World News Korner

“Wow, even her server quits” The Guardian visits the Sarah Palin Channel.

Courtesy of The Guardian:

Given the content available and the affectedly simple presentation, it’s hard not to see the new Sarah Palin Channel as simply a moneymaking enterprise.

I wanted to see for myself, but I still can’t even sign in for the free sample of the Sarah Palin Channel. Each attempt ends with a server error and my desultorily trying to glean something from available teaser videos.

I try different browsers – Chrome, Firefox, Safari – and the social media login options of Facebook, Google+ and Twitter on each. Nothing works. I briefly consider logging into a relative’s AOL account and entering the keywords “the sadness of constantly frightened old white people”, but that seems too general. I even attempt to find a YouTube mashup of reverse mortgage videos to watch during an NCIS marathon on USA, figuring I might not even miss Palin TV.

Free samples usually work better than this.

The journalist eventually breaks down and pays the $9.95 monthly fee, only to immediately regret that decision as there is very little content and, in his words, "Sarah Palin’s website makes you wonder if there is a kind of deliberately shitty aesthetic to conservative fundraising vehicles – perhaps a notion that anything too slickly packaged is redolent of elite influence. A glossy, flawless personal site with smooth drop-down menus screams, “I don’t need money, and I don’t need you. I’m already too much of a commodity”."

Ultimately he is quite underwhelmed, though he does believe there might be a niche market for it.

Of course as we know the demographic that it might attract are mostly elderly people on a fixed income, who are also not internet savvy.

In other words if she wanted to reach her dwindling number fans she would have been better served if she had started a talk radio show, or appeared in a late night infomercial selling red, white, and blue Freedom panties. ($9.99 for a new pair, and $29.99 for a not so new pair.)

Funny or Die also visited the channel website blog, and were equally unimpressed.

The same could be said for the The Independent.

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