Sincerest Form of Flattery?
Prior to Palin's appearance on the show, Fey impersonated the governor of Alaska in three show-opening sketches that boosted SNL's ratings and became a hot topic on the news networks:
- Palin and Clinton (with SNL cast member Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton)
- Katie Couric interview (with Poehler as Couric)
- Vice presidential debate (with Jason Sudeikis as Joe Biden and Queen Latifah as moderator Gwen Ifill)
What Viewers Wanted
What viewers likely anticipated - and what the show failed to deliver - was Sarah Palin unleashed. Fans were hoping for the candidate they'd seen on the campaign trail, firing up crowds with her everywoman message and her uncomplicated language describing what she'd do for voters. Detractors were hoping for the goofy statements and off-message ramblings they'd seen in her cringe-inducing interviews with ABC's Charlie Gibson and CBS's Katie Couric.
Neither woman appeared.
Instead, we saw Palin just as we'd always seen her - not the lively candidate of the town hall meetings or campaign rallies, but the close-mouthed, carefully-controlled, media-sheltered woman who - during her appearance on SNL - poked fun at the fact that she doesn't hold press conferences.
No wonder the ratings for SNL were so high during her appearance. It was something out of the ordinary in a carefully controlled campaign designed to keep media who 'didn't respect her' at arm's length and out of microphone reach.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Whether SNL treated Governor Palin with respect during her appearance is almost irrelevant. (One assumes they did, otherwise she would not have agreed to come on the show.) The question that should be considered is: Did she treat the presidency and the vice presidency with respect during her appearance?
In 1992, writing for TIME magazine, journalist, author, and host of the PBS series The American Presidents Hugh Sidey stated that decorum was necessary for the presidency. In observing the 200th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone of the White House, he pointed out that our first president, George Washington, kept watch over its creation and construction, "wanting a monument that reflected the majesty of the office." Sidey noted:
There remains in this nation despite hard times a huge reservoir of regard and respect for the presidency. Anyone inside or outside the White House who tampers with it diminishes himself...Washington's insistence that the presidency be founded on the highest dimensions and standards of human character has been the ideal for more than two centuries. When the first President was 15 years old, he compiled for himself 102 "Rules of Civility," which he put in his notebook. Among them: "Shake not the head, feet or legs, roll not the eye, lift not one eyebrow higher than the other; wry not the mouth."
Disregarding the "Majesty"
What would Washington say about Sarah Palin's appearance on SNL? What would he think of a candidate who agreed to a script that ridiculed her qualifications but promoted her 'hot' image? How would he regard a vice presidential candidate who 'put her hands in the air' to poke fun at her running mate and herself while various SNL cast members respectively played 'first dude' husband Todd, dressed up in the un-PC garb of 'Eskimos,' and pranced across the stage as a moose who drops dead at the sound of gunfire?
Does this reflect the "majesty of the office" of President of the United States? Does it show respect? It's a critical point to ponder because so much has been made of the lack of respect shown Governor Palin during her campaign. As her apparent failings became obvious to both her opponents and supporters (such as conservative commentator Kathleen Parker) the chorus of voices speaking in her favor lessened. Yet the charge that the media lacked respect for Palin continued to be made.
