`Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has been in the news a good amount since she was first chosen to be Senator John McCain’s vice presidential running mate back in the 2008 elections. The coverage of Palin was not always good. Her initial interviews at the time left people scratching their heads. Her responses were sometimes cryptic, evasive and just strange. Palin did manage to drum up support from a large base of people who enjoyed her inflammatory rhetoric about how the country was declining and then-Senator Obama was a secret terrorist bent on destroying the United States.
Palin’s bizarre behavior continued long after the election ended when she returned to a civilian life in Alaska. Many thought Palin would be the standard-bearer for the Republican Party since she drew such large crowds. This turned out not to be the case as she gave one rambling speech after another that even Conservative pundits who previously praised her had to back away from quickly. This happened on top of some high-profile family problems with her daughter and sons. The very odd mannerisms and speeches that Palin gave made her a ready target for comedians. The single most famous parody of Sarah Palin came from comedian Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live.
Fey has a strong resemblance to Palin. She also managed to get the tortured speech patterns of the former governor down perfectly. This resulted in a performance that was so convincing some of what Fey said was parroted in the public as being something Palin actually said. Even Fox News used pictures of Tina Fey by mistake when talking about Palin. Most people thought the days of those impressions were over when Palin slowly started to recede into the background. This was not the case. Sarah Palin recently endorsed Donald Trump to be the Republican presidential nominee.
The speech was exactly what most people expected from Palin. She took to the stage with prepared remarks that were over-the-top, bombastic and cringe worthy at points. Palin seemed to have a special love of creating singsong sentences that awkwardly rhymed. She even appears to have made up some words along the way. Palin managed to word things so badly that at one point she inadvertently claimed Trump was “known for being able to command, fire!”
Even people who do not follow politics were aware of the rambling, almost incoherent speech. This is why everyone smiled when the cold open to Saturday Night Live featured a recreation of the endorsement. Tina Fey took up the role of Sarah Palin again. Fey showed she had lost none of her talent or sharp humor when she did. Fey launched into the speech exaggerating some of the phrases and doing an excellent job of capturing the essence of Palin in that moment. The skit included some side commentary from an actor portraying Donald Trump where he slowly realizes that Palin might be insane. The routine lasted just over five minutes.
It is well worth watching for a laugh. What some audience members might not have realized is that quite a few sentences in the routine were lifted directly from the speech. This is especially true of the “right-winging, bitter-clinging, proud clingers” comment that has now become famous. The real Donald Trump during the actual endorsement speech stood quietly to the side of Palin. He made some odd faces and looked uncomfortable at times. He did not say anything at the time, however. Trump even offered Palin a place in his administration if elected. Tina Fey continues to shine in her comedy even when reviving the role of someone like Palin from the past.