Fiorina Outraged, Palin Entertained by Tina Fey on SNL

As Saturday Night Live veteran Tina Fey donned a red suit and updo to poke fun at vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, one of John McCain's most prominent backers found nothing funny about the sketch.

Fey, who left the show in 2006 for her own comedy show, 30 Rock, came back on Saturday to parody Palin, who bears a resemblance to the comedian. Fey appeared with Amy Poehler, impersonating Sen. Hillary Clinton, addressing female voters. Poehler and Fey recently starred in the comedy feature Baby Mama and used to cohost Weekend Update on SNL.

Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard CEO and McCain spokeswoman, called the sketch disrespectful and sexist on MSNBC on Monday.

"I think that, of course, the portrait was very dismissive of the substance of Sarah Palin, and so in that sense, they were defining Hillary Clinton as very substantive and Sarah Palin as totally superficial," she said. "I think that continues the line of argument that is disrespectful in the extreme, and yes, I would say, sexist in the sense that just because Sarah Palin has different views than Hillary Clinton does not mean that she lacks substance. She has a lot of substance."

Tracey Schmitt, a Palin spokeswoman, said the governor had no qualms about the sketch.

"She thought it was quite funny, particularly because she once dressed up as Tina Fey for Halloween," Schmitt said.

The faux address had Palin and Clinton talking about their differences, even though both women (in real life) have come close to the Oval Office.

"I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy," said Poehler as Clinton.

"And I can see Russia from my house," Fey, as Palin, replied. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)

Keywords: 2008 Election Hillary Rodham Clinton

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Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

Name: Mark Thomas
Date posted: 2008-09-16 1:23 PM
Hometown: Wappingers Falls

Comment:

Thank you "Saturday Night Live" for being the only place to find real news (and have a great laugh) on TV. Palin's remarks in the sketch were her real comments! If it wasn't so sad and frightening, I would still be laughing. I hope future sketches show Palin's anti-gay, anti-woman, fundamentalist Christian agenda, as well as her Troopergate firing of anyone on her Alaska staff who didn't agree with her then refusal (a la the Bush administration) to speak to the inquiry panel (the majority of whom are Republican). God help American if this vicious monster is president and appoints Supreme Court members. I assume the Log Cabin Republicans and angry Hillary fans will be the first to fry in the gas chambers.

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