Since I'm one of the few people who actually watched SNL before it was suddenly fashionable to do so again, of course I tuned in to this weekend's guest visit by the real Sarah Palin. I'm not sure exactly what I expected, considering the incredible lameness of the show lately, but even with those lowered expectations, Palin still managed to disappoint.
[Editor's Note: Crooks And Liars, I love ya'll for all the extra traffic you send here on occasion. Please do me a cool one and link to this post!!!]
I suppose I should see her two middling cue card butcherings sketches as some analogy of her overall performance as a running mate, but I'm too lazy to expound right now. I'm sure that GOP stans will try and make this sound better than it was, but truthfully, her performance was boring because the show is. Even though she had a few minutes of not-ready-for Primetime, poor Sarah didn't even realize that the joke is (as always) still on her.
[Editor's Note: I hate SNL's embeddable media player, but since they don't allow their content on YouTube, this is the best I can do. Sorry.]
NBC's Grand Hu$tle is obvious: they've somehow tapped into pro/anti-Palin sentiment and are milkin' that baby for all it's worth. The goal isn't making SNL "hip" again. Eddie Murphy couldn't even pull that off. The aim is the turn 30 Rock from the most slept-on comedy on TV to the best rated comedy on TV. Given the huge boost to Fey's Q-rating, I'd say they succeeded. But SNL still sucks. I wonder what percentage of last night's record 10.7 rating stuck around after the opening monologue.
Anyways, one little nugget that the real Tina Fey managed to sneak in was a dig at Palin's beguiling assertion the other day in The Greatest State Evar.
What parts of the United States love their country most?And here's the audio evidence.
It’s not clear if rankings exist, but North Carolina would apparently rate high in the estimation of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. John McCain’s running mate declared her appreciation for the Tar Heel State’s “Pro-America” bent Thursday night during a fundraiser in Greensboro.
“We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America,” Ms. Palin said, according to a pool report. “Being here with all of you hard-working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation. This is where we find the kindness and the goodness and the courage of everyday Americans.”
Ms. Palin’s remarks drew applause for the 500-or-so at the fundraiser, which raised $800,000 for the Republican Party. But some outside North Carolina were left wondering, including a certain Democratic presidential campaign based in Chicago, Ill.
“Just asking,” said Senator Barack Obama’s spokesman Bill Burton in an e-mail to reporters. “What part of the country isn’t pro-America?”
Ms. Palin’s spokesman, Tracey Schmitt, clarified thus: “Governor Palin was reinforcing her message that the best of America can be seen all over the country and isn’t limited to any particular geographic region.”
I suppose as a Nawf Cack native, I should take this as a compliment, but I'm smart enough to know she ain't talkin' bout' me. I'm an Obama supporter, so I clearly can't be "Pro-America".
If you ask me, this is little more than an extension of the same sort of "you're a great American" sentiment I hear on Conservative shows like Sean Hannity and Co. Namely, you're "pro-American" if you happen to agree with me. If you don't, you're "paling around with unrepentant terrorists in a mean and bitter country".
The GOP seems hellbent on making this year's race one of class warfare. Haves vs have-nots. Wealth redistribution. "Small town American values" vs "elitism". JUCOs vs Ivy League. Of course they won't cop to this in a million years, but they seem to love bringing up Barack Obama's deplorable "cling to guns and religion" statement.
I said it then, and I'll say it now: Obama's statement was d.u.m.b. I completely understood the sentiment, but given the audience and the timing, it was a stoopid thing to say, and it has rightly haunted him in the months since.
That said, I'm wondering if this equally stoopid statement by Palin is even going to make it to Monday's news cycle.
Crazy Joe Biden tried to draw attention to it Friday, but given the continual victimization of Joe The Plumber (who is somehow approaching his 18th minute)[1] this somehow got lost in the shuffle. Palin came up with a half-assed "clarification", but I don't buy that nonsense for a second. The McCain campaign has used the same rhetoric to get audiences riled up, us vs them style, for weeks now, much like Hillary Clinton did in the Spring.
And besides, even trusty campaign surrogates are spittin' the same game.
So, this bleach blond strumpet apparently thinks my brother and his wife who live in Fairfax County and pay some of the highest taxes in the nation aren't "real Virginians". I didn't quite realize their votes wouldn't be counted because they're not "real Virginians". Maybe they should just move back to Maryland where they can be ignored like the rest of us.
Nancy Pfotenhauer, Go Sit Down. And take Palin with you.
Question: Do you think the McCain campaign is waging an "us vs them" style of identity politics? Did you think Obama's "cling to guns and religion" line was dumb or simply misunderstood?
Palin Visits a ‘Pro-America’ Kind of Town [NYTimes]
[1] I gotta get this off my chest. The "liberal media" did not "vet" Joe The Plumber. Joe was nothing more than a photo-op aftethought until John McCain gave him a half-dozen shout-outs during the debate. The next day, instead of going to work and minding his business, this asshat held press a dozen conferences in his driveway like he was Terrell Owens or something. He asked for every bit of scrutiny he is getting. He is no hero, and he damn sure ain't no victim. The bama ain't even a licensed plumber. But of course he's "Pro-American", and I'm sure the book deal and WifeTime™ movie are already in the works. What a friggin' country. See you on the McCain campaign stump, Joe!
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Pro-American. To use this word is to more than suggest it's opposite: Anti-American.
McCain and his group has consistently painted Obama with this brush.
And, if they knew me better, they would paint me with the same brush.
I'm reminded of that stupid slogan which is still in play: Love America or Leave It.
If loving America mean that I can't criticize America, then I don't love America.
If loving America mean that I should accept, without complaining, every stupid policy and action that the country takes in my name, then I don't love America.
