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If you haven’t seen this yet, it’s definitely worth a look. Hilarious, smart, and actually quite a good score. A star-studded cast turns out for “Prop 8 – The Musical.” See if you can spot all of the people in it.
Is it me – or is Tina Fey getting funnier and funnier? Not only does she look like Sarah Palin and have her mannerisms and speech down pat, but her performance is still subtle, which makes it that much more hilarious. See for yourself.
Now to compare just how much she nailed the interview, check out the original Katie Couric / Sarah Palin interview that CBS ran earlier this week.
As the days before the election in November continue to count down, I’m starting to wonder if I’m not going to wear out before we get there – from of all of the political BS that’s being slung around these days. Despite my opinions about who I plan to vote for, and who I think is being more unfair at the given moment in this campaign, I think that both sides are equally at fault for all of this crap at different times. And it has me worried and wondering if we’re ever going to be able to unite again as a country or if, as one person I was speaking to recently said, it’s the “New American Civil War” – not fought with guns, but with words. So with this in mind, I once again found myself exasperated by what I saw on the Today Show this morning. Matt Lauer, Tim Pawlenty, and Bill Richardson – none of them were helping to clarify the situation – they were all just there to muck it up even more. I found what Pawlenty and Richardson had to say to be completely worthless – full of intellectual dishonesty – and other than depressing me at the state of political divisiveness with 48 days left to go, the only other thought I was left with was thank God these two aren’t the VP choices!
Sarah Palin gave a great political speech last night. In it, she was feisty, charming, funny, open, and confident. As a convention speech, where the murmur behind the scenes was about whether she was ready for the national spotlight, I think she proved that she can more than hold her own. As a political speech, in execution, it was a home run. The problem I have is that I also found her speech to be smug, condescending, and containing what I’ve now learned is referred to as “intellectual dishonesty”, basically making something you say you’d support in one breath, sound like something you don’t in the other. (To read more about that idea, see Tom Hall’s IndieWire post - I do agree with the points he makes, but like many bloggers, he lets his anger veer him towards making statements that I don’t think are wholly fair. His points about the absurdity of calling Obama an elitist, however, are dead on!)
These are the things that I love about YouTube and the internet nowadays. Years ago, this type of material would’ve never really seen the light of day unless you saw it live. The commentators thought their mikes were turned off – but of course they weren’t. And so, the viewer was able to hear what they really thought about McCain’s choice of Palin as a running mate. And maybe it’s a bit of an insight into why the media has spent time on this – because in a way, aren’t they just voicing what a lot of people are thinking? Not believing whole-heartedly. But at least thinking, or questioning? And isn’t that part of the responsibility of the media – to reflect the conversation going on in America? When done admirably, the media’s role is to ask the questions we the American people would want to ask if we were there. I haven’t spoken to anyone, Democrat, Republican, or otherwise, who isn’t at least acknowledging the surprise choice, and some of the motives behind it. Even if you love Sarah Palin (and even myself, I find her to be terribly interesting, amusing, fun, competent, and formidable – even if I don’t agree with her politics) – you still have questions? The media is getting a lot of bashing in the past few days from the Republican right – who are saying they’re being too hard – sexist even – in their coverage of Palin. But as I suspect, what we’re seeing is just a measured level of what most of them are thinking. And this clip demonstrates that suspicion. Oh, and remember – these are Republican pundits speaking here – not liberal-leaning left-wing supposed media elitists.
Tags: election, nbc, palin, Politics, republican
Barack Obama gave one of the best speeches I’ve ever had the great fortune to hear on Thursday night. I believe it was truly an historic moment. There have been other great men, and other great speeches, and other great moments in history (many of which were before I was born or old enough to really remember) – and I think this will rank as one of them. From every standpoint, as an acceptance speech, as political rhetoric, and as a moment marked in time of moving forward as a nation – it was just about as perfect a speech as could be given. And whether you agree with Mr. Obama’s politics or not, the call that he puts out to all Americans – working TOGETHER – to each take our part in making America great – is one that crosses all political lines. May we all do a better job of being our “brother’s keeper” – and truly lead this nation into the 21st Century.
Michael is a film & TV producer, casting director, teacher, and actor, who lives and works in Los Angeles, California.
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