When Tina Fey uttered those infamous words “I can see Russia from my house” on “Saturday Night Live,” the caricature of Sarah Palin was forever burned in viewers’ brains.
That imitation and one “lousy interview” with Katie Couric helped riddle the vice presidential candidate’s chances of being taken seriously by some constituencies, argues the Weekly Standard’s Matthew Continetti, whose new book, “The Persecution of Sarah Palin: How the Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star,” comes out next week.
“I think they were damaging,” he told Yeas & Nays. “People who watched ‘Saturday Night Live,’ they are not people who spend that much time thinking about politics otherwise.”
Continetti’s book, which comes out alongside Palin’s tome and several other Palin-inspired books, directly examines Palin’s treatment in the media and addresses some of the misconceptions that still plague the former governor of Alaska.
“I don’t think anyone watching her election last year was ready for the assault that was launched against her,” he said, adding that the McCain campaign seriously bungled Palin’s media strategy by giving out long, exclusive interviews with journalists like Couric and corralling the governor away from everybody else. “Palin said she was angry at Couric, she didn’t like her personally,” Continetti said, excusing away an interview in which Palin tripped over Supreme Court cases and was unable to name news sources that she liked to read. She was much more effective when she was allowed to talk with multiple news outlets, he offered.
While Continetti condemned how Palin has played out in the media, he still believes she will run for president in 2012. To do it, though, she may need to shed the image of being “far right,” as she was branded, in part because of the attack dog role she played as John McCain’s vice presidential candidate, Continetti said.
Instead of attacking Democrats such as President Obama, she may have to play nice as she did back in Alaska and show she can work alongside them.
“One task for her is to go back to that earlier playbook,” Continetti said.
Note: The Weekly Standard and The Washington Examiner are both owned by Clarity Media.
