Sarah Palin Takes Revenge on William Shatner

William Shatner has lampooned Sarah Palin before, having read from her twitter messages as only William Shatner can, with the dramatic flourishes and pregnant pauses made famous by the man who was Captain Kirk and Denny Crane.

Recently, on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, William Shatner stepped up to have another go at Sarah Palin, with a dramatic reading from her super best-selling autobiography, 'Going Rogue.' The passages chosen were not, needless to say, dry parts about policy or mundane parts about going to school or running for office.

Included in the dramatic reading from the legendary thespian was the incident about the Moose eyeballs, where Sarah Palin believes there is room for Alaska's wildlife, and something about stalking sheep. Ha ha, titter titter, silly woman will certainly not be joining PETA any time soon.

But then, who should walk out on stage, wearing the signature red blazer, but the former Governor of Alaska and perhaps future President herself, carrying a copy of William Shatner's memoirs under her arm. As William Shatner assumed that Denny Crane befuddled look, Sarah Palin took him to school.

The passages from the memoirs of William Shatner were priceless, as one can imagine. The favorite was an examination of the T.J. Hooker philosophy of law enforcement.

"What made T.J. Hooker's character so interesting was he remembered the old rule of law enforcement. 'Of course I understand you robbed that bank because you have no self-esteem. Boom! Taste my nightstick.'"

The crowd roared. Shatner and Palin departed the stage arm in arm, as if old friends.

The encounter proved a couple of things, both endearing.

First, William Shatner will never be mistaken for Olivier, but he is a gentleman and a good sport. Whatever his political views, he can interact with heroes of the right with good humor and a certain bon ami, even to the extent of being willing to be upstaged by Sarah Palin, a woman who can cause many on the left to go incoherent with rage at the mere mention of her name.

Indeed, for a show on the Biography Channel, William Shatner interviewed none other than Rush Limbaugh without hardly getting contentious. The interview was more about family, the love of radio, the pains of going death, and the agony of pain killer addiction than "Why can't you learn to stop worrying and love Barack Obama?"

As for Sarah Palin, she demonstrated once again that the proper response to being laughed at is to laugh right back. Palin had already proved this when she appeared on Saturday Night Live when she upstaged Tina Fey, who had been lampooning her week after week without mercy. Palin had even nice things to say about Fey in her memoirs.

Sarah Palin knows that in politics as in life, one can get very far indeed if one is liked. And who but the most deranged person could not have liked her, at least for just a moment, for that performance on The Tonight Show? This is why Sarah Palin is ascending in the polls while Obama, increasingly unlikeable, is plunging.

Sources: Master thespian reads Palin's Twitter free verse, Allahpundit, Hot Air, July 30th, 2009

Palin gets revenge on master thespian William Shatner, Allahpundit, Hot Air, December 11th, 2009

Finally: The complete Shatner/Limbaugh interview, Allahpundit, Hot Air, December 7th, 2009