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See? SHE'S SMILING

"What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick."

Sarah Louise Palin (née Heath, born February 11, 1964) is an American politician who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until 2009.

A former high school basketball star and beauty queen (she took third in the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant, and was voted Miss Congeniality), Palin briefly worked as a sports journalist before focusing on politics. She was elected to the Wasilla, Alaska city council in 1992 at age 28, became mayor four years later, served two terms, then was appointed to the cabinet of Governor Frank Murkowski in 2002. In 2006 she crushed the embattled Murkowski in the Republican primary and became the youngest governor in Alaska's history (at age 42) after winning a tight race against former governor Tony Knowles

In 2008, she was abruptly thrust onto the pop culture radar after Republican presidential nominee John McCain chose her as his vice presidential running mate against Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden. She was the second female vice presidential nominee of a major party in U.S. history (the first being Democrat Geraldine Ferraro in 1984), and the first of the Republican Party. In July 2009, Palin resigned her position as governor with 18 months remaining in her first term, one of the official reasons being saving the costs to the Alaskan budget of defending herself against detractors; said detractors have naturally offered a different explanation. Since then she has toured the country as a paid speaker and founded the conservative political action committee SarahPAC. She was for a while considered the likely frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, but ultimately declined to run, likely because polls showed that, while she was still popular among the Republican grassroots and would have stood a decent (though by no means certain) chance of clinching the nomination, she would have faired poorly against Obama in the general election.

Unlike most politicians on the TV Tropes wiki, Sarah Palin isn't notable for her politics so much as her effect on pop culture. When she entered the public stage as John McCain's running mate, she was a surprise pick and a virtual unknown,note  her major league political experience amounting to two years as governor of the nation's most sparsely populated state. The reason for her nomination stemmed from her strongly conservative viewsnote , her agenote , and her gendernote . This gamble appeared to pay of when she energized the base with a strong, well-received speech at the Republican convention. Her charisma gave the McCain campaign a much-needed bump in the polls. However, when she was interviewed by Katie Couric of CBS Evening News (this was only Palin's third interview since being selected as running mate), she confounded viewers with her disorganized answers. Entertainment and political humor programs like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart instantly took notice, presenting Palin as an earnest but somewhat incoherent hick swimming in a situation far over her head. Her comic persona was cemented with a Saturday Night Live sketch starring Tina Fey that parodied the interview... without even having to change very much of the dialogue.

From that point onward, Palin's public persona has largely been defined, rightly or wrongly, by her So Bad, It's Good absurd politispeak. Politicians in general are considered targets of mockery, and the Couric interview turned Palin into a lightning rod for it. When she appears or is mentioned in most fictional media, she will take on these traits largely because it's funny. Incidentally, her popular culture portrayal reached an extent that lines Tina Fey would say while impersonating Sarah Palin would be taken out of context and attributed to Palin as though she herself said them.

There are shows out there which try to treat Palin as a more serious, dignified individual, but these simply don't have the same Popcultural Osmosis value largely because they just aren't as entertaining to most of the kind of people who would read This Very Wiki. As for studies on her role in politics and American history, the main debate will probably be whether she were the youthful and energetic shot in the arm that McCain's campaign needed or McCain's load whose popularity and fanbase came at the expense of his own. The years since have seen some comparisons with Barry Goldwater's presidential run in 1964, in that while both Palin and Goldwater were parts of heavily-derided presidential tickets that suffered landslide defeats, they nonetheless served to shift the Republican Party more towards populist conservatism and set the stage for future presidential tickets that were more electorally successful (Richard Nixon and especially Ronald Reagan in Goldwater's case, Donald Trump in Palin's). On McCain's part, he came to regret the decision to pick her as his running mate by the time he died in August 2018. He saw her as too inexperienced and felt like he had been pressured into picking her. He had initially wanted his good friend Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, but had to back down under threat of a right wing revolt because Lieberman had been a Democrat until two years prior. Palin wasn't invited to McCain's funeral.

