"Game Change" - Open Post

By Patrick

Created by Perez Hilton

Tonight is the big night! Will the hype surrounding HBO's "Game Change" movie (watch the trailers) be justified? Will it have been worth the wait? At least Sarah Palin and her bots got their panties in a wad about it. As you see, I always prefer to set expectations low. Then we can only be pleasantly surprised. Or not.

This movie certainly couldn't have come at a better time. After all, Sarah Palin still hopes that God or somebody else will call her at a brokered convention in order to lead America and the rest of the world (straight into Armageddon). It has almost gone unnoticed that Sarah Palin now has her own "SuperPAC", called "ShePAC", which was co-founded by her chief propagandist and all-time shady character Timothy Crawford. So it's the right time to remind America's voters who the "real" Sarah Palin is. Because we definitely haven't heard the last of Palin, that's for sure!

Will Julianne Moore's portrayal be accurate, of will it only be so-so?

We, meaning our bloggers, researchers and long-time readers, have a certain advantage of knowing many details of what I like to call the "grey areas" of Sarah Palin's life, and this should enable all of us to make a particularly well informed judgement. The "grey areas" are in my view her especially private scandals, her vindictive crusades and her many proven lies in general.

Many of these details have been previously reported, for example by Joe McGinniss, Geoffrey Dunn and Frank Bailey, but others details have not been reported yet - apparently mainly due to the lack of "hard evidence." In any case, we all have a pretty good idea about the madness which originated in Wasilla and then spread all over the country and beyond.

For all those people who are not really sure whether they want to watch this movie, John Cole at Balloon Juice today explains that he is still in recovery mode and he also sums up why Palin is a despicable person. However, even if you share his views, I think you should still watch it. ;-)

+++ Please go to this post from March 7, 2012 in case you are looking for interviews with Steve Schmidt, Nicolle Wallace and authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann! +++

The comedian Katie Halper announced that she will live-tweet "Game Change" - sounds good! Here is the link to her twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/kthalps

Ana Marie Cox (founder of Wonkette) will live-tweet "Game Change" as well: https://twitter.com/#!/anamariecox

For all the tweets about "Game Change", go to the #gamechange hashtag! That will be great fun!

So, let's enjoy and discuss "Game Change!"

What Steve Schmidt Told Author Geoffrey Dunn - The Movie "Game Change" is "Steve Schmidt's Confession" - UPDATE: Sarah Palin defends Rush Limbaugh + BONUS: Interviews with Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace

By Kathleen

Cover Picture kindly used with permission from Geoffrey Dunn

Geoffrey Dunn is on a roll. Another of his articles about Sarah Palin has been published at Huffington Post and I understand that several more are in the works. Geoffrey has seen an advance screening of the film Game Change and reveals that the film is more about Steve Schmidt's transformation than the "hyperbole being focused on Palin."

Geoffrey's article reveals that Steve Schmidt thinks that Sarah Palin had a "destructive impact" on American politics. Schmidt further acknowledges that he was one of those responsible for unleashing an "unprepared, know-nothing whose nomination trivialized American politics." Harsh words indeed.

Geoffrey writes that Game Change is "Schmidt's confession" and asks the question that all Americans should be asking themselves "how can the United States best select its leaders when celebrity packs more electoral cache than experience or political courage?"  Will the GOP strategists learn the tough lessons that Steve Schmidt did? The jury is out on that one. 

Read the rest of the article to find out what Nicole Wallace thought.

Award-winning writer and filmmaker Geoffrey Dunn's best-selling The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power was published by Macmllan/St. Martin's in May of 2011 and will be published in paperback this May.

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UPDATE by Patrick:

Sarah Palin again made headlines today, with a rather passionate defense of Rush Limbaugh. She said to a CNN-reporter who "surprised" GOP-starlet Sarah Palin today in Wasilla:

“I think the definition of hypocrisy is for Rush Limbaugh to have been called out, forced to apologize and retract what it is that he said in exercising his First Amendment rights and never is that the same applied to the leftist radicals who say such horrible things about the handicapped, about women, about the defenseless. “So I think that’s the definition of hypocrisy, and that’s my two cents for you.”

This is such a brilliant example of Sarah Palin's ignorance and her ever-present willingness to distort facts in order to create sympathy for her friends and in order to smear her enemies, that I decided to create a little clip with this quote. The clip shows the part of the interview in which she defends Rush Limbaugh - and then shows Limbaugh "exercising his First Amendment rights."

I believe that Sarah Palin, America's most famous mean girl, rather enjoyed Rush Limbaugh's performance. I think I could hear a few giggles. After all, this is the woman who giggled when an Alaskan "shock jock" called cancer survivor and Palin's arch-enemy Lyda Green a "bitch" and a "cancer" and who got a kick out of calling Alaskan Rep. Jay Ramras (another one of her Republican arch-enemies) "Vajajay" and "Bird-Nose" in her email messages. 

