WASILLA, Alaska — (AP) Gov. Sarah Palin has granted the traditional Thanksgiving pardon to one lucky turkey, but the video that shocked some viewers captured what was happening in the background.
As she answered questions Thursday at Triple D Farm & Hatchery outside Wasilla cameras from the Anchorage Daily News and others showed the bloody work of an employee slaughtering birds behind the former Republican vice presidential candidate.

You may have heard that Sarah Palin made an appearance on Saturday Night Live over the weekend. The ratings were huge — the largest in 14 years.

The show is the perfect fit for the folksy Alaska governor. Palin, after all, doesn’t have to answer any foreign policy questions, she can wink as often as she likes and if she gets tired of being grilled by the liberal media, well, she can simply pretend she’s Tina Fey and start acting silly. That’s something, I’m sure, Palin could do quite naturally without really trying all that hard.

Palin’s SNL guest shot had been rumored for weeks and was eagerly anticipated. While she’s no Amy Poehler, she is a good sport. Fey’s dead-on impression of Palin doesn’t exactly make John McCain’s running mate look and sound like Mensa material. Palin may have scored a few points — and some all-important votes — by being able to laugh at herself and her loopy public persona. These days, making pit stops to all the late-night comedy shows is just as important as appearing on Meet The Press.

But let’s make one thing clear: Palin isn’t ready for prime time and shouldn’t quit her day job. For all the hype surrounding Palin’s appearance, she didn’t do much. She appeared with Lorne Michaels and Alec Baldwin in the show’s opening bit and was later seen on “Weekend Update” declining to perform a rap song during which a moose was shot and presumably killed.

Now, if Palin were a true maverick like that McCain guy, she would’ve busted a few rhymes like she was the next Queen Latifah. But Palin is a Republican. And we all know Republicans don’t rap.

Saturday Night Live has a problem.

And, no, it has nothing to do with Tina Fey, who’s doing a masterful job playing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Fey’s impression is so spot-on, the rest of the show kinda feels like a big letdown after SNL is done spoofing the presidential election.

The problem with SNL is that it needs more black performers. This problem, of course, is nothing new. But it’s all the more glaring now that a black man has a good shot at becoming the nation’s commander-in-chief. Fred Armisen, although talented, is still having a hard time with his Barack Obama impression. The cadence and voice are all wrong. He makes Obama sound as if he’s reading cue cards. Meanwhile, Keenan Thompson, the show’s lone black cast member (and a very funny one), is short and heavyset so he’s limited in who he can play in sketches. If Al Roker were running for office, Keenan would be the star of the show.

Once again, SNL had to bring in a free agent star to play a black person. On Saturday’s show, Queen Latifah was tapped to play Gwen Ifill, the PBS political pundit who moderated Friday’s vice presidential debate despite suffering from a broken ankle. The Queen, who sure has come a long way from her Ladies First rap days, filled in nicely and proved she hasn’t lost any of her Living Single comedic timing. As funny as she was, though, Latifah should’ve never been on the show. Shame on Lorne Michaels for not finding a funny black woman who’s ready for prime time on Saturday nights. If Lorne doesn’t think black female comics can’t hang with the likes of Amy Poehler, Kristen Wigg, etc., he should watch some old In Living Color
DVDs.

Either that, or rehire Ellen Cleghorne who did a pretty good job back in the day while impersonating the likes of Anita Hill, Natalie Cole and Whoppi Goldberg.

The world is full of more than just white folks, Lorne. And your show should reflect that fact.