In 2022, Palin made her first run for public office since 2008 when she ran in the special and general election for Alaska's single, at-large congressional seat after Don Young, who had held the seat since 1973 and was the Dean of the House of Representativesnote , died on March 18, 2022. She lost to Democrat Mary Peltola in both elections.

Needless to say, anyone looking for a nuanced and balanced political discussion of Palin's influence in America is on the wrong wiki. Portrayals (or parodies) of Palin in modern media typically hit on at least one of these notes: being from small-town Alaska, with all of the provincialism this implies; a love of hunting, guns, and the outdoors; being the mother of a child with Down Syndrome; speaking with an energetic-if-idiosyncratic style with many neologisms (and in an accent that sounds exactly like Marge Gunderson in Fargo); and being more attractive than the average politician, maybe even mentioning that she participated in beauty pageants.note  Her actual political value, as far as we can tell, has very little to do with these things.

Note: Palin's much remarked-upon accent and speech style isn't actually an "Alaskan accent"; people from Alaska don't generally talk that way. Rather, Palin's parents were from Idaho, and her speech patterns are actually an Idaho accent/syntax - understandably, therefore, her speech sounds like what the actors were affecting for a movie set in Fargo, North Dakota simply because it is another Northern Great Plains state in the same general region of the country.

As just a few moments' worth of internet research can handily show, Palin has detractors white-hot enough to be seen from space, yet it seems just as many people love her — possibly because she can make left-wingers froth at the mouth without even trying. So please, for the love of God, when discussing her, think before you edit.

The Popcultural Osmosis does not seem to be slowing down either, as a reality show about Alaska starred Palin and was TLC's highest-rated premiere. Unfortunately, it was not renewed for a second season.

No relation to Michael Palin (though John Cleese said she replaced him as "the funniest Palin"). Or Bayonetta, despite the resemblance...


Sarah Palin has been portrayed in:

    open/close all folders 

    Comic Books 

    Film 

    Literature 

    Live-Action TV 
  • Real American Stories is probably the best known appearance Palin has in media that doesn't involve her being used as the clear butt of a joke. Ironically, it's also fairly average, with Palin only providing opening narration for stories that FOX already had kicking around the video archives for the past two years. Once people watching the show realized Palin's presence as host didn't automatically make it So Bad, It's Good, most stopped paying attention.
  • Palin's most popular appearance in media is the aforementioned Saturday Night Live sketch. It defined most of her character traits in media from the point it aired, and Popcultural Osmosis has taken it so thoroughly to heart that some of the scripted lines (spoken by Tina Fey) are assumed to be Palin's real responses in the Couric interview, particularly "I can see Russia from my house!"note 
  • She hosted a travelogue called Sarah Palin's Alaska, broadcast on TLC.
  • In a Deleted Scene from the Parks and Recreation episode "The Camel", Tom gives Leslie a copy of Sarah Palin's Going Rogue. Leslie becomes excited when she finds out that she herself is mentioned in the book (the show explains that Palin briefly met Leslie while on the campaign trail) and described in glowing terms. However, when the page goes on to talk about Tom being incredibly sexy, Leslie realizes that it's a prank.
  • In Supernatural's Bad Future, she is President, and apparently decided to bomb Houston.
  • She appears in Iditarod: The Toughest Race on Earth, because at the time she was still the governor of Alaska and overseeing the ceremonial start of the 2008 Iditarod. Rather unusually, this was before she became famous across the country.
  • Bruce Willis appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman in November 2008 dressed as Palin while plugging his new movie What Just Happened. According to DDY's Late Show Fan Page, the skit "has the stagehands bring out his turkey cooker. It isn't long before he has the Salmonella-ridden turkey carcass on Dave's desk, pulling out an assortment of wacky items from where the guts were once located" (interestingly, no video of the sketch is available but is alluded to as having taken place by Letterman following the commercial break and before musical guest Sia sings Soon We'll Be Found.).
  • Another pre-fame appearance: In June 2007, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson had an ongoing bit where Craig Ferguson asked U.S. state governors to declare him an "honorary citizen" of their state. On June 22, he aired a pre-recorded video response from Governor Palin, who granted Craig's request while extolling everything her state had to offer. Craig's first thought?
    Craig: Is it just me, or do you get a kind of naughty librarian vibe from the Governor?
  • Late Night with Conan O'Brien did a skit as part of its ongoing NCAA Football Mascots characters gag with a young Ellie Kemper as Palin fighting an actor playing Biden (The George Washington University Sarah Palin vs. Joe Biden Drunken Bar Fight aired on September 11, 2008).
  • Palin appeared as a contestant on The Masked Singer dressed like a bear.

