About that Hong Kong gig...

Yesterday we wrote about an invitation extended to Sarah Palin to speak at an event hosted by brokerage and investment group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets.

Today this columnist at The Business Insider suggests the speaking engagement may be a Borat-styled set-up for the amusement of those attending the conference.

CLSA, the Asia-focused broker who invited Mrs. Palin as keynote speaker for an Asian investment conference, is well known for their cheeky takes on investment research.

In the past, they've polled Asian fortune tellers for index targets, hired anime cartoonists to draw Japanese research, and generally love to push the boundaries between entertainment and analysis. They are a real research firm, it's just that they love to sprinkle in some hilarity every now and then as a smart marketing gimmick.

Fernando suggests that Palin's presence at the conference is likely to be some form of insider's joke. The Huffington Post asks: Palin Punked? and The Mudflats are calling a popcorn alert.

Palin Goes To Hong Kong.

Really? Mudflats is boggled, aghast and bemused too.

Her discussion on geo-politics is sure to be fascinating considering her vast foreign policy experience and her extensive world travel. This will be her third trip out of the country, and her first to Asia. Twice she has visited American servicemen and women on bases overseas. And she’s had a passport for 2 whole years. And then there’s that Russia thing…

This engagement will be hosted by brokerage and investment group CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. Now, I’m no financial whiz, but I’ll share with you the first and only piece of advice about your investments that I may ever have. If your money is with these people, who decided to invest their money in paying Sarah Palin to fly to Hong Kong and speak about geo-politics? Get your money back NOW. All of it.

On a positive note, the Atlantic says:

Yep, you heard that right: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will travel to Hong Kong for her first commercial speaking engagement ... Given that foreign policy was a soft spot for Palin during the 2008 campaign, this will give her a chance to boost her foreign policy cred (and she'll be able to see Taiwan from her hotel room).

I wonder if she will bring the traveling family circus with her. Oh, and any bets who her speech writer will plagiarize about the source material for her speech this time?

The photo is from Wonkette, who also has some choice words about this event.