Palin Booed

Don't say we and many, many others did not warn her. Last night, Sarah Palin was overwhelmingly booed by the Flyers faithful at their home opener against the New York Rangers in Philadelphia. Right as she was announced and walked towards center ice to drop the ceremonial first puck, she was serenaded with a near-universal chorus of boos, jeers, and other colorful (and likely unprintable) language from the crowd. The spectacle was captured in all of its glory by YouTube. Had Palin has a modicum of common sense, or had ever heard of Tip O'Neill, she might have avoided this fate. The booing was apparently pretty bad:

Despite pleas from the scoreboard at the Wachovia Center, which read "Flyers fans, show Philadelphia's class and welcome America's No. 1 hockey mom, Sarah Palin," ABC News' Jake Tapper reports that the booing was so prevalent that the music had to be cranked up to "deafening" levels in order to compete with the fans from the city of Brotherly Love.

For those of you who think that this story is totally insignificant, let me proffer a small anecdote. I googled the words 'Palin' and 'booed' without quotes under Google News at 12:23 p.m. today, and got back 814 articles. In other words, since Palin dropped the puck, the words 'Palin' and 'booed' appear in over 800 news articles, and both words appear in most of these articles' headlines. Try it for yourself. I be that in a short while, there will be over 1,000 news hits.

For a fledgling campaign with a vice presidential running mate who is currently struggling with low personal approval ratings, this is not the type of publicity you want. This morning, millions of Americans will open their paper on their lazy Sunday and come across articles saying that Sarah Palin was embarrassed at an NHL game. It might not mean an enormous deal, but one cannot question that at best it makes Palin look foolish, and it worst it further chips away at whatever scant credibility she has left. As we said, politics and sports do not mix, and I have little doubt Joe Biden would have been booed too, though I do not know how much.

Let me also add that as a Devils fan, I found it amusing that Scott "Traitor" Gomez, now of the Rangers was at center ice to participate in the puck drop and shake hands with Palin. For those of you who do not follow hockey, Gomez spent his entire career with the Devils organization, winning a Stanley Cup in 2000 and 2003 (on shoulders of Marty Brodeur, Scott Stevens, and Scott Niedermayer), before bolting to chase the money and sign with our arch-rivals, the New York Rangers. He did not once bother to thank the organization or the fans, by the way. This is why his first name is no longer Scott, but simply Traitor. Anyway, while I know that Gomez was probably compelled to participate because he is an alternate captaoin on the Rangers, and also because he is from Alaska, I found his presence personally amusing. I guess one idiot deserves another.