olbermann has bee predicting that bible spice will be off the ticket by 10/1. as that date approaches, i think he might want to move it back a bit but it's still a solid prediction. (although the great santini might rather go down in flames than admit a mistake.)

fwiw, here's my prediction: sometime wednesday or maybe by early thursday, young trig or twig or twix palin will experience some medical emergency that will require mama to bail on the debate.

I have to say, Tina Fey now owns a piece of American political absurdity. She's got a lot of material to work with and I hope she doesn't let go. Bravo!!

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that the McCain campaign is going to try ANOTHER game changer before Thursday's debate. It may very well be what mellowjohn suggests, but they've got to do something to change the narrative--and their suggestion that they are going to attack Obama as not ready and on taxes isn't going to cut it (they've been doing that since June).

it was hilarious. i was waiting for the bit about putin rearing his head -- now that was a quotable line.

however, paraphrased vs. quoted would be more accurate. no need to stretch the truth ala mccain campaign.

I love your behaviour...

I love your
behaviour, the light
of a blackbird
and a luminous
farm; I listen
to you when
a care disappears
and then, in the
sound of a new
day, a magical
dreamland invites
me to cry....

Francesco Sinibaldi

I can't believe I feel this way, but I actually feel a bit sorry for Palin, in much the way I feel cable news channels have been beating up on naive starlets like Britney, Paris and Anna Nicole Smith. I tell myself Palin deserves it, but in a way I feel she's naive and way over her head.

Uh, wait, verbatim quotes? This is a hilarious parody, but I have no idea what you are talking about Steve. That wasn't even close to verbatim, was it?

STEVE -

The problem I e-mailed you about last night persists. You really need to get the site admin. on this one.

Seems everyone and their thread-brother is predicting Air Caribou is going down these days.
True this photo is damning...

But it is not going to happen. That would severely de-energize the base. Besides, we'd be wise not to underestimate Palin's debating skills:

"We've looked at tapes of Gov. Palin's debates, and she's a terrific debater," Plouffe told reporters on a conference call.

[Sotto voce: Plouffe is seriously shrewd. More raising of the bar please...]

I can't believe I feel this way, but I actually feel a bit sorry for Palin...

Yeah it worries me a little that as the left gets caught up in mocking McCain's choice for his Vice Presidential running mate, an elitist and contemptuous attitude towards the constituency Palin represents, i.e., hockey moms, is coming through loud and clear.

I think it's safe to say that SNL's rendition of "Bible Spice Barbie" is much less a parody than Bible Spice Barbie is herself.

Not to make unfair generalizations about beauty contest participants, but where are the references to "like such as South Africa and, uh, the Iraq everywhere like, such as . . . "? Is our national memory that short?

Also agree that "verbatim" is wrong. And this was not quite as sharp as the first go-round with Poehler as HRC. But still far better than the usual SNL product.

Sarah will 'win' the debate by losing Biden in a "flurry of words".

(see the ABC interview) Gibson even said, "Hold on, I got lost in your flurry of words."

People should make sure to give AP props for her absolutely classic straight-(wo)man takes.

She was channeling the greatest at that, Bob Newhart, with the bemused blinking at an impossible situation.

it worries me a little that as the left gets caught up in mocking McCain's choice... - Del Capslock

I'm going to assume you are being snarky, because a VP candidate who is this woefully unprepared is in no way reflective of hockey moms, most of whom are not running for this office.

I was talking with a wingnut acquaintance a few days ago who complained that late night comics were being too biased against McCain. My reply was, "What do you expect them to do? He's writing their material for them" And then along comes this, where, quite literally, they did.

Yeah it worries me a little that as the left gets caught up in mocking McCain's choice for his Vice Presidential running mate, an elitist and contemptuous attitude towards the constituency Palin represents, i.e., hockey moms, is coming through loud and clear.

I guess I'm not tuned to that frequency. What I hear is a contemptuous attitude toward incompetent, unqualified and unprepared people who are not particularly bright having the gall to run for vice president of the United States.

Steve didn't say the whole thing was verbatim, but there were actual quotes used in the bit. During the part about economy, in particular, there were a lot of direct quotes. My wife and I looked at each other when that happened saying, OMG, that's pretty harsh. And funny.

I guess I'm not tuned to that frequency.

