Saturday, October 04, 2008

Palin-mania

和 K 一樣,我是佩林的粉絲。就如在看肥皂戲一般,明知不堪入目,還是制止不了自己繼續追看下去。

週四晚的辯論,佩林表現得很好。有幾處明顯不明白問題的地方,她便背誦預備好的要點(從蘇丹說到阿拉斯加的儲備金;核武內容談不夠一分鐘,便扯回阿富汗),從善如流。佩林擠一擠鼻,眨一眨眼,再加上"maverick""hockey mom""darn right"等字眼,不認真聽內容的觀眾,可能還以為二人在唇槍舌劍呢。

這是她辯論中使用的流程圖:



Matt Damon 說,佩林的提名,是一齣很差的迪士尼電影。其實,迪士尼怎會放過這個精彩的劇本?預告片早已拍攝好了:



New Yorker 證實,佩林在她阿拉斯加家中,的確是看得見俄羅斯的。普京要小心了。



最後,不得不貼一貼 Tina Fey 這個 SNL 的經典:



請留意,Tina Fey 其中一段答案(倒數3:00 開始),和佩林現實中的回答,是 90% 相同的。可怕嗎?

12 comments:

  1. Palin tried her best ... to memorize all model answers (she even mentioned "kim jong il" - not only once but twice, this is something I did not expect). But, I just think people set the bar too low, and it should not be.

    If McCain gets elected, people better pray he's in good health.

    EA

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  2. Oh it was still a veritable trainwreck alright even though it was not as woeful as her Couric interviews, so I can't believe you characterised her performance in the debate as 從善如流! (Unless that Chinese phrase has changed its meaning since I last studied Chinese?) She mispronounced the Taliban as the "Talibani", called Senator Biden as "Senator O'Biden", blatantly refused to answer the moderator's question, gave a shout-out to third-graders in Wasilla as if she's on a radio phone-in show rather than at a vice-presidential debate, said human activities are attributable to climate change rather than the other way round, pronouced "nuclear" as "new-cue-lar" (even worse than Bush!).......OMG, the list goes on and on! (And as a straight women, her "cutesy" winks made me nauseous. But according to the CNN voter meter thingy, they scored really well with the men in their focus group!)

    Biden, on the contrary, acquitted himself really well despite stumbling over a couple of words due to his childhood stutter. He was way better than Obama in putting the case forward of the changes needed in the States and in the world. Really, I would have loved to see him at top of the ticket as he is displaying his true foreign policy cred and has a real sense of integrity, the latter of which I didn't really get from Obama (esp. not after his FISA and public financing reversals). The way I see it, Obama is lucky to have Biden agreed to be a running-mate, just like Bill Clinton was lucky to have Al Gore as his.

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  3. 昨晚的SNL更精彩, Tina Fey真是冇得頂。

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  4. Haha! Love that chart! So cute. :P I listened to it on the radio so I didn't see any her of winks. But gotta love Tina Fey. (I thought she left SNL?!)("30 Rock" is pretty funny but I don't watch much TV nowadays.)

    But honestly I thought she did okay, maybe due to low expectation. I was even surprised, "wow she knows how to answer that!" Haha! :P

    But, I think she did do herself some good through the debate. I'm sure there are people love her, isn't it that's what makes this country so great?! :P

    (Your Tina Fey video not work wor...)

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  5. EA : First thing first, let’s pray McCain won’t get elected. We will worry about Palin later, if we have to.

    snowdrops: Obviously, my sarcasm was lost in your realism. Let me say it out loud here: Palin was terrible in the debate!

    The whole 90-minute was incoherent segments of memorized paragraphs, stringed together by non-stop maverick-fest and gazillion of misplaced “also”. I still cannot understand the “Joe sixpack” coded word. Which idiotic focus group tells the McCain camp that characterizing their constituency as dimwitted drunkard is a winning strategy?

    I was particularly irritated by Palin’s homophobic “tolerance” remark. Gay people don’t need your tolerance, you maverick. You think it’s like tolerating your kid’s tantrum, but in our world, we ACCEPT people who are different.

    K : Last night’s Biden was dead on too (“John Mccain…as my mother would say, God loves him, but he’s a raging maniac!”, haha)

    I do agree with the conservatives that mainstream media has a liberal-bias, but I am not complaining. For some reason, mocking conservatives is so much more fun than mocking liberals. It’s a guilty pleasure.

    yun: I think it’s because you are relatively new to politics. Palin pivoted and avoided many of the questions. There’s no substance behind her ramblings.

    Yes, Tina Fey left SNL for 30 Rock. These are just guest appearances. Palin is a God-sent to SNL. I wonder if it alarmed anyone in the McCain camp before the VP pick that Palin so resembles Tina Fey!

    (The link is working now. It might be nbc.com's problem.)

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  7. 比起印像中的bush二號,palin的臺風優越得多,壓得場呀

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  8. Orangutan: This is a little off topic. But actually the more I think about it, the phrase "從善如流" is supposed to mean that one doesn't mind helping out others when being asked for a favour right? The other similar phrase also has "如流" but that refers to one's conversational skills ("Dui Dap 如流", sorry I can't type Chinese!). Please correct me if I'm wrong.

    Anyway, yeah I got your sarcasm, unfortunately I'm in automatic mad rant mode whenever somebody like Palin pretends to speak for women!

    Re: Joe six-pack. That code word is for those who'd still like to have a beer with Bush even after all these years!

    Yun: I agree that the expectations for Palin prior to the debate has indeed been set "historically low" (as per SNL). One has to wonder if the Republicans might be satisfied with a candidate who could merely stand upright as long as that person agree to toe their neocon line and could energise their ignorant base (I don't mean all Republicans are ignorant, just those 20% who still think Bush is doing a great job as Prez).

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  9. shiren: 台上的佩林,看來真的很有自信。但我覺得她太多擠眉弄眼的小動作,說話又語法混亂,詞不達意。

    snowdrops: I always think the phrase means “admitting one's own shortcoming and willing to follow good virtue." Honestly, I am not too sure either.

    Automatic mad rant mode? You will end up in an asylum just by watching news in this great U.S. of A!

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  10. New Yorker個封面直情冇得頂!

    本來較好了set top box錄palin vs biden的,但是壞了,最後錄不得,之後也沒有心機,重在電腦前重看整個辯論了,真可惜!

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  11. Okay I'm deeply, deeply embarrassed by my mistake over the phrase "從善如流"... I think your interpretation is correct actually after googling the term some more.

    It appears my grasp of the Chinese language is really not any better than Palin's grasp of her own mother tongue... And so I should really give Palin some slack over matters of semantics since I'm really not any better. Forgive me my mad rants previously.

    (And yes, quite honestly I don't think I'd survive in the States if I have to live there permanently now. But I did remember the Clinton years as being less anti-intellectual than nowadays. Or that may just be my rose-tinted glasses talking).

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  12. alex :係呀,我都特別買左一本留為紀念。

    snowdrops : things certainly have deteriorated beyond recognition over last few years. I am looking forward to an Obama presidency to remind people that intellect is still paramount.

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