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Sarah Palin and the LL Cool J saga

Real American Stories airs tonight!

By Sophie Elmhirst

The furore around Sarah Palin’s new Fox vehicle, Real American Stories, has been well documented. Is LL Cool J in or out? Are any of the interviews real? Is it all a bit ironic that the show’s title is Real American Stories?

But has anyone checked out the show’s own website? Please do so here.

There are many wonderful things about this promotional vehicle. So I’m going to pick my top three.

1. The Palin introductory video. There’s so much here — the filmic soundtrack, the first line (“As Americans, we aspire to greatness.” Really? All of you? How exhausting), the strange moment when she’s talking about entrepreneurialism and a guy selling beetroot (?) pulls a funny face. But above all that there’s a brilliant, brief moment of synchrony between words and pictures as Palin says “our love of country” and the film cuts to a shot of soldiers firing machine-guns as they pound through an unidentified desert war. It’s one way of expressing the love, I suppose.

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2. Chase Lucas. One of the videos submitted to Fox and hosted on the site. Wow. This is one patriotic child.

3. The comments. I can’t believe they meant to leave the comment thread so enticingly open beneath the Palin film. A choice extract: “Biggest waste of television ever.” To counterbalance: “You liberals are pathetic.” Yup, there’s some pretty hectic debate going on over there . . .

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Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
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