I know. You're tuned to the "respond to even the mildest criticism with denial/counter-attack" frequency. Tis the season.

Del, you're way out of bounds; you haven't supported your "mild criticism." Where in the observation of Palin's towering inadequacies and lack of preparation is the implication that her unfitness for office is in any way related to her being a hockey mom? Back yourself up and then we'll talk.

Hey Del, if you don't like the heat, then don't post vacuous concern troll comments. To equate the panning of Palin with making fun of hockey moms is simply vile, simplistic, identity politics. She's a grown woman and accepted a candidacy that she *knew* she was unprepared for. She deserves every bit of mocking that she gets, because she presumed that the US electorate was a bunch of idiots that wouldn't know the difference.

Tina Fey is fantastic. Her Palin ought to be the start of a whole series of movies in which McCain & Palin actually win (Dumb and Dumber Goes To Washington), and Sarah almost immediately inherits the mantle of the presidency, perhaps first as a Cheney-style shadow presidency where they try to hide growing mental incompetency in the president, then a movie where they rush around alternately propping up and hiding a cooling corpse, followed by even later movies after the assumption of the presidency itself (think "Dave", followed by full-blown Idiocracy).

Hey Del, if you don't like the heat, then don't post vacuous concern troll comments.

What I hear in this is an elitist contempt for all keyboard components. Trust me, it's coming through loud and clear, and the Page Up, 6 and Shift keys of America are hearing it, too.

Ok, before I go into this, I'm wholeheartedly voting for Obama come November, blah blah blah. Not a 'concern troll'.

I don't think that the question about Sarah Palin and hockey moms is totally out of bounds. For whatever reason, Palin is identified with by a lot of these women. I'm sure that most wouldn't be voting for Obama anyway, since I tend to think of them as Stepford Wives, but whatever.

If 'hockey moms' do identify with Sarah Palin, couldn't the neverending mockery have some transferrence?

I know it's a little premature, but if tisn't the season to be jolly, 'twill be soon.

Kenneth Cavness, but what in that skit had anything to do with hockey moms?

Rabi:

The long and incoherent answer to the $700 billion question was a direct quote; here is the original question and answer:

Couric: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

Palin: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it's got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade -- we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.

If 'hockey moms' do identify with Sarah Palin, couldn't the neverending mockery have some transferrence?

Sure, but is it a reasonable or defensible transference? Dan Quayle was an idiot who liked to wax sentimental about his heartland upbringing; did mocking his lack of intellect and judgment represent an insult to the entire Midwest? The point is that all candidates have tags or associations which cause some groups of voters to identify with them. That doesn't put legitmate criticism of candidates out of bounds -- for Sarah Palin or for anyone. We sure as hell don't hear anyone suggesting that panning McCain is elitism against pilots or POWs; anyone who tried it would be laughed out of the room.

Most hockey moms do not believe they're qualified to be president; uncoincidentally, nor do most physicians, lumberjacks, CEOs, salespersons, attorneys, nuclear physicists, nurses, actuaries, people who barely made it through college, people with advanced degrees, etc., etc. Suggesting that criticizing Palin's lack of suitability for the presidency is akin to displaying "elitism" for all people who share one of her traits--particularly when the skit being discussed here made no reference at all to hockey moms--is, besides ironically telescoping her life into a single descriptor, a rather transparent attempt to refocus attention from Palin's shortcomings by playing "j'accuse!" with her critics' motivations. I remember Del posting here before and I'm not suggesting she's a concern troll, but man, this argument is identical to ones the suddenly-deeply-concerned-about-women's-dignity Republicans are making every time someone points out Palin's deficiencies.

Cavness is right. Despite the fact that she is truly unprepared and did accept the nomination, if she is mercilessly mocked and/or fails miserably during the debate, it will simply cause a harder sympathy on the part of those right-wing and not-so-right-wing women who identify with her.

That said, I think everyone should be careful not to underestimate her. Her AK debates were good. Granted she was on her own terrain and discussing familiar issues, but she may do just fine, and at this point that's all she needs to do to survive well. All this pre-debate mockery may backfire.

I was feeling sorry for her, too, until I went back and reread all those articles about her truth-stretching and ruthlessness in firing people.

I agree with del - I almost feel sorry for Palin and many of the attacks do smell like elitism. It's like the chant that Obama must be smart because he attended Harvard, she must be stupid because she attended a state school. Just think about the numbers - you are praising a very small number of constituents and insulting a great many more.

