Jon Stewart and Sarah Palin, a Study in Laughter and Contrasts

Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, with Sarah Palin (insert)

On Tuesday evening, January 18th 2011, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart did a marvelous send-up on the Daily Show justifiably lampooning Sarah Palin, Queen of Quit and Twit......er, Tweet for being a hypocrite and pseudo-martyr. 

Stewart continues his crusade for sanity that he began with his Washington D.C. rally last fall, (in contrast to Fox's Hannity) with grace and an exemplary measure of fairness rather than meanness, in a segment entitled 'Petty Woman' (a word play on the title 'Pretty Woman").


Palin is a hypocrite.  No one wants to silence her; she is free to spout whatever inconsistent drivel she likes to her base or anyone else.  And the rest of us are at liberty to laugh at her, and point to her fallacies and follies.

Stewart also points out how Palin is a coward, hiding behind one-sided and one-way communications, and getting other people, like the soft-ball question talking heads at Fakes News, and her associates like Mansour, to do her dirty work.  Palin never puts herself in the position of having to answer challenging questions with an intelligent, intellectually critical and informed interviewer.  Stewart has had many people on his program who are on the opposite side of an issue while on the opposite side of his desk.  He has had the other half of the Palin 2008 ticket, Senator John McCain on as a guest on more than one occasion. He recently interviewed Tim Pawlenty in a substantive and very sincere exchange. Stewart is consistently polite and courteous, witty and substantive, and  above all, conscientiously accurate and fair in his presentation of facts.


My all time favorite example of what Stewart can do, a master of combining the serious and well-prepared and well-informed, with being funny was the interview he did with CNBC personality Jim Cramer . Stewart coined the term 'roll 212', using it so effectively that it entered common usage.  Rolling 212 is where Stewart makes a point, and effectively supports that point with presenting the proof of his claim, usually a video clip.  To Stewart's credit, he takes pain to present fair clips accurately, not taking segments taken out of context, or contrived to deceive or misrepresent.

Stewart has used his send up of Palin to invite her to appear on his show instead of cravenly hiding behind one way or partisan media.  Doubtless, if Palin did so, the differences in their intellect and quick wit would favor Stewart, and not perhaps show Palin to the best advantage.  Intellect is not her strong suit.  But I don't believe that Stewart would egregiously exploit Palin's weakness and foibles, by rolling 212 clips.  His invitation to treat her well, including coming on his show with whatever reinforcements would give her courage to face Stewart is sincere.  Stewart would give a fair interview, not play 'gotcha' games; Stewart is genuinely a gentleman.

That would be resisting a heckuva temptation, on the part of Stewart and his staff.  There is an exceptionally large library of 'roll 212' type Palin footage.  That is because Palin habitually does unto others precisely what she accuses others of doing onto her, and then tries to make herself a pseudo-martyr out of it. Sarah Palin is a joke, but at least Stewart can make her funny.  Given the chance, Stewart could be a huge coup, if Palin has the chops to use the opportunity. 

President Obama did.

While the risk of having her weaknesses exposed might not have been a shrewd choice before, it is now.  Palin's reality tv show was just cancelled; her second book that she put her name on but did not write is not particularly successful; and Palin's approval ratings are at an all-time low by multiple measures.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin reached a new milestone Wednesday, and it wasn't a good one. Her unfavorability ratings have reached record highs, according to a recently-released CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll.
According to the survey, Palin's unfavorability rating stands at 56 percent, its highest ever, and up seven percentage points from a similar poll taken before the midterm election. Her favorability rating, on the other hand, currently stands at 36 percent, the survey finds, down two points since October.
Another recent poll brings similar bad news for Palin. Here's CNN's report on the USA Today/Gallup survey released earlier this week, which also broke new ground for the former vice presidential candidate in terms of poor numbers:

"According to the new USA TODAY/Gallup survey, Palin's favorability rating has dipped to 38 percent while her unfavorable now stands at 53 percent. Gallup reports the 38 percent is a new low when it comes to the percentage of Americans who give the former Alaska governor a thumbs up. The 53 percent who dislike Palin is also a new high in Gallup polling."

These numbers all come following the tragic shooting in Arizona earlier this month, which turned the eyes of some critics toward Palin's brand of politics, reproached by many as vitriolic and overly provocative. Palin responded to these claims with a lengthy address that was largely seen as overly defensive, personal and borderline offensive, especially given its use of the highly-charged phrase "blood libel." The former Alaska governor received low marks for her handling of the situation. [my emphasis added- DG]

An interview with Jon Stewart would be a gamble, but it would also be a tremendous opportunity - if Palin trusts her own abilities, and dares to come out from hiding behind her very unpresidential one-way methods of communication.  I'd love to see how brave she is with words and ideas for a change, instead of a gun or a club, and in dealing with an adversary who is a very smart man armed with information, instead of an unarmed elk or fish.  This is a golden opportunity, Ms. Palin, if you have the courage to seize it.