Finding Friends on Fox

The limo arrived waaay too early at 4:30 am for the ride to the Fox News Channel bureau on the other side of the LA basin. The "Fox and Friends" morning program invited me to talk about the 1990 debate in the California race for governor, in which I caught candidate Dianne Feinstein with notes on her palm. This was a clear violation of the debate rules and the Republicans had a field day, much as the Democrats in the present day have delighted in making fun of Sarah Palin for putting notes on her hand during a speaking engagement. Many thanks to the pros in the LA bureau and the NY control room. It was nice to see my former KTLA colleague Carols Amezcua, now with Fox KTTV Channel 11, filling in as co-host.

Writing on the Hand: Palin vs Feinstein

The flap over the notes on Sarah Palin's hand recalls a similar dustup during a statewide political debate in California involving Dianne Feinstein. I was a panelist on the debate, and she clearly had something written on her palm, in a clearly visible violation of debate rules which required the candidates to speak without notes. When I asked her about it after the debate, she quickly hid her hand behind her back and left the room. A few days later, her campaign put out a press release saying that Feinstein's palm contained the key words of her campaign, something like, "choice, economy, education." The Republicans had a field day, and put out a press release comparing Feinstein to Bart Simpson. Like Feinstein, Palin appears to have written some of the key themes of her speech on her palm. No doubt the anti-Palin crowd will paint this as another example of the former Alaska governor being too dim-witted to hold a national office, but Feinstein survived her handwriting-gate, eventually winning a seat in the US Senate.
I'll be writing more about Palin in an upcoming column for Newsmax magazine. Stay tuned for details and links.