Roger Ebert Can't Stand Sarah Palin
Los Angeles Times:
It's no secret that everyone is weighing in on politics these days, from David Letterman to Barbara Walters and the esteemed ladies of "The View," who, as the New York Times pointed out today, have had Barack Obama, John McCain and even Bill Clinton on their couch, with McCain clearly getting the toughest grilling. But should film critics be weighing in on the presidential race as well? It's no secret that America's leading film critic, the Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert, has been on quite a roll lately, writing a series of barbed commentaries about GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
Palin Ebert leaped into the fray with an essay about Palin where he dubbed her the ''American Idol" candidate. Ebert said, in part: "There's a reason 'American Idol' gets such high ratings. People identify with the candidates. They think, 'Hey, that could be me up there on the show!' " Roger added that he didn't want a candidate who simply appointed people to study global warming long after the scientific consensus was in. Nor did he want someone, as he put it, who "sneers when referring to people who go to the Ivy League," noting that as a teenager, he dreamed of going to Harvard, but his dad, an electrician, didn't have the money to send him.
Ebert has also weighed in on Palin's interview with ABC's Charlie Gibson, which he said reminded him of being asked questions by a teacher when he didn't have the foggiest idea what to answer. He's now posted a clever questionnaire about creationism, which Palin believes should be taught alongside evolution in schools. Ebert's questionnaire appears to be a generic critique of the scientific limitations of strict creationism, but ends with an obvious nod to the moose-hunting Alaskan governor, by asking the question: "Why would God create such an absurd creature as a moose?" Ebert offers the answer: "In charity, we must observe that the moose probably does not seem absurd to itself."
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First Posted: 09-24-08 08:53 AM | Updated: 10-25-08 05:12 AM