If loving America mean that I, as a black man, can't call a thing, or person racist, when I perceive them to be so, then I don't love America.
Obama attempted to show solidarity of understanding when he used the "cling to guns and religion" line.
I'm not sure if he was misunderstood, so much as the line was turned against him, just as some of his other remarks ended up kicking him back.
It's clear that McCain is using a tactic of "division", a divide and conquer approach, in these waning hours.
I'd like to think that the American people are smarter than to fall for that, but then, a large segment of our society believes that Sarah Palin is the cat's meow, and a larger segment voted for Bush twice.
Go figure!
Q: Do you think the McCain campaign is waging an "us vs them" style of identity politics?
A:Isn't it evident?
Q:Did you think Obama's "cling to guns and religion" line was dumb or simply misunderstood?
I think it was prophetic.
Yes, this is one of your instant classics.
The "us vs. them" dichotomy is what conservatives thrive on. I've been harping on that for a little while now. Black church folk should know better. We do the us versus them in a quick minute when it comes to unchurched people; we make a big del out of being members of the club.
ANywho...
It's a natural predilection to be part of the in-crowd which is how typical conservative thought pedals much of their ideology. I mean, I think its bootleg, but I guess to each its own, but I get pissed when they start lying outright and mischaracterising to get votes.
I became a follower of SNL in the Will Ferell era. I remember Horatio Sanz, Maya Rudolph and Sheri Oteri those guys. I actually have kinda slacked off because you're right, SNL has kinda fell off and even Tina Palin/Sarah Fey hasn't necessarily brought me back. I had forgotten about it and just happened to tune in during the Weekend Update sketch and yeah, her skit just DIIIIIIEEEEED.
Fail on her part.
And yeah, I'm with ebw on this one, his statement was prophetic and prolly more true than everyone wants to admit. I mean, Rep. Murtha went a bit further and outright called western and rural Pennsylvania full of "racists."
Perhaps it was dumb, but I'm more than glad that he said it.
@black diaspora
The argument about criticism as a form of patriotism was an old argument reintroduced by both Michael Eric Dyson and Cornell West during the weeks following the initial Jeremiah Wright fallout.
Obama's "clinging" line is one of those things that make me crazy because it's so self-evidently obvious, yet somehow to say so out loud is viewed as hideously patronizing (read "elitist"). Word of advice to all you Bible waving, gun polishing rubes---if you don't want to be labeled as ignorant, STOP WEARING IGNORANCE AS A BADGE OF HONOR. You don't like it when we godless, effete, Marxist, latte-sipping baby killers think you're stupid? Then the solution is simple. STOP SAYING THINGS THAT ARE SELF-EVIDENTLY STUPID.
I used to be a believer in "listening to both sides". No more. Our misguided attempts to pretend that these are arguments between two viewpoints of equal intellectual weight are what have run us over the rocks. This is not an argument of equals. This is the rational versus the irrational, the thoughtful versus the congenitally incurious, the broader perspective versus the narrow lens crowd. (No, not you, Spool. Cherish your rationality--it's become a scarce resource.)
I sympathize with them feeling that their culture is being mocked, but that's difficult when they have done nothing but hurl the most vile filth for decades, hissing and spitting at any vague suggestion of change to their small worlds---showing their lack of empathy for anyone outside their circles.
Obama's words may have been politically dumb, but the embarrassing truth is that he has to pretend he meant something other than what we all know he meant.
Now now people. Obama was telling San Fran liberals that there's a big schism in America and the rural folk feel alienated from them. So to rub in that they're ignorant will make them grab their bible and their guns!
I think this Palin gaffe is bad for her campaign because it's divisive. Yes, it's what Bush did to win but they don't seem to get it. People are starved for a leader who's going to get errybody through the economic crisis- not just elites or plumber Joes.
The reason why guys like Colin Powell and Shelley Wynters support Obama is because they are rational, thoughtful conservatives who want someone who can speak calmly and inclusively- which will bring our confidence back as a nation. That's going to be the best thing for the economy.
Palin puts confidence in only a small segment of the population.
has any one thought of what might happen if Obama makes it to the white house and then gets assassinated? With all of the hatred going around it's a possiblity.
I got my plan,
1. U-Haul
2. Best-Buy
3. Package store
4. Crib
Feel free to implement my plan in whatever way you deem appropriate. If folk do all that for Rodney king......I'm 'bout to get paid BIOTCH!
@cjames
Um, if folk feel so moved to riot, I'ma be in Buckhead not over here in the West End. Damn that old thing of looting ur own neighborhood.
I said it before....McDonald's. Headed right past the arguing black chick and older black man, snatching up the McChickens....and out the door.
LOL!
EG
yall are silly! LOL
Ok well I'm in "real Virginia" down here in Hampton Roads. I ain't leanin' towards nobody's McCain.
Well, Joe the Plumber has enough money to donate $100 to McCain's campaign... Yet how convenient that he just happened to get close enough to question Obama.
Well, Joe the Plumber has enough money to donate $100 to McCain's campaign... Yet how convenient that he just happened to get close enough to question Obama.
Convenient? Take a breath, man. Obama came into his front yard looking for a photo op while wandering around a neighborhood meeting people.
Good grief, not everything is a conspiracy.
Obama came into his front yard looking for a photo op while wandering around a neighborhood meeting people.
And he could have stayed in the house. But he decided to come out and ask a question. Nothing wrong with asking questions. I'm just saying. He walked past Joe Schmoe's front yard and instead of staying his nosey self in the house he came outside. :)
And you are right not everything is a conspiracy.
And Joe has ventured alot further than his front yard; and has received plenty of photo ops and more...
I was not even headed into some type of conspiracy theory. My angle was with a $100 to donate, perhaps he's not typical.
For the record, I'm female!
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