I really liked the skit, especially Fey's expression when she said she believed marriage was "between two unwilling teenagers". And I agree with Lori here. The joke did not come across as primarily sexist and I think the accusation of sexism can be a little too stretched these days. They did not reduce Palin to sexist jokes and this one could even be understood as more of a mockery of her approaching the whole campaign as if it was a talent show (where anything besides talent in political understanding counts).

Thank you, Sarah. I knew I could count on AE when I was out drinking "apple juice" and couldn't watch this live.

And, I'm going to say Lori's right because, quite frankly, she scares me.

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~It means pride.~

I sorta agree with you on most of your comments Sarah. Yes, it is a bit sexist of the press (or whoever it was) to bring up the pageant thing, and yes, it doesn't say anything about her ability as a vicepresident. But, the reputation of pageants isn't a very..shall we say, good one. Most people perceive them as just a pretty-but-brainless-girl-thing. That is not something that people like to associate a VP candidate with. So, it does have an influence on her image, which wasn't that great to begin with. That's why I think there is a point in saying it will affect those 'floating voters', the people who haven't decided yet.

I have to say though, I'm not from the USA, so I haven't really followed all the details of the  debate and interviews. So excuse me for any errors. I blame the Dutch media!   ^^

I agree with Sarah saying that this wasn't as funny as the other two skits, but best moments for me were Queen Latifah's facial expressions and the beauty pageant bit. Also the winking... and I'm trying to think of ways I can work 'mavericky' into a conversation...

I haven't seen much of the actual debate, apart from the bit about gay marriage. Did Real Palin dodge questions as much as Fake Palin did? Or is Tina over-exaggerating by miles?

Edit: Did anyone see this vid from Letterman? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/02/david-letterman-top-ten-t_n_131125.html

I thought the skit was great although not as funny as the first two.The problem may be that we are mostly interested in seeing Tina Fey make fun of Palin and this time intead of sharing time with the wonderful Amy Poehler, she was sharing it with Sudeikis (who is great by the way but not as great as Amy!).

I was a bit shocked when the real Biden stated that neither he nor Obama support gay marriage. But I loved the bit whan fake Palin says she supports marriage between two unwilling adults (a clear reference to her pregnant daughter and the father of the child - don't know his name sorry). That was a good dig! 

I'm going to have to agree with Lori on this one. As women, we may see the reference to Palin's beauty pageant past as unfair, irrelevant and sexist but, as you have mentioned, it happened to other polititians (Reagan and Arnold) before her, so if she is to be treated as equal we should see these references in the same light. Cutting her some slack on this issue just because she's a woman would be sexist. Personally, the fact that she was a beauty pageant does not influence what I think about her at this point. I am just so amazed that this woman was chosen in the first place and even more so that American women are voting for her just because she's a woman.

Why oh why did Obama not choose Hillary...?

I gotta agree with Lori on this one, I didn't feel like it was a sexist joke. I must say I love Tina Fey, she is amazing, and my crush grows more and more each day. However, I do agree with you Sarah about how Queen Latifah wasn't given much to work with, it was indeed a waste of her talents.

I don't think it's particularly sexist, no. I remember when Reagan was dissed all around the world for the fact he was an actor famous for only one role, about some sportsman. And of course there is no need to discuss the Governator. Even though women participate in them, beauty contests aren't any less bimboid than sporting contests (it'd be a pretty exceptional sportsperson to convince me that they would work in politics, although Arnie has actually succeeded there). So, no, I think it was a fair dig.

Not as laugh-a-minute as the other sketches, but "I believe marriage is supposed to be a sacred institution, between two unwilling teenagers" was the best LOL moment of all of them. 

"What would a maverik do?" I loved that line. And the bit about "tolerating" people, I've always hated that word! Queen Latifa was wasted a little though, although she did have some pretty funny facial expressions :)

The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes, but don't be afraid...

Comparisons aside, this skit was really funny! I laughed out loud several times. Plus, I think I just fell a little bit more in love with Tina Fey, if that's possible. :)

Can I just say, though, that I actually like Sarah Palin. I don't agree with her on many things, and I definitely don't want her as the next (Vice) President of the USA, but she seems like a really nice person. I know that's probably not a popular opinion among Dems, but I feel a little bit sorry for her. She must have pretty thick skin to weather this kind of thing.

As much as I hope Palin & McCain DON'T win on Nov. 4th, I'm going to hate to see these SNL spoofs with Tina Fey end.  I adore that woman to bits!  I agree this skit wasn't as funny as the others but probably because it hit so close to what these two really think.  The others seemed more exagerated.  As for the flute part, I have to agree with Lori; it isn't much different than the digs Regan & Arnie took for their acting pasts.

