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Sarah Palin wins Sitting Duck Award and why
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Photo: Sarah Palin by Tracy Ward
It was one thing to learn that Gov. Sarah Palin won the Sitting Duck Award this week, a honor granted by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and yet another to learn why.
While the AP provided a brief summary on the dubious title today, considered a “tongue-in-cheek honor that pokes fun at the most ridiculed newsmakers” in the U.S., the NSNC website goes into a bit more detail.
Voted the 2009 winner of the Sitting Duck Award at the NSNC Annual Conference in Ventura, California, Sarah Palin shares good company. Past winners include Ann Coulter, Martha Stewart, The FBI, and former President Bill Clinton, among other notables.
Sarah Palin won the Sitting Duck Award for “showing it's hard to put your best foot forward when it's in your mouth.” Nominated by Cynthia Borris, Palin was deemed “the subject of much light-hearted commentary, an easy target for criticism during the election,” per the NSNC site.
From “witchcraft rituals” to sex object photos (e.g. Palin in a bikini, toenail polish obsession), the “easy target” part is a no-brainer. Yet, the “lighthearted” qualifier may be debatable – Tina Fey skits notwithstanding.
Further stating Palin’s qualifications, “this is the person to whom columnists have turned in the last twelve months when he or she is desperate for a topic and has to meet a deadline.”
Few can argue that point perhaps but the media has no lack of fillers to choose from. Case in point, “wet cat photos” – an LOLcats meme – made the front page of ABC news a few weeks ago and the ghost of Michael Jackson offers years of white space filler.
It is not that Sarah Palin doesn’t deserve the Sitting Duck Award but it would seem a difficult choice to decide the winner. Former Illinois Gov Rod Blagojevich was the runner-up, incidentally.
Yet, if inserting one’s foot in one’s mouth is criterion, the judging process must be difficult. One wonders why former President George W. Bush or even Vice President Joe Biden did not win.
This is not a defense for Sarah Palin who ultimately filled the Sitting Duck shoes quite well. But some of us remember the Charles Gibson/ Palin interview and the not so tongue-in-cheek media response to the vice presidentail nominee prior to her repeated foibles.
Then again, the NSNC must recognize this point, deeming “Columnists” as the winner of the 2005 Sitting Duck Award due to “ethical lapses.”
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