Katie Britt slammed as 'the 2024 version of Sarah Palin' after post-SOTU debacle

12 March 2024

Since President Joe Biden's 2024 State of the Union speech, Sen. Katie Britt (R-Alabama) has been one of the most talked-about women in the GOP — although not in a good way.

Biden's fiery, aggressive speech was followed by a rebuttal from Britt, whose melodramatic, over-the-top tone has drawn scathing criticism and mockery from both the left and the right.

During the Oscars, Jimmy Kimmel told attendees that Britt, during her rebuttal, sounded like an "adult woman with the brain of a child." And on SiriusXM, right-wing pundit and ex-Fox News host Megyn Kelly slammed Britt's speech as "cringe" and "a disgrace."

On X, formerly Twitter, journalist Howard Cole posted, "Katie Britt is an aspiring Valley girl."

In an article published on March 12, The Hill's Alexander Bolton observes that Britt's "debut on the national political stage is prompting comparisons to another fiery conservative mom: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin."

Back in 2008, Palin became much better known in U.S. politics when the late Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) chose her as his running mate. Reportedly, Palin wasn't McCain's first choice — he would have much preferred former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge but was talked into it by GOP strategist Steve Schmidt (who, ironically, is now with The Lincoln Project and is a Never Trump conservative who supported Biden in 2020).

Although Palin excited far-right culture warriors in 2008, she proved to be an incredibly polarizing figure. And the McCain/Palin ticket lost to Democratic nominee Barack Obama and his running mate Biden.

Bolton notes that the Palin/Britt comparisons "took a new life late Saturday, when Britt’s theatrical appearance was parodied by Scarlett Johansson on 'Saturday Night Live' — much as Palin was parodied by Tina Fey in 2008."

Fey's impression of Palin went down in history as one of "SNL's" most famous political parodies along with Dana Carvey as President George H.W. Bush and Chevy Chase as President Gerald R. Ford.

Democratic strategist Jim Manley is arguing that Britt, like Palin in 2008, wasn't adequately vetted when Republicans chose her for the Biden rebuttal.

Manley told The Hill, "This gives me bad flashbacks to Sarah Palin. Sen. Britt has an extremely conservative voting record, but no one is paying attention to that."

Ross K. Barker, a political science professor at Rutgers University, argues that Britt "is smarter than Sarah Palin" but "has some work to do on her own image" after all the criticism her post-SOTU rebuttal has received.

"Baker referred to Johansson's satirical 'Saturday Night Live' portrayal of Britt as 'Tina Fey plus 10 in terms of accuracy,'" Bolton reports. "But he also noted Britt's turn in the spotlight probably plays well in Alabama and other deep red parts of the country."

Read Alexander Bolton's full report for The Hill at this link.

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