And I can't wait to see The Secret Life of Bees with Queen Latifah.  Read the book and it was a wonderful story.  I'm glad they showed the commercial for it because it reminded me to put it on my calendar.   :) 

 

Don't send flowers!  Send your girl a sexy gift basket! 

http://www.ComeTogetherGiftBaskets.com

I agree with Lori

I think it was a commentary on how she is approaching this campaign. 

Lest we forget a certain recent beauty queen representing for her peeps

In contrast, Here's Lisa Nova's take on the Palin Biden Debate

 

Hillarious, as usual. Its amazing how blatently pro-democrat those skits are, i like, although it does worry me america's might see it as just another media thing trying to brainwash them! Im from the UK but if McCain wins, i'll definately shed a few tears. 

My friends and I said that the number one thing that would make the debate amazing would be if every time Palin said something horrible, Biden just turned to the camera and made the Jim Halpert face.  I suppose the Scranton references are as close as we'll ever get.

I loved every word that came out of Fay, especially the slightly disturbing jews reference:P

 More.

Sarah asks, "Am I right, or is Lori wrong?"

Why do I get the feeling Sarah wins all the arguments?

...I love you. Marry me! :D

(I understand logically that no one can get elected by openly supporting gay marriage, but that doesn't mean I don't resent it.)

This is a really interesting comment by Sarah, brought on I suspect by the fact that in a side-by-side debate between a Democrat and Republican, she felt obligated to say something that would gloss over the fact that Democrats in this race aren't any more pro-gay than Republicans. Funny how that doesn't come up here a lot.

Palin is a conservative Christian. Her opinions on many things, including gay marriage/rights, are very in line with that and she's taken a lot of hits for expressing her thoughts. Does that mean she would be a good VP or deserving of a vote? No, that's not what I'm saying.

But it seems to me Democrats are the ones who aren't willing to take an absolute stand, the ones who really want to the gay vote but aren't willing to go out on that limb. And why would they feel compelled to do that since they get most of those votes anyway, by rote?

Someone said they don't understand women supporting Palin just because she's a woman, well how about African-Americans supporting candidates just because of race? That happens and it doesn't always make sense either.

What is most interesting to me, though, is since McCain tapped Palin (not the best pick, I agree) NOBODY talks anymore about Obama's lack of experience. Yes, he's literate and articulate and doesn't make for the same humor as the folksy Palin, but when it comes down to it, she's a less than one full term governor running for VP, and he's a less than one full term Senator running for President.

Finally, on a personal note, it's been real eye-opening to be a regular visitor at this site for the first time during a national election. This site is targeted at people who sort of embraced the use of the words tolerance and acceptance to further their cause and yet can be totally intolerant when it comes to others who express any opinions that are the "minority" in this particular community.

Many times I've read comments by posters who are attacked in what I would consider very hateful speech. Yes, politics, religion are hot-button topics (heck, Lindsay Lohan is a hot-button topic at AE), but you would think that here of all places we would recognize that you can disagree without judging or condemning.

And not that it matters, but I consider myself a moderate and never vote for a strict party-line ballot. There is no one candidate or party which represents everything I am and believe.

except for in the one case she disagreed with Lori...

 The skit was not as funny as the other two, but I think that had more to do with the material they had to work with and the absence of Amy Pohler. I didn't find the Fake Joe Biden parts all that funny and it broke up the brilliance of Fake Palin.

With reference to the "Maverick drinking game", defining marriage as a right of "two unwilling teenagers", and the winking, Fey mined gold out of some fairly dull material.

I did not find the beauty pageant reference sexist. It is a commentary on how Palin is conducting this campaign. But I didn't do to well in my one women's studies class in college. I refused to go to the Miss USA pageant and wear a sash that said 'Misogynist'. My professor wasn't too happy about that. I don't judge women who choose to participate in these pageants. To each his own.

I think that Palin seemed to treat the entire debate as a pageant. In that way, I found it funny and it made alot of sense. If it was a woman candidate who was behaving much more professionally who had happened to be in a pagaent and they did that, that would be offensive.

 

I think it would of been hilarious if Gwin Ifill were played by Kenan Thompson.

