But, Your Worshipfulness, it's not my fault!

Browsing articles quickly on the Internet is an occupational hazard. I was reminded of that fact the other day while skimming a piece on Salon. Alex Pareene had surveyed reaction to the Casey Anthony verdict from the presidential wannabes. Odd that Romney et al would bother, I thought (like an innocent lamb being led to the slaughterhouse), but whatever.

Submitting to my need for speed, I skipped merrily down the page to Sarah Palin's remarks: “Once again we see, with our nation in crisis, President Obama stands by and does idly nothing while an injustice is committed here in this glorious nation of ours. It's almost strange that the president has not yet made one statement on the issue of the death of young Caylee Anthony. Why the strange silence, Mr. President?"

Typical Palin, I thought haughtily. What an airhead. Then my eyes drifted to Herman Cain's reaction. Oh goody. This should be rich. "I can promise you Casey Anthony and anyone else who I think might've killed their children will have no business in a Herman Cain administration ..."

Say WHA'? Um, wait. The single-watt bulb in my head finally began to flicker to life. I sheepishly backed up and read Pareene's opening paragraph. Yes, the entire piece was a parody. And, yes, I had just been punked. D'oh!

But as Han Solo said to Princess Leia when the Millennium Falcon failed to go light-speed, "It's not my fault!" The fake Palin quote was utterly believable, was it not? Pareene captured her Facebook voice p-e-r-f-e-c-t-l-y. To spring the trap, all he needed was my Palovian gullibility and penchant for speed reading Web articles. Palin was the perfect bait to snare me. Well played, sir.