Gotta admire that woman, Sarah Palin. By accepting Mr. McCain's invitation to run for VP she stepped onto the lopsided playing field where national media play their ruthless games of smear and gotcha for anyone who challenges "The One." But dog gone it, Ms. Palin is coming out all right in spite of their best efforts.
In recent weeks others have gushed about how Tina Fey did such a great impersonation of Ms. Palin. And she did seem to have the look and accent down. But it was a mocking humor -- Fey's Palin character came across as a retard. People have been packing the stadiums to see and hear the real Ms. Palin, and when SNL tries to make Ms. Palin look retarded they are insulting a lot of people.
So Ms. Palin appeared on Saturday Night Live last night. And a lot of her fans tuned in to watch. SNL was estimated to have scored its highest ratings for the late-night show in 14 years. That's gotta be a tough on Lorne Michaels and the SNL crew -- they desperately want Obama to win, but if he wins, an adoring SNL crew plus a humorless President Obama equals a shriveled paycheck.
Then we have Tina Fey and her recent remarks about how she doesn't want to do the Sarah Palin impersonations. See If Sarah Palin wins, Tina Fey is 'leaving Earth!'. Well, Ms. Fey, exercise your own free will. If you detest the impersonations so much, don't do them. You don't have to leave the earth, just say "No."
Updated: See Lorne Michaels: How 'SNL' Got Sarah Palin for an informative interview with SNL creater and producer Lorne Michaels, including the following:
What do you think Palin gained from her appearance?
I think Palin will continue to be underestimated for a while. I watched the way she connected with people, and she's powerful. Her politics aren't my politics. But you can see that she's a very powerful, very disciplined, incredibly gracious woman. This was her first time out and she's had a huge impact. People connect to her.
She's a ratings magnet, too — do you think she can land a development deal if this VP thing doesn't work out?
She could pretty much do better than development. I think she could have her own show, yeah.
Why was her impending appearance kept so under wraps?
From the experience on the first show of last season. Hillary's people had called to book the first show. This was in '07. We said okay, because they called first. Then she bailed. Obama had called just after, and I had to say, no, they called first. Everybody wanted to release it, and I said, no, too many things can happen in a campaign. Then Obama was set for the first show this past season, and it got leaked by the campaign to people.com, and we said, really? Because we don't do that. Then the hurricane happened, and we looked foolish. There were a lot of press calls, and it didn't happen. From that moment on I said I'm not doing anything until they're in the building.
Sarah Palin is doing the best she can, but she is playing out of her league.
At the convention, many of us were stunned - totally stunned. John picked her as the most qualified person in America?
Popular? Yes. For those of us doing the leg work like fund raising, she has been a disaster.
These many weeks we have had to spend valuable resources defending her to fellow Republicans. That is something we have never had to do in the closing days of a campaign.
Posted by: anonymous | October 19, 2008 at 07:37 PM
Anonymous, that's a shame. But it demonstrates just how successful the msm campaign against her has been.
If you are working to raise money for the Republican Party I would think the hardest part wouldn't be defending Palin but defending the farm bill.
Posted by: Geo | October 20, 2008 at 06:39 AM
George, I disagree with part of your post. As a former debauched harlot of the mainstream media (whatever the heck THAT is) I deny any knowledge of such a campaign. George, I respect the service you provide to your readers, and the connection you provide to the community at-large ... but frankly, I start to get a little weary of the ceaseless mantras I read/hear about that calamitius cabal of which I was a part.
I've had the privelege and the pleasure of meeting thousands of people in the various media over the past 25 years, and working with/getting-to-know hundreds of them very well. There are good people out there, doing good work, sharing the good news - and the bad - that's happening. Sometimes, it's something bad that you don't want to hear, about someone you like ... or something good about someone you don't like.
Nothing wrong with disagreeing - that's your right, and your responsibility.
And in this day of total news saturation, there's bound to be a media outlet somewhere that you find to be fair and balanced, and worth your attention.
Posted by: Jeff | October 21, 2008 at 06:28 AM
Jeff, call me crazy, but it sure looks like a double standard from where I sit. If industry insiders can't see it then perhaps that's one reason why it persists.
Maybe we are in a situation where some networks seek to appeal to an audience on one side of an issue and other networks seek to appeal to the other. I'm not so sure that's such a good thing for the networks or the audience.
Posted by: Geo | October 21, 2008 at 09:43 AM