    Music 
  • The Midnight Beast's parody of Kesha's "TiK ToK" uses Palin to play on the original's odd Mick Jagger line:
    Stefan: Now the girls are lining up because we're pussy sailin' / But we punch them in the mouth if they're not Sarah Palin"
  • Tom Chapin (Harry Chapin's brother) wrote a song about her, called "Go Away, Sarah Palin". As it can be guessed from the title, it's not positive.
  • Palin appeared in bed with Eminem in the music video of his 2009 song "We Made You", again played by Lisa Ann from the porn spoof Nailin' Palin.
  • Palin is referenced in Chris Brown's "Till I Die" song with the line "Sippin and I'm faded / Super medicated / Said she wanna check the poll / I said ok Sarah Palin!" and the music video features Kreayshawn as a stripper version of Palin in an office setting.
    • The verse is likely a reference to Palin's line "Polls are for strippers and cross-country skiers" first delivered at a September 2011 rally speech (half a year before "Till I Die" was released) and which she would continuously repeat as late as 2016 on The O'Reilly Factor.

    Professional Wrestling 
  • TNA had at one point a Knockout who was a Sarah Palin impersonator, called The Governor. She was played by Shannon Claire Spruill aka Daffney Unger. She debuted in a story arc where Angelina Love and Velvet Sky tried to win her favor, believing she was the real Sarah Palin. Eventually, The Governor, Taylor Wilde, and Roxxi Laveaux ambushed the two and beat them up, mocking them for thinking she was actually Sarah Palin.

    Video Games 
  • Mercenaries 2 had DLC that enabled Palin as a playable character, along with Barack Obama.
  • NBA Jam allows both her and Barack Obama as playable characters, keeping with tradition.
  • Plague Inc.: If the American president has to stand down due to ill-health and if The Plague has the insanity symptom, Spalin will be elected to the take the office. Spalin with then threaten Russia or China with nuclear war depending on the symptoms that the disease has, claiming that it is a bio-weapon of their creation. If the military generals are paralyzed from the disease, Spalin will carry through on the threat and kill everyone in that country.
  • An expy of her shows up in Saints Row: The Third as Senator Monica Hughes. She sets the army on street gangs, but is not prepared to go as far as they would like until The Dragon stages a terrorist attack, where she will either call them off or authorize the Daedalus which is used in a bid to destroy the entire city.
  • In Dead Rising 3, Sonya Paddock, the President of the United States, resembles and is meant to be a parody of Palin.

    Webcomics 
  • Sinfest included a long story arc involving Squigley wearing a beehive hairdo and running for Vice President, calling himself Sarah Piglin.
  • Appears from time to time as The Rival to Robin DeSantos in Shortpacked!. Their rivalry came to a head when Robin shoved Faz up Palin's ass.
  • In The Unspeakable Vault (of Doom) both presidential candidates of 2008 are the Great Old Ones in disguise (Obama is Nyarly (Nyarlathotep), while McCain is Cthulhoo (guess...)). Sarah Palin is a Shoggie (negative-IQ shoggoth Expy) in a wig.

