Oct. 19, 2008
Palin Makes "SNL" Appearance
Republican VP Nominee Smiles As She Witnesses Tina Fey’s Impersonation Of Her On "Saturday Night Live"
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Play CBS Video Video Tina Fey On Palin Persona In a recent appearance on "The Late Show with David Letterman," actress Tina Fey discussed her now infamous impersonation of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
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Alec Baldwin "mistakes" Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for Palin impersonator Tina Fey on "Saturday Night Live," Oct. 18, 2008. (NBC/Broadway Video)
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Photo Essay Sarah Palin Alaska's youngest and first female governor tabbed to be McCain's running mate.
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Timeline Palin's Path A look at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's life and career
Later, Palin came on stage during the Weekend Update mock news segment and bobbed to the beat as cast member Amy Poehler performed a rap song the Alaska governor decided was too hardcore for her to perform personally.
"I'm Jeremiah Wright 'cuz I'm the preacher; I got a bookish look and you're all hot for teacher," Poehler rapped as actors dressed as Eskimos, Palin's husband, Todd, and a moose pranced across the stage.
The appearance was anticipated since September, when Fey began portraying Palin just after GOP presidential nominee John McCain selected the little-known governor as his running mate. The two look alike, and Palin remarked that people often told her - before Fey started portraying her - that she resembled the actor.
In the show's opening, Fey's impersonation of Palin told a group of reporters, "First off, I just want to say how excited I am to be in front of both the liberal elite media as well as the liberal regular media. I am looking forward to a portion of your questions."
Moments later, the camera cut away to the real Palin watching a television monitor alongside the show's executive producer, Lorne Michaels.
"You know, Lorne, I just don't think it's a realistic depiction of the way my press conferences would have gone," Palin said. She said she wished he would have let her do a sketch about "30 Rock," the NBC program in which Fey now stars. That prompted Michaels to deadpan: "Honestly not enough people know that show."
Palin then stood mute as Fey's "30 Rock" co-star, Alec Baldwin came onto the stage, mistook Palin for Fey and pleaded with Michaels not to let the actor go onstage with the governor.
"This is the most important election in our nation's history and you want her, our Tina, to go out there and stand with that horrible woman?" Baldwin said.
When Michaels broke down and introduced him to Palin, Baldwin feigned embarrassment and replied, "I see. Forgive me. I feel I must say this: You are way hotter in person."
Palin got even by saying, "Thank you, and I must say, your brother Stephen is my favorite Baldwin brother."
The camera soon cut back to Fey who answered a question about the polls.
"I don't worry about the polls. Polls are just a fancy way of systematically predicting what's going to happen. The only poll I care about is the North Pole, and that ... is ... melting. It's not great."
The real Palin then walked onto the news conference set, sending Fey fleeing.
"Thank you, thank you," the governor said to applause from the studio audience. "No, I'm not going to take any of your questions, but I do wanted to take this opportunity to say, `Live from New York, it's Saturday Night."'
On Sunday, NBC learned it scored its highest ratings for the late-night show in 14 years, in an estimate based on the nation's biggest media markets. Nothing has done better since skater Nancy Kerrigan visited after her Olympics drama with Tonya Harding in 1994.
Nielsen Media Research won't have a complete count of Saturday's audience until later in the week. It will likely be around 14 million people and 17 million for the first half hour, when the opening skit happened.
McCain, who spent Saturday night in Ohio, watched clips of the broadcast on Sunday. He told a crowd in Woodbridge, Va., on Saturday that he thought Fey and Palin were "separated at birth."
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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- Thank God for Palin... God? For those libs who don''t understand, Palin is God send...Keep killing your babies and save your animals... Things will work out for you in the end I''m sure... Libs just don''t get it!!!
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- Thank God for Palin... God? For those libs who don''t understand, Palin is God send...Keep killing your babies and save your animals... Things will work out for you in the end I''m sure... Libs just don''t get it!!!
- Reply to this comment
- After watching Palin''s hilarious turn on SNL this Saturday, I''ve got a whole new respect for her. Someone who can poke fun at themselves on live television deserves some kind of kudos.
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- PALIN DID NOT ATTEND GRADUATE SCHOOL WHY SHE COULD NOT GET ACCEPTED...THAT SPELLS SUPER DUMMY...WHAT HAS PALIN DONE SO SPECIAL...ALASKA HAS A POPULATION OF 660,000...THATS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO A MEDIAN SIZED CITY IN AMERICA...THE MEDIAN IS 685,000...WHAT IS SHE DOING ON THE REPUBLICAN TICKET...OOPS GOOD LOOKING, FUNNY, AND CRAZY...THATS THE RECIPE...
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- Palin has a BAD history on ethics issues. Palin faced questions during her 2006 gubernatorial race about her use of the Wasilla mayor''s office four years earlier to run for lieutenant governor. Palin''s first try at statewide office, after six years as mayor of Wasilla, was an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor in 2002, she used city staff and office equipment %u2014 including a fax machine, computers for e-mail and a City Hall phone number %u2014 to run her campaign, according to city records. She apologized for those transgressions in 2006, but only this month acknowledged to the AP that the city initially paid for a campaign flight in that 2002 race and that weeks later she reimbursed the city. Some examples: She pummeled opponents for giving oil companies and other businesses too much control of state government. Yet she appointed the founder of an engineering firm that received $6.8 million in state business as head of the transportation department. She has accepted dozens of gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars since taking office, including two free trips last year that she failed to report on disclosure forms, despite criticizing state legislators for the gifts they take. Her husband, Todd, has accepted free trips from a mining company to look at their proposed new site. Another ethics complaint, unresolved, accuses her staff of finding a state job for a friend and campaign contributor.
