The Daily Show: Understanding Real America...from Wasilla, Alaska
By Nicole Belle Tuesday Oct 21, 2008 6:00pmWith all this talk of "real Americans" and the superiority of small town values, The Daily Show's Jason Jones went straight to the heart of these values -- Sarah Palin's hometown of Wasilla, Alaska.
A place where no means maybe; where strangers are just friends you haven’t thrown up on yet.
You can see more of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report at Indecision'08. And you can read Jon Stewart's clarification of his "F*ck you" to Sarah Palin at an appearance at Northeastern University at HuffPo.
[Note from Dave: I was present, observing in the back, while Jones was interviewing customers at the Mug Shot Saloon in Wasilla. (You can see some of it in the unfortunately brief video I made of my time in the Mug Shot here.) Most of the interviewees, I think, were alternately excited and amused at the idea of being national TV. Considering that they were some of Palin's biggest fans, I suspect they were about as amused at the outcome as Mark Chryson was.)
Login or Register to post comments.
A well placed Fuck You to Gov Palin would not be misplaced.
Obama is a:
Socialist
Terrorist supporter/sympathizer
Baby killer
Yeah, Fuck You is appropriate.
MsJoanne pretty much summed up my sentiments to a "T".....thanks!!! :)
You're most welcome!
Jon heard you!
He 'clarifies' his 'fuck you' to Plain
I love this guy...he really calls their bullshit in ways others cannot.
Thanks for the clip!!
Thanks, MsJoanne, for providing the Liars part of Crooks and Liars.
Hooray for "real" Americans!
Christ i need some sleep to calibrate my brain.
from small town mentality.
sure did work hard for Wasilla. Tues. staff meeting and Thurs. check signing day.
Whew! No wonder she got paid so much!
Please don't add Comedy Central links... they never work unless you're in America, and I hate country based links. I'm from Canada and I go to C&L's for my fill...
J
They just work fine in old europe.
It depends on the country. If the country gets the Comedy Central shows then the links will not work. Otherwise, they work fine.
I don't get Comedy Central shows here in Japan, but I could see the video just fine.
If you go to thecomedynetwork.ca you can find all the Daily Show video. Ya I know, it's not as easy as clicking the link, but you can watch it there.
Pretty hilarious watching the mayor try to tell us what the mayor of Wasilla does. Staff meetings and sign the checks, pretty much.
ABC has an new investigative report from AP just out on Ms. Palin. It seems she went back and "amended" some expense reports, where she charged the state for her childrens' travel expenses, after reporters in Alaska asked to see the reports. It also appears that she wasn't justified, in many cases, in making the state pay for those expenses.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Decision2008/w...
And so was his report, from the guy with the XXX-rated tattoos (Christian town, that Wasilla) to the mayor who couldn't exactly say what she did apart from a weekly meeting and a weekly check-signing. Then there was the tacky boulevard filled with big box stores and fast food joints found in any town in America. How special.
Too bad the segment aired too early to include any reaction to the hometown gal's $150,000 wardrobe bought mostly in St. Louis, New York and Minneapolis, big cities all. Does that mean her clothes were not pro-American?
McCain's best days are behind him. RETIRE already!
http://www.americablog.com/2008/10/mccain-thi...
Strike four for Palin on V.P. description
Oct. 21: In a special Campaign Comment, Keith Olbermann is irate at Sarah Palin's inability to answer correctly a third grader's question about the job of the Vice President of the United States -this being her fourth wrong answer since July.
From some of those who were interviewed, it appears they have been plucking some of their "citizens" from some of the lower parts of the other states!!! Are those people for real??? OMG
Hey now, be careful. Rednecks are not just exclusive to the South. That may be the common stereotype, but you'll find them spread out all over America, just like you'll find Obama supporters spread out all over America.
