Good morning

SINCE na-bwiset ako yesterday, bwisitin ko kayo today, hehe. Here's the latest "praise" release out of Malacañang. Yup, they actually have the gall to send this out to media. (Underscoring all mine.)

PGMA looks forward to working with NY Senator Clinton as US Sec of State

HONG KONG (via PLDT) -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo congratulated today New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for her nomination as the next US Secretary of State.

The President sent her congratulatory message to Mrs. Clinton through the latter's husband, former US President William Clinton, during the opening of the plenary session here of the Clinton Global Foundation Asia Meeting.

"I'm looking forward to working together for the US-RP relations to become stronger," the President said to the delight of her former Georgetown University classmate.

US-elect President Barrack Obama nominated on Monday (US time) the New York senator as Secretary of State.

For his part, the former US President said of President Arroyo "I'm especially proud of her for her extraordinary leadership. She was my college classmate but she looks 20 years younger than I am."

The President arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport at 8:30 last night to attend the First Clinton Global Initiative Asia Meeting at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong Hotel.

The President was among the five participants of the plenary session opening which discussed the topic, "Balancing Growth, Sustainability of Equity," where she shared the Philippines' efforts in lessening the negative impact on the poor of the global economic meltdown and high food prices.

I"M pretty sure the presidentita made novena to St. Jude just so that Hillary's appointment as Secretary of State would push through. And again, she left the Philippines to attend the CGI conference in Hong Kong to make sure to touch base w/ dear old Bill. (Travel ng travel ha, ang daming problema dito sa 'Pinas. Oh, I forgot, she's the problem pala.) At least now, she has a friend in the Obama administration, even if ayaw sya pansinin ng President-elect. hehe. Empty praises from an ex-classmate though can only go so far.

Ay good afternoon na pala.

AK Gov. Sarah Palin on SNL

IN case you haven't seen it yet, here are the sketches of Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. Try to click pause when Sarah and Tina pass each other...the resemblance is uncanny. Too bad there was no Sarah/Tina sketch like that of Hillary Clinton/Amy Poehler's during the primaries.


Opening presscon


Amy Poehler steps in for Palin

INTERESTING that Palin flies thousands of miles to appear on SNL, but won't grant an honest-to-goodness press conference. Scary innit? You betcha!

In any case, if she does lose the election (and I'm betting my moosehair go-go boots that she will), SNL can hire her as one of its talents. She obviously knows groove to the music, act silly, and read cue cards. Whatta major achievement in the Republican electoral campaign.

Sarah who?

(The very chica Alaskan governor, Sarah Palin...dubbed the 'hottest governor in the coldest state' of the U.S.)

SO Sen. John McCain sprang a surprise among his supporters. And well, the rest of the world.

Unlike Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama – whose veep is a pretty popular guy in the halls of the Senate, Joe Biden, albeit more because of his often long, long speeches, hehe – McCain's chosen runningmate, Gov. Sarah Palin, is obviously a relative unknown on the national, much less, the international level.

She is no Geraldine Ferraro, thank you, who was the first woman ever to run for vice president. Nor a Hillary Clinton, who tried to be the first woman presidential candidate in U.S. history. Both women, before trying to get elected to the highest posts of the U.S. government, had some amount of national exposure because of their runs in Congress and their personal advocacies. (Although in fairview, like ko ang eyeglasses ng Lola Sarah...very nye!)

Palin's appointment is a pretty desperate attempt by the McCain group/Republican Party to get the women who still can't get over Hillary Clinton losing to Obama to switch to their side. I think American women are more intelligent than that (aren't all women anyway?!). They know McCain/the Republicans didn't get Palin because they believed she would be the most qualified (among the other veep contenders) to jump right into the president's shoes if, knock on wood, something happens to McCain if he does manage to snag the presidency. They chose her because she's a woman. Plain and simple. It's just a gimmick and I think most American women will see through that.

(Democratic Party Veep candidate Sen. Joe Biden...ang kayuut ng lolo na ito!)

I'm not knocking Palin's abilities, because being a mother, she can probably handle almost anything. And she supposedly has a reputation as a tough reformer. Pero, if you compare her to someone like Biden who has been around the halls of Congress far longer, and who has a firm grasp of both international and domestic issues, Palin's resume reads very short. I mean, what could have been the toughest decision she has had to make as a governor of Alaska? How to control the caribou population? Ayayay!

Hopefully, because Biden is a Catholic, Pinoys in the States will vote for the Obama-Biden ticket instead of pushing through with their threats of switching to McCain.

Click here for TIME magazine's profile on Sarah Palin. For Joe Biden's profile, click NYT.