The Presidential Debate: What SNL did do.

Well, I was completely wrong about what Saturday Night Live would mock about Friday's Presidential Debate

• My bracelet's better than your bracelet. Each actor wore a bracelet, but neither mentioned it.
  
• Obama cannot remember John McCain's name. Not mentioned.
  
• Obama gives intricate, detailed, boring answer on an issue and McCain still patronizingly claims Obama doesn't "understand" the issue. They hit this general idea, but addressed it differently. Instead of an overly professorial answer by Obama they had him complain about McCain once singing Bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran to the tune of Ba-ba-ba-ba-Barbara Ann. McCain then patronizingly explained who the Beach Boys are and what their "Barbara Ann" song is.
  
• McCain calling Obama and GW Bush stubborn. Not done.
  
• Miss Congeniality. Not mentioned, but McCain did explain how as a Maverick he spent the last eight years undermining his party and President Bush.
  
• McCain's Eisenhower letter story. Not mentioned.
  
• Ahmadinajad. Also not mentioned.
  

Of course, I was also wrong to hope that the debate sketch would be funny. As I had to do yesterday, the sketch writers painfully searched for elements of the debate to mock and came up with mediocre material. The funniest bit came at the end when the moderator thanked Hillary Clinton for showing up ready to step in, in case McCain decided not to come. Perhaps acknowledging the lameness of the sketch, director Lorne Michaels did not place it as the opening sketch of the show. That honor, went instead, to a much funnier send-up of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric. No surprise appearance by the real Palin, but there was this gem:

Every morning when Alaskans wake up one of the first things they do is see if there are any Russians hanging around… It’s our responsibility to say, ‘Shoo, get back over there!’

Click through to watch the actual Palin-Couric sketch as well as the Debate sketch via hulu.



Now compare with what Palin actually said during her real interview with Couric. Sometimes the comedy just writes itself:

Couric: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

Palin: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it's got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade -- we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.