Are people finally growing weary of chronically aggrieved snark? Or do they just not care to toss hundred dollar bills at Sarah Palin anymore?
Slow ticket sales have bumped Sarah Palin’s appearance next week in Jacksonville to a smaller venue.
“An Evening of Hope with Sarah Palin” was moved from the 2,936-seat Moran Theatre to the 609-seat Terry Theatre…Mark Nelson, Florida director for Heroic Media, said the event was moved to the Terry Theatre because there weren’t enough tickets sold to hold it in the larger Moran.
“We would rather have a packed theater than a theater that’s not so packed,” Nelson said.
Yes, I just imagine those 600 people sharing that 3,000-seat theater would feel a little silly at the money they wasted. Money? Let’s talk. Preferred seating is $100 but a few general admission tickets are also available for $50. But if you’re willing to be a sponsor, you can buy all the Palin you want.
Starting at $500, you can have two reserved seating tickets and two tickets to the private reception with Palin, including a “memento photo” with the former half-term governor. From there, you can add a special gift bag including a copy of “Going Rogue” (you don’t already have one?) for $1,500; more tickets plus the opportunity to submit one question in advance to Sarah (“questions reviewed prior to event”) for $2,500; more tickets, etc., plus that memento picture in a frame for $5,000; more tickets plus box seating at the front of the theater (which is going to feel a little silly with only 600 people there) for $10,000; and finally, all this plus a personal meeting with Palin and/or the option to introduce her from the podium for $25,000.
The event’s organizer, Heroic Media, was founded in Texas by Swiftboater Brian R. Follett, and according to its web site, is “a faith-based non-profit that reduces abortion by creating a Culture of Life through television, billboard and internet advertising.”
The group puts together schlocky ads like this one, and then claims an impact in steering girls and women away from abortions:
Evidence of the efficacy of these ads is a bit on the post hoc logical fallacy side.
In 2009, we also learned that the abortion ratio had dropped 24% since we began airing our messages in Austin! We were so humbled and thankful to God and our supporters for such phenomenal results!
Hold on there, cowboys. You might be ignoring any number of other factors that could lower the incidence of abortion in Austin. But logic isn’t the strong suit of any of the participants in this feel-good-do-nothing-but-make-the-organizers-rich event. Along with Palin, we have “Messianic music” provided by American Idol competitor Sharon Wilbur, and an appearance by Florida State Sen. John Thrasher, whose bill to gut public education, vetoed by Gov. Charlie Crist, endangers his bid for re-election in 2010.
Thrasher’s claim to fame, besides being a successful former lobbyist, is his ability to capitalize on others’ misfortunes. He bought a condo at the beach in the district of former state Sen. Pres. Jim King when news of King’s terminal cancer was announced and then ran in the special election to finish King’s term. He is also chair of the Republican Party of Florida, stepping in to finish the term of Jim Greer, who was recently forced to resign in a cloud of financial scandal.
The event is scheduled for two days after the Florida primary, giving Thrasher a “What, me worry?” air heading into the election. But if ticket sales — and Palin’s record of backing losing candidates in the 2010 elections — are any indication, Palin and Thrasher both have some worrying to do.
The event that a Christian group planned here in GA for Palin earlier this year also bombed due to low ticket sales. She also received a lot of blow back from republicans here because she flew in to Atlanta to stump for Karen Handel the day before the RP Primary run off. I live very close to Atlanta, but I was/am not curious enough about Palin to make the trip. All of her speeches are the same: filled with lies, hypocrisy, and insults directed toward President Obama because she and McCain lost the presidential election in 2008. I wouldn’t have gone even if someone had given me a free ticket. Maybe even the Southern “conservatives” have begun to wake up to the fact that her only goal is to tear this country apart in her unending quest for attention.
If the cost of tickets is a little rich for you, you can stand outside the theater and give her the old one-finger salute for free.