I suggested to Kathleen earlier today to publish a post with the CNN video, but she replied that she was not in the mood right now for, I quote, "Palin crap." Luckily, Geoffrey's brilliant article later changed her mind - and got her in the mood to write about our most (or least) favourite subject. ;-)

Watch Sarah defense of Rush Limbaugh and then him "exercising his First Amendment rights":

In the same interview, Sarah Palin said that "anything is possible" if her name is called in a brokered GOP convention. Wonkette posts the full clip of the CNN-interview and observes:

Sarah Palin went on — or should we say, was transmitted through someone’s phone-toy in the direction of — CNN during Tuesday’s Super Snoozeday parade, and proclaimed that who knows whether she’ll run for president today, tomorrow, or after the Mayan apocalypse, but anything is possible because Americans can do anything they put their minds to, emphasis on “minds” and excluding jobs. Later on, while Romney was disappointing America, CNN spent a good portion of the long process of cell degeneration we call life talking about Palin some more, with what little comprehensible English was made available by her mouth yesterday. Conclusion: Sarah Palin is an alive person. Plus, hates misogynists as long as they are liberal.

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The "war of realities" has begun - Sarah Palin's reality against the reality of the other 99%, so to speak. The AP reported about the outrage of Sarah Palin's "aides" - the people who are on the payroll of SarahPAC. As was to be expected, Sarah Palin's servants dutifully people rallied around the "Governor" and loudly denounced the upcoming HBO movie "Game Change", with good old trusty Megan "Alaska big mouth" Stapleton even calling the movie "sick":

Interestingly, Frank Bailey described in his book "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin" exactly that: The close circle around Sarah Palin was expected to defend Palin under all costs against accusations which quite frequently were directed at Palin. The Governor fumed, raged, screamed, and her subordinates had to defend her honour. Therefore it's like a "deja vu" - and of course it didn't matter that Sarah's busy staffers haven't even seen the movie yet. Sarah has to be defended, period!

It's exactly like the conservative Alaska pundit and former radio-talk show host Dan Fagan wrote in November 2009 in his immortal essay titled "Sarah Palin: A Dark Soul":

She is a grudge carrier. Settling scores drive her and she is hell bent on revenge, payback, getting even. (...)

She has no self-control when it comes to letting things go. She must settle the score. She must. She Will!

So now it's time to settle the score the makers of the "Game Change" movie and the authors of the book. It's that simple. Because everyone lies - apart from Sarah Palin. It has never been any different.

This might come as a surprise to the authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. One has just only to watch for example their interview from 15th March 2010 to realise that they probably didn't expect such harsh attacks.

In the following clip from about 46:00, they start to talk about Sarah Palin in detail. Mark Halperin says that the depiction of Sarah Palin is actually "empathetic towards her" and also provides "a very balanced view." But above all, Mark Halperin stresses: "It's all accurate!" - and Halperin even mentions that in contrast other things which have been written about Sarah Palin elsewhere sometimes "have not been accurate."

It's almost amusing to observe that Mark Halperin was apparently under the impression that Sarah Palin is a sane, rational human being. I do hope that he has seen the light now!

Watch:

The discussion about the upcoming movie "Game Change" is also a good opportunity to take a look at what some of the participants of the 2008 Republican campaign had to say about Sarah Palin. In a very interesting clip from 2010, former Senior McCain-aide Nicolle Wallace didn't hold back - and it sounded like a warning to Sarah Palin. Nicolle Wallace says that people would start to talk about Sarah Palin's "more troubling deficiencies" if she was to become the Republican nominee, "her incredible cynicism, her bitterness, her aggressive attempts to claw anyone that points out an area for her to work on." According to Wallace, "a whole lot of people would stand up and say a whole lot of things."

Watch:

The interview with Steve Schmidt on "60 Minutes" with Anderson Cooper is also worth revisiting:

Revelations From The Campaign - 60 Minutes - CBS... von PalinPalooza

In case you would like to know more about Nicolle Wallace, take a look at her appearance at Rutgers University from March 2011 where she talks about her novel "Eighteen Acres" which she wrote after the 2008 campaign - a fictional account about "the first female president":

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BONUS:

For your enjoyment, here is Julianne Moore on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

The Daily Show

Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

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UPDATE March 12, 2012 (by Patrick): 

 All Americans, regardless whether they are Republicans or Democrats, today should feel proud of Steve Schmidt, McCain's former senior campaign advisor. Steve Schmidt today gave an absolutely brilliant, brutally honest interview on Morning Joe, which I regard as almost historic. Rarely before have we seen such an honest, straightforward and merciless assessment by a former political player. Just the plain truth, free of party politics and ideology, but driven by regret and feelings of responsibility. Steve Schmidt has shown a lot of courage, and hopefully this will have an impact and change things for the better. 

Watch:

 

What Sarah Palin Does Not want You To Watch or Know -- Game Change

By Kathleen and Patrick

In an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday Sarah Palin announced that she would not be watching the HBO film Game Change because it is "based on a false narrative" and that she was "never in a funk" that the film portrays her being in. What Palin neglects to say is that she was approached by the director executive producer for the film, Jay Roach, who invited her to talk with them and that through her attorney she declined to participate. That inconvenient fact in itself leaves little room for complaint in my opinion.

