Funny — watch it here. http://www.dailymotion.com/vid… (I wish I could embed it here, but soapblox hates any embedded video that’s not YouTube. Meh.) (Fixed. -David)
Tina Fey is spot-on, of course; but if anything, truth is funnier than fiction — or would be, if it weren’t so terrifying. Palin’s answers were scarcely not by any means more coherent or less outrageous than Fey’s performance.
Actually, I think Jason Sudeikis’s performance as Biden is pretty hilarious, if not a particularly good impersonation. (He could do a Howard Dean.) It does point out the dangers of populism, and relating to economic hardship: You don’t want to make America seem like the Dust Bowl, or Michael Moore’s Flint, or like everybody’s eating bugs just to survive. Even when things are tough, most well-adjusted people want to put the best face on it they can; they may not want to be told just how lousy things are. Optimism is an essential part of dignity — and indeed the American Dream of class mobility. Folks may well reject the notion that they’re actually a bunch of plebes who have no power and no future, until the right politicians come along.
Populist politicians need to strike the right tone as partners, not as political scavengers. The SNL caricature is, of course,not totally fair to Biden; I feel Biden actually skates the other side of that line pretty well. But there’s a balance, and playing up the lumpen-proletariat identification can indeed sound as out-of-touch as a collection of reptilian McCain/Grammisms.
The talking heads were impressed Thursday night saying that Sarah Palin didn’t give Tina Fey any material to work with. They were wrong. Fey and the SNL team showed their brilliance by making this the best Fey-as-Palin performance yet.
That “Can I call you Joe?” riff at the beginning of Fey’s piece sets the tone. You know it’s going to be brutally spot on.
for more spoofs on the winks. I would have pointed to my eyes and given a high pitched “wink” quote to add to the gesture, but that’s just me =p
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p>All that said, loved it! By the end of this election, Tina Fey will have single handidly done more than a great many other Americans in taking down the Palin/McSame ticket.