Sarkozy.

~~~

Over the course of the interview, Palin doesn’t seem to realize she’s being tricked until Audette comes clean near the end of the call.

“Ohhhh . . . have we been pranked?” she says, in her inimitable style. Seconds later, Palin’s aide can be heard taking the phone before the line goes dead.

Throughout the conversation, Audette drops plenty of clues that something’s amiss.

He identifies French singer and actor Johnny Hallyday as his special adviser to the U.S., singer Stef Carse as Canada’s prime minister and Quebec comedian and radio host Richard Z. Sirois as the provincial premier.

“We should go hunting together,” Palin offers when Audette professes a love of hunting - or, more precisely, killing animals. “We can have a lot of fun together while we’re getting work done. We could kill two birds with one stone.”

Audette then jokes that they shouldn’t bring Cheney on the hunt, referring to the 2006 incident in which the vice-president shot and injured a friend while hunting quail.

“I’ll be a careful shot,” responds Palin, who praises Sarkozy throughout the call.

“I look forward to working with you and getting to meet you personally - and your beautiful wife, oh my goodness,” she says.

“You’ve added a lot of energy to your country with that beautiful family of yours.”

Audette then tells her his wife, Carla Bruni, a singer and former model, was jealous to hear Sarkozy would be speaking to Palin. “Give her a big hug for me,” Palin responds.

Audette goes on to describe Bruni as “hot in bed” and claims she’s written a song for Palin, the French title of which translates as “Lipstick on a Pig.” In English, Audette says the song is about Joe the Plumber.

Finally, he mentions a notorious Hustler video titled “Nailin’ Paylin,” describing it as “the documentary they made on your life.”

“Oh, good, thank you, yes,” Palin replies.

“That was really edgy,” Audette says.

“Well, good.”

~~

“I wanted to see how (Palin) was on an intellectual level,” Audette said, comparing the latest prank to the duo’s crank call with pop idol Britney Spears.

“You can see that she’s, well, not really brilliant.”

From Political Radar:

Perhaps her first hint that it was actually a crank call should have been “Sarkozy’s” admission that “from my ‘ouse, I can see Belgium.”

Just what we need in the White House when that Red Phone rings — someone who races into the White House kitchen to let Dr. Pepper out of the bottle and check if her refrigerator is running.

In the mind of Palin, the First Amendment was enacted to insulate government from the tyranny of the Free Press:

Palin told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama’s associations, like those with 1960s radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be considered negative attacks. Rather, for reporters or columnists to suggest that it is going negative may constitute an attack that threatens a candidate’s free speech rights under the Constitution, Palin said.

“If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations,” Palin told host Chris Plante, “then I don’t know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media.”

~~~

“It’s sort of perplexing to me, because I’m a practical person and plainspoken also, but just cutting to the chase and calling things like I see them, just like most Americans. But this has not left a bitter taste in my mouth, the bitter shots taken by the mainstream media and by some of the elitism there in Washington,” Palin said.

Yes, that’s right: unless the press uncritically accepts and reports on the accusations of major party office holders and office seekers, the Freedom of Government to operate without fear of a Tyrannical Press will be undermined.

Of course, those people we call our Founding Fathers weren’t hockey moms, so they failed to envisage the danger to government from a less than supplicant press, so they fucked up the First Amendment, so it currently reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press. . . .

Obviously, it should have been written read “the press shall print no story which contradicts the narrative of a politician holding or seeking office, nor shall it label broad and unfounded condemnations of political opponents as ‘negative’.”

If only Palin had been there at the time to straighten those Founding Rubes out about the dangers of a tyrannical, elitist press interfering with politicians’ dissemination of propaganda.

The thought of a Palin Presidency brings this scene from Bananas to mind:

Via Balloon Juice

MORE: Some comments now linked at Memeorandum.

Roger Simon at Politico reports that McCain’s people are already focusing on a scapegoat for Tuesday’s impending defeat — Sarah Palin.

John McCain’s campaign is looking for a scapegoat. It is looking for someone to blame if McCain loses on Tuesday.

