John Laird: A most unlikely political savant

One of the most influential women in the presidential race frolics beyond the sisterhood, unattached to Sarah Palin, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Cindy McCain or Michelle Obama. Indeed, one of the most powerful women in this
historic election is a 38-year-old University of Virginia graduate, the wife of a musician named Jeff Richmond and the mother of a 3-year-old daughter named Alice.

How humbling it must be for the five aforementioned women to have to genuflect to this strange new high priestess of politics, who until recently had almost nothing to do with the run for the White House.

That woman’s name is Tina Fey. As of this writing, Fey had twice impersonated Palin on “Saturday Night Live” with spot-on accuracy, sparkling creativity and near-riotous hilarity. (A third impersonation might have occurred last night, after my deadline. If so, I’m guessing Fey’s new gimmick was mimicking Palin’s excessive, insufferable winking. What is it about winking women that troubles me so? Is it that society forbids me to wink back at them?)

A few weeks ago, the key question was, “Can Tina Fey be Sarah Palin?” The new question is, “Can Sarah Palin prove she’s not Tina Fey?”

Proving you’re not someone else is relatively easy, usually. But when your impersonator is televised and elicits nationwide laughter and thunderous applause, and when your handlers won’t let you appear on TV except in isolated cases, well, it’s probably not so easy to remedy this broadcast form of identity theft.

Accidents avoided

But Palin met that challenge in her Thursday debate with Joe Biden. Both performed much better than most Americans expected. Palin did not serve up a cornucopia of bloopers for Fey’s consumption. She would’ve been even more convincing if she had not failed to answer several questions. Responding to the query about what her real Achilles’ heel might be, Palin might as well have been reading from the St. Louis phone book.

And Biden was not the oratorical oaf that many had feared, thanks to the debate’s strict format that kept his answers terse and on topic. He even showed his human side near the end of the debate when he appeared to genuinely choke up while discussing the death of his first wife and daughter in an automobile accident.

In a next-day CNN poll, 51 percent said Biden fared better in the debate, to 36 percent for Palin. A CBS poll had it 46-21 in favor of Biden.

Blessed was the sparsity of mindless yammering in this debate about social issues. Except for a brief discussion of gay marriage, they stuck to issues that matter. There was no talk of evolution vs. creationism (why can’t we all just agree that evolution is real, and that God created it?) or abortion (some of us would still like to hear Palin explain why victims of rape and incest should be denied the right to choose an abortion).

Maybe it’s just the class clown in me, but it’s hard to watch these debates and not think of “Saturday Night Live.” You don’t have to stay up late on Saturday nights — or even record the shows — to see what I mean. Just visit nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live.

Palin’s sycophants fume that she is uniquely persecuted by the SNL skits, but the truth is, every politician who rises to any level of prominence will wander into these comedians’ crosshairs. In fact, some of the most vicious, yet guffaw-inducing SNL spoofs have skewered liberals: Just ask either of the Clintons. Smart politicians value this attention. They know that to be parodied is to fuel a potent force: name recognition.

Another great online source is thedailyshow.com, which streams videos from “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” You’ll howl at the surgical excoriation of the broadcast media, notably the “special” reports from the “senior” correspondents.

When the world of televised politics gets too serious or too gloomy, don’t give up. Just treat yourself to the therapeutic balm of laughter.

John Laird is The Columbian’s editorial page editor. His column of personal opinion appears on the View page each Sunday. Reach him at john.laird@columbian.com.