Katelynn McGinley
Staff Reporter
McCain camp not laughing over SNL skit
The now infamous Tina Fey/Amy Poehler skit on the September 13 opening of Saturday Night Live may have given the show its highest rated season premiere since 2002, but not everyone found Fey’s impersonation of Alaskan Governor and McCain running mate Sarah Palin to be quite so amusing.
Though Palin herself is reported to have watched the skit and found it entertaining- “particularly because she once dressed up as Tina Fey for Halloween,” ? Palin’s spokesperson told CBS, the McCain camp blasted the skit, which mocked Palin’s fundamentalist Christian religion (her take on Global Warming? “I think it’s just God hugging us closer,” said Fey’s Palin) and her lack of experience in foreign policy, as being “sexist” and “dismissive” of Palin as a serious political contender.
McCain advisor Carly Fiorina told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that the skit portrayed “Hillary Clinton as very substantive, and Sarah Palin as totally superficial.” Fiorina adds that “Just because Sarah Palin has different views than Hillary Clinton does not mean that she lacks substance.”
The media blasts from the McCain’s didn’t stop their either ? Cindy McCain also lashed out at the ladies of “The View” after she and husband John appeared on the daytime talk show the week prior. At the 119th annual Oakland County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner in Michigan, Mrs. McCain made it clear she disproved the treatment that they had received from hosts like Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Walters, claiming that “they picked our bones clean,” and adding that “that’s not what the American people are saying and what they are believing.” (AP)
Obama and McCain try to strike right cord with voters on critical abortion issue
Both Barack Obama and John McCain are toeing a thin line when it comes to the issue of abortion. The candidates are trying to reach out to a key voting group ? independents and moderates, particularly females in swing-voting suburban regions of crucial states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio.
The candidates’ have carefully targeted ad campaigns on the issues of abortion and stem-cell research, topics that both abortion rights advocates and opponents feel passionately about.
Obama calls out McCain for his conservative position on abortion, with ads that state McCain’s intention to overturn Roe v. Wade if he becomes President. He spreads his message through low-profile radio ads and campaign mailings, hoping to avoid being tagged as too liberal in his pro-choice beliefs.
McCain has been responding with radio commercials promising to support stem cell research to “unlock the mystery of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.” He does not mention that the research may be conducted with human embryos, which many anti-abortion Republicans oppose. He also does not publicize that his popular running mate, Sarah Palin, is more conservative than he is on both abortion and embryonic stem cells research. Palin has stated her strong opposition to abortion, and does not support stem-cell research.
Though cultural issues have thus far taken a back seat to the frail economy and the Iraq war, polls showing an extremely close White House race ? recent polls show McCain and Obama to be within two points of each other ? the candidates are doing what they can to sway every possible voter to their side.