The first Mama Grizzly reference came in the first minute or two of former AK Gov. Sarah Palin’s stint guest hosting NBC’s Today show. In the opening segment, a very energetic Palin noted New York’s “warm” weather (by comparison to Alaska, where it was 25 degrees this morning, about 20 degrees cooler than NYC). Ann Curry scoffed at the idea that it was warm and that’s when Palin whipped out the Mama Grizzly. Alaskans are just made of sterner stuff than hardened New York network hosts, it seems: Curry was bundled up and visibly reacting to the mild weather. Matt Lauer wasted no time getting little digs and jibes in at his guest co-host, but I was struck by the appearances of the whole thing. Palin occupied screen right and looked great in a modest dark suit, and she appeared to be within an inch of Lauer’s height. She fit right in despite the evident hostility of Lauer and Curry, weatherman Al Roker seeming to be the friendliest of Today‘s permanent crew. She exuded the confidence of someone who has hosted big shows for decades, not the typical nervousness of a one-time guest host going behind enemy lines in the lamestream media.
Within about 15 minutes, Lauer’s attitude seemed to change. Palin joined Lauer and three other Today regulars, Star Jones, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, and Donny Deutsch, for a round of pop culture gab. Palin lauded Oprah Winfrey for living the American dream in establishing her OWN network, which is struggling to attract an audience on cable. Palin also defended Jessica Simpson, whose pregnancy-related weight gain has generated tabloid and online derision. Jones found herself alone criticizing Simpson for putting herself on magazine covers, while Palin and Snyderman defended her. Snyderman did offer that Simpson has gained too much weight, and should work to lose it as soon as possible after her child is born. Deutsch contributed little beyond snide one-liners and politically correct hostility toward Palin. He tried putting Palin on the spot about the “negativity” in politics, but Palin deftly turned the jab around to zap Bill Maher. Deutsch, who hosts his own poorly watched cable show, quickly surrendered. Lauer found himself agreeing with Palin more often than not and seemed to warm up to her, but caught himself and offered her a condescending “Good job!” toward the end of the segment.
There are three in the room here….#1 Palin, #2 NBC, #3 is US(a), the Audience…..WHO…I REPEAT…who…. is being used….Which one of US(s) is Sucker, who here is “Sucker.” Do you KNOW? Are we the Trick or the “Trikee” while “who is controlling the Trick Bag?
huh?…what??? you still tangled up in the basement????
If you look around the table, and you don’t know who the sucker is, it’s you.
Mr. Venuti, kudos for your spot-on parody of a Bat Shi* Crazy commenter. You sir are a hoot and a half.
Who is controlling…? Well, that’s obvious. It’s OH MY GOD BEHIND YOU!
Clue:
Sarah Palin. In your head. Rent free.
Watch the ratings shoot through the roof.
We never watch this show..made an exception this morning…Loved Sarah..it was wonderful to watch the barbs aimed at her roll off like water on a duck…
She is right…it doesn’t matter who the VP is..the media will smear them beyond reason.
Also, she had more experince when she was “plucked from obscurity” than the community organizer, sometimes senator who has humilitated and just about run our republic off the cliff..Obama did…Lauer.
AND OH LORD…DID YOU SEE THE FROG STAR JONES?…the women was about to burst..loved it…
Can they fire Matt & replace him with Sarah? A guy can dream…
Firing Curry is more likely, she is a very weak host for such a big show. Palin vs Lauer would probably help Today’s ratings too.
It would be like Moonlighting!
22044, Will never happen! NBC doesn’t WANT a big audience for their pathetic morning program! Heck, the show might actually start making $$$!
Maybe a few Today regular viewers had their eyes opened by Sarah and will tune in to FNC to learn more about Conservatism.
I think the left’s hatred of Sarah is her having it all (family and career) feminism without being a flaming liberal. Hard work, self responsibility and respect for others is something the left abhors.
I don’t think that deciding to be an active mother in a stable, heterosexual marriage is a choice that today’s sad, bitter feminists would approve. Especially not a mom with lot of kids, one of whom has disabilities.
