Last night, Alaska governor and Republican candidate for vice-president, Sarah Palin, achieved a different kind of celebrity status by appearing on Saturday Night Live (SNL).
The program featured an opening with the real Sarah Palin speaking to executive producer Lorne Michaels and actor Alec Baldwin, while comedian Tina Fey portrayed Palin at a mock press conference, in front of the studio audience. It also featured a rap gig by Amy Poehler on SNL’s mock news show backed up by two eskimos, a faux Todd and a moose.
Palin’s appearance on the popular sketch comedy show brought it to its highest rating in fourteen years, Reuters. The figures make it the highest-rated SNL since March 12, 1994. Although Nielsen Media Research won’t have a complete count of the show’s audience until later in the week, it will likely be around 14 million people — and 17 million for the first half hour, with the opening skit featuring Palin’s cameo.
Clearly, the vice presidential candidate has single-handedly revived the late-night career of actress Tina Fey. If John McCain becomes president, Tina Fey will have plenty of SNL political material for the next four years. But the question arises as to whether Tina Fey or SNL have been able to help boost Palin’s candidacy. People are wondering whether Palin did the right thing for her image by appealing to the public via SNL, or whether in fact this was the wrong thing for the campaign.
Today, Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama, one of his reasons being that Sarah Palin was not qualified to be president of the United States. While this statement was not connected to her SNL performance, one can only wonder if the show is one of the factors that has influenced him.
Whether Palin makes it to the White House or not, one thing is for sure, she has proved herself to be a good sport by joining with America’s top comedians in poking fun at herself. Given McCain’s humorous speech at the Al Smith fundraiser last week, his appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman last Friday and all the comedy that ensued from Joe the Plumber, it is refreshing to see the usually serious Republican candidates reach out to America with a sense of humor, something that we could all do with in the days of this battered economy and just two weeks until the election.
What are your thoughts on Palin’s SNL appearance? Did it help or hurt?
Image Credit: LA Times
Viewers tuned in to watch Palin on SNL out of curiosity. The only funny Palin part of the show was Tina Fey's impersonation. But even that is getting old. Everyone already knows that Palin is an idiot. We got it. Sarah Palin did do a good job of being the circus side show…but then she's been a side show ever since she got into politics.
Before the McCain campaign swooped into Alaska and started running the state, Todd was the guy running the show. Sarah was his front man—the talking head. All the people interviewed by the Alaska Legislative Council (regarding Palin's ethics violation) described how Todd Palin advised his wife on everything, and used the Governor's office for his own agendas.
Voting for McCain will get you John andTodd, and their talking head.
Sarah Palin was just a prop on Saturday Night Live. She had about 4 lines total and looked really uncomfortable while on stage.
Irregardless of this, what sensible and intelligent person would let her performance on a comedy show affect whether they vote for her or not?
It's about the issues, not whether Sarah Palin has a future career in show business.
I care about the issues and the future of this country and planet so Barack Obama gets my vote!
“Clearly, the vice presidential candidate has single-handedly revived the late-night career of actress Tina Fey.”
Huh? Fey’s career hasn’t needed reviving; she just won three Emmys, and also a Golden Globe for a series she created.
i think its great that you can still have a sense of humor even when your in a position of being under a microscope!! i think to some degree it is healthy to have a mix of the lighter side of things in life along with even balance between common sense the stuff we need to take seriously! personally i don't trust people without a sense of humor!
What was she thinking ???? It isn't her performance that is at issue, it is her very bad judgement to sit and nod while they sing bad things about her and her policies. No way we need that bad judgement as Senate pro tem, nor advising or speaking in any way. and especially not a heartbeat away from being President.
I hope she has a fun career on TV when this is over, and that we have a thoughtful, intelligent President Obama who will lead us in through todays complicated issues. And wise Joe Biden to back him up.
I had to give her points for her appearance. I always appreciate a person who can laugh at themselves. It actually makes me think better of Palin, but doesn't sway my vote one iota.
It was bad judgement on her part and on the part of the campaign. It made her look even less presidential. It came off as a "me too" move. It looked like a desperate attempt to do something to boost their chances of getting elected, but all it really accomplished is boosting NBC's ratings!
Are you guys seriously analyzing this?
LMFAO!
Get a life. It was for fun. You already have your minds made up to elect a socialist!
Lets see how fabulous the country is when Obama is president.
Sarah Palin was out of control. You can see it in her posture at the VP debate, too: that demure way she hunches over, nodding her head in a kind of bow.
As President — if you look at him, McCain on Letterman looks none too healthy — Palin would similarly be out of control. If she can't judge and control the social situation on the SNL set, how much worse will she do negotiating with Russia on nukes? Golly-gee-willikers might throw the Russkies for a loop, but I suspect they might recover well before it's time to start signing things.
But is she qualified to be President? –This much conservatives and liberals can agree on: Palin is *just* as qualified to be President as is the man who chose her, John McCain.
It seems people got confused, because Palin and Hillary are both women. But Hillary is the kind of woman you'd like to have around if you got mugged. Palin only scares moose.
CC.
It was good to see her laugh at herself but I think she made herself look bad in a lot of people's eyes.
Palin has experience. She is Governor of Alaska. But McCain has more experience than Obama or Palin.
McCain '08 because although he's far from perfect, he's not a socialist with contradictory plans. I.E. Obama's plan to imply Universal health care and 150 billion in clean energy while lowering taxes on 95% of americans. His plan= HUGE deficit.