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)
