Posted on 11/30/2008 5:34:34 AM PST by radar101
A recent YouTube clip that featured her being interviewed while, unbeknownst to her, a turkey is slaughtered in the background, was the site's most-viewed clip over the last week. Photo: Composite image by Politico.com
Three weeks after the Republican ticket suffered a sweeping defeat at the polls, Sarah Palin continues to dominate search engine queries, cable news and online video sites.
The only American politician who generates comparable interest is President-elect Barack Obama. No one else is close.
Palin was the most popular Lycos search from the week she joined the ticket continuously through last Sunday, some two weeks after the election, when she was dethroned by Paris Hilton, the celebutante whom John McCain famously compared to Barack Obama.
The Alaska governor now ranks fourth, just one spot below Obama, on the weekly Lycos 50 list.
“People are still searching for her in record numbers,” said Kathy O’Reilly, a spokeswoman for Lycos. “How bizarre is that? Obama is the president-elect after the most historic election of all time and you’d think he would be dominating search activity and he only now is going ahead of her.”
See Also Publishers bet big on ‘Obama as hero’ What’s next for the GOP? How will Obama use new media?
Palin has been the subject of intense online fascination since her introduction as the Republican nominee on Aug. 29. In September, the Anchorage Daily News reported a 928 percent spike in traffic, according to Nielsen Online. Her mid-October “Saturday Night Live” appearance drove the show’s highest rating in 14 years, and her Oct. 2 debate with Joe Biden was the most watched vice presidential debate ever — drawing more viewers than any of the three presidential debates between McCain and Obama.
The scope of the GOP ticket’s loss — and the role her critics assigned to her in that defeat — hasn't cooled interest in Palin. She ranked as the No. 2 top news search at Ask.com this week and No. 2 (after Obama) among newsmakers on the AOL 2008 year-end hottest searches list, and she occupied two slots on Politico’s list of the site's 10 most searched terms. Palin also ranked fourth among Yahoo searches, behind “Black Friday,” a Czech model and a contestant on the hit television show “Dancing with the Stars.” She was the only politician on the Yahoo top 20 list.
A recent YouTube clip that featured her being interviewed while, unbeknownst to her, a turkey was slaughtered in the background was the site's most-viewed clip over the last week. Two of the top 10 video moments of 2008, according to Truveo, an online video search engine, also involve Palin — a “Saturday Night Live” skit that mocks her and the governor’s ill-fated interview with Katie Couric of CBS.
“It’s astounding that someone who should have faded into the background after the election is not only making headlines but being searched for in record numbers online,” said O’Reilly. “People still have a fixation with her, for whatever the reason.”
Palin's continuous presence in the news has played a role in the unabated levels of search activity. First she was buffeted by anonymous criticism from the McCain camp after the ticket's defeat, then she cut a high profile at the Republican Governors Association meeting one week later. In between, she sat for an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News and delivered the show's largest audience of the year.
According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, Palin was the second-leading newsmaker for the week of Nov. 10-16, trailing only Obama and ranking ahead of President Bush, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and McCain in the number of stories about her.
“As long as she’s still in the mainstream media, it will continue to fuel her presence online. She’s sort of fanning the flames just by showing up,” said Phil Noble, president of PoliticsOnline and a pioneering consultant in online politics. “The other issue is that at some point people become permanent celebrities. She may have just reached that status.”
The polarizing role she played in the presidential campaign may also be driving the enduring fascination with all things Palin.
“People are projecting their values onto Sarah Palin, and in some sense, she reflects them back,” said Mark Corallo, a Republican media strategist. “She’s a conservative, she’s young, and she’s attractive. She speaks to something that’s been missing from the Republican Party.”
David All, a Republican new media consultant, notes that the uninterrupted attention offers Palin an unprecedented political opportunity even if a good portion of the curiosity comes from her detractors.
“There’s a heckuva lot of wind out there for Sarah Palin. Now she has to put up a sail to catch it,” he said. “She can use that Internet bully pulpit to help change the hearts and minds of folks. She has a unique opportunity to build up something massive.”
BO owes some big time players some big time payback. He's been bought and sold so many times it's a wonder the money changers won't be walking away with the White House antiques.
In my book, rock solid people like Governor Palin and Joe Wurzelbacher are the 'right' answer to the 'none of the above' jerks both political parties have been tossing at me for the past fifty years.
I am tired of watching television and having some arrogant teleprompter drone talk like their throwing me a bone with their empty suit Walter Cronkite claptrap impressions.
They're the only one's who don't realize I don't need them anymore. I've got the Internet, I've got Sarah, and I've got Joe. Things are looking up, by God !!!
Just maybe my country can be saved from total ruin by the few.
“If you can field strip a Moose what’s the big deal about Turkeys.”
LOL I’m with you.
BTW does anyone have the link to this video of Sarah with the turkeys in the background? LOL I’d like to see it! :)
I love this woman and everything she stands for. She is a real woman, and she has all these liberal weenies shaking in their liberal boots! Palin 2012! Teamsarah.org!
SEARCH DOES NOT WORK—That’s why the item is here.
Funny thing
I watched a video the other day featuring an interview with the Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. Among others things she was asked about was the formulation of the Alaska State budget. It appears that while many in the State legislature wanted to expand expenditure when oil prices were soaring, Gov Palin wisely pursued a policy of thrift and prudence and used tecniques such as forward funding to secures Alaska’s financial future. At the time I thought to myself that Alaska is lucky to have such an effective and efficient Governor. Would that we had such effective leaders in Europe!
Afterwards, someone asked me whether I had noticed anyting unusual in the background while Gov palin was speaking—someting about a turkey being murdered or something. The poor folks down at the New York Times and at MSNBC had been very upset by all this.
Suggestion to Gov Palin: drop by the New Youg Times and NBC and give everyone a big warm hug just to comfort their tender souls.. and don’t be exclusive. Include Maureen, Fank and David. They neeed it more than anyone.
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