Take a look at the people who claim to speak for feminism these days. Not exactly a mom-friendly group.
Exactly. Given that plus the reigning Green Zeitgeist that humans are a cancer on the Earth I suspect that when our host said Spelling seemed to be genuinely touched by Palin’s praise he was correct, she probably gets little positive and public support about this.
sad – bitter – projection perhaps?
I’m a screaming liberal and I’m going to engage in some projection of my own: Conservatives really do mean well, no one could carry that much poison in their heart.
Oh my GOD, Wild Loon, you are jealous!
Damn straight – I wish I could be vapid and rich.
the loon’s jealous, and vapid, too!
‘Poison’ = Translation: dissent from Politically Correct position. See also : ‘hate’ ‘hater’ ‘hateful’ ‘phobe’ ‘bigot’
First time in just about forever that I tuned in to one of those morning blah-blah shows. Sarah was great. She is simply impervious to their attempts to transform her into one of their sterile, bitter, vicious selves.
Her positive attitude is not made of titanium. It is made of Jesus. Much tougher stuff.
Trey
Being the cynic I am, I suspect they invited Palin onto the show because they expected her to be the dim-witted rube they’ve always painted her as. Instead, they got quick-witted, gifted Mama Grizzly who stole the day.
They’ll have her on again if ratings mean anything at all to them (and I think, at this point, they’re getting desperate).
“Instead, they got quick-witted, gifted Mama Grizzly who stole the day.”
YOU BETCHA!!!
Heh, by the way, isn’t there another gal new to the MSM who’s tangentially related to politics? Chelsea Clinton, her name is. I wonder how her gig is going? I wonder how she’d do in a live morning format?
Chelsea who?…okay, well, lets hope she doesn’t make as big a fool of herself as that McCain girl/loser..has. Chelsea seems to still have that self conscious “thing” about herself..
They are obsessed with her. She is a private citizen, yet they made a film to demean her, the President of the United States reacts to her twits. When Sarah twits, people listen.
Yes, they tried to bury her, with kid’s shovels.
She was more impressive that she did not budge. Remember those “conservatives” like Pawlenty, David Brooks, Peggy Noonan, Katharine Parker, were so thrilled of being invited to the party that they piled on every accusation that the MSM launched on a conservative and lost their own credibilities.
Indeed; one of the things that I now watch for when a “conservative” gets a new platform is to see if they immediately attack Palin to establish their bona fides. If they follow this pattern, like, say, Jennifer Rubin when she moved from Commentary to The Washington Post, it tells me who’s side they’re really on (likely our terrible ruling class) and whether they’re worth paying any more attention to.
Done right…Sarah could be the “king maker”…the lady is a force to delt with. the left can make all the fun they want..she still stands. I think women are jealous of her looks..Yes, i do believe this.
..women, esp liberal, are jealous of this woman and want to find any chink to dig at and exploit
I’m still giggling over Star Jones..the blown up frog on the set today..you know the self righteous Jones..sold advertisers to her wedding, chopped her head off with Barbara Walters, talked way too much about her marriage, which went bust, denied tunny surgery to the public, and outright lied about how she exercised etc to have lost so much weight, “which you can do too”..puke.this sitting a chair acitng like she’s important is the first job she’s had in a while…. No this post is not about Star..okay some of it is..i don’t like her, and I like sarah…Nancy was nice to Palin, so she can stay…
I always think of the title (though not the title character) of that Dennis Quaid movie, “Everybody’s All-American,” whenever I watch this dynamo. She represents so very much of the best that is in the American character. The fact that she happens to be a great-looking woman is just the icing on the cake, although I suspect even if she were a person of average physical characteristics, she would manage to be just as magnetic because of what’s under that hood. High-energy, confident, strong, courageous, principled, magnanimous, hard-working, highly accomplished, funny, classy, egalitarian to the core, and always, always feminine. What’s not to like?
The Unsinkable Sarah Palin
Instead of “infiltrating” the lame street media, how about saying she’s ‘joining it’?
yeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssss….keep your friends close and your enemies closer…sarah , smart girl….
no way you will sink this lady
Today, Sarah Palin was in the Lame Stream Media, but not of it.