Palin’s ‘Contributions’ To Women: Establishes a New ‘Crack in the Wooden Floor’
I like the Christian guy with the tattoos of his ex wife spreading them, and the women he was cheating with... Real Fucken America
:<[)
Small town fucking strip mall. If Falin is so keen on small towns how come this place looks like a sleazy joint with all those big box stores? Where's the "small town"?
That was funny! I thought the Mayor of Wasilla was a plant.
But then again, I thought Sarah Palin for Vice President was a joke.
Interviewing a plant would have probably been more intellectual..:)
Nothing says "small town family values" like sleazy shit-hole bars and big-box stores with more parking spaces than the town has residents...
small minds.
The Republicans have not merely destabilized the world, ruined the American and global economies, and old fashioned racism. No, as that imbecilic mayor demonstrates, they have managed to teach a healthy portion of Americans that runnin' a guv'mint ain't hard if ya just use yer comm'n sense.
In fact, I think the way in which they've instilled confidence and certainty in the ignorant and stupid, through the rhetoric of faith and making "elite" a dirty word, is the most dangerous thing they've done. They've empowered those morons you knew in high school who figured they could so easily whoop the hides of any foreigner in a war by just dropping the big one to run for office and steal elections.
Welcome to Know Knothing Knation.
Excuse me?
I'll defend the GOP on that statement. In no way have the Republicans ruined old fashioned racism. It's in good shape thanks to them.
Don't blame them for everything.
SwingingJohnson:
Ha! Why, I do believe I left out the word "revived." I guess it's too late for me to edit it. :)
Be sure to check out the movie Idiocracy. The more I look at this kind of stuff, the more I think we're doomed to the future outlined in the movie -- where the smartest guy on the planet has the IQ of a mushroom.
For what it's worth (and as an alumnus) - I have to correct one little detail on this post. He said f*ck you to Palin at Northeastern University, in Boston. He appeared at NU's Matthews Arena on Friday evening.
It's the liberal "Big Ten" elitist in me...I autotyped Northwestern.
Hey, this Liberal Taxachusetts resident is quick to forgive. We get that an awful lot, as you might expect.
Did martians take over Alaska and the rest of us in the lower 48 and Hawaii miss it? Damn.
anybody have an alternative link?
the comedy central links never work for me
I saw this last night and couldn't stop laughing. Jon Stewart is so great.
Thanks for putting up the video!
The other segment last night also was hilarious.
Someone should pick up on Michelle Bachmann's interview with WCCO TV on Sunday. She lies; she is incredibly insane. She denied calling Obama "anti-American." She said it was "mis-read."
That witch also said that Obama wants to enact a climate change tax that will cost us "40 trillion dollars." No, I'm not making that up.
http://wcco.com/election/michele.bachmann.oba...
There is something horribly, horribly wrong with this woman's brain.
Sounds like Palin's non-apology apology for her comments about Real America.
"I don't want that misunderstood," Palin said. "If that's the way it came across, I apologize."
For the love of God, how is a comment like that supposed to come across? You talk about a "Real America," you're inferring that there is a "Fake America" to compare it against.
Are there any black people in Alaska? Glad I was born and raised in southern California, we got all colors down here. I’m afraid if I when to Alaska, I’d go snow blind! :-)
Anchorage has a pretty substantial black population. If I remember correctly, that city's Republican mayor was at the DNC endorsing Obama.
haha.. jones is the master at giving people more than enough rope to hang themselves.. man i was peeing myself..
That was funny and rather poignant, albeit unintentional perhaps, but it made me laugh and it angered me as well... It's non wonder that Palin's "small town" rhetoric sounds false.
I was horribly uncomfortable watching that and knowing that there is a large number of people out there who think and act exactly like that, and who believe that this is not only okay, but is the way "Real America" should act.
Still was hilarious as hell, of course.