I don't think the whole "talent portion" thing was all that sexist (it caught me pretty off guard and made me laugh pretty hard, actually).  It felt more like a commentary on how out there she really was during that debate (never answering the questions asked, just talking about or doing whatever she wants).  Plus, I think that it's okay to make fun of her beauty contest past because it's not something special.  It's not like people have only made fun of her for having something kind of shallow in her past (and I think making fun of a bodybuilder is just as bad in this case).  It's all caricature, and while they definitely could've crossed the line and made it very sexist, I don't thik they did.  Had they pulled out, say, a swimsuit portion instead, THEN I would've been offended.   

"No problem is insoluble, given a big enough plastic bag."

The pageant bit was funny, not sexist.  It's not supposed to be serious.  It's comedy. 

 Latifah's facial expressions were priceless. 

I think the reason this skit wasn't as funny is because we've seen Tina do Palin three times now, and it doesn't have the element of surprise anymore. 

Thanks so much for posting this, Sarah. I really thought it was funny as hell. Tina Fey nailed it again and was hilarious.

I can see where you are coming from in the pageant issue, however, I have to agree with Lori on this one. To me it's simply the case that Palin did DO that in her past and as such people are totally entitled to talking about it and mentioning it. If she had not done that, then it could be seen differently.

 

Nobody knows Tina Fey in Germany. Apart from geeks like me who soak in every bit of US entertainment. But the other day Tina Fey was on German TV. The SNL skits were being shown in parts. Because obviously it is news that the vice presidential candiate of the Republican Party is a nitwit.

I think it is okay to make fun of 'beauty contestants' who confuse running for office with being pretty. Cause that's pretty much what Palin does. She strikes her poses and tries to be charming..  but she's got nothing to say. Like a beauty contestant. Not like someone runnig for office.

This definitely wasn't as funny as Fey's first two sketch as Sarah Palin, but it was still funny (and, once again, was the funniest sketch of the episode). I thought they missed an opportunity to address the false umbrage by the right with respect to Gwen Ifill which would've allowed them to better utilize Queen Latifah. The racial and sexist implications of that whole kerfuffle were ripe for satire. 

That said, Ifill was a part of the roundtable today on "Meet the Press" and she just seemed excited to see herself satirized by Queen Latifah. 

Anyone else get a little perverse joy out of seeing Queen Latifah ask a question about gay marriage? I know it's just a sketch, but the irony was not lost on me. 

As for the beauty portion pagent sketch, I'm inclined to agree with Lori--they've skewered other politicians for similar reasons. That said, I found it kind of unoriginal. Sara Benincasa, who has done some hilarious vlogs as Sarah Palin, made a similar joke in an earlier vlog and David Letterman's made jokes about the talent competition on the Late Show. I'd hope that Fey, Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler could've come up with something more original.

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"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." - MLK

Post Miss Congeniality, referencing Palin's beauty queen past in this context doesn't seem sexist to me. McCain taking on Palin as his Veep -- now THAT was sexist. And deeply deeply cynical.

I have been completely blown away by the amount of sexism used both by Palin's supporters and detractors during this campaign. I have even taken to defending her. However, as others have suggested, I think the beauty pageant gag was more about how she approaches the campaign--all style, no substance. Her answers do, frankly, sound like beauty contestant answers. There's a fine line between drawing on aspects of her life that are specifically female and doing it in a sexist way. The way SNL has handled it so far, I think, has been pretty skillful. Other comedians such as Jon Stewart, on the other hand, have gone way over into sexist territory.

The flute part was not sexist.  Throughout the debate I could not believe how many times the Real-Palin winked at the camera and the various phrases she uttered.  It made her look more like a pageant contestant than a (Vice) Presidential candidate.

 

I was starting to wonder too while reading comments when someone would pick up on the "What do you think? Am I right, or is Lori wrong?" Way to be tricky Sarah.

I can see both sides of the sexism thing but I tend to look at that joke as pointing to her inexperience. Her having participated in such contests doesn't say anything about her as a person really but maybe she needs more experience to know the difference between the two. Maybe that's just me.

Definitely not as funny as the other 2 Palin SNL skits but the debate wasn't that interesting and they did a good job of poking fun of what they could. I especially liked how she talked about whatever she wanted instead of answering any questions.

I also loved how they handled the "gay marriage" part of the debate. It was hilarious. Especially how they made fun of Palin's use of the word, "tolerant". I couldn't stop giggling after Tina said, "she wasn't officially a gay, but we were pretty sure"

I didn't think the part about her beauty pageant was offensive. I think they were mostly referring to how a large part of Palin's "appeal" is her good looks and charm, so her running for VP is more like a beauty pageant than anything else. And Queen Latifah didn't have a very large part but it was funny just seeing her there.