Fakin' Palin: Why Republicans Need To Wield A Little Humor

Why can’t I be like Tina Fey?

I’m just as smart, and almost as pretty. And I like working politics into my comedy. Yet there she was Sunday night, bowing before the adoring foreign press in a summer dress, while I’m at home, packing long underwear for a road trip into the heartland. While she’s polishing her new Golden Globes, I’ll be working a whiskey soaked nightclub, in a town too small to have a AAA ball club. So much for the road less traveled. And they say that it’s the Republicans, who are in it for the money.

Does anyone really think Tina Fey’s performance on ’30 Rock’ is that award worthy? Nobody ever watches it, unless they lost the remote, after ‘The Office’ is over. She didn’t get the awards for ’30 Rock,’ she got them because there isn’t an award for the Best Impersonation of a Republican Candidate. Or: Comedienne Most Responsible for an Obama Victory. Tina Fey is the darling of the Left right now, not as much for her comedic skills, as for putting a stop to the Sarah Palin phenomenon.

There was a huge groundswell when Sarah hit the national scene. She energized the Party in a way John McCain only dreamed of. Here was our Obama: a young, good looking enigmatic speaker, untainted by Washington. There’s something mighty attractive about a girl more familiar with moosemeat than pork. She looked great in flannel and jeans, and unlike all the other candidates, her outdoor gear had all the tags removed long ago. For a while it looked like she might run away with the grand prize.

But then Tina Fey came on the air one night, with her hair in an up-do, and talking like she was in Fargo. And it was over. It is still amazing to me, that an impression of a candidate could have such an impact, but I know it did. John Ziegler proved it, in his now famous Zogby Poll. The majority of Obama voters actually thought Sarah Palin really said she could see Russia from her house.

I have a friend up north, who was raised by hippie parents in the back of a school bus. She is now a proud graduate of the University of Minnesota, with a degree in women’s studies (and has been unemployable ever since).

I suggested that perhaps she might be encouraged by the nomination of Sarah Palin on the Republican ticket. That the Party of old white men actually nominated a Woman to run for the office of vice president. That a lot of Republicans I knew were wishing Sarah was at the top of the ticket. Certainly the choice of a woman should allow Feminists to swell with pride — another ceiling had been broken.

She laughed at me. “How could you vote for Sarah Palin? Don’t you watch Saturday Night Live? If you saw Tina Fey impersonate her, you’d understand how ridiculous it is to even suggest that she could ever be President. Did you see Tina Fey? I’m going to send you some links!”

And it was over. The Couric interview followed the first Fey impression, which led to an even more biting parody the following week. Were it not for Sarah Palin making an actual appearance on the show, I think they would still be riding that pony into the grave. If you recall, Saturday Night Live has a history of repeating a joke over and over, long after it stopped being funny. (Then they base a feature length film around it.)

It was probably the most brilliant moves of the entire campaign. Palin defused the joke by owning it. Unfortunately, it was too late. Because as much as I hate to admit it. The impression was funny. I am at the same time smitten and repulsed by Tin Fey. It reminds me of the line from ‘Dr. Strangelove,’ where George C. Scott, envious of a Russian bomb says “Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines.”

Because we need one.

Nobody outside of Rush Limbaugh is attacking the Democrats comedically. Hence, Democrat political figures seem serious, and almost anonymous. Certainly the Left is ripe for parody. The slow lisping cadence of Al Gore, the cartoonish voice of Barney Frank, or the arrogant stuttering President Elect are all characters begging for comedic attention. Today, politicians are defined by comedians. From the clumsy verbiage of George Bush, to the pageant airhead played by Fey, those impressions have become more real than the characters themselves.

Meanwhile, Obama is completely untouchable. The Late Night writers (who are mostly all Harvard alumni) are less than a week away from a new Administration, and still making fun of Governor Palin, and President Bush. They haven’t seemed this starved for material, since the airlines stopped serving food. Whether it’s fear of perceived racism, or simple idol worship, there have been few Obama jokes aired.

I don’t like that. Because a President you cannot make fun of, is not a President.

It is a dictator.