    Web Original 
  • In Kickassia, when The Nostalgia Chick becomes the Vice President of the titular nation, she starts to dress and talk in a style parodying Palin.
  • CollegeHumor has a video where her running for vice president is just a Disney movie of a hockey mom (played by Liz Cackowski) becoming president called "Head of Skate," ending with a hockey match between her and Vladimir Putin. This came from an interview where Matt Damon slammed her "hockey mom" persona, saying that her whole story (typical suburban wife and mother sliding up the political ladder to president) sounded like the plot of a bad Disney movie.
  • Epic Rap Battles of History pits her (played by Lisa Donovan aka LisaNova) against Lady Gaga. Her representation is more or less accurate to her real life self rather than any parody, though a lot of the points mentioned up above about her usual portrayal are referenced.
  • Jill-Michele Melean (of MADtv fame) filmed a web comedy skit for the (now defunct) Stop It Show with Shawn Pelofsky titled Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin Phone Sex (Acting for Two as both Palin and Bachmann) - which is exactly what it sounds like ... with a much younger actor showing up at the end as Texas Governor (and then-Presidential candidate) Rick Perry to join in for good measure.
  • The Nostalgia Critic opened his review of the film Alaska with "Sarah Palin is stupid. There, I got my Sarah Palin joke out of the way, let's talk about Alaska."
  • P. Diddy attained newfound celebrity during the 2008 Presidential election by uploading more than 30 Vlogs - or "Diddy Blogs" - to his BadBoyRecords YouTube channel, several of them reacting to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin for his running mate ("McCain is Buggin' the F*** Out!"). Diddy Blog Post #24- in response to Palin's infamous Katie Couric interview - had the rapper crouched under a blanket in a dark room with a flashlight under his face (parodying The Blair Witch Project), whispering "She scares me..." into the camera ("Boys and girls — Did you hear her? Did you hear?! John McCain is 72! Sarah Palin could be the President!"). The Vlogs went the 2000s version of viral, and even scored a mention in Time Magazine.

    Western Animation 
  • In an episode of Family Guy, Chris dates a girl with Down Syndrome who briefly makes reference to her mother being the former governor of Alaska. Notable largely because when Palin herself found about this, she indignantly called it a "kick in the gut" to families with Down Syndrome in general, claiming it to be offensive material, and then tried to claim that she was defending the Down Syndromed actress who read the line. The actress who played the character, who is in her forties, was nonplussed about this criticism, telling Palin to "get a sense of humor," and claimed she didn't need anyone to stand up for her grown-ass self. In an open letter the actress later wrote, she accused Sarah Palin of using her Down Syndrome son as a political prop that she carried around "like a loaf of French bread."
  • In an episode of South Park, it is revealed that her quirky image is actually all an act, and that she is actually a brilliant British catsuit-clad jewel thief taking part in an unspeakably elaborate heist, along with McCain and Obama.
  • In a (non-canon) Christmas Episode of American Dad! Palin winds up adopting the Antichrist.

    Unsorted 
  • And of course, the Porn Parody "Who's Nailin' Paylin?", using a look-alike actress (Lisa Ann) in the role. In a porn version of the Colbert Bump, this also heavily boosted Lisa Ann's career, and led to her appearing as a Sarah Palin lookalike at the 2012 Republican Party national convention in Tampa, Florida. (The real Palin wasn't invited to the 2012 RNC, incidentally.)
    • And on the gay side, we have Getting Levi's Johnson, which, although primarily focusing Bristol Palin's ex-fiancee, also features Lisa Ann as "Serra Paylin," dispensing ridiculous advice and commentary to Levi (Chris Steele) between scenes.
  • There is a lot of fan art of Peggy Hill from King of the Hill as Palin, due to their resemblance.

 
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Couric Interviews Palin- SNL

Sarah Palin (Tina Fey) tries not to answer a question about terrorism.

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