Word: palin
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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...Sarah Palin likes to position herself against the eggheads of the world, but she was on the receiving end of her own "I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here" comeuppance when she got in a public feud with the Fox animated sitcom Family Guy. In the Feb. 14 episode, the character Chris goes on a date with a young woman who has Down syndrome. When he asks her about her parents, she tells him, "My dad's an accountant, and my mom's the former governor of Alaska." Palin's 1-year-old son Trig has Down...
...Palin posted on Facebook that the scene was "another punch in the gut." This time, however, Palin's outrage prompted not an apology but a smackdown, from Andrea Fay Friedman, a Family Guy voice actress - who actually has Down. "My parents raised me to have a sense of humor," she said. "My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes." Ouch. Cartoon 1, Politician...
...Family Guy scene was a personal shot - but at Palin, not Trig. Friedman's character was assertive, intelligent and confident (and a young woman, not an infant boy). Palin seemed to be defending neither her son nor the disabled generally but herself, a public figure whom a cartoon had the temerity to poke fun at. (See the top 10 TV feuds...
...what's more important is the way Friedman bested her supposed defender: by beating her at her own game. As a public figure, Palin is the embodiment of the "I have Mr. McLuhan right here" argument, taking her authority not from policy papers or résumé credentials but from her biography...
...nearly every Administration action, reverting to the standard reflexive skepticism of the Washington press corps. The shared subtext is most dangerous of all: that perhaps the country elected someone who was all about hope and change but not, in fact, ability. It means real trouble for Obama when Sarah Palin can slyly inquire, "How's that hopey-changey thing working out for ya?" and even some liberals nod their heads knowingly...