Game Change (Movie): Review from a Sarah Palin Critic.

I must start by admitting that I have been a Sarah Palin detractor from the beginning. I took a cynical view of her selection at the time and agreed with almost every bit of coverage that cast her as a village idiot.

I now feel bad for doing so.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/Vox-News/2012/0310/Game-Change-Could-Sarah-Palin-portrayal-affect-the-2012-election


The movie that HBO just came out with was based on a book written by some very good political journalists and I believe it to be an accurate portrayal. Instead of confirming what I believed about Sarah Palin, I came away with a new found respect for the woman. I had never considered the situation that she was put in......well I did, but I never actually logistically put myself in her shoes.

Sarah Palin didn't know a lot about world events, but you know I don't think that mattered. I think she is a smart woman who could, with more time, understand the issues as well as any college professor, if that was her focus. The thing is, she didn't have time to learn all the details on the fly. The campaign also put both time constraints on her and violated what I consider to be proper management style: They told her not only what to do, but how to do it.....almost every step of the way.

I think Sarah Palin could have made a good vice president. After all, John McCain is still alive...and chances are, that would have remained her only role. When you consider the bravery of what she did and the fortitude she must have to keep going...even today...with all the criticism, you must have some level of respect for the woman if you have a logical or empathetic bone in your body.

I think the vague idea that she would have pursued a radical agenda, is ridiculous. Mostly because she didn't pursue a radical agenda as the Alaska governor and secondly because as Vice President, she would probably have played a more visible role, but been kept in check by the actual lack of power of the office.



Alright, that's my personal revelation. Now the movie.......
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- McCain came off as a class guy. It sure seems like he should have collaborated directly with Palin more and they may have done better.

- Palin is portrayed more kindly than I expected. They took shots at her, but most of those were the criticisms that actually happened...using pretty much the same words. So we knew that narrative...but they also gave what was probably a pretty good recreation of her family life and the fact that it was interrupted and turned upside down during the campaign. This happens to all candidates, yes, but not all candidates have young children and a baby to take care of. A family that, up until she was picked, lived probably a more normal, close knit life than many politicians actually have.

- It is somewhat confirmed that she didn't come in knowing much about foreign affairs...or federal civics. But she seemed to surprise even the campaign team with what she learned in a short amount of time.

- There was a point in the movie where Palin decided to "go rogue". That moment came off in a positive way, but then they turned it to her being a bit self-focused and for lack of a better term...getting a "big head" with the positive crowd responses she was getting. I think this characteristic is there with her and it manifests itself in the only way it can with the way things turned out.

- Great acting all around. Woody Harrelson was compelling....I empathized with him and Steve Schmidt is a guy that shares my disposition anyway. Sarah Palin's character was cast perfectly and I thought was played with a large dose of respect. McCain was also played amazingly well, though I can't imagine that McCain (though he's technically a sailor) drops that many F bombs.


After the movie was over, I thought that if Sarah Palin had naturally grown into this position, she might have been ready. But the situation that she was thrust into didn't give her much of a shot. Both because of the sudden-ness of it all and what they were expecting out of her. I do believe that being part of the 2008 campaign has sealed Palin's fate and that she will never again be a prominent politician. What she has turned into as of late, I believe is more a reflection of what the loudest part of the Republican electorate wants to hear....and the reality that being a prominent Republican, non-politician has kind of a cookie cutter business model. The thing is......like with many things about her.....she's surprisingly good at it.

 

Haven't seen the movie Game Change and don't intend too. HBO will never get any of my money and when Game of Thrones season 2 comes out, I'm downloading it off the net. Palin still rocks and I would vote for her any day over the bozos running now.

 

Good OP. I don't know if I'll get the chance to see it as I don't have HBO. But I've always respected Palin for being an enthusiastic and passionate woman....who obviously loves her country. She would have been a great representative for the country and has lots of energy. She was thrust into the limelight quickly. But I have no doubt she would have been a great representative for our country. Great presidents place good knowledgable people to work for them and advise them. No president can know everything....and we shouldn't even expect them to. But as far as how she was treated.....I think she has been treated quite unfairly by the mainstream liberal press and liberals in general. And for no other reason that I can determine....except for the fact she's a conservative woman. And in their circles, that's a huge 'no-no.'

 

Did it show McCain singing "bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran?"

Did imaginary Palin show her boobs?

