This site can be pretty tough on today’s actors, so let’s give a little credit to those who speak the truth.
Which leads us to Alec Baldwin, of all people.
The character actor and star of NBC’s brilliant “30 Rock” was asked by CNN.com this week whether Tina Fey’s impression of Gov. Sarah Palin impacted the presidential election.
His answer was illuminating, but perhaps not in the way he intended.
“What Tina did, and so beautifully, was just underline what was already out there in the journalistic zeitgeist and on the record, which was the woman was not ready to be the vice president of the United States.”
Debate his closing statement if you will, but Fey’s impression did indeed align with the “journalistic zeitgeist,” the same JZ that ignored Sen. Biden’s many gaffes and heaped on whenver Gov. Palin misspoke.
(Photo: Film and television actor Alec Baldwin)
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Journalism pretty much died this past election, at least in the traditional media.
I hate to agree … but you’re right.
I wonder how many of those who hold governmental/political positions are qualified? They all prostituting People to American Corporations. Time for People to ask politicians to fully from whom and how much bribes/contributions they receive.
Funny how you lash out against the press for it’s perceived biases, yet you are completely blind against your own, which, you betray openly here for all to see. Perhaps it’s just as well you stay out of journalism altogether.
The difference between Palin’s gaffes and Biden’s gaffes were black & white – day & night. Biden’s gaffes while embarrassing were few and far between, and were often poorly worded – but the debates revealed that he commands an understanding of domestic and global politics that far exceeded Palin’s and arguably even McCain’s own expertise. This is irrefutable.
Palin’s gaffe’s were appalling, not so much in what she said, but in what she did not, could not, would not say.
This is a woman who on national television refused to answer the questions of the debate moderator.
This is a woman who was completely and utterly incapable of answering a rudimentary question like what newspapers do you read?
This is a woman who could not even answer a question regarding the Bush Doctrine.
No my friends, the qualitative substance (or lack thereof) of her answers revealed the nature of the beast. Not anything the media did. They did their job and we’re better off for it.
Baldwin’s words are clear. The journalistic zeitgeist that they honed in on with Tina Fey’s parody is that Sarah Palin was a lightweight, a caricature of a caricature. More flash than substance, and all the winkin’ and “you betchas” weren’t going to win her the Vice Presidency — the American people weren’t going to fall for that song and dance again.
I’ve been a journalist for more than a decade, BoP. Check out my About Me page … I generally write about entertainment and features, not politics. The blog format is better suited for opinion pieces.
Biden has a long and storied career of outrageous statements, plagiarism, racist statements (7-11 jokes??) and fumbles. Yet that was not the caricature the media trotted out … didn’t fit their template.
Thanks for checking out my site … disagreement is a healthy thing.
I really hate delving into this subject again…but…
BoP
There is no “Bush Doctrine”, it was a catch all phrase a reporter came up with to lump together different things Bush has done or supported. As time passed different media people used it and applied it to a variety of things regarding Bush. There never was an official “Bush”doctrine. Palin can’t answer a question about a media creation? Color me less than horrorified.
Palin refused to answer a debate moderators question,if think that’s somehow unique to her then you haven’t watched many politicians talk to reporters or participate in debates. The only difference between Palin and the rest is she was upfront about it.
Newspapers…perhaps Palin was expecting more relevent questions and was stupified at Couric’s assinine question. Ranks right up there with some kid asking Bill Clinton if he wore boxers or briefs.
When Palin entered the race the “journalists” went after every negative thing they could dig up, going not just after Palin but her minor children as well.
Over 70% of “journalists” admit to voting democrat. If you don’t think the media lost what little credibility they had left by stumping for Obama, don’t look to Palin as an example, look at what happened to Hillary.
I could go on for 30 pages or so but I’ll stop there except to suggest you rethink your analysis of Palin and her effect on the election. Most republicans were not happy with McCain, Palin energized his campaign and he was able to get a much higher turnout than if he’d picked someone else.
Opus — thanks for doing the heavy lifting on this one
“Biden’s gaffes while embarrassing were few and far between, and were often poorly worded”
Really? Then why was Biden more or less hidden from the press for the last 4 weeks of the campaign? Biden was a condescending disaster. Palin resonated with middle-class Americans NOT working for the government.
A little recent history for you pal:
Palin – not big into reading newspapers,
Biden – — thought that FDR was in office during the stock market crash of 1929, AND thought he went on TV to calm the nation
Palin – had a midwestern accent, was not ashamed of her femininity.
Biden – –in 2007 said of Obama “…you got the first mainstream African- American who is articulate and bright and clean and nice-looking..”