If we want to win the election - and Obama must win for the sake of the country, then a little sensitivity about elitism is smart.

jen, a lot of people no doubt think that there they themselves could be just as good a President as anyone, and it may be impolitic to mock them. I wouldn't advise anyone running for office to do so.

But in the reality-based community, such a notion is worthy of nothing but derision and scorn. Just because some random undecided lurker may be momentarily bummed because of what one of us posts on this comment thread is not a sufficient reason for us not to point out how silly and dangerous an idea it is, that just anyone can be President of the United States.

Re: "verbatim"

The Fey answer to the question about the $700 billion bailout was, except for a line about dollar meals and a snipe at Obama, verbatim from Palin's answers in the Couric interview. It was slightly rearranged, and, if I had to guess, intentionally done without cue cards so that Fey would have to struggle to remember what answer Palin had given just like Palin struggled to remember how she was supposed to answer in the first place. Still, "verbatim" is an entirely fair characterization of that part of the skit.

A couple of other elements of the skit were closely paraphrased, and some of it was just made up. You could tell the just made up parts by the answers being more coherent and less mind boggling than the verbatim and paraphrased parts.

pwned by shortstop (again), i see

she must be stupid because she attended a state school.

I believe the contention would be that she must be stupid because she attended, I believe, five or six different schools, none of them of particularly great reputation (University of Idaho being by far the best of the lost), and got a degree in sports journalism.

One would also add - most people don't think they're stupid, but they also don't think they're qualified to be president. I really don't think that most of the American people are actually so foolish as to want someone as blatantly unprepared and unready to be president as Palin simply because she's "just like us".

I was told growing up that anyone could be President of the United States. That meant that all of us were equal, that all of us could be whatever we wanted to be if we worked hard enough.

Now it's a dangerous idea that just anyone can be president????

America has become a feudal society.

It's a sad fact that a lot of Americans are afraid of "smart" candidates. They don't want someone who's too into that book-larnin' thing. Why do you think we got W? Sarah Palin appeals to these people, and attacks on her only reinforce her appeal to them.

That said, stopping the mockery is probably not going to get these people on Obama's side. Obama already sounds "book-smart", so they won't be pulling the lever for him anyway. What these kinds of parodies can do is plant a more negative image in the minds of observers who are less politically attuned but not rigidly anti-intellectual. So I say let's see more parodies!

The last line was wicked. An actor playing Katie Couric asked, "when cornered, do you always get more adorable?" Who does that describe?

"I was told growing up that anyone could be President of the United States. That meant that all of us were equal, that all of us could be whatever we wanted to be if we worked hard enough. Now it's a dangerous idea that just anyone can be president???? America has become a feudal society." Posted by: jen f

After Senator George Prescott Bush...
... President George Herbert Walker Bush...
... Governor Jeb Bush...
and President George Walker Bush
the idea of accusing the Democrats of feudalism for running the son of a Kenyan imigrant for President is just hilarious.

The phrase "Anyone can be President" doesn't mean it is the world's simplist job. It means there is no limitation on the source of candidates based on where they came from is they work hard enough to convince us they can do the hardest job in the world. Obama has convinced a lot of people he has worked hard enough. Clinton convinced me she worked hard enough.

No body thinks Sarah Palin has worked hard enough.

Lance,

I am accusing fellow Democrats of a lack of sensitivity in their characterizations of Palin.

Derision without humor doesn't win friends. Dismissiveness gains enemies. We need to win this election.

As for feudalism, the divide between the richest and the poorest in this country is the greatest since the late nineteenth century. Additionally, some people who post here certainly seem to feel that they are inherently superior to others. I think that is a reflexive response - part of the zeitgeist of disparity - and we are all capable of more generosity.

Now it's a dangerous idea that just anyone can be president???? jen f

Like I agree. we shud just have a lottery, the way we decide who gets to be a millionaire.

jen f: "I was told growing up that anyone could be President of the United States."

In the sense that it didn't matter in principle whether or not you had a certain royal or noble blood line, or whether you were rich or had certain family connections, yes, anyone could be president.

Not everyone, though, has the right skills and talents to be president.

that all of us could be whatever we wanted to be if we worked hard enough.

jen f, you're being a little obtuse here. What on earth makes you think that Sarah Palin has worked hard enough to be President of the US? Nothing of the sort was even on her radar a year ago.