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- SARAH PALIN HAS BE FOUND GUILTY OF ABUSING HER POWER AS GOVERNOR OF ALASKA...THATS ALL I NEEDED TO HEAR...NO VOTE FROM ME...
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- Sarah Palin as well as Senators McCain, Obama, and Biden are easy to like. I don''''t like the politics of the last two mentioned...but they''''re likable in some respects. Why can''''t the libs see both as personally friendly? It''''s because of their abject ugliness inside.
Posted by CarlyLaine
I do see Obama and Biden as personally friendly - McCain was but is no more and Palin''s friendly in that crocodile sort of way - they smile before they bite your head off. I have no real idea what you''re trying to say in your post. - Reply to this comment
- Everything the women touches results in the highest ratings ever - as in EVER.
Posted by bailmeout1
Why do you think that NASCAR has such high ratings? Everyone loves a show that gurantees a car wreck. - Reply to this comment
- I have been a faithful viewer of SNL since it came on back in the 70''s. But I skipped last night because I can hardly stand the sight of Palin. She is a liar, a bigot and certainly a religious nut job. I will be glad to see her fade into the sunset for good.
Posted by Element51 at 03:20 PM : Oct 19, 2008
I could not watch it either, just because Palin is so foul. And her voice is so grating. - Reply to this comment
- Libs are so ugly inside. They can''t like the person if that person believes a particular way. AND yet they can totally understand Senator Obabma''s like for Bill Ayers.
You guys are ugly nasty vicious venomous little trolls.
Sarah Palin as well as Senators McCain, Obama, and Biden are easy to like. I don''t like the politics of the last two mentioned...but they''re likable in some respects. Why can''t the libs see both as personally friendly? It''s because of their abject ugliness inside. - Reply to this comment
- It''s a shame that our educational system has produced so many uneducated people who are dazzled and blinded by the propaganda of Senator Obama.
It is widely known that Obama is the least experienced candidate ever to run for the Presidency. Obama''s ''change'' to socialize this nation is not only heinous, but unAmerican. Socialized medicine was abandoned in Hawaii after only seven months. People with insurance are dropping the coverage so they will qualify for the FREE medical care. Socialize,NO! - Reply to this comment
- Sarah Palin is was prettier than "Tina Palin", but Fey does a very good job, especially w/ the accent. I love the REAL Sarah Palin though. Smart, beautiful, amazing... wow, what a person. Love her!!!
Share the Wealth? I mean, holy geez!
Welfare programs are the same as socialized medicine. Why would anyone keep a job, much less look for a job or buy health insurance if the government is going to pay them for simply ''existing?''
The top five percent of educated ambitious Americans who gained success and found the American dream have to support those who don''t have enough ambition to find success for themselves? Give me a break. Socialism is BAD - Reply to this comment
- Palin was great. Anyone that watched that couldn''t help but like her. She had a horrible interview with Katie Couric and her answer about her foriegn policy experience and Russia was bad but anyone who can laugh at themselves gains points to the public. She is a good person and will be a political force in 4 years. Probably end up running against obama as the first female Presidental canidate!
All you libs who have so much hate for Palin can laugh all you want but she was great and very likable. At least she has an actual personality as apposed to Obama who is just a telaprompter in a suit and nothing more. - Reply to this comment
- Sarah trying to dance to the rap song was priceless, she didn''t realize that they were skewering her entire known public persona, and mocking the fact that that non-issue is all she can talk about.
Apparently neither did McSame.
I find it quite funny that SNL doesn''t even have to make up lines, they simply use her own "positions", showing the viewers how inane she and her campaign actually is. Pure genius, almost rivaling the Chevy Chase-Richard Pryor episode.
The light bulb will turn on maybe in a few days, then McSame, Palin and the few GOP-ers that remain will be saying how SNL should apologize. - Reply to this comment
- haha Everything the women touches results in the highest ratings ever - as in EVER. See all the commercials during that SNL episode? Hippocrates. 70,000,000 viewers on the VP debates. Gave new life to Katie Couric. Now the highest rating in 14 years for this washed up piece of chit TV program. Say what you will, time will tell. hehehe
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- Perhaps when Palin returns to Alaska defeated Bullwinkle will greet her with a gun. How about, you guessed it, Sarah stew.
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- McCain is a great man.We know this from the record.Colin Powell is well respected, well known, and now making an impact before the election.For Colin Powell to make such abrupt assertions that McCain concerns him is diappointing.Colin Powell worked under the Bush administration at the very structure that supports it but Barrack Obama attacks the Bush administration.How can Obama accept the great endorsement essentially coming from the core of the Bush administration,Colin Powell?
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- The very fact that McSame chose Palin should raise questions about his "judgement" abilities.
How funny, the republican machine won''t even let her hold a press conference. The first VP candidate in decades, if not ever, who has not held a press conference during the campaign.
SNL did well by making a point of that fact. - Reply to this comment
- and McCain is already in front. haha
Posted by bailmeout1 at 07:16 PM : Oct 19, 2008
Yeah, I think the last laugh is going to be on you, bail. Even the great Repuglican slander machine Carl Rove said that McCain/Palin don''t have a snowball''s chance in ''ell of winning. - Reply to this comment
- Dems are going to be so shocked when McCain/Palin wins.
Posted by bailmeout1 at 07:16 PM : Oct 19, 20
Ha Ha Ha!!! Colin Powell supports Obama; lots of Repugnican politicians support Obama.
Ha Ha HA!!! Even McCain can now realize that an "African American" might inhabit the White House.
McCain screwwed up big time when he selected Palin, a woman he knew absolutely nothing about, to be his running mate. LOL!!! A little investigating, a little background checking, might have revealed her weaknesses.
Fortunately, McCain is too old to have another chance, and Palin is too stupid to get past the voters who are smart enough to see through her facade. - Reply to this comment
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