To paraphrase an aphorism.
I NEVER, and I mean NEVER, watch the Today Show, but I did this morning solely because of Palin. Yes, the other hosts had their daggers out for her, but it was obvious very quickly Palin is the one with star quality. She’s beautiful, bright, witty, and most importantly, fun! She’s not stuffy & bland like Curry, she’s not condescending like Lauer and as pointed out, she relates with and connects to the guests. Palin shined like a lustrous gold nugget in the sunshine among a bunch of ordinary rocks.
Hire Palin permanently, fire Curry, make Lauer 2nd banana, forget Jones & Deutsch, and watch the ratings soar.
won’t happen … NBC has proven they are more interested promoting their political agenda than making money. That’s why their ratings are so high!
If Gov. Palin has a successful high rating run as a guest host she will put the “progressive” management of NBC on the horns. Their social comfort zone network people will scream at them to not put her on a broadcast morning show of her own, if they don’t they could face a blow back of even lower ratings for their show. The third horn would be some other network using her to counter program at that time slot and blow them out of the water. The tension escalation is going to be delicious to see. Watch for major sabotage from people associated with the Network and the Show.
Do you think that maybe head honcho Immelt is actually flexing his conservative muscle finally, after his serious miscue of playing democRAT lapdog
Charisma: you’re either packin’ the gear, or you ain’t packin’ the gear.
Sorry but my standards would not allow me to tune in to the “No Body Cares” network to watch.Sounds like she had a good time.Funny, but I thought all us Conservative types were mean spirited ass_oles.Go figure.
I thought all us Conservative types were mean spirited ass_oles
They’re over at HotAir posting comments.
Damn. There goes that clean monitor!
Y’all excuse me while I wipe it off, and get a new cuppa…
And more experience winning elections than Mitt Romney.
And more experienced than all three put together, Obama, Biden, McCain.
So I am having trouble with the names of the people Sarah was sharing the set with. It was Matt Lauer, Star Jones, Dr. Nancy Snyderman, and how does that last guy pronounce his name? Is that Donny Douche?
Fortune Cookie: “The eyes believe themselves, the ears believe other people.”
The more people see Sarah Palin the more they truly understand what this woman is about. That is why one of the MSM main objectives is to repeatedly report lies and smears to fool people’s ears.
Nice summary of her appearance on Today.
For a moment there was sheer hate on Jone’s face when she looked at Palin, after the guy talked about Sarah saying ABO.
The real gems took place on Morning Joe when Donnie went over there after his segment. Mika’s reaction was that of a diva who feels upstaged.
Sarah was wonderful on Today! I would never normally watch it as Matt is BORING. Did anyone notice, Sarah is the only one who connected with the guests? I am still curious to know why they had Sarah on. Were they going to set her up? Were they trying to compete with the ditz Couric? I don’t know the reason, but she certinly made it a better show. Other than the fact that she is a very attractive woman, the left can not stand it that she did not abort her Downs baby.
What a brave woman!
brave, and smart.
Oprah could save her network with one call, offering Mrs. Palin a talkshow …
I was kind of thinking the same thing.
I still want the Sarahcudda as President. She would be great and drive all the people I hate crazy. A win win. Too bad its not going to happen. Sarah knows the Powers would never let her or her family rest. She was totally defeated and marginalized in the political arena by their hatred but here, four years later, she still has a place. Amazing. I do not believe her story is fully written yet. She may surprise us.
Couldn’t catch the program. What makes Sarah different from so many in the media is that she was raised doing hard work. Where she comes from in rural Alaska, you accept hard work or perish. I’ve read her life’s story, Alaska’s a tough place where life’s realities stare one hard in the face.
Maybe that’s why Gov. Palin is so down to earth, so naturally likable…so hated by Leftists who never had to do a real day’s work in their lives (what did Obama do for a living?).
One of the major networks should give her her own program; let the high ratings she’ll get be the deciding factor!
I’d watch!