In the interview with Wallace, Palin also takes credit for "employing more people imitating Sarah Palin than the President has put Americans to work." Talk about delusional. This isn't snark it is another Palin distortion of facts which in her mind sets her in a good light. Palin as governor was good at providing jobs......jobs for her crony friends that is. 

However, the main issue for Palin is that she does not want anyone to view the film and she therefore "encourages others to find something more productive to do." There is a reason that Palin does not want "others" to watch the film -- she wants to keep the lid on the fact that she is extremely unstable and has no place in politics. We have all read the books about Palin's unpredictable "funks" written by Geoffrey Dunn, Joe McGinniss, Frank Bailey, Mark Halperin and John Heilmann all of which describe episodes of her behaviour in different situations. None of them describe a person who can perform under pressure. Just the opposite in fact. That Palin is depicted as someone prone to tantrums and who believes that she can operate under a different set of standards from the norm. Just don't ask her to explain herself....

In the following video Chris Wallace mentions the look on her face when he brings up the film and predictably Palin responds with a "must we" when invited to view the trailer by him. As I stated in an earlier post Palin does not convince me when she states that she "will not watch the film" at least several times.

 

The discussion about the upcoming movie "Game Change" is also a good opportunity to take a look at what some of the participants of the 2008 Republican campaign had to say about Sarah Palin. In a very interesting clip from 2010, former Senior McCain-aide Nicolle Wallace didn't hold back - and it sounded like a warning to Sarah Palin. Nicolle Wallace says that people would start to talk about Sarah Palin's "more troubling deficiencies" if she was to become the Republican nominee, "her incredible cynicism, her bitterness, her aggressive attempts to claw anyone that points out an area for her to work on." According to Wallace, "a whole lot of people would stand up and say a whole lot of things."

Watch:

Then there is of course Steve Schmidt's famous interview on 60 minutes:

Last but not least, there is the wonderful clip from Keith Olbermann's Countdown, broadcast in 2009 - the prospect of a Palin-presidency would be a "catastrophic apocalypse", according to an insider:

It's just a big shame that the American media has never bothered to tell the American people what these "more troubling deficiencies" actually are, and why exactly a Palin-presidency would be a "catastrophic apocalypse." Instead of telling the truth, the media is still eager to use Sarah Palin to boost ratings and sales. Just recently, the reviled "lamestream" media outlets Newsweek, CNN and New York Times were keen to profit from Sarah Palin, when they really should have done their job long ago and explained to the American public bluntly who we are dealing with: A woman with a severe mental disorder whose calling in life is revenge and the destruction of her enemies - and who lies about virtually anything. Then, they should have just left her alone.

The conservative Alaskan journalist Dan Fagan, who supported Palin's 2006 run for Governor in Alaska, brilliantly summed it up in article which he published on his (former) website "The Alaska Standard" on November 18, 2009:

I will not buy Sarah Palin’s new book because I believe the governor who quit to be a fundamentally dishonest person. Why support the work of someone you can’t trust? I have read some excerpts from the book and it is clearly a work of vengeance, revenge, and pure meanness. Palin comes across as the rotten on the inside, faultfinding, petty teenage girl we all hated in high school. If you’ve seen the movie “Heathers” or “Mean Girls” you know what I am talking about.

Palin, when writing Rogue, set herself on a course of smallness, triviality, quibbling, sophistry nothingness, and worthlessness. From the excerpts I’ve read, it is hard to draw any other conclusion than Sarah Palin is small in stature, character, and integrity. 

Yes I do believe Sarah Palin has a dark soul. A soul obsessed with her image. A soul focused on hurting others. Sarah Palin’s book reveals her as someone unwilling, unable, incapable of living a life of forgiveness. She is a grudge carrier. Settling scores drive her and she is hell bent on revenge, payback, getting even. 

Revenge has become the work and calling of her life. Maybe it always has been. It’s clearly what drives her now. Her cutthroat attacks on others will be her downfall. Her inability to control her desire to hurt those who hurt her will end up in the end discrediting her as a leader, as a person. It’s never too late to change. But time is running out on Palin’s political career. Her poll ratings drop every time she opens her spiteful mouth. Her book will not help.

Unfortunately, Dan Fagan deleted this brutally honest article one day later. For a very short moment only, the public got an honest, uncompromising glimpse on the real Sarah Palin, from somebody who knew her and her dealings in Alaska very well. But the truth about Sarah Palin seems to be too explosive, too outrageous, too inconvenient for the media. Sarah Palin is still an object of desire for them, they still like to pal around with her, in a pact with the devil. Good luck to them - the infamous "Palin curse" gets virtually everybody in the end. Damaged careers and destroyed reputations have been the inevitable result for most people who chose to ally themselves with Sarah Palin. "It came from Wasilla", Todd S. Purdum observed in Vanity Fair in August 2009, and several years later, the creature is still out of the bottle.