Palin – did not have a definition for “Bush Doctrine”,
Biden – promised a national crisis within 6 months if we elected Obama, and, when given a chance to back down on the statement, re-stated it most forcefully
Biden — in successive interviews after the Joe the Plumber incident kept lowering the minimum income figure for Obama’s graduated taxation plan,
…and the list goes on….
Strange, but I always thought that film critique involves an expression of personal opinion, so some bias is inevitable. In contrast, the major news media claims to be unbiased, yet demonstrated precisely the opposite this election cycle. The difference seems clear to everyone except BoP.
And the beat goes on, as the media now seems to have collectively sighed and said, “Why yes, the princess, anoint Caroline with Hilary’s Senate seat!” Obviously they are furiously attempting to determine her choice of champagne to go along with her caviar, qualifications be damned.
As for Biden, I’ll never forget that he kept crossing up which article in the Constitution defined the executive and which the legislative, and apparently couldn’t read the clear language that says the vice president presides over the Senate. The bit with FDR and TV was also priceless.
Bias is inevitable, but you fight the good fight. If I see a film that has a different political philosophy than my own, I damn well better judge it more on its quality than on its position.
Reporters should act the same way. Some do. Many don’t. Too many don’t bother to fake it.
It’s difficult to know where to begin. There is so much denial involved in these responses that it makes one wonder if any of you realize that McCain / Palin lost the election.
As I said, Biden most certainly had some gaffes, quite embarrassing ones too. I have not, nor have I ever, denied that.
But many of you talk as if all gaffes are created equal.
They aren’t.
It’s an exercise in denial or sheer desperation to suggest that Biden’s and Palin’s gaffes are qualitatively similar.
Biden’s gaffes can easily be categorized as poorly thought out statements that at worse should have been thought over before expressing them. (Tell me what politician isn’t guilty of this?)
Even Obama (Yes I’m admitting this) is guilty of this with his “spread the wealth” response to Joe the Plumber – we all know what he meant by it, but it was a clumsy response that should have been expressed differently.
These are off-the-cuff remarks that you detractors, blind to the short-comings of your own candidate (and his VP), need to inflate and beat on to try and make a point.
And of course, if the MSM doesn’t inflate and harp on these gaffes the way some of you do, then you fall back on the good ol’ media bias canard!
Moreover, some of have forgotten how Biden proved himself more than capable during his VP debate. Some of you no doubt watched intently, wringing your hands, waiting for Joe to slip up. Even Cokie Roberts underestimated him when she scoffed at his use of the word “Bozniaks” – which she (and many others) thought a glaring verbal fumble, when it fact it was a legitimate and very real term for Bosnian Muslims. Boy, did he prove you wrong!
Even Bvorka demonstrates this when they can’t get his or her facts straight — Biden was right about the Constitution when he mentioned Article I stating the VP is the President of the Senate (Article I – Section 3).
Palin on the other hand did NOTHING to combat her image problem (well, save for her appearance on SNL). She regressed deeper into her Alaskan country-yokel persona. Her political rallies descended further and further into hate rallies.
Opus, your defense that the Bush Doctrine is a media invention is inaccurate. It wasn’t just started by some reporter that snow-balled. The Bush Doctrine has and always has been very neatly defined.
As you can see, the White House’s own website, dated September 2002, lists the policy that is the very heart of the Bush Doctrine. However, the New York Times reported on it as early as June of 2002. There they report that the Bush administration is about to formalize a doctrine of pre-emptive strike. The first person to coin the term “Bush Doctrine” has been credited to Charles Krauthammer, who – after the Charlie Gibson interview – wrote a spirited defense of Governor Palin. A defense that was repudiated quite handily
Even McCain knew what it was.
So how can it be a media invention?
Opus illustrates my point perfectly: so many of you are convinced by this byzantine conspiracy of media bias that you have rendered yourselves incapable of seeing the truth for what it really is.
Surely, you say to yourselves, Sarah Palin cannot be this inept. What we’re seeing isn’t real! Something else must be behind it! MEDIA BIAS!
Of course every news organization has some bias to it, it would be naive to suggest otherwise. It is inevitable that certain things get more coverage due to the tastes and decisions of their editorial staff. But let’s not kid ourselves, the media didn’t have to “invent” anything to hurt Sarah Palin, she did plenty of that on her own.
I have no doubt that Sarah Palin is probably the reason McCain lost the election. She was a cynical choice based on attracting Hillary’s mythical 18 million votes, a decision that seemed to spit in the eye of better qualified Conservative female candidates. She definitely energized the base and the extreme-Right Wing but she scared away moderates in droves.
The sooner you accept this the sooner you can move on with the rest of your lives.