Hollywood does an amazing job with fairy tales.

 

Why watch a hit piece movie made by liberals for liberals who hate Palin and weren't there when you can get the real story about Palin by watching "The Undefeated?"

 

All I can say TLBS is very nice OP and thank you for your admittances.

In much the same way, I've never really agreed with Geraldine Ferraro and most of my exposure came at the time she was a Fox commentator during the 2008 election cycle. I realized that I really liked Mrs. Ferraro quite a lot.

Once again thanks for the honest critique.

 

This sure is an understatement.

Really, think about it.

It's been more than three years since the 2008 election and she has been out of public office for sometime now and they're still made a hit piece movie about her.

 

not a actual movie?? A made. for. TV. movie?? Watching it now. and I must say, Julianne Moore has never been one of my favorites but she really stinks in this. I detect her playing this role with a bit of seediness, a smallness. She is not going to give Mrs. Palin credit for anything. Actually, Julianne is not even quite as attractive Mrs. Palin. All in all, quite a subtle little hatchett job on not only Mrs. Palin but anyone who supported her then or now.

Classy as a description for McCain. well I hope you're joking. LoL.

you're slick. original poster. and transparent.

 

I'd be interested to see if those who support her find the movie fair. I expect they wouldn't.

 

You're flippin' right they wouldn't. Have you SEEN it? It's a hatchet job.

Well. I think someone oughta apologize and then be charged with a hate crime and run off the air by the FCC. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

 

I don't disagree. She has been treated very unfairly.....and not just by liberals. I think it was unfair of McCain and his campaign to pick her. She was not ready at that point and she didn't have time to be. We now know about her because the McCain campaign self-servingly saw her as a political tool. That was certainly not a fair thing to do to her.

 

Keep watching the movie. When it's over, let me know materially where you disagree with my review.

 

oh yeah. We can all see that Biden is one hell of a VP and the community organizer is just straightening this country up one hour at a time both domestically and in foreign policy.

 

I'm more outraged for Mrs. Palin and her family. I am embarrassed for the left because this movie is so transparent in what it is trying to accomplish. They must be scared as hell. well good.

Let me predict that this is going to energize the right even more and someone is going to pay for this little fiasco.

 

why i'm surprised that they didn't outright question whether Trig was her daughter's baby. But they did do something of the sort in a way that would make us all remember those accusations.

Then Troopergate. I'm sure that the writers for this movie had help with the sorry Team McCain.

 

just freaking insulting.

but i'm glad i saw it. I'm cancelling HBO as soon as i get home.

McCain comes off as a half senile old fart. So much for all his schmoozing the left wing media. LOL

 

does it matter to you that Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace both called it accurate?

 

I don't have HBO, but I would love to see how they handled Troopergate. There was so much more to that, that never made it in the news.

 

they didnt go into much detail about troopergate, but overall the movie was pretty brutal.

people who worked on the campaign have called it accurate, so i think it actually stands to justify the high level of criticism she got.

 

Let me tell you about troopergate I bet was never told in the movie.


The record clearly indicates a serious and concentrated pattern of unacceptable and at times, illegal activity occurring over a lengthy period, which establishes a course of conduct totally at odds with the ethics of our profession," Col. Julia Grimes, then head of Alaska State Troopers, wrote in March 1, 2006, letter suspending Wooten for 10 days. After the union protested it, the suspension was reduced to five days.

She warned that if he messed up again, he'd be fired.

"This discipline is meant to be a last chance to take corrective action," Grimes wrote. "You are hereby given notice that any further occurrences of these types of behaviors or incidents will not be tolerated and will result in your termination."

It's nearly impossible to know whether other complaints have come in about Wooten in the last two years. His personnel file is confidential. But the fact he remains on the force is an indication that he hasn't had the sort of trouble that Grimes warned against.

Grimes declined to comment, as did various troopers involved in the investigation.

'... NOT WITHOUT A BLEMISH'

As the investigation got under way in 2005, Wooten was in the midst of a bitter divorce from Palin's sister, Molly McCann. The couple was fighting over custody of their two young children. Accusations flew from both sides.

Troopers eventually investigated 13 issues and found four in which Wooten violated policy or broke the law or both:

• Wooten used a Taser on his stepson.

• He illegally shot a moose.

• He drank beer in his patrol car on one occasion.

