Fairness in Politics and Humor | 09/28/2008 6:22 am

Tina Fey Nails Palin. Again. Saturday Night Live Interview Skit with Amy Poehler as Katie Couric (VIDEOS)

Katie Couric’s interviews with the Vice Presidential candidate last week … and Sarah Palin’s performances in them … were highly controversial. Yet in the midst of the drama of the financial crisis, they played somewhat under the general news cycle radar. However, last night’s Saturday Night Live brought the Couric-Palin interviews front and center through a skit starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler that was devastating in its breathtaking evisceration of the Vice Presidential candidate’s answers to Couric’s questions.

Below you’ll find videos of both the real Katic Couric - Sarah Palin interviews in which the correspondant asks Palin to explain why Alaska’s proximity to Russia gave her foriegn policy credibility and the Saturday Night Live skit (complete with an embedded ad thanks to NBC Universal’s use of revenue-generating HULU versus You Tube…sorry).

Here are our questions: Was Palin’s performance with Couric Vice Presidential? Was Couric fair in her questioning? Was SNL’s portrayal fair? And as a comedy show, does SNL have a mandate to be "fair" anyway? And, no matter what side you come down on l’affair Palin, how talented is Tina Fey?

Original Couric-Palin Interviews (click on-screen text prompt at end of first interview to go to second interview, which includes at the end a Kissinger video on direct negotiation with Iran):

191 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

That’s the spirit!!! :-D

By Susan B on 09/28/2008 8:49 pm

Bella is so confused and so far away from being a genuine “Christian” she supports all the things that Jesus despised. Sorry to be the one to break it to you, Bella. Jesus was a Liberal. He hated the things that abused the poor and downtrodden. You know, like Republicans and Wal-Marts that enslaves, dupes, and destroys independant businesses and the environment for the sake of its billionaire owners.

By Step away from the BLOG! on 09/29/2008 12:04 pm

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(I think “Bella” may be short for bellicose.)

By Susan B on 09/29/2008 12:27 pm

Susan B—Glad to see you taking the “high” road. I guess it’s do as I say, not as I do—“If you continue to slam the door on people’s faces like that, they won’t see or hear you any longer.”

By eleanor roche on 09/30/2008 8:30 am

What are you talking about?

By Susan B on 09/30/2008 9:38 am

Susan B—I was obviously referring to your insulting post to Bella.

By eleanor roche on 10/01/2008 4:42 pm

It wasn’t posted to Bella, but to Step Away in response to her comment to me. Honestly, it was not meant as an insult, but as an observation on Bella’s many, remarkably long and combative (bellicose) posts to no one in particular on Sunday. Eleanor, you seem to derive satisfaction from judging and chastising the intents of others. Is that what makes you light up inside? If so, I choose not to engage. I’m not slamming the door, just walking away. Please know that my door remains open — whether we agree or disagree — should you opt to be friendly (or even neutral) rather than … well, bellicose.

By Susan B on 10/01/2008 6:08 pm

Whoa, indeed….and once again…..the opposing poles of cultural/political opinion are entrenched because we’re wired differently….Don’t make me document this…”I just read the daily news and swear by every word”….. If you believe that science is our friend and not a fairy tale, you might believe that the only part of the male brain that is larger than female brain departments is the one responsible for aggression and violence……I choose not to disbelieve it. Granted, it serves my viewpoint well…I’ll ‘fess to that…But we’re wired differently…. Do they give more to charity out of gratitude for their lot in life? Because titheing (sp?) is good for the soul or good PR? Because they have more to atone for? Because they hear the flutter of angel wings and think it’s time to start cramming for their final? How do you come up with statistically more tolerant? Well, never mind….I don’t want to be held to quantifying/qualifying abstract notions…..compassion, creativity, mercy,humanity….. I think these differences are real and an inescapable component of the human condition. Acknowledging this and choosing to stay in the conversation should keep us ever vigilant for the places where we can build bridges of understanding….You’ve buttered your bridge, now lie in it….. Guess I wish you’d said “decent” lifestyle….

By georgia fatwood on 09/28/2008 3:39 pm

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Bella, I have to laugh. WalMart and Christian life-style certainly have little in common. Walmart the highest rate of law suits filed against them for sexual harrassment and sex discrimination of any company in America. They take their executives to Hooters for meetings and they have routinely refused to provide a good health benefit plan for their lower level employees. I refuse to walk in a Walmart store because of the way they treat women. I also find that I can purchase better made goods at other “box” stores where fewer products are made in other countries. Now as for conservatives having fewer divorces and a higher-life satisfaction, I would love to know where those statistics came from. I do not say they are untrue, but I think it would be important to look at the type of studies and who performed them and who sponsored them before buying the line about conservatives. If you could provide a little more information, I would be interested in seeing it before I accept your statements as fact. Thanks.

By Maurine H on 09/28/2008 5:38 pm

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Ah, gee, Bella–––there you go again with your Christian value thing and just when I thought––––well, never mind, you squelched it for me. This Christian thing is baseless in the sense that values come from many different beliefs and ways of seeing the world. Here you talk about being elitist and you throw this out like foam on a Starbuck’s special––taint fair!!!

By phyllis Doyle Pepe on 09/28/2008 5:59 pm

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Wrong. The bible belt has a higher percentage of divorce AND teenage pregnancy.

By DeBúrca obj on 09/28/2008 6:17 pm

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A higher percentage of “preacher’s daughters?”

By Steve R on 09/29/2008 11:45 pm

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I’m one of those…..”The doctor’s child can be sick for nothing….the preacher’s kid can be good for nothing….”

By georgia fatwood on 11/15/2008 9:41 am

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I think that’s probably accurate. But I think studies probably show the same thing for folks who have a higher level of education and a solid income. I’m still trying to figure out how spending four or more years in college would make a person elite and less tolerant of others. When you look at what students study—foreign languages, sociology, anthropology, biology, etc, and often in classrooms with students who come from other countries and a range of social classes and locatios in the US—the end result would be someone more tolerant and more open to giving up preconceived ideas. Do you mean elitist based upon income? But what if the person started out with no money and worked hard to earn it? Is that person still an elitist? Is John McCain an elitist? What about Sarah Palin, who makes more money than money of us who probably studied harder in college than she did (guessing on that, but since her grades haven’t been released…). I’m just looking for a good working definition of elitist.

By Kat Pos on 09/28/2008 8:14 pm

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My note popped up on the wrong thread. I was responding to Bella’s message, and asserting people with higher education and solid income are also likely to give to a range of causes, have a lower divorce rate, etc.

By Kat Pos on 09/28/2008 8:17 pm