In March, Tina Fey will appear on the cover of Vogue. According to an excerpt of the article in PopEater, she blames the backlash of playing Sarah Palin on being a woman:

“The partisan nature of politics continues to appall me. I’m almost paralyzed by my inability to see things in black-and-white… I felt uncomfortable to be in that discussion. The weird thing is, when Darrell Hammond or Will Ferrell or Dana Carvey did an impersonation of a president, no one assumed it was personal, but because Sarah Palin and I are both women and people think women are meaner to each other, everyone assumed it was personal.

Granted the writer of Mean Girls is probably going to see this as personal, and I believe there may be some truth behind her view. As Fey notes in the article, SNL has a long history of satirizing politicians, and they are never flattering. Why the backlash when she played Palin?

It may have resulted from what she said last year at the Emmy’s:

“I want to be done playing this lady Nov. 5,” she said. “So if anybody can help me be done playing this lady Nov. 5, that would be good for me.”

With that short statement, Fey went from satirizing the 2008 Election to inserting her personal opinion. Will Ferrall, Dana Carvey, Chevy Chase and Darrell Hammond mocked politicans, but they never made it personal. Fey crossed the line and made the impersonation appear mean-spirited. It was no longer lampooning a politician but was a political ploy to bring her down.

I like Tiny Fey. Mean Girls is a favorite movie (although Baby Momma was terrible), and I enjoy watching 30 Rock. However Fey lost a lot of respect the moment she publicly opposed Palin. That’s were the backlash started.