David Broder on Sarah Palin: "The lady is good."

"Those who want to stop her will need more ammunition than deriding her habit of writing on her hand."

And that band on her wrist.

Read my... hand.

We'll be looking at her hand forever. She caught us in that hand.

Your assignment today is to practice the expressions in English that use the word "hand" and to make all the snarky comments about Sarah Palin's hand.

Or here, maybe you can do something with this "Seinfeld" dialogue:

Jerry: I know, you told me you like her, everything is going good.

George: No everything is not going good. I'm very uncomfortable. I have no power. I mean, why should she have the upper hand. Once in my life I would like the upper hand. I have no hand-- no hand at all. She has the hand; I have no hand. How do I get the hand?

Jerry: We all want the hand. Hand is tough to get. You gotta get the hand right from the opening.

***

GEORGE: Jerry, let me tell you something, "A man without hand is not a man." I got so much hand I'm coming out of my gloves.

***

NOEL: I ... am breaking up ... with you!

GEORGE: You can't break up with me. I've got hand.

NOEL: And you're going to need it.

That's my favorite "Seinfeld" episode, by the way. And Noel's final line is ... unbeatable.

And: Talk to the hand.

Sarah Palin has had us in the palm of her hand all day.

Isn't it funny how she caught our attention with her scrawled-on hand? I picture her — hanging out with Todd today — laughing at how absurdly fascinated everyone is with her.

Hey, Palin fans! Here's an idea: Ink a list of 4 items on your left hand with the second one crossed out. Take a photo of it and link to it here.

Variation: Make up a list of 4 items with the second one crossed out for some other person's hand, for example for Barack Obama or Harry Reid or Andrew Sullivan or ... anybody. This too can be done as a photograph.

Come on. It'll be fun.

IN THE COMMENTS: Palladian delves into my Flickr-stream and finds this:

Closeup:

AND: Palladian also says "Obama doesn't solely rely on his teleprompter friends..."

"... as you can see in this digitally-enhanced enlargement":

What Sarah Palin had written on her hand: "Energy", "Tax," and "Lift American Spirits."

Is that a "cheat sheet" or "crib notes"? It might be a little silly to have writing on your hand, and it's definitely awkward to look at your hand in the middle of answering a question, but those few words could hardly be of much help if you actually don't know what you are talking about.

ADDED: Andrew Sullivan discerns the hard-to-see 4th item on the hand-list and posits a theory:

My favorite detail is "[Budget] Cuts". Which just about sums up the real Tea Party agenda on spending. But it also suggests that she was told in advance of the questions she would be asked, one of which was what would be you priorities if you were elected president? Now think about this: she had to write on her hand her priorities as president.

Well, she had "budget" crossed out, so if that sums it the Tea Party agenda, she doesn't share it. "Cuts" is still there, so it makes a lot more sense to assume it goes with "tax," as in: tax cuts. But what the hell? Make stuff up. Like the theory that she was told "the questions" in advance. And she had the answer to one question written on her hand? Of course, she had the words on her hand for some reason. I think the most obvious theory is that these were themes she could always find a way to, whatever the question. When in doubt, bring it around to your specialty, energy, go with the main theme tax cuts, or fall back on lifting America's spirits — some of that good old Morning-in-America/Hope-and-Change inspiration that people lap up so gratefully.