Palin knows squat about national-level and international politics, and that has become abundantly clear in the month since she became a household word. It has nothing to do with her being from a small town, having been a mayor, or having attended a state school, or 4 or 5. It has to do with her lack in interest in the details, and her unwillingness to do the work that the job requires.

She is entirely out of her league. Seems pretty obvious to most, which is why parody of her is as funny as it is. It wouldn't be funny if it didn't resonate with reality.

kth, hardly pwnd. We're in total accord.

Derision without humor doesn't win friends.

Oh, there's plenty of humor, which may be what's bugging you.

I am accusing fellow Democrats of a lack of sensitivity in their characterizations of Palin.

Do you believe we're similarly insensitive in our depictions of McCain? Or are you arguing that a special approach to criticism of Palin is appropriate because...?

As for feudalism, the divide between the richest and the poorest in this country is the greatest since the late nineteenth century.

That's certainly true. I'm not sure what it has to do with the discussion at hand, however.

Additionally, some people who post here certainly seem to feel that they are inherently superior to others.

Again, the conversation actually taking place is about some candidates' superiority to others. I'm not sure why you're conflating economic circumstance with personal aptitude under vague notions of the "zeitgeist of disparity" and "feudalism," but you're confusing the issues of opportunity and ability.

"Derision without humor doesn't win friends."

Good point, but this thread is linked to a video clip that's making a lot of people (including me) laugh out loud. Derision WITH humor can be devastating, especially if that humor is as well observed and well performed as the SNL sketch. Ms. Palin is on the path to National Laughing Stock status, and she has no one to blame but herself. When McCain made the offer, she should have said Thanks, but no thanks. (We know she can say that.)

Sooo good. Difficult to tell them apart. Tina has made history. Sad part is...it's all true. Could we have any bigger blunder than McCain picking this woman to be VP...pretty much says it all about McCain's desperation and willingness to manipulate the public for politicl reasosns...which includes his bad, bad judgment.

I am accusing fellow Democrats of a lack of sensitivity in their characterizations of Palin.

That might be true. Except that real life soccer moms probably think that THEY could answer the questions better than Palin could.

Yeah...like saying Palin's ready to do brain surgery ...on you. Try as he might my next door neighbor could never be a rocket scientist no matter how hard he worked...couldn't even make do as one. Sorry but Palin has never even been curious about being a national leader...and we certainly don't have to ...make do...with her. If this is what McCain thinks of our country, passing over so many qualified people to pick Palin, an unknown, because he thought it might help him win a a campaign and what is worse is those who try to justify that decision don't really care about our country, just trying to win no matter the good of our nation, then it shows McCain is just a con whose ego won't allow him to admit to mistake or think of others first. He's made a mockery of American politics and embarrasses this nation and Tina Faye portrays Palin the way the majority of us view her, as a joke.

This skit is almost too scary to be funny. The dollar meal bit was amusing, though. And yes, there were some direct quotes in there--that was what scared me the most last night--how Tina Fey's play acting blurred with reality a little too much. But her impression is dead-on.

The ongoing mockery of SP makes me uncomfortable in general. I don't for a minute think she should be VP, but this situation with her candidacy is out of hand. She doesn't know what she is talking about, and she doesn't seem to care about developing a broader understanding of the issues that are facing our country today, at least not beyond the talking points that she has been told to memorize in order to help her fulfill what she seems to believe is God's will for her (and the country's) destiny.

But in spite of her blatant incompetency, I don't like the elitism that is evident in so many comments about her. I am guilty of it, too, and I have to make myself back off when my observations start to sound like a superiority complex. She is not unqualified because she is a hockey mom, a small-town mayor, or any of the other superficial biographical elements of her experience. She is unqualified because she personally does not demonstrate the astute judgment that is needed to help lead our country, not to mention the dangerous positions that she has taken on significant issues that impact us all. I imagine that there is a hockey mom somewhere out there who could lead our country, given the right temperament, preparation, and mindset. SP is not that person.

There are THOUSANDS of soccer moms that I think could do the job, given a little prep time.

Palin is not one of them, no matter how much prep time she has.

That was hysterically funny. All the more so because it's a parody of the truth.

