‘SNL’ leaves us laughing

Consider us flattered.

In modern politics, one hasn’t arrived until he or she has been lampooned and impersonated by the cast of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.” This past Saturday, it was Gov. Sarah Palin’s turn, as comedienne Tina Fey performed an Emmy-worthy parody of our governor and former Wasilla mayor and councilwoman. Not only did Fey look the part, her exaggerated mannerisms and voice inflections already rank among the classic “SNL” political characters.

We recall the masterful Bill Clinton impression from Darrell Hammond and a presidential election these days wouldn’t be complete without at least one rerun of Dana Carvey performing as both H. Ross Perot and President George H.W. Bush in a mock debate. For more than 30 years, “Saturday Night Live” has been an equal opportunity offender, going back to 1976 and Chevy Chase’s bumbling portrayal of President Gerald Ford.

Fey’s Palin could become a similar classic, and in the Mat-Su Valley, most laughed just as hard as those in the Lower 48.

Charles Caleb Colton, an English cleric and writer who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, first waxed poetic that “imitation is the sincerest [form] of flattery.”

By Colton’s standards, Palin and her hometown should be plenty flattered.

Sure, the skit wasn’t altogether factually correct — Palin wasn’t Wasilla’s mayor just two years ago (she left office in 2002) and it’s unlikely she “can see Russia from my house.” Also, some local residents and officials were stung a little when Fey pot-shotted the city as “Alaska’s crystal meth capital.”

Sometimes the truth hurts if you let it. It’s no secret the Mat-Su Valley has a growing methamphetamine problem, one that mirrors a nationwide epidemic that’s plaguing many communities across the United States.

Political satire as a form of free speech is one of the best examples of one of the many reasons America truly is the land of the free. Performing comedy sketches like Fey’s Palin spoof on Saturday would not go over so well during the so-called free elections in countries like Cuba and Argentina.

One of the defining traits in American politics is the ability of candidates and parties to laugh at themselves. They do so daily through editorial cartoons on the nation’s opinion pages — including the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman’s with our own Chuck Legge — and on television programs like “Saturday Night Live.”

We appreciate the humor and that, when it comes to politics, the “SNL” crew practices equal opportunity satire.

Consider us flattered.