Sarah Palin to resign as Alaska governor

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

I don't believe SNL was really a factor - which is what HC was implying. If you think the American public actually took that Palin interview parody into consideration when they were standing at the polls, then more power to you.

A significant number of American pollgoers actually thought Palin said, specifically, "I can see Russia from my house" . . . no matter what you want to think about the education, intelligence or common sense of the American public.

HINT: Alexander Hamilton knew what he was talking about.

Originally Posted by texas*princess

Even if they did, SNL wasn't that far off base from her real life interviews anyway.

This is absolutely, 100% indicative of YOUR bias coming through, not some right-wing, pro-Palin bias.

Show me where she said "I can see Russia from my house" and we'll go ahead and chat from there. I abhor Sarah Palin as a one-dimensional sham and as indicative of what I hate about modern politics, but you're just demonstrably wrong here.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

A significant number of American pollgoers actually thought Palin said, specifically, "I can see Russia from my house" . . . no matter what you want to think about the education, intelligence or common sense of the American public.

HINT: Alexander Hamilton knew what he was talking about.



This is absolutely, 100% indicative of YOUR bias coming through, not some right-wing, pro-Palin bias.

Show me where she said "I can see Russia from my house" and we'll go ahead and chat from there. I abhor Sarah Palin as a one-dimensional sham and as indicative of what I hate about modern politics, but you're just demonstrably wrong here.

I NEVER SAID ANYWHERE THAT PALIN HERSELF SAID SHE CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM HER HOUSE. I'm not really sure why you keep going to that.

Point out to me where I said that please, because I didn't type that anywhere. I don't get why you keep going back to the Russia thing anyway, but if you want to keep talking about it, that's cool.

What I did say was

Not 100% of everything used in the SNL skits were her words, but many of the words & phrases were actually used by her. The SNL writers didn't have to scratch their heads for very long when writing those scenes b/c Palin made it really easy for them.

I even linked to a video in a previous post of mine that shows a part of the actual Palin interview with the Tina Fey version side by side and with the exception of a few "ya knows" and a mention of a dollar value menu, and the part about Russia, Tina Fey used a lot of the very phrases Palin herself used in the Katie Couric interview.

You initially jumped into the "SNL" convo saying that the #1 thing people remember was "I can see Russia from my house". So what? I'm failing to see why that one phrase is so incredibly important. Unless you think that phrase was the demise of Palin's credibility, I don't get it, so please explain that to me.

Palin herself said so many things far more damaging than Tina Fey's Russia spoof comment.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by texas*princess

I NEVER SAID ANYWHERE THAT PALIN HERSELF SAID SHE CAN SEE RUSSIA FROM HER HOUSE. I'm not really sure why you keep going to that.

Point out to me where I said that please, because I didn't type that anywhere. I don't get why you keep going back to the Russia thing anyway, but if you want to keep talking about it, that's cool.

What I did say was


I even linked to a video in a previous post of mine that shows a part of the actual Palin interview with the Tina Fey version side by side and with the exception of a few "ya knows" and a mention of a dollar value menu, and the part about Russia, Tina Fey used a lot of the very phrases Palin herself used in the Katie Couric interview.

You initially jumped into the "SNL" convo saying that the #1 thing people remember was "I can see Russia from my house". So what? I'm failing to see why that one phrase is so incredibly important. Unless you think that phrase was the demise of Palin's credibility, I don't get it, so please explain that to me.

Palin herself said so many things far more damaging than Tina Fey's Russia spoof comment.

You are REALLY taking this too personally.

I'll agree that Palin said many dumb things on her own. Many of them were politically stupid. I can't find a single one that was as literally stupid as "I can see Russia from my house."

The SNL skit was a spoof, and a good one at that. Almost too good, because a massive, significant number of Americans who voted thought it was actually Palin.

That's the only point here - people thought she actually said it. You can try to minimize the impact of the skit all you want, but we only have evidence that it did have impact (because people remembered it as fact - for more information on this phenomenon, look up eyewitness credibility etc.). Can you point to proof that it didn't matter?

I agree with you, for the most part - Palin submarined herself in dozens of ways. These silly political mistakes made Palin an easy mark for lampooning - so easy that she was still being lampooned by Letterman a couple of weeks ago, when she was hardly relevant in any way except for as the butt of a joke.

