SNL skewers Palin and Biden's vice-presidential debate answers to gay question

While Tina Fey's third appearance on Saturday Night Live spoofing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin wasn't quite as hysterical as her first two, it was still pretty hilarious and, even better, nailed Palin's hypocrisy when it comes to "tolerating" gays.

Here is the clip if you didn't see the show or you can watch it wide screen at NBC.com. In addition to Fey, the skit featured Jason Sudeikis as Senator Joe Biden and Queen Latifah as moderator Gwen Ifill from PBS. (FYI, the gay question comes at about the four minute mark.)

Is Fey brilliant or what? Brian already blogged about the original question and answer after the actual debate, but I loved how well Fey nailed the stupidity and evasiveness of Palin's answer to whether or not she would support gay marriage. After first saying she she wouldn't because of where that "might lead" and because she believes "marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers", Fake Palin went on to say:

But don't think I don't tolerate gay people. Because I do, I tolerate them with all my heart. And I know quite a few, too. Not personally, but I know of them. I've seen Ellen. Oh and there was this one girl on my basketball team, she wasn't officially a gay, but you know, we were pretty sure.

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin

Which pretty much sums up the views of much of the rightwing part of the Republican party — because "tolerating gay people" basically means nothing. Tolerating gay people leaves us with no legal protections for the work place, our private lives or pretty much anything else. And that's about all we can expect from a McCain/Palin Administration.

The Democrats didn't get off without some skewering over their own "hypocrisy". When asked if he supported equal rights for gays and lesbians, Fake Biden responded emphatically that he did so and that under an Obama/Biden Administration gay people would be treated exactly the same as straight people. When Fake Ifill followed up asking if Biden supported same-sex marriage, he stated equally emphatically that he did not, "but I do think they should be allowed to visit one another in the hospital, and in a lot of ways, that's just as good if not better."

That's pretty funny stuff even if it does ignore the fact that if Barack Obama did come out in support of same-sex marriage right now, that is what this election would be about and it might very well hand the White House to John McCain. I don't know about you, but I'll take Obama's offer of everything but the word "marriage" in order to keep McCain out of power. 

One moment that did genuinely annoy me was when Fake Ifill asked about the gay rights question by making it sound as if the state of Alaska actually does treat its gay and lesbian citizens equally. In fact, all Alaska does offer (thanks to a ruling by the State Supreme Court which the real Palin has tried to get overturned) are employee benefits to state workers. The state has no civil unions, no domestic partnership, no workplace anti-discrimination protection and so forth. Additionally, the state specifically bans same-sex marriage. And I don't find it funny that SNL made it sound otherwise (yes, I know I'm being picky!)