Actually pretty funny stuff. None of which was technically any of her doing, but she did show herself to be a good sport. I was also impressed that Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin were willing to appear with her, given their public comments about her in the past few weeks, and the fact that neither of them work for SNL and thus had no obligation to show up and help make her look sort of good.
Tina and Alec are professional actors, not politicians. I think they are primarily concerned with making good television, not with sending a message.
I thought Palin did a good job as a straight man; she was funny just by standing there and underplaying it.
I did like that she didn’t sing along to any of the rap except “When I say Obama you say Ayers. Obama!” and then she said “Ayers” pretty emphatically.
I do have to give her props for going that deep into enemy (read: NYC media liberal) territory. That’s like me giving a sermon at a megachurch in Kansas. If I were a candidate for national public office. Which I know I am not.
I thought it was a terrible night for Palin. She was essentially a bump on a log. Good sport? She sat there and let herself get torn up because her foolish advisors told her it would be a good idea. If there hadn’t been a good political reason for her to be there she wouldn’t be. And what did she do? Nothing. Really, nothing. She was a prop.
Alec got to stand next to her and rip into her. I am sure he didn’t feel bad after being the only person in America able to criticize her within earshot for the entire campaign.
The rap itself is hilarious. Palin should have signed off as Tina Fey or something, at least that would have given her something funny to do.
Edit: Oh, I didn’t realize there was another segment with her.
I didn’t see it, but it seems to me that it showed some level of courage and good nature.
Problem is, that isn’t nearly enough to make up for Palin’s other weaknesses.
Her appearance seemed calculated… by someone who failed basic arithmetic. There’s self-deprecation, and there’s being a complete muppet.
If only she could appear on the muppet show… now that would be something worth watching. boo snl.
Please, people, let’s not drag the Muppets into this. What have they done to you? But I loved Amy’s rap for its sheer ridiculousness. Palin was merely in the vicinity and didn’t really add anything.
Hilarious. She delivered the “That’d be Caribou Barbie” line really well, good timing. Maybe Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey don’t think she’s the anti-Christ? I guess they’re both completely insane!
I refuse to believe that anybody prefers Stephen Baldwin.
Personally, I’d like to see the muppets dragged into this. Rather than watch the worm or some ridiculous scoreboard for the debates, I want a channel with Statler and Waldorf doing real time commentary. Or perhaps we can mix it up a little, Statler and Waldorf for one debate, the MST3K crew for another, etc.
She didn’t really seem to be enjoying herself. The smiles she gave during the rap were pretty tight.
Oh well.
I donno, most of Kansas’ megachurches are in liberal Johnson County. I’ve been to the biggest, the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, a few times. Middle of the road midwestern Methodism. They’ve got an openly gay couple on their ad council. As long as you bring something good to the potluck, no one’s gonna turn an atheist gamer away.
The whole thing was just awkward. I don’t think SNL or Palin did themselves any favours - it was both satirically limp and politically useless.
Are you kidding? I’ve put like 70 hours into GTA4. I could snap at any minute, man!
To clarify: when you see Obama or McCain being interviewed, their main goal seems to be to inform the viewers of their views and policies. They may try to be entertaining, but they will always use the interview as an opportunity to inform the viewer: entertainment has a lower priority.
Then you see the Palin interviews, and she seems to be seeking approval from the interviewers above anything else. She fails to take control of the interview, fails to grab opportunities to get any coherent platform messages across, and only unintentionally manages to be entertaining. Throughout the whole thing, you get the impression that she is completely at the mercy of the interviewers, which is a pretty weak image to portray if you want to convince people that you could make a leader. Even with her obvious complete lack of knowledge, she could still take control of those interviews if she was in the least bit quick on her feet, but she’s just a complete simpleton. If the inconceivable happens and she ends up being president, world leaders are going to be running circles around her.
So what does the McCain campaign decide to do? Agree to an appearance at SNL where she can uncomfortably force a smile and bob her head in tune with a rap song that makes fun of her. She doesn’t communicate any political message, she couldn’t have found a less approving setting or audience, and all she does is entertain, following someone else’s script, like a muppet.
Palin’s negatives have plummeted since the convention, and this was probably an attempt to improve them. She probably got some points just for showing up and showing a sense of humor. If the campaign thought she could be an effective communicator then they would have given her a better platform long ago, but clearly they don’t trust her that far.
Didn’t Baldwin say he was going to leave the US if Bush got re-elected? Oh, wait, I see your point.
Stephen Baldwin is a born again Christian.