April 11, 2010

'Elites'

SAIS, however pompous the acronym, is not a household name outside foreign policy circles. The last time I saw it cross paths with the zeitgeist was in Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story, as Moore vilifies former Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson, now a "distinguished visiting scholar" at SAIS, and the b-roll shows the Nitze building.

Last night, according to my friend Jeremy Wang-Iverson, brought some redemption. In an SNL skit mocking Sarah Palin, Tina Fey describes a new show, on the Sarah Palin Network, called "Elites" that "takes CSPAN footage of a bunch of smarty pants professors talking about who-knows-what and redubs it with the teacher's voice from Charlie Brown." Here, the b-roll, at minute 14:00, is once again good ol' SAIS.