Sarah Palin's Appearance on SNL a Huge GOP Disaster
Sarah Palin joined SNL tonight and proved, once again, that John McCain lacked judgment in having her on his ticket, while also unwise not to veto her SNL appearance. In isolation, Palin's very brief moments were not, in themselves, the problem. The problem was largely contextual.
Consider, for example, the respective experiences of two groups watching SNL tonight: conservative members of the GOP, on the one hand, and young voters who McCain might have hoped to attract to his failed campaign on the other.
Without Tina Fey, this was Saturday Night Dead and there was nothing worth seeing but more nails being indirectly pounded into the GOP coffin.
Josh Brolin hosted, reporting that in learning to play W, he concluded that neither W, nor he, should ever be, or have been, president.
Then in sketches and in "Weekend Update," viewers were reminded of the deep economic difficulty the country finds itself in, and we all know what good the economy has done for John McCain's candidacy. Thus, over and over, viewers were reminded of McCain's biggest problem, besides Sarah Palin.
Then, no viewer could be sure when Gov. Palin would appear after the traditional SNL welcome. One could think she *might* appear on "Weekend Update," but one watched with heightened attention early on wondering if she might appear in one of the ever more artless sketches.
She didn't, and showed appropriate restraint, I suppose, in letting just her arms dance about while remaining seated in her chair during someone else's inane rap. But prior to this, millions of viewers were exposed to one sophomoric (naw, make that 5th grade) sketch where the word "fartface" was repeated perhaps 100 or more times, and another about a guy who would shoot a ping pong ball from his rear end.
I just can't imagine very many members of the Christian Right, to whom Palin appeals and who might have been checking in to see how their darling was doing, enjoying these words filling their living rooms tonight. Then Palin was compared to Dan Quayle in one otherwise forgettable moment, and for those of us old enough to remember, we were reminded of conservative Justice Clarence Thomas' alleged one-time interest in pornography. Trust me, no helping hand of any kind was extended to Palin or McCain.
After all, this is Saturday Night Live who've skewered her week after week. Were they going to be nice? And now, by appearing on the program, it certainly drew its biggest audience of the season. Maybe the biggest audience in years, but I fail to see how the GOP was helped.
Often these cameos on SNL humanize a candidate in some helpful way. A candidate will often seem like a good sport by going on. Al Gore was wonderful after the debacle of 2000, but he appeared after finally conceding and when it was all too late. He was funny and very human. But we already know Sarah Palin can sometimes display humor and be human. But tonight, SNL gave us another piece of evidence that Gov. Palin's judgment, and that of her running mate, may not be what we want guiding the nation and the world for the next four years.
Cap all this off with the toughest, and most incisive Obama ad I've yet seen, with McCain helping to bury himself with the perfect soundbite linking him ever more closely to Bush ("I voted with him over 90% of the time, more than some other members of our party" or words to that effect) and you've got another bad day or two for the GOP, and maybe more depending on how long people talk about tonight's debacle. He just doesn't have the time to keep making mistakes like this and get off message. The clock is ticking with just 16 days left before the election, and more and more voters this year are casting their ballots early.
I just shook my head in amazement tonight as the Obama ad ran and thought, man, the Obama campaign doesn't miss a trick placing that particular ad where they did, while the McCain campaign misses nearly every one, and does sometimes seem to be run by those who would wish him to lose in November.
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"Inane rap"? Hardly. Not only was the rap segment of the SNL Palin episode uproariously funny, it was also incisive and in many cases, close to the truth. We enjoyed it so much, we played it over and over and found ourselves singing parts of it. The Palin Rap was sheer genius. It is just such nuggets of humorous witdom that keep us tuned into SNL.
I about wet myself when Poehler shot the moose! By far the best SNL yet. Palin was a mighty good sport, you betcha, but I don't think she was all that thrilled about having to be there. I loved both the segments regarding Palin. HI-FREAKIN-LARIOUS!!!
I'm with you, Lisa!
The part where she shot the moose was one of the funniest things I have seen on television in a long, long, time.
It is at the very least in poor judgement, yet again, that Sarah Palin decided to appear on SNL. Knowing that they had been relentless in making fun of her; knowing that Alec Baldwin, who had made unflattering remarks about her would be on the show, knowing that Tina Fey is disgusted by her and has mocked her through skit comedy.....she still decided that it would be okay to appear on this show. If her role was to look at fool and shred every little bit of decency that she had......please...give this woman the Emmy. Her shameless addiction to the spolight is so evident by her choice to risk humiliation for the attention. Let us just hope (and pray) that after November 4, when the McCain/Palin campaign will be given its ticket back to under the rock they crawled from, we will never have to see this woman's face again.
AMEN.
Tina Fey playing Palin on SNL = Funny.
Palin being Palin on SNL = Boring
Palin being Palin in real life = Dangerous to the United States.
They let her introduce the show and sit and wave her arms in one dumb, childish sketch. It was thrust upon SNL as an obligation, and now they can't be accused of being biased because they DID let her appear. A lot of good it will do for Palin and McCain.
This is a 1965 Voting Rights Act national radio commercial: Things Are Changing
http://current.com/items/89388751_obama_08_things_are_changing
Off topic a wee bit, but the absolute best SNL skit I've seen where the actual person appeared on the show was when they had Monica Lewinsky on "The Ladies Man." That was so funny I nearly peed my pants.
Agreed! THAT was priceless!
"way hotter in person"
That was the best she got and for a serious VP candidate that was totally sexist and demeaning.
But I am sure her fans went "way to go"
Stop screaming SEXIST! already! It's been used, overused, and abused. There's nothing sexist about a comedic quip! For pete's sake!
