Imitation is the sincerest form of comedy

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said that actress Tina Fey nailed her “Saturday Night Live” impersonation of the GOP veep nominee.

“I watched it with the volume all the way down,” Palin told Reuters. “I thought it was hilarious.”
Palin added that she “didn’t hear a word [Fey] said but the visual [was] spot-on.”

{mosads}Palin said that people in Alaska have noticed a resemblance between her and Fey “for years.”

Both of them have brown hair and are known for their snazzy glasses.

“In fact, I dressed up as Tina Fey once for Halloween,” Palin said. “So we’ve been doing that before Tina Fey has been doing that.”

— Walter Alarkon

Quayle’s footsteps

Producers for the venerable “Meet the Press” hope Sarah Palin doesn’t follow in former Vice President Dan Quayle’s footsteps.

Since 1952, every Republican vice presidential nominee except for 1988 nominee Quayle has appeared on the NBC program before the election.

“With the one exception of Dan Quayle, for 56 years ‘Meet the Press’ has been a must-stop on the road to the White House and the vice presidency,” Betsy Fischer, the show’s executive producer, told The Hill. “We hope that Gov. Palin will join the ranks of fellow Republican vice presidential nominees Cheney, Kemp, Bush, Dole, Agnew, Miller, Lodge and Nixon at the ‘Meet the Press’ table this fall.”

A spokesman for Palin declined to comment.

John McCain’s presidential campaign has been under scrutiny for its tight hold on the Alaska governor.

Palin has not yet made any appearances on the Sunday morning talk show circuit — a prominent stop on the road to the White House. In particular, NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the longest-running Sunday morning public affairs program, is considered a “must” for any office hopeful. The morning after a candidate appears, political analysts dissect the office seeker’s appearance, giving a pass/fail in what Washington calls the “Meet” test.

Like Palin, Quayle was considered a surprise vice presidential pick, as most of the public was not familiar with them when they were announced. Quayle’s selection was announced at the 1988 Republican convention, while Palin’s selection was kept a secret until the day it was announced. And both faced questions about their level of experience.

{mospagebreak}However, Palin has been credited with bringing a significant boost to the McCain campaign — particularly among female voters. A Washington Post-ABC News poll taken after both parties’ conventions showed women went from favoring Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama by eight points to supporting McCain by 12 points.

Palin has done few television interviews since she joined the Republican ticket — she spoke with ABC’s Charlie Gibson last week and Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity on Wednesday night. She is scheduled to sit down with CBS’s Katie Couric next week.

{mosads}Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden appeared on “Meet the Press” on Sept. 7, shortly after he joined the ticket.

— Emily Goodin

Sen. John McCain’s campstands by comment on Spain

John McCain’s campaign is standing by a strange response the Arizona senator gave to a question about Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Asked on a Miami radio station, after a series of questions about Latin America, if he would meet with the leader of Spain, McCain said only, “I would be willing to meet with those leaders who are friends and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion.”

Repeatedly asked the same question, McCain gave the same answer, seemingly without understanding or hearing the question. McCain made no mention of the country or Zapatero, but seemed to be talking about Venezuela or another Latin American country, which previous questions had been focused on.

But despite having a plausible excuse for the slip, McCain foreign policy adviser Randy Sheunemann is standing by the unexpected tough talk, telling The Washington Post, “The questioner asked several times about Sen. McCain’s willingness to meet Zapatero (and ID’d him in the question so there is no doubt Sen. McCain knew exactly to whom the question referred).

Sen. McCain refused to commit to a White House meeting with President Zapatero in this interview.”

— Andy Barr

Maryland Republican endorses Sen. Obama

Republican Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (Md.) has announced his support for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

Gilchrest recently endorsed a Democrat in his district after losing the Republican primary.

— A.B.