Joseph,
You may be on to something. The terms of Sarah Palin’s contract with Fox News have never been announced. But a full time gig on NBC would likely pay substantially more than a FoxNews contributor. More than that, from Palin’s point of view, she would no longer be preaching to the choir. She sees herself a messenger for the consevative cause and the bigger and more diverse the audience, the better. And she fears no one.
But she has been viciously maligned and it will take some time to overcome all of the negative publicity she has subjected to. If you see her on the Today Show a few more times, it will probably turn out it is to guage audience reaction. So far so good.
I felt that some of the back and forth between Sarah and Matt were agreed upon in advance, especially the inexperience accusation. She jumped right in without pausing to collect her thoughts. And Matt didn’t try to shut her off. That would tend to confirm this was an audition for bigger and better things.
Remember that NBC is under new ownership/control. Comcast now has majority control. It is a whole new ballgame.
I saw only the last few minutes of her hour, and she looked great. I’d be interested to see a comparison of the ratings of this show vs. Good Morning America with Katie Couric hosting, as well as the ratings of the hour with Sarah Palin on the Today Show vs. the hours on the Today Show without her.
Sarah Palin is truly the Woman of Steel, the Iron Lady, to stand up and continue to be positive and outspoken under the tsunami of abuse she took from the mainstream media. I’d laugh if she did end up permanently on Today or on OWN — it would definitely be a triumph if after all the MSM’s attacks, she ended up conquering that realm. It would be poetic justice.
I still have my bold red “Palin Power” bumper sticker on the tire cover of my black Rav4 and when I drive through NYC every few months there’s usually some driver who comes to follow me just to get a photo of it.
Great writeup!
Matt Lauer must have been in Hell. I hope we hear some behind the scenes stories about how those pompous Today hosts were seething at the very thought of Sarah Palin sharing the stage with them!
– on how Doc Nancy became a media personality. Donny, what? You made $100M? That’s not enough to qualify for The Shark Tank panel?
Sarah was indeed excellent. I noticed, however, that Curry and Lauer were, in every segment, trying to touch her to move her one way or another (or just to give the impression that she was lost on the set and needed their guidance).
I’m thinking they had to drown their sorrows afterwards. I mean, it has to really hurt to get totally upstaged by that rube, Palin. Their jaws probably hurt after grinding their teeth so much. Delicious Schadenfreude. Every time Palin does something, I get to experience that yummy deliciousness.
The problem is that they continue to underestimate this woman. They keep thinking themselves superior to her, despite all her accomplishments.
“More experience than you had?” The mean retort would be sweetly smiling and saying, “Someone like you, Matt?”
It’ll be interesting to hear what the guests thought of Palin before their appearances, what they thought during, and what they think of her now. Bet she made a couple converts on the set, today, as well as many second thoughts among the viewers.
The ratings are gonna be shocking, I am betting. Mixed emotions to follow for that network. More Schadenfreude.
A dollar a day, roast beef, and the Chinese must go.
I’m with you, Troll (even if the PJrs delete your comments)
Is this “experiment” by NBC an effort to redefine and revamp its program lineup? More likely setup to demean and discredit Sarah Palin, an icon among conservative personalities and by extension, demean conservatives and conservatism in general. By this account the experiment was either a big success or an abysmal failure. I hope the former and, if these guys are any kind of businessmen and women, they will not be able to ignore the obvious. Conservatism can have a positive impact on the bottom line.
Palin was more experienced as a government executive than McCain, Obama and Biden combined.
After the show I went to the today show comment section. I wanted to let the network know I do not watch their morning programs, but that I did and enjoyed Sarah Palin being on. As I was reading comments already posted I was stunned at the entry after entry of Palin/conservative hatred. Y’all, I mean just awful. I decided to forget it. I am sure my positive comment would have caused 30 Rock to sway from the horror!
Who needs the IQ test as a measure of intelligence?
You need only say the name “Sarah Palin” to someone in a quick response word association exercise. If the response is “stupid” or “moron” or any other some such similar aspersion, you know the subject taking the test is exactly that.
Ms. Palin can’t help it. She just fills a room with charisma. If NBC is really about making money through larger audiences, this is their chance!