Score yet another for the professionalism of Sarah Palin's political team: The Independence-Day-themed video that I tried to make sense of below has been taken down for reasons unknown, but not difficult to guess.
For those who missed it, the wordless video, set to a Logginsesque pop-rock score, featured a series of photos of Sarah Palin looking stalwart in the presence of military folks (and, in one case, wearing a flight suit) interspersed with enough shots of missiles--on launchers, in silos, being lifted by cranes--to make Freud blush. There was also, for those who may have forgotten the strategic expertise her office requires, a map showing Alaska and Eastern Russia, with ICBM trajectories traced from the latter over the former.
The video then segued into quite a few shots of the idiotic Air Force One New York flyover, these interspersed with photographs of a smiling Barack Obama wearing the kind of sweat-jacket one might presume him to wear when flying. It may be that the video was trying to imply that Obama was aboard Air Force One when it made that flight (he wasn't); it certainly intended to lay the controversy squarely at his feet, despite it having occurred without his knowledge. There was also a single peculiar shot of King Kong (the original) clinging to the Empire State Building as Air Force One buzzed by. (Some have suggested this was a racial shot against Obama, but I'm doubtful, especially if we're supposed to believe he was in the plane. More likely someone on Team Palin just thinks Kong is cool.)
The video closed with onscreen text to the effect of (I'm paraphrasing this first part) "We need her," followed by a pause and then the all-caps imperative "BIG TIME." It was really something to see, and if anyone can find a sign of it online, please pass it along and I'll link.
In the end, the Palin camp evidently changed its mind and decided the flight suit, "big time," and "I can see Russia from my house" goofs had already caused the GOP enough embarrassment.
Update: A colleague suggests the video may not have been created by Sarahpac, which is a possibility (though it was advertised as such). It seemed too straight to be parody--but then, it also seemed almost too goofy to be genuine. If I learn more, I'll update further.
--Christopher Orr