Is that Palin and her handlers keep her away from the press (except from Faux News and right wing radio shows that wouldn't even ask her what time it is). She cannot be trusted to know what is over the top and what isn't. That "pro-American parts of the country" thing is an example of that. I think she would have been better had she had that experience and would have let the less odious parts of herself shine through.

But, she lives her life in an echo chamber, she isn't very bright, and, as somebody pointed out, she hasn't been put through her paces in institutions she cannot control. To be part of the joke and to get satire you have to be smart and capable of self-reflection. Sarah Palin is neither of these. When I was in law school, cold calling was an effective means of teaching people do deal with public humiliation. No matter how ill prepared you were, the professor would not just move on: s/he would put you through the wringer and drag something out of you for about 30 minutes. Prolonged shaming in front of your classmates does a mind good. Sarah Palin's whole life sounds like she has never really had to deal with being taken to task. She sounds like a self-absorbed bully who does not engage in genuine humor, rather mean-spirited lashing out. The lines she gets laughs for are not clever or funny, they are demeaning and not meant to illuminate or expose the absurdity of a situation.

I think Hillary was better at just diving in there on SNL or going on the Daily Show and making fun of herself is because of the endless public humiliation her husband has put her through and the right wing nuts who hate her and have written innumerable books about the "real Hillary." She has been accused of putting a hit out on Vince Foster. If you can stand being cheated on for Monica Lewinsky and being accused of murder, doing SNL is nothing. Going to college and law school prove she is definitely smart enough. Before someone goes off on a "you're elitist" tirade, I am making the point that exposing oneself to the judgment of people who are more learned and intelligent than you are makes you more thick skinned and builds self-esteem when you survive it. Sarah Palin does have a college degree, but it was after bouncing around, failing out, and not taking her education seriously. I doubt she cared.

I still give her some credit for walking onto the set of a show that had devastated her.

This would not have been as uncomfortable to watch had Palin really engaged in the joke. She should have gotten behind the podium and actually refused to take questions or something like that it would have been good. Or if she had acted menacing to Baldwin after his rant by brandishing a rifle or something, it would have been better.

The rap was hilarious. The lyrics were great. The moose falling like Al Pacino did in Scarface when he got shot, Todd in that snow suit, the mocking of the Obama/Ayers thing, and the maverick thing were great. When at the end, they added Cyprus Hill to it, I thought I was gonna fall over. Palin would have really sold the impression that she was in on the joke had she participated.

I wonder if Tina Fey refused to be on set with her (aside from scurrying off). I have seen every politician who has come on engage in a riff/sketch with the person who lampoons him/her.

Palin kind of came off as being a good sport, but she let her simmering resentment come through. The key to surviving satire is to roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty, and make fun of yourself; she could not do that.

http://www.eisenstadtgroup.com/2008/10/15/joe-the-plumber-wurzelbacher-related-to-charles-keating-oops/

This is from a conservative, someone who used to advise the McCain campaign. Maybe Eisenstadt is "so wrong it's scary" and a "lair." Like me, he knew of the Keating connection BEFORE Daily Kos. Imagine that...someone scooping that beacon of good reporting the Daily Kos. Since you obviously read Daily Kos, do you think it should be declared the "paper of record." I'm sorry, I shouldn't knock your primary source of information.

Apparently, when Steve Schmidt heard McCain say it, he flipped out in front of McCain's debate prep team about your darling Joe being related to Keating. GASP! Maybe Schmidt is a mole in the McCain campaign! Maybe Schmidt writes for Daily Kos! *clutches pearls* The plot thickens....

Um, you have it ass backwards. Hitler bitched about the Big Lie theory in Mein Kampf (he said that is how Jews took over everything and were destroying society) about 15 years before that infamous article Goebbels wrote. And, when Goebbels wrote about the big lie, it was in a different context. Many people make this error. Though it is common mistake, it is no less untrue.

Re: Joe the Plumber

Here you go...straight from no less than Martin Eisenstadt, a conservative and senior fellow at that liberal haven the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy.

http://www.eisenstadtgroup.com/2008/10/15/joe-the-plumber-wurzelbacher-related-to-charles-keating-oops/

Go bust his balls.