• He told others his father-in-law would "eat a f'ing lead bullet" if he helped his daughter get an attorney for the divorce.
Beyond the investigation sparked by the family, trooper commanders saw cause to discipline or give written instructions to correct Wooten seven times since he joined the force, according to Grimes' letter to Wooten.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2008/07/27/476430...#storylink=cpy

 

Here is the rest of the story on it. I bet this was never brought out either.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The most important finding is Finding Number Two. The investigator concluded,


“Governor Palin’s firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statutory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads.”

That’s correct. The Governor of any state has the authority to hire and fire her executives for any reason. They are employees that are hired at her will. The Governor did not abuse her authority.

Wow. That’s amazing that the Alaskan Legislature Council felt they needed to spend $100,000 to figure that one out. Can the legislature not read and understand their own Constitution?

So why did the Governor fire Commissioner Monegan?

Commissioner Monegan committed a major blunder on May 15, 2008.

On that day, He submitted to her office a poster-boy photograph of a disreputable Alaskan Trooper for the Governor to sign and present at the Police Memorial Day honoring the Troopers. The Governro declined to sign the poster and refused to attend the Police Memorial Day.

Here is the excerpt from page 39 of the report.



He did what?

You have to be kidding me, right?

Let me read that one again, slowly!

The Commissioner dropped off a color poster photograph of Trooper Wooten. A trooper he claims that he was being pressured to fire. A trooper he claims he was pressured to fire since the first day of his job. A job he felt he was going to lose if he did not fire this trooper.
A trooper who the Commissioner knew the Governor Palin and her husband believed to be an extremely poor representation of an Alaska State Trooper.

A trooper who the Commissioner knew had been repeatedly disciplined for a multitude of serious infractions. Infractions such as:


“the taking of a moose illegally, tasering an 11-year-old stepson of Wooten’s, drinking while driving in the patrol car, having a beer while he was driving his patrol car.” Monegan to Branchflower page 18

And this trooper, is the one he selects to honor on the Police Memorial Day?

I don’t believe the Commissioner was that stupid.

I don’t believe that the Commissioner was that incompetent.

I can only conclude that the Commissioner was deliberately insubordinate. That he was deliberately seeking to antagonize and worry the Governor of the State of Alaska

 

Now here was Commissioner Monegan asking Palin to sign a poster of trooper Wooten, a man she wanted fired for conduct unbecoming to an officer and who had been charged with threatening to kill her father if he got a divorce lawyer for Palin's sister and several other charges against him and present the picture of Wooten at a Police Memorial Day honoring the Troopers. You tell me if that wasn't a slap right in Palin's face?

I bet they never told that in the movie.

 

From my perspective Palin had two shinning moments in the campaign and in the movie. The 1st was her acceptance speech which charged the base, and gave the campaign an uptick for a short period, and the second was the debate. Of course, if you watched the movie or the debate you'd know it was positively phony as she only learned a few answers days before and when in doubt reverted back to them when it wasn't even the subject matter.

Otherwise, Palin was totally unprepared for the vice presidency. After all she didn't even know the function of the VP. At the time I thought palin was ready for a nervous breakdown and the movie portrayed it. You don't have to believe me but even Nicole Wallace thought so as well as Steve Smith and others which is documented.

Anyway, I thought all the actors did a fine job and at times it was hard to distinguish Moore from the real life Palin.

You betcha. *wink* *wink*

 

Did they also bring out this about her?

She turned in her own Republicans that were taking payoffs.

She made the oil companies open up a gas pipeline that the last two governors allowed the oil companies to sit on till gas prices got higher. She told them if they didn't finish it and start pumping gas, she would take away their leases on the land. They did it and Palin gave each Alaskan over $1,200.00 in state profit every year from that gas. The state took in billions from their share.

 

I believe she was unprepared. She knew nothing about foreign affairs, or how Washington worked. But I think she could have learned fairly fast if given time. You can't throw all that at her and expect her to know it all in such a short time. I think she was scared in those interviews and debates, not knowing what would be thrown at her and knowing she would be expected to give an instant answer.

But I'll say this about Palin. I think she was one of the most honest politicians to ever hold office. I think she wanted to do the right thing for the people of Alaska. She was a woman who held a high office, but didn't let it interfere with being a good mom.She was what most people would want in a public servant. Even got trashed by the Left for trying to be a good mom.