People who like her - already like her REGARDLESS OF SUBSTANCE...why would this appearance on SNL change anything?
Secondly - this article talks about the Christian Right not approving....they approve of whatever they approve of WITHOUT REGARD for the scripture they so fervently stand upon. It's sick.
Evangelical this. Christian That. Conservative something else. STOP LYING TO YOURSELVES!
Actually s**t face IS in the actual Hebrew in the Bible. I don't think fa*t face is. But maybe it should be. I hope the Christian Right got lots of laughs on SNL last Saturday night. After November 4th these people are not going to get any laughs. Not any laughs at all. Because their candidates are going to be obliterated from all public discourse in the United States for the next 8-100 years and counting. They better pray for their Rapture because no body is going to give them much to do in politics anymore. 14 more days to go!
It must have been tough for Palin to stand there and have Alec Baldwin talk about what a horrible person she was. I loved every minute of it!!
It was funny. I waiting for Obama and Biden to do dirty dancing together.
Is that Alec "father of the year" Baldwin you're talking about?
Yes, that's him!
I loved every minute of it too!
The Ballad of Johnny McCain, 2008:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDceTz3UAgI
I watched it and even though I detest this woman and everything she stands for, I was genuinely hoping to see some humanity, some semblance of a good sport willing to participate in her own lampooning. Even McCain has done that and has done it well. Palin was little more than a prop, though. It was unfortunate both in terms of what the Repub ticket could have gained from the appearance and for the quality of the possible skits. Moreover, I really did hope to see something of Palin I could have liked. I get tired of being so angry and disgusted with people all the time--even Republicans.
Agreed. She was uneasy, on edge, "arch" is the appropriate term. She has a snarky and sarcastic personality, but her presentation skills and acting ability are readily apparent. I did not find her funny or amusing in the least. She will probably go back to Alaska and chart a course for the US Senate next. If she does not become the first woman president, we still have not seen the last of Sarah Palin.
I was so excited about seeing her on SNL, that I went to sleep and missed it.
I have decided to boycott Saturday Night Live for allowing Sarah Palin to appear in a light-hearted skit, to open their show this evening. I have never minded political personalities appearing on SNL; most of the time I find these appearances to be funny by making light of bi-partisan political issues. Recently, the McCain/Palin campaign has gone beyond focusing on bi-partisan political issues, and has reverted to stirring up fear, hate and worse racism in people.I beleive that Palin has encouraged some of this hate, by tying Barack to terrorism in her speeches. I feel this is hate mongering, and allowing Palin, a hate monger, to appear on a comedy show, is very inappropriate and in my mind, beyond the pale.
McCain and Palin should both be held responsible for encouraging some of the despicable acts of hate and racism we have begun to see recently. They are culpable by allowing horrible, hateful, robo-calls to be used, and allowing other reprehensible actions to continue, without denouncing them.
To be honest, this is a difficult thing for me to do; I have always enjoyed SNL and have been a fan since it began in the 1970s. I will miss watching the show. I do look forward to filling my Saturday evenings with some more useful productive endeavors. Tonight, I watched some Noam Chomsky interviews on You Tube and read the Atlantic Monthly.
Boy, they'll miss you. Why don't u stand outside their NBC studio with a sign--make a real point
Quite honestly, I could care less if they miss me. I do feel very good about my decision.
In these difficult times, we should banish humor from our lives. It's the responsible thing to do. Bless you.
Man, I hope the few comments I've read here (and the subject blog) are not representative of Huffington Post insight.
SNL always has inane skits. Try writing funny stuff once, let alone every week. The rap was hillarious. Fey and Baldwin were spot on. Amy Poehler rocked! But clearly the winner (not necessarily politically) was Governor Palin. Her ability to lampoon herself was classic SNL. And took guts.
I know you guys hate her. But come on, she went into the mouth of the beast, so to speak, and at least appeared to enjoy it. Clearly Governor Palin has watched SNL, and gets the comedy. Or lack of...
Right on sir.
She is beautiful, self actualized and tough.
The image of feminism at it's best.
I don't think she's beautiful or hot. She's bitchy and oozes dishonesty. Personally I find that not very beautiful.
Self-actualized? Meaning she has a career? Excellent, good for her. Whoops! Hey, it's 2008, lots of women have careers and families. This is qualification to be President? Nope.
Tough? Meaning she's willing to lie in order to get herself elected? Meaning she's willing and able to abuse the power of her office? Meaning she slaughters animals? This is qualification to be President? Nope.
FEMINISM??? Take away choice, eliminate programs that help children? Use your children as political props? Lie? This is not feminism, it's fascism.
A real feminist supports a woman's right to choose.
Republicans have odd standards for what is attractive. For instance Bush the Elder chose Dan Quayle because he thought the ladies would swoon over him. Regardless of his regular features, he was butt ugly to me because of the vacuous nature of his personality and intellect. I feel the same way about Palin. Though her features are symetrical and she has impossibly high cheekbones, she is butt ugly to me because of what is inside her. I think you all know what I mean. Beauty is as beauty does, nuff said.
Now she should go on MTP. That would be funny!
I was immediately worried about a backlash. "Look how they made fun of that poor lady!" But it did not happen. The right actually thought she did great. Whew!
No one on SNL is funny, so why did u expect it of Sarah?
Real funny Sarah. You are the dumb woman figure in the latest Republican Party sitcom ... Circus of the Elephants. Where was the lead clown John McCain? Probaly screaming in mute nostril agony within the confines of a Anger Management cell.
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