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Sarah Palin (view source)

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{{quote|"''What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick.''"|'''Sarah Palin'''}}
 
The former Governor of [[Alaska]], Sarah Palin was [[Ascended Extra|abruptly thrust]] onto the pop culture radar by becoming Republican presidential nominee John McCain's running mate during the 2008 United States presidential election against Democrats [[Barack Obama]] and Joe Biden. She was the second female vice-presidential candidate from a major party in US history (the first being Geraldine Ferraro in 1984), and the first from the Republican Party. In July of 2009, Palin [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|resigned her position as governor]] with 18 months remaining in her first term, one of the official reasons being saving the costs to the Alaskan budget of defending herself [[Frivolous Lawsuit|against detractors]]; said detractors have naturally offered a [[Money, Dear Boy|different explanation]]. Since then she has toured the country as a paid speaker and founded the conservative political action committee SarahPAC.
 
Unlike most politicians on the TV Tropes wiki, Sarah Palin isn't notable for her politics so much as her effect on pop culture. However, early on she was an asset to the McCain campaign, despite the apparent last-minute choice and lack of thorough vetting. She made a strong, well-received speech at the Republican convention and gave the McCain campaign a much-needed bump in the polls. However, when she was interviewed by Katie Couric of [[CBS]] Evening News (this was only Palin's third interview since being selected as running mate), she confounded viewers {{ with her incoherent answers}}. This ended up turning her into huge comedic fodder for programs like ''[[The Daily Show]]'', and this was cemented with a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch starring [[Tina Fey]] that parodied the interview... without even having to [[Quote Mine|change very much of the dialogue]].
 
From that point onwards, Palin's public persona has largely been defined, rightly or wrongly, by her [[So Bad ItsIt's Good]] [[Malaproper|absurd]] [[You Keep Using That Word|politispeak]]. Politicians in general are considered [[Acceptable Targets]], and the Couric interview turned Palin into a lightning rod for it. When she appears or is referenced in most fictional media, she will take on these traits largely [[Rule of Funny|because it's funny]]. There are shows out there which try to treat Palin as a more serious, dignified individual, but these simply don't have the same [[Popcultural Osmosis]] value largely because they just aren't as entertaining to most of the kind of people who would read [[This Wiki]]. It's a matter of contention rather she caused McCain's campaign to [[Take a Level In Badass]] by adding needed enthusiasm to it or if she was McCain's [[Poisonous Friend]] who hurt him with more people than helped.
 
Incidentally, anyone looking for a nuanced and balanced political discussion of Palin's influence in America is on the wrong wiki. Your typical Palin reference in most media will either involve Alaska, that she has a child with Down Syndrome, parodying her style of political speech (including the fact that [[American Accents|her accent]] sounds ''exactly'' like Marge Gunderson in ''[[Fargo]]''), her being more attractive than the typical politician, or some combination of the four. Her actual political value, as far as we can tell, has very little to do with these things.
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Some men who lean towards [[Meganekko]] have been pleased to see that since this woman who openly wears eyeglasses got so much coverage and so close to the vice presidency that the tendency of some western women to [[The Glasses Gotta Go|hide their need for eyeglasses behind contacts]] has abated just a little. {{}}
 
[[NamesName's the Same|No relation to]] [[Michael Palin (Creator)|Michael Palin]].
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=== [[Sarah Palin]] has been portrayed in: ===
* ''Real American Stories'' is probably the best known appearance Palin has in media that doesn't involve her being used as the clear butt of a joke. [[Irony|Ironically]], it's also fairly [[So OK Its Average|average]], with Palin only providing opening narration for stories that FOX already had kicking around the video archives for the past two years. Once people watching the show realized Palin's presence as host didn't automatically make it [[So Bad ItsIt's Good]], most stopped paying attention.
* Palin's most popular appearance in media is the aforementioned ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch (seen {{ here}}). It defined most of her character traits in media from the point it aired, to the extent the Couric interview did not. "I can see Russia from my house!" is from the sketch, not the interview, though the interview had her applying more-or-less the same logic to the foreign policy question (Alaska is the only state to border Russia).
* In an episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'', Chris dates a girl with Down Syndrome who briefly makes reference to her mother being the former governor of Alaska. Notable largely because when Palin herself found about this, she indignantly called it a "kick in the gut" to families with Down Syndrome in general, claiming it to be [[Dude, Not Funny]] material, and then tried to claim that she was defending the Down Syndromed actress who read the line. The actress who played the character, who is in her forties, {{ was nonplussed about this criticism}}, telling Palin to "get a sense of humor," and claimed she [[Don't You Dare Pity Me|didn't need anyone to stand up for her grown-ass self]].
** In an open letter the actress later wrote, she accused Sarah Palin of using her Down Syndrome son as a political prop that she carried around [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"like a loaf of French bread."]]
* [[The Midnight Beast]]'s {{ parody}} of [[Kesha]]'s "TiK ToK" uses Palin to play on the original's odd [[The Rolling Stones|Mick Jagger]] line:
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