First question .. why did I do this? Because they asked me, I guess ... and at least MSNBC will do talk show hosts. CNN, you know, has a stated policy that radio talk show hosts will not be guests on CNN programs.

So ... off I went to the studio. Now here's a little "inside television" for you. Palin's speech was scheduled for 9:00. I wasn't going to be on the air with Ed Schultz until after the speech. That would be around 9:45 at the latest. Now if I'm going to have a guest on the radio show (which doesn't happen all that often) I want them in the studio about three or four minutes before we go on the air. That's not the way it is with some TV shows. They wanted me in the chair and all wired up at 8:30. Why? Because the producers in NYC wanted to know that I was there and ready to go so they could worry about something else. So ... being the publicity whore that I am ... I was fully compliant.

The show begins and before Palin speaks Ed engages his pal Bob Shrum for a few moments. Well ... it's MSNBC, so the audience gets a little left-wing chatter and a few insults thrown at Palin. Then Palin speaks. (more on that in a moment). After her speech Shultz and Shrum engage in more banter. It is at this point that Shrum comes out with a statement so asinine (and predictable) that about 887 jaws drop across the nation. Now that doesn't sound like much .. but when you consider that this is about one-half of your audience, that's a bunch. Then they go back to the Tea Party convention for Palin's question-and-answer session. By this time it is almost 10:00 and I'm thinking about all of the actual fun things I could have been doing on a Saturday evening. It was at this point that I sent out a Tweet [@talkmaster] suggesting that Shrum and Schultz were getting along so well that I suspected neither of them were wearing pants ... though you couldn't tell since they were sitting at a table.

Now ... let's get to the asinine statement made by Bob Shrum. Well, actually .. there were several. At least twice in the early going Shrum reminded the audience that Palin has a speechwriter. That's rather odd when you consider the fact that Shrum was once Teddy Kennedy's speechwriter. I guess it's ok for a liberal lion to have a speechwriter, but when a conservative hires one it's somehow not so good.

And then ...............