SOCIAL: SNL Palin Parody and Palin baby name generator

[Randall Isaac]

I agree that the Palin mocking probably energizes her base, but that 
won't cut it this year. Thanks to GW, Democratic registrations have 
increased dramatically over the past 4 years. In 2004 Bush could win on 
Republican base alone, but if McCain tries that he'll get slaughtered. 
He MUST get the independents, and a pathetic Palin won't do it for him. 
This time around the "base game" favors Obama.

That said, those of us hoping for a Palin comic meltdown tonight are 
likely to be disappointed. Her previous ex-Bush team of media handlers 
has been replaced with a new crew who want her to "tell her story". So I 
would expect to see a lot of folksy stories of her family history and 
less mindless recitation of talking points. There won't be any more 
substance than before, but it will play better. Also, she already knows 
three of the questions she's going to get: 1) "Didn't you actually 
support the Bridge to Nowhere?" 2) "How can you say Alaska's proximity 
to Russia gives you foreign policy experience?" and 3) "Didn't you agree 
with Obama's position on attacks in Pakistan?" ; so you can be sure she 
will have well-rehearsed answers to those questions. That and the 
extremely low expectations of her probably mean she can come off looking 
like the winner even if her answers have zero substance in them.

Finally, she's got an inherent advantage in that she can go on the 
attack against Biden, and look good. But if he does the same to her, he 
looks mean or condescending.

Fortunately, while the Republican base might be voting for Sarah Palin, 
the rest of the electorate really doesn't care that much about the VP 
slot, so I suspect McCain is still in trouble no matter how she does in 
the debate. She could hurt him by doing badly, but can't help him much 
by doing well...unless Biden does something stupid, which is always 
possible.

Randall

Jen wrote:
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* Jen [mailto:schradie at hotmail.com]
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 02, 2008 10:43 AM
> *To:* 'Eric Arons'
> *Subject:* RE: SOCIAL: SNL Palin Parody and Palin baby name generator
>
> One of the people that speaks frequently about this is Mark McKinnen – 
> he was at the Kennedy School when I was there a few years ago. He was 
> one of Bush’s chief media strategists and he frequently talked 
> (formally and informally so you might be able to google him) about how 
> much the Bush campaign LOVED it when the media/pundits made fun of 
> Bush’s goofy/dumb/idiotic statements b/c it got the base going and 
> didn’t seem to affect the undecided.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jen
>
> * *
>
> *j e n s c h r a d i e*
>
> graduate student
>
> department of sociology
>
> university of california, berkeley
>
> schradie at berkeley.edu
>
> "What do I think of Western Civilization?
>
> I think it would be a very good idea."
>
> Gandhi
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* social-bounces at lists.deeptrouble.com 
> [mailto:social-bounces at lists.deeptrouble.com] *On Behalf Of *Eric Arons
> *Sent:* Thursday, October 02, 2008 9:08 AM
> *To:* Tom Radulovich
> *Cc:* Deep's Social
> *Subject:* Re: SOCIAL: SNL Palin Parody and Palin baby name generator
>
> related to this, but a little to the side, does anyone have a link to 
> an article/editorial talking about the dangers of concentrating humor 
> and wrath on palin? as i recall it talked about how it could have the 
> effect of alienating that large number of people in the country who 
> identify with her? i think it was in the times. i wanted to read it 
> again, since obviously i can't remember it too well (and if this is 
> what's happening to me at....well....the age i am, imagine what mccain 
> can't remember!)
>
> On Thu, Oct 2, 2008 at 8:50 AM, Tom Radulovich <tomrad at well.com 
> <mailto:tomrad at well.com>> wrote:
>
> Tina Fey is so spot on:
> http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/
>
> Also, the Palin baby name generator:
> http://politsk.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah_13.html
>
> If I was born to Sarah Palin, my name would be Bomb Locomotive Palin
>
>
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