However, it's pretty clear that the SNL skit took root in the American consciousness (to the extent that it exists). SNL's job is to mock politicians - that's why we enjoy it. However, few if any of these caricatures, for whatever reason, have been as resonant with people as the Palin one - nobody remembers what "Hilary" said in that same skit, do they?

In your fervor to impugn Palin (which, I mean . . . that's not exactly a difficult task) you really seem to want to piss in the wind against this SNL thing. Nobody's blaming SNL for her loss - but it's clear that the specific skit took hold in a way that was really unprecedented. Is that Palin's fault? Maybe - who cares? It doesn't particularly matter, does it?

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

You are REALLY taking this too personally.

I'm not taking it personally. If anyone is taking this personally, I think it's you. I never wrote anywhere that Palin actually said she could see Russia from her house, but you kept insisting that I did.

Apparently putting it in caps was the only way to get it through to you that I didn't say that.

I'll agree that Palin said many dumb things on her own. Many of them were politically stupid. I can't find a single one that was as literally stupid as "I can see Russia from my house."

For what it's worth, I never used the word "stupid" in describing anything she ever said. "Stupid" is relative. What one person thinks is stupid, another person might think it's not that bad.

I don't have a transcript of everything she's ever said, so I can't say whether or not I think she did say anything that was "literally stupid".

I do think that a lot of things she said during the campaign didn't make any sense. Some people might think the inability to put complete sentences together is "literally stupid", but once again, that's relative.

The SNL skit was a spoof, and a good one at that. Almost too good, because a massive, significant number of Americans who voted thought it was actually Palin.

That's the only point here - people thought she actually said it.

Ok, so people thought she said it - we established that a couple of pages ago. Are you saying that cost her & McCain the election?

You can try to minimize the impact of the skit all you want, but we only have evidence that it did have impact (because people remembered it as fact - for more information on this phenomenon, look up eyewitness credibility etc.). Can you point to proof that it didn't matter?

Again, so you're saying because people thought that Palin actually said she said could see Russia, they lost the election?

Where exactly are the exit polls that indicate that people voted against McCain / Palin because they truly,deep down in their heart of hearts, thought it was really Palin who said that?

I just find it so hard to believe that the Russia phrase was the deciding factor and not the other dozens of mistakes she made in that short amount of time.

I agree with you, for the most part - Palin submarined herself in dozens of ways. These silly political mistakes made Palin an easy mark for lampooning - so easy that she was still being lampooned by Letterman a couple of weeks ago, when she was hardly relevant in any way except for as the butt of a joke.

That was way more than a couple of weeks ago. And for the record, I think that was a pretty low blow from Letterman.

However, it's pretty clear that the SNL skit took root in the American consciousness (to the extent that it exists). SNL's job is to mock politicians - that's why we enjoy it. However, few if any of these caricatures, for whatever reason, have been as resonant with people as the Palin one - nobody remembers what "Hilary" said in that same skit, do they?

No I don't think most people remember what "Hilary" said in the skit. I think the reason for that (and this is just personal opinion in case you ask me for a study) is because even though she was a major player for awhile in the primaries, she didn't make the same highly publicized mistakes that Palin made.

Palin wasn't prepared at all for any of her interviews and it was painfully obvious she was grasping for straws when people questioned her experience or knowledge on subjects. Most of that was already out there by the time the first SNL skit with Palin aired which made it such an easy target.

Hillary, in your example, didn't really have that problem, so all SNL could do to make fun of her was talk about people who said she had cankles and how she was feverishly out supporting the guy who beat her out for the nomination.

In your fervor to impugn Palin (which, I mean . . . that's not exactly a difficult task) you really seem to want to piss in the wind against this SNL thing. Nobody's blaming SNL for her loss - but it's clear that the specific skit took hold in a way that was really unprecedented. Is that Palin's fault? Maybe - who cares? It doesn't particularly matter, does it?

No ... it doesn't... so why are you arguing then?

Why do you feel it took hold? Just because people said they thought it was her that said it? If it didn't cost them the election, then who cares if SNL did a good job of spoofing her.