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As expected -- from a tipoff in the Kos Kids diary -- the Washington Post weighs in, and NATURALLY they get it wrong:

Palin parody writer: NBC added laughs to Leno visit
A Maryland man who wrote a parody of Sarah Palin's autobiography and who says he and his wife flew to Los Angeles to attend the taping of Palin's appearance on NBC's "The Tonight Show" claims NBC sweetened the audience's laughter during her appearance to drown out the deafening silence, which he says was on occasion only broken by his own derisive guffawing.
Responding to Micheal Stinson's claims on the political Web site Daily Kos, NBC said Friday that "neither the audio nor the laughs were enhanced for Sarah Palin's segments on 'The Tonight Show' " this past Tuesday.
And other people we contacted who work in the industry said even if "Tonight" show did sweeten the laughter, or used "patches" of laughter from that audience to cover dead air or to smooth over edits in the show, it's not an unusual practice. Some shows do it, some don't, they said, explaining that the techniques used can be as simple as being sure to seat big laughers near microphones, to compensate for the non-laughers in the hall....
-- end of excerpt --

Since the folks at WaPo conveniently did not think to contact "other people" who were IN THE SAME STUDIO AUDIENCE as this bozo, I have posted the following comment to their online article:

I was also in the studio audience for that taping -- and can state categorically that the Palin-stalker who manufactured this "laugh track conspiracy" is DEAD WRONG!

Stinson's entire case is based on the difference between what he remembers hearing AROUND HIM (in the studio audience) -- and what he later heard in the complete soundtrack BROADCAST (to the audience at home).

Assuming that his memory is better than his objectivity, this difference COULD be true -- but is IRRELEVANT to his claim that NBC "doctored" the sound to make Governor Palin look good.

As he ought to know, the complete audio feed broadcast to the audience at home came from MANY microphones placed throughout the studio.

What Stinson may have heard around him was not necessarily picked up by the microphones around him.

And, vice versa. He may not have heard everything that was happening in OTHER parts of the (rather large) studio audience.

Stinson claims that he remembers hearing "many portions where there was little or no laughter or response, but at the later broadcast they are smoothed over with applause and laughter that WERE NOT THERE at the taping."

And he says that the "Groans, hoots, grumbling, or just dead silence" that he DID hear are all missing from the broadcast version.

He was apparently sitting on the far left side (naturally!) of the studio, over by the house band.

I was sitting almost dead center, uncharacteristically for a "right winger" like me. (At least I will ADMIT my bias!)

Personally, remember hearing virtually ALL of laughter and cheers that were in the final broadcast version of Governor Palin's interview and monologue.

Maybe that's because I was surrounded by Palin supporters. Maybe not.

But, I personally heard NONE of Stinson's alleged "groans and grumblings" in opposition to her appearance.

And, from where I was sitting, I also did not personally seeing him dancing around with his cartoon books.

It MAY have happened. I just did not see it myself -- and I was there.

Occam's razor applies here: "When you see hoof prints think HORSES -- not ZEBRAS."

That is, the simplest answer that fits all the facts is generally the best. :o)

And the SIMPLEST answer here is that the anti-Palin jeers were outnumbered by the pro-Palin cheers -- and the COMPLETE audio feed, from the ENTIRE studio audience, reflects that reality.

No sinister conspiracy theories are required.

NEXT time, Mr. Stinson, if you want to be sure that the sounds from your side make it into the final audio broadcast, BRING MORE DISRUPTORS.

And, NEXT time, Washington Post -- please at least TRY to find more than one (clearly biased) source before running this kind of easily-refuted trash.

For MY "eyewitness" report, click here:

Sarah Palin's secret "laugh track" machine at Jay Leno show: makes Adam Lambert fans like her, too!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2465417/posts

Ron Smith (aka "RonDog" on FreeRepublic.com)