Thanks for posting the transcript of Palin's actual comments. I especially like the part that says we must have tax reduction accompany reductions in taxes and tax relief.

Grover Norquist must be one proud papa.

I think a great example of precisely how much trouble Palin has been to the campaign is the extremely and I mean EXTREMELY nuanced concern trolls here. They can't defend Palin, but by gosh, they can defend hockey moms. And anyone can be president of the U.S. Especially if those pesky progressives are silenced. Nobody protects the every man like the GOP??? I guess the Petro-cabal props up regular folks beyond the Peter Principle.

Palin in an insult to America. And so is McCain for not having the fortitude to stand up to Rove for this insult.

jen f: "I am accusing fellow Democrats of a lack of sensitivity in their characterizations of Palin."

I would characterize Sarah Palin of having a record in public office of mismanagement, fiscal irresponsibility, incompetence, negligence, dishonesty, cronyism, ideological extremism, divisiveness, and vindictive abuse of power.

I would characterized Sarah Palin as having demonstrated in her public comments since being nominated for vice president that she is abysmally ignorant about the crucial domestic and foreign policy issues facing the country, an ignorance that she pathetically attempts to cover up with a stream of disconnected, unrelated stock phrases -- which cannot be said to even rise to the level of "talking points" -- strung together into an incoherent gush of gibberish.

I would characterize Sarah Palin as insulting the intelligence of every single American who listened to her inane, rambling, disjointed, content-free "answers" to Katie Couric's straightforward questions. Tiny Fey's "parody" is, if anything, more forgiving than Palin deserves given the contempt she displayed for the American people by spewing such drivel.

I would characterize Sarah Palin as being, by far, the most profoundly, shockingly unqualified candidate nominated by either party for national office in my lifetime -- and I am old enough to remember watching the first ever televised debate, between Kennedy & Nixon.

I would characterize Sarah Palin as person who should not be allowed anywhere near the vice presidency -- let alone as the vice president to a man who is 72 years old and has a history of serious, potentially life-threatening health problems.

If you feel those characterizations are insufficiently "sensitive" that's your problem.

Note, however, that I am a Green and not one of your "fellow Democrats". I will be voting for Barack Obama in November, though.

Any time you start to feel any bit of sympathy for Palin, just remember she kills animals for fun and even sought to encourage others to do so, despite scientists warning that they were on the verge of needing protection.

Remember this is the woman who charged rape victims for their own rape kits.

Remember this is the woman who could be sitting on top of the world's largest nuclear arsenal, and frankly, we only mock her stupidity because of how maddeningly frightening it is.

She isn't worthy of your sympathy or you pity.

[...] we only mock her stupidity because of how maddeningly frightening it is. -- doubtful, @15:19

Bulls eye! Poland of my childhood and teens was the gold mine of political jokes. Not told publicly, on TV, circulated among friends instead, but, still.

Laughter is the best antidote for both dear and despair. That's why we're laughing at Palin. It's better -- and possibly more productive -- that locking yourself in a clothes closet and weeping.

ver·ba·tim
Pronunciation:
\(ˌ)vər-ˈb�-təm\
Function:
adverb
Etymology:
Middle English, from Medieval Latin, from Latin verbum word
Date:
15th century
: in the exact words : word for word

the definition is not open to interpretation, sorry.

Scarah Palin is scaring lots of her own people:

http://www.amconmag.com/larison/2008/09/26/t-minus-six-days/

T-Minus Six Days
Posted on September 26th, 2008 by Daniel Larison

Capitol Hill sources are telling me that senior McCain people are more than concerned about Palin.

The campaign has held a mock debate and a mock press conference; both are being described as “disastrous.� One senior McCain aide was quoted as saying, “What are we going to do?� The McCain people want to move this first debate to some later, undetermined date, possibly never. People on the inside are saying the Alaska Governor is “clueless.� ~Ed Schultz

That meant that all of us were equal, that all of us could be whatever we wanted to be if we worked hard enough.

Focus on that "if we worked hard enough."

Now focus harder.

Now it's a dangerous idea that just anyone can be president????

Plus now it's a dangerous idea that just anyone can be a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist or cancer researcher or an airliner pilot or commanding general in Iraq or the head of the FBI's Anti-Terrorism task force??? What kind of crazy elitism is this that judgment, training, education and qualifications matter?!?!