On Monday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith played a clip of the latest Saturday Night Live skit mocking Sarah Palin and following the clip, co-host Julie Chen remarked: "Tina Fey has just so much material to work with, this is like, probably a dream come true for her." In May, Chen placed Hawaii in the Atlantic Ocean and it was not part of a comedy skit. Co-host Maggie Rodriguez chimed in: "Well that's why Lorne Michaels was able to lure her back after she left, and I have a feeling she's going to be coming back a lot." During the recent Emmy awards, Tina Fey remarked: "I want to be done playing this lady Nov. 5...So if anybody can help me be done playing this lady Nov. 5, that would be good for me."
Later, Smith played a clip of the first part of his interview with Sarah Palin’s parents, Chuck and Sally Heath. Chuck Heath said he thought Fey’s impersonation was funny: "They replayed that, and replayed that, and replayed that. I thought it was kind of cute, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Tina Fey did a good job." Smith began the interview by asking the Heaths: "What would you tell folks who would say 'I'm not -- I'm not so sure that Sarah Palin's ready to be vice president.' What would you tell them?" Chuck Heath replied: " She's ready to do anything she wants to be. And she's -- she perseveres, she works so hard. She learns so fast. Yeah. I worry about that at all. That's what I'll tell them, yeah. If you want some honesty, yeah, not a typical politician, get her, yeah." The second part of the interview will be aired on Tuesday and includes Palin’s parents reacting to media coverage of their daughter.
Here is the full transcript of the segment:
7:00AM TEASER:
JULIE CHEN: Palin on the hot seat as she readies for her debate. Some conservatives want Sarah Palin off the Republican ticket but in their first TV interview, Palin's parents defend their daughter.
HARRY SMITH: What would you tell them?
CHUCK HEATH: She's ready to do anything she wants to be.
7:01AM TEASER:
SMITH: We ran up to Wasilla. It's not exactly like, you know, going to Westchester county but -- we had a wonderful visit up there with Chuck and Sally Heath, that's Sarah Palin's parents. What a magnificent, majestic place to live and to raise a family. And they have some very interesting things to say about their daughter. We'll hear that in a little bit.
7:12AM TEASER:
RODRIGUEZ: Coming up in our next half hour, Harry's exclusive interview from Alaska with the parents of Sarah Palin.
7:15AM TEASER:
CHEN: Coming up next, what is Sarah Palin really like? We're going to ask her parents.
7:24AM TEASER:
SMITH: And just in case you didn't get a chance to stay up and watch 'Saturday Night Live,' Saturday night, take a look at this.
AMY POEHLER: You went to the U.N. for the first time, how was that experience?
TINA FEY: Oh, you know it was just amazing. So many interesting people, though, I have to say I was disheartened by how many of them were foreigners. I promise that when Senator McCain and I are elected, we're going to get those jobs back in American hands.
SMITH: Tina Fey again as Sarah Palin. Of course, in a parody of the interview with Katie Couric from last week, and which continues tonight, as a matter of fact on the 'Evening News.'
RODRIGUEZ: No kidding.
CHEN: Tina Fey has just so much material to work with, this is like, probably a dream come true for her.
RODRIGUEZ: Well that's why Lorne Michaels was able to lure her back after she left, and I have a feeling she's going to be coming back a lot.
SMITH: And still ahead, what Sarah Palin is really like. We're going to talk to her parents in our next half hour.
7:30AM SEGMENT:
HARRY SMITH: We want to talk a little bit as a preview, of course, Thursday is the big vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. Over the weekend I had the pleasure of meeting with Governor Palin's parents. It's morning in Alaska. Sarah Palin's parents, Chuck and Sally Heath, admire the majesty that surrounds their home.
SALLY HEATH: Every morning when the sun comes up, that's what's out there.
CHUCK HEATH: Well, someone says it's a good view but the mountain gets in the way. Yeah.
SMITH: It's a long way from Wasilla to Washington, D.C.
HEATH: I think our record is 11 moose at one time in our yard.
SMITH: Just right here in the yard?
HEATH: Right here in the yard.
SMITH: Just weeks ago, the Heath's third child, a self-proclaimed hockey mom and wildly popular governor of Alaska, was thrust into the national spotlight beside John McCain.
SARAH PALIN: Senator, I am honored to be chosen as your running mate.
SMITH: What would you tell folks who would say 'I'm not -- I'm not so sure that Sarah Palin's ready to be vice president.' What would you tell them?
CHUCK HEATH: She's ready to do anything she wants to be. And she's -- she perseveres, she works so hard. She learns so fast. Yeah. I worry about that at all. That's what I'll tell them, yeah. If you want some honesty, yeah, not a typical politician, get her, yeah.
SALLY HEATH: She's got that ability to relate to people. She's diplomatic, she can get her point across.
PALIN: My mom and dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town and among the many things I owe them is a simple lesson that I've learned that this is America and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity and my parents are here tonight.
SMITH: How did you feel when she stood up and gave her speech at the Republican convention?
CHUCK HEATH: We were very nervous, because there was a lot riding on that speech. And as we sat in the audience, I said something, and I usually don't get nervous before she talks and Sally says, 'remember, she's never let us down yet.'
SMITH: Of their four children, it was Sarah who always had a mind of her own.
HEATH: I could bend my other kids and have them do things and if she knew she was right, I had a hard time convincing her there was another way of doing it, but she was usually always right and could justify what she wanted to do, yeah. Very strong-willed and very hard-working.