And it has decided on Sarah Palin.

In recent days, a McCain “adviser” told Dana Bash of CNN: “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone.”

Imagine not taking advice from the geniuses at the McCain campaign. What could Palin be thinking?

Also, a “top McCain adviser” told Mike Allen of Politico that Palin is “a whack job.”

Maybe she is. But who chose to put this “whack job” on the ticket? Wasn’t it John McCain? And wasn’t it his first presidential-level decision?

Yes, she is a disaster. And yes, she has turned out to be a drag on the campaign rather than a magnet for disaffected Hillary supporters. But, as Simon points out, McCain picked this catastrophe.

So as scapegoats go, she’s not a very good one.

Because the fault for McCain lies not in the stars, but in himself.

Ben Smith at Politico, quoting Howard Kurtz, “the worst may be yet to come for Palin; sources say CBS has two more responses on tape that will likely prove embarrassing.”

Shorter today’s Kristol Spoor:

There’s been a certain amount of pop sociology in America … that Sarah Palin’s inability to frame a single coherent thought and McCain’s total disconnection from economic reality coupled with wildly erratic statements and actions regarding the economy have hurt his campaign. There’s almost no evidence of that at all. McCain’s mastery of economics and Palin’s intelligent eloquence have always been the strengths of his campaign.

Ed Schultz, via Balloon Juice:

McCain Camp insiders say Palin “clueless”
Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people
are more than concerned about Palin. The campaign has held
a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as “disastrous.” One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, “What are we going to do?” The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is “clueless.”

We know The FastTalkExpress already tried to preempt Palin-Biden by postponing tonight’s debate. . . and we’ve all seen Palin get decapitated by Katie Couric, of all people. And we also know Palin has yet to hold a press conference, and in her limited availability to the media has either gone with a partisan hack like Hannity, or fairly mild lightweight interviewers like Gibson or Couric.

Every action of the McCain Campaign with respect to Palin absolutely reeks of fear and avoidance. She’s fine delivering stupid hockey mom homilies to true believers, but anything approaching a serious question and she’s out of her league. Big fish in a small pond translates into a little fish in a big ocean. And we all know what happens to the little fish.

Watch CBS Videos Online

As near as I can tell, she’s claiming that foreign policy experience wafts down from neighboring Soviet airspace or drifts over the Bering Straight. And she somehow got more of that Soviet airspace between her ears than other US Americans Alaskans because Alaska is the state that she’s governor of.

PREVIOUSLY: Palin de-cleated by Couric

Via Atrios, while McCain accuses Obama of “doing nothing” he is un-busy establishing his bona fides for total legislative inertia on finance:

Republican presidential nominee John McCain has not introduced any banking or housing bills in the 110th Congress, while Democratic rival Barack Obama has proposed five.

Both candidates are traveling to Washington on Thursday to meet with President Bush and congressional leaders to build support for a massive rescue plan for the nation’s ailing economy.

Neither Sen. McCain (Ariz.) nor Sen. Obama (Ill.) sits on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which is taking the lead in the upper chamber of molding the bailout plan.

No wonder Sarah Palin had trouble identifying any pieces of financial regulation proposed by Senator McMaverick. They ain’t there.

You know you’re not ready for Prime Time when you get decleated by Katie Couric during an interview:

Couric: You’ve said, quote, “John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business.” Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie - that, that’s paramount. That’s more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

Couric: But he’s been in Congress for 26 years. He’s been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He’s also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he’s been talking about - the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you’ve said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I’m just going to ask you one more time - not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to you.

What a fucking embarrassment. This is like losing a boxing match to Richard Simmons.

Here’s a video clip:

Palin the Reformer uses a little of the old-fashioned pressure and payola.

The Alaska National Guard Commander who repeatedly said over a period of several days that Palin plays no role in command of Alaska’s National Guard units, much to the embarassment of McMaverick and Paylin, changes his story on Friday to compliment Paylin on her wonderful leadership skilz, and his promotion to Lt. General of the State Guard is announced by the governor’s office on Monday.

Via Balloon Juice.

Sounds like McSame old politics to me.