The highly anticipated appearance of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live was hardly worth staying up for. She had barely noticeable parts in the sketches in which she was featured, and none of what she did was remotely funny. The entire affair smelled of self-promotion on the part of SNL as well as Palin.

There was some irony in the opening where Tina Fey did her usual smash up job of impersonating Palin. Then they cut away to the real Palin telling SNL producer Lorne Michaels why she declined to play the role of herself at a press conference:

“I just didn’t think it was a realistic depiction of the way my press conferences would have gone.”

How would anyone know? It is difficult to imagine a realistic depiction of one of her press conferences because she hasn’t done a single one since being picked as McCain’s running mate. Now she has even refused to do a fake press conference for a comedy show.

Her unwillingness to cooperate characterized the whole of her appearance. In her second bit, during the Weekend Update, she refused to perform the rap that had been written for her, so Amy Poehler did it instead. Palin sat there swaying to the music a little, but otherwise contributing nothing. That was ironic too, as it closely mirrors her real life unwillingness to cooperate with the investigations into her abuse of power as governor of Alaska.

So maybe we did learn something about Sarah Palin after all. The theme of both of her sketches revolved around her refusing to actually do anything at all. It’s clear from this performance that Palin is not qualified to be a guest on Saturday Night Live, much less a 72 year old heartbeat away from the presidency.