"Say it ain't so Joe" line from the VP Debate... do you think when they thought it up...

[Curtland1015]

...they were daydreaming that it would be the zinger of the debate?

I can imagine them being all excited, thinking about how "foolish" Biden would look. How it would be repeated on all the channels constantly as an example of her amazing wit. How people would mock and ridicule Biden and Obama. Republican converts wearing "say it ain't so" t-shirts with Sarah's winking face on them...

I don't think the line "sizzled" like they thought it would.

[JeffR]

1. You're right.

The only thing sizzling in the McCain campaign is McGrump's temper.

[Frank Cannon]

2. If you remember the 1919 Chicago White Sox...

I'm sure that line was laugh-out-loud funny.

I'll bet McCain got a big kick out of it.

[DearAbby]

6. McCain remembers that....

Prolly his idea...SAY IT AINT SO JOE!

[Motown_Johnny]

20. I'm not sure the campaign with the candidate who wears $520.00 loafers should bring up shoes

[Frank Cannon]

21. $520 Loaferless Joe Jackson n/t

[John Q. Citizen]

3. It was sophmoric and she stepped all over the line anyway.

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. well, the problem was

she used it in combination with two other supposed "zingers"

she said "say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again," and then added, "doggonit, let's look ahead." in the very next sentence."

You can't rattle off zingers in succession like they're bullets being fired from a gun. And you can't steal other people's zingers either. Those weren't even her own. THe first was about Shoeless Joe Jackson, whom I'm sure Palin has never heard of. The second was, obviously, from Reagan.

Zingers only work if people haven't heard them before.

[CJCRANE]

5. My takeaway from the debate

was how the feedback (from the CNN focus group) dipped into the negative whenever Palin went on the attack.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

7. It actually sounded stupid - in that whiny, mocking voice of her's. nt

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. It flopped like McCain's flop sweat

:rofl:

It further revealed her to be a disingenuous and nasty brand of imbecile.

[Cha]

9. It Fizzled..palin coudn't pull it off.

[Riddler]

10. I think that line is the only reason she asked him at the beginning if she could call him Joe

because it was written for her and she knew she was going to use it.

[geekgrrl]

11. I think you're right about that-- and boy did it flop like all the other lines they

probably thought would be zingers!

[Curtland1015]

13. Someone on TV brought up the same point, but I forget who.

Letterman maybe? Or KO? either way, they made the same basic point. The only reason she ask was so she could "nail" him with that gem later in the debate.

[hedgehog]

19. It's in the SNL version of the debate.

[gabby garcia]

12. and I bet they thought

it was gonna be so great as they set it up with the "Can I call ya Joe?" line at the beginning, which sounded so loud, forced and fake, I knew right then it was a setup. Totally lame. "Fizzled" is more like it.

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

14. Joe was set up

When she asked if she could call him Joe, he should have responded: "under these circumstances, I would prefer Senator Biden, Governor." It was a set up from the beginning.

[Orangepeel]

22. Biden handled it exactly the right way.

she was trying to get him to do something that would look condescending and sexist. It didn't work.

[No Elephants]

15. Sarah Say, can I call ya Joe? Tina Fey Cause I rehearsed some zingers with Joe in them.

[renate]

28. oh yeah, that was my second favorite line from SNL

(My favorite: marriage is a sacrament between two unwilling teenagers.)

I loved Tina's delivery of "'Cause I rehearsed some zingers with Joe in them." She is so good.

[tpi10d]

16. it seriously flopped

and I do think they thought they had a great soundbite there. Reagan used "there you go again" against Carter to great effect in 1980.

But the times are much different now and this line backfired severely.

[bridgit]

17. I do think so, they had to reach all the way back to a dead Reagan with altzhiemers...

and the longest list of presidential flubs & Iran/Contra, "I don't recall(s)" to get anywhere near to hero status...she bobbled the line btw, like she was too eager to deliver it. The republican audience reactions were giddy, like middle school children they hooted & hollered and it seemed the men were dribbling it down both pant legs. A really juvenile reaction to the most setup, prepped, and rehearsed line in poli history thus far

[TlalocW]

18. It played well with the 78 hardcore baseball historians watching the debate

One of them being George Will of course.

For everyone else, it was a mixture of, "Hey, isn't that related to baseball somehow," and "Why does she think giving answers in rhyme is going to help her?"

TlalocW

[RagAss]

23. LOL...it hung in the air like an onion fart !

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Arugula Latte]

24. Get out of my head! That's exactly the same thought I had.

I watched the debate with a group and turned to the person next to me and said: "Oh, that's the line they think is soooo clever and will be repeated. They couldn't wait for her to slip that one in."

LAME. :eyes:

[elkston]

25. Her delivery sucked. Rushed, nervous, robotic.

What was designed to be clever, ended up looking VERY stupid.

[TexasObserver]

26. It's a great saying - if you're trying to appeal to people over 60

I suspect the author of it was one of those dinosaurs running McCain's campaign.

[ljm2002]

27. I agree...

...they thought it would be a zinger, and it fell flat. She delivered the line poorly, to begin with -- there was almost a catch in her voice, the cadence was off, and it spoiled the effect. Like a flat note in a melody, when you're playing solo everyone hears it. She still went ahead and delivered the line but to no good effect.

I don't think it would have been the zinger they thought it would be, anyway. Everyone recognized that both phrases were tired, trite, unoriginal. But her delivery sealed it and it fell real flat.

Ha ha.