Sarah Palin doesn't even seem like a real person anymore. Then again, maybe she was never portrayed as a real person to begin with.
No one heard of her until she became the vice presidential nominee for the Republican Party and she was introduced to us as a "hockey mom."
In the months since, she's become more and more like the Tina Fey impression, lipstick and all. Funny accent, pretty clothes and a penchant for shooting wolves and grizzly bears.
We've got a simplistic view of what she represents, an extremely good caricature, but, unfortunately, that's all we really have. Too many distractions, many of them based on the personalities of the candidates, have gotten in the way of what we're really supposed to vote on in a week-and-a-half.
It seems as if no one knows anything about John McCain's real stance on abortion, but everyone is aware of Sam the plumber's financial record.
We might not know what Barack Obama's exact plan for Iraq is, but we sure know that, according to Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, at least, he's probably anti-American.
Every election year, the joke is made that more people form their political opinions from watching shows like Saturday Night Live than they do from real news outlets. And it's really not that big of an exaggeration. Other satirical programs like The Daily Show pick up major steam this time of year, especially with the college crowd. And with this election season specifically, the jokes are writing themselves because of the personalities of each candidate.
McCain is seen as the old out-of-touch "maverick." Obama is the media darling looking to change things. Palin is the naive beauty queen who's just along for the ride. Joe Biden is the old Washington stalwart who's trying to not say anything stupid.
Right or wrong, most people are going to vote based on these impressions.
Take Thursday night's "Weekend Update Thursday" edition of SNL for example. Will Ferrell made a guest appearance for the episode's cold open with his spot-on impression of President Bush. This pop culture representation of Bush is the one Americans are probably most familiar with and, regardless of its actual authenticity, people associate the impression with the man himself.
Of course Fey showed up, too. After all, ratings are the big reason as to why SNL is being aired on primetime television. People are interested in the election and the show has a history of being relevant. The sketch was legitimately funny, don't get me wrong (unlike pretty much everything non-political the show has done in the last few years), but unlike past years, where the issues were at the forefront of the sketches, most of the jokes were based on things outside the campaign.
SNL isn't to blame for these distractions. It is, after all, a comedy show. But bringing in the real Palin for a guest appearance certainly doesn't help bring the important matters to the forefront.
Palin showing up at Studio 8H last week simply re-enforced the stereotypes that have been surrounding her ever since she came onto the scene. Fancy pageant walking, funky Eskimos and of course, a dead moose took center stage.
It's not be the job of comedy shows to tackle the issues of the economy and health care, but most people will turn there for information. Remember that it took until the third presidential debate to even get a feeling for what McCain and Obama were going to do if elected, and even that was after the distraction of Joe Six-Packs and Bill Ayers references.
So watch the comedy shows and enjoy them. Take them for what they are: entertainment. They really aren't designed to have you form your political opinions from them. Read as much as you can and try to make as informed a decision as possible.
This election is too important to be decided by the "gotcha media" and six-second sound bites. No joke.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
