Why did some people believe more strongly that Palin's answers were scripted when she said "say it aint so joe?" What's up with this phrase that's not so normal? Don't get me wrong. I totally believe with such conviction that the woman can't make a public appearance without aides going over the script a billion times with her, but my question is with regards to that particular phrase.
Below is a comment on the topic of scripted answers for both candidates for vice presidency from yahoo answers:
"Ya especially Palin! Did you see how she said "say it aint so joe" it was completely un-natural. She had the same expression in her fake baked face and sounded like she had no idea what she was talking about, she looked like a statue."
A form of the phrase was used by President Reagan so it was well enough recognized to by most of her supporters to need no other explanation.
The answer given in the second part was too political to be included in this blog! ( To counter it, at least a dozen of Bidens statements were untrue!)
"Say it ain't so, Joe!" is actually an old phrase that was associated with, of all things, an infamous fixed baseball game from the 1920's, I think. Not all that up on my baseball history, but it's that much a part of the national consciousness that even *I* know about it (and if you knew my lack of interest in sports you'd understand!). I think the game was deliberately thrown by the players of the Chicago White Sox, who were forever known afterwards as the Black Sox once the conspiracy was found out. They included some major sports heroes of the day, including one nicknamed "Shoeless Joe" Jackson (? I think it's Jackson), and the level of disappointment that the fans had in such a betrayal was immortalized in that mournful line. They were banned from baseball forever after that, and if modern myth has anything to do with it, that forever goes on into the afterlife. If you ever saw the movie "Field of Dreams", you know what I mean; Kevin Costner is compelled by dreams and voices to build a baseball field in the middle of his cornfields so that the Black Sox can redeem themselves by returning to earth as ghosts and replaying that final game of their careers as it SHOULD have been played. Shoeless Joe was played by Ray Liotta as a quiet and sad-eyed ghost in an old-timey baseball uniform.
So, for Palin to digging up that phrase and using it over and over makes it at least a stock phrase and a bit of an affectation. How corny and annoying it is probably depends on how corny and annoying you think the rest of her is. I haven't apid much attention to her, but she is reported to pepper her speeches with all kinds of cornball phrases designed to give her some sort of folksy Dogpatch USA veneer that I don't personally buy for a minute, but all politicians seem compelled to build themselves a persona, and that must be hers. Since it does seem entirely affected, you could say that her sprinklings of such phrases are somewaht "scripted" -- she'd deliberately using them to establish her style. That they evoke something as near and dear to the American heart as our national pastime can only be deliberate, as is the fact that she sort of looks and talks like she just stepped out of a 1950's set -- the '50's being the era of domestic complacency often particularly associated with social conservatism and Republicanism. (If only because they contrast so markedly with the war-torn 40's and the social and political upheavals of the 60's, and the change in politics and party domination that characterized all three decades.)
Not to question Josh's judgment (he's doing a great job), but I'll unlock this topic for the time being. Please avoid political discussions -- stick to the language and cultural references.
We were discussing the use of "scripted" and the phrase "Say it ain't so, Joe", I thought!