SMITH: What is it like then now? Everybody's talking about Sarah Palin.
SALLY HEATH: Well, I hope the world gets to know the real person, because she is a remarkable girl.
SMITH: Whose achievements are immortalized on the walls of her parents' home. Miss Wasilla 1984?
CHUCK HEATH: 1984, Miss Wasilla. She won a few dollars for that. I wasn't really into the pageant thing, but she convinced me that, well it's worth a little money and it was, yeah. They made a spoof on 'Saturday Night Live.' I can see Russia from my house. I'm two miles from Russia right here [points to a photograph].
SMITH: Did you watch that 'Saturday Night Live'?
HEATH: I saw the tape. I know that, yeah.
SMITH: Yeah?
AMY POEHLER: I believe that diplomacy should be the cornerstone of any foreign policy.
TINA FEY: And I can see Russia from my house.
HEATH: They replayed that, and replayed that, and replayed that. I thought it was kind of cute, yeah, yeah. Yeah, Tina Fey did a good job.
SMITH: With three days until the debate, Palin's parents have no doubt she'll surprise even her harshest critics. What part of her personality, or her upbringing, is going to serve her best in all of this?
HEATH: Hard-working, perseverance, honesty, yeah, honesty. She won't fabricate things or exaggerate things. She'll tell it the way it is, yeah.
SMITH: We'll have more on that tomorrow.
—Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
They were all sure that the hand-out package would pass too.
September 29, 2008 - 14:23 ET by c5thenThe liberals are so caught up in their own little world that they really have no idea how far left of main-stream Americans they are.
They run their own little polls and talk only to each other and then they get blind sided by John and Sarah middle America and can't seem to figure it out.
The best comedy is based on truth.
September 29, 2008 - 14:37 ET by Mike BrattonThat's why the first time Fey did her impression of Gov. Palin there were a couple of actual laughs. However, it appears Tina's following the liberal tangent away from truth and toward the typical Democrat-First mindset.
Sad, too. Tina Fey is very, very talented.
--Mike
www.thebrattonreport...
Obvious SNL Target
September 29, 2008 - 14:39 ET by NotafraidIf SNL is looking for material, recent events demonstrate that Nancy Pelosi is a treasure trove. This women is so far over her head, she is no longer of this earth. The language she uses to try to explain her "logic" is uproariouly funny. It would write itself.
THE JOKES THAT SNL COULD PARODY
September 29, 2008 - 14:44 ET by MrShySNL has so much fodder -- gaffes, slip-ups, outrageous things said, ums & uhs & stumbles, funny looks -- to go after, of people like:
Obama
Biden
Pelosi
Frank (Barney)
... and a host of others who appear on my TV every day, who I watch and think "is this guy/woman serious??"....
But alas, no, they target Palin about 90% of the time, and then 10% devoted to Hillary who is now irrelevant in this election. Of course, most "parodies" of Obama (save the last one, perhaps) just parody his looks and keep the actual jokes somewhat neutral to politics in general.
NOW PLAYING:
Governor Palin Get Your Gun
Chen
September 29, 2008 - 14:43 ET by allanfChen's work on Big Brother was not exactly ground breaking. Is it possible her relationship with Les Moonves helped what would otherwise have been a lackluster career?
a true Fairness Doctrine
September 29, 2008 - 16:27 ET by wizardjrIf things were really fair then airheaded fluff balls like Chen would not make millions while accomplished public executives like Governor Palin would.
I like this...
September 29, 2008 - 16:31 ET by The DistributistI like this optimistic forecast from my friend at rightwingbob.com:
Source: Over-managed Palin should be looking to bust-out in debate ...1:24 pm
What’s going on with the governor? While the liberals delight and
rub their hands with anticipation, some conservative pundits are
already shifting to various shades of buyer’s remorse and
recrimination. Their opinion, of-course, is a whole lot less
significant than that of average American voters, who always seem to
make up their minds in presidential elections with a minimum of regard
for any gaffe-prone VP nominees.
As to what’s really happening with Sarah Palin, RWB is proud and excited to say that we have our own very real, bona-fide, genuine, no-kidding, secret source.
Bob Woodward eat your heart out. The source is someone who has worked
very closely with Governor Palin in the past, and remains connected.
From now on I’ll refer to this source as Lone Pilgrim. So, Lone Pilgrim
is clearly a supporter of Sarah Palin, but has not been terribly happy
with how the governor has been seen in the campaign so far. He agrees
with analysis that has appeared in this space to the effect that
instead of doing these taped interviews — and being set up for trouble
— Palin would have been better off doing a bunch of live interviews (I
would suggest on the morning shows). While he does not absolve her of
responsibility to better address some of the big issues of the
campaign, he does believe that she has been over-managed by some
Bush-related campaign people who have been running her show to date. He
also says this:
So, Palin knows that this is make or break, and she should be capable of much better, if not overly directed by these pros.
I see that Bill Kristol has a similar angle today in the Times.
He also says that McCain himself is unhappy with how things have been
handled and has sent his own chiefs to take charge and to “liberate
Palin to go on the offensive as a combative conservative.”
"Modern man is staggering and losing his balance because he is being pelted with little pieces of alleged fact which are native to the newspapers; and, if they turn out not to be facts, that is still more native to newspapers." -GKC