Sarah Palin to deliver huge speech -- except she doesn't know about it

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CHRIS MILLER/AP/FILE
The chairmen of the National Republican Senatorial and Congressional Committees announced that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would be speaking at their annual dinner on June 8th in Washington. The only problem was that Palin and her staff didn't know anything about it.

It's one of the biggest political dinners of the year. And guess who's delivering the keynote?

Sarah Palin.

Except she's not.

Organized

There's been a lot of criticism lately that the Republican party doesn't have its act together. But it really just depends on how you see it.

When it comes to calling for mass suicides at AIG, Republicans are number one.

So if there is a little confusion over who is speaking at the annual GOP Senate-House Dinner, it'll surely work itself out.

Keynote address

Lavishing praise, the heads of the House and Senate Republican campaign committees announced yesterday that Palin would be speaking at the annual dinner on June 8th in Washington.

Using phrases like "breath of fresh air" and "up-and-coming" and "she's not like Jindal at all" "brightest rising stars", these chairmen couldn't seem to contain themselves over announcing Palin's keynote for the function.

Oops

The only problem was that Palin or her staff didn't know about it.

In fact, Palin was the one who read it (take that, Katie Couric!) and brought it to her staff's attention.

"I pointed out the (National Republican Senatorial Committee) press release and she was like, no," her press secretary told the Anchorage Daily News.

What happened?

Miscommunication

It's kind of a he-said, she-said, who-said, you-said, no-we-didn't, type thing.

Remember that political action committee she formed a couple months ago -- SarahPAC?

Well, it looked like a staffer there made the simple mistake of accepting the speaking engagement without checking to see if the governor actually wanted to speak at it or had time on the schedule to do it.

"Someone helping me out on the East Coast ... in the enthusiasm of Sarah Palin and the enthusiasm of providing some sort of response confirmed that the governor was coming, and that wasn't appropriate because the governor didn't even know of the invitation," said Meg Stapleton, SarahPAC spokeswoman, of the soon to be fired aide.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is equally understanding of the soon to be fired aide's mistake.

"The committees have confirmed this with the governor's political staff at SarahPAC, not her official staff in Juneau, so it's understandable why there may be a miscommunication here," a NRSC spokesman said.

Speak

Will she do it?

Stapleton, already a master in Washington speak, gave an unwavering answer Robert Gibbs would be proud of.

"She may go, she may not go," she said firmly.

By the way, the NRSC doesn't seem to be taking no for answer. The press release remains up.

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