I know I'm in the minority here, but making fun of small town people to show how smart and superior we are is, to me, similarly divisive and I don't find these things a bit amusing. There are better ways to do this. Videoing people with misinformed or even reprehensible views at the Palin rallies, I say keep up the good work. Saying a big f&@# all ya'll to Palin, Robin Hayes and the other McCarthyites, I'm down with that. Taking advantage of possibly drunken, seemingly less educated people in a bar for the amusement of us "sophisticates," I'm not so down with. (The mayor, a public official, was fair game though, but my criticism stands.) Combating divisiveness with more divisiveness is not helpful and opens our side up to charges of hypocrisy. Further, it is not what I believe Mr. Obama stands for as a candidate.
This level of ignorance can be found in many places, not just small towns. It seems to be more a function of limited exposure to anything other than that which immediately surrounds them. You can find it in the inner cities. You can find it in suburbs near big cities. And of course you can find it in the Wasillas of the world.
I would rather combat ignorance by expanding economic opportunities. Better to offer them a viable alternative that could help them, Obama for example, then insult them and drive them to McCain/Palin. The Palins of the world would rather celebrate the ignorant instead of doing anything meaningful to help them improve their circumstances.
This isn't making fun of small town people; it's exposing small minded people who happen to live in a small town. These people are willfully ignorant. It doesn't matter how much econmomic opportunity or exposure to the truth they are provided, they will still be happy to wallow in their ignorance and prejudices and to have their vacuity exploited by the GOP, the party of hate and divisiveness. They insult themselves; we are merely amused spectators.
I was going to say this was an excellent piece by Jones, and I still think it was well done for what it is, but this is a fair point.
To be clear, I was referring to Timothy's point.
Here are the official duties of the Wasilla mayor:
http://ingeniose.blogspot.com/2008/09/mayoral...
The Wasilla, Alaska Municipal Code stipulates that the only qualifications of the mayor are that he or she be a qualified city voter and a resident for one year prior to the election. The code also asserts that the mayor's power and responsibilities are equal to those of the city manager. Additionally, in small town style government, the mayor also holds less power and influence than the city or town council.
So, they hired a city administrator when Palin was mayor. What was the mayor's function then.
The people interviewed on this piece are a bunch of fucking idiots.
How else would Palin have been elected governor.
There was an article in the Anchorage paper this past weekend, questioning whether Palin was going to be good or bad for Alaska with regards to their image and tourism.
All Alaskans just CAN'T be that backward...surely there are a few modern humans there.
As for the article...Here's my two cents...I will NEVER EVER EVER, NEVER EVER, got to Alaska for ANY reason whatsoever, now that Palin has shown her true colors as have her Alaskan supporters...seriously, if that's the kind of person that populates Alaska...fuck 'em! They can all secede, and kiss my poor, white ass!
This was one of the best Daily Show episodes ever. John was obviously outraged by all of the anti-American comments and he let them have it but good. Exposing Palin and her minions in Wasilla was especially amusing, but the "Fuck all y'all", well that was priceless and a great ending to the show.
A must watch!
I have had no luck at all trying to view the videos that some in that Comedy Central plugin. I've tried IE and Firefox and went straight to their site, but the plugin never seems to deliver. Anyone else have this problem?
Sometimes they do not make their videos available until later in the day.
What The Pfot?
http://www.dailykos.com/main/2
About 1/3 of the way down the page, from yesterday's Daily Kos.
Enjoy!
Witnessing yet another Miss Marjie intellectually terrorizing interview on CNN who STILL cannot figure out what a VP does while talking to the entire world as if we're 3 year olds
- I can't figure out if I'm more ashamed because she's allowed out in public without a leash or that the entire world is watching us let someone with such intellectually terrorizing constipation get anywhere near those daily refreshed secret codes for the mushroom cloud toys.
The horror, the horror
Being from Alaska, I can tell you that most of the rest of the State has contempt for Wasilla.
Palin won her party's nomination for Governor because the previous Republican Governor was HORRIBLE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0cFWg6wtTI
And in this State Republicans almost always win, unless they are terribly inept.
Anyway, what makes this video even funnier to me is that not being from here, Stewart and Jones don't even know how right they are. They made an inside joke.....accidentally.
Login or Register to post comments.