"In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country’s leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. How did Obama convince himself that, despite the thinness of his rÉsumÉ, he could somehow beat the odds to become the nation’s first African American president? How did the tumultuous relationship between the Clintons shape—and warp—Hillary’s supposedly unstoppable bid? What was behind her husband’s furious outbursts and devastating political miscalculations? Why did McCain make the novice governor of Alaska his running mate? And was Palin merely painfully out of her depth—or troubled in more serious ways?"The book is about four major political figures (well, five including Bill Clinton). The HBO movie Game Change is about one: Palin, Palin, Palin and Palin. It starts with her selection as McCain's running mate and ends with their presidential campaign loss. In other words, it only cares about McCain in his relationship to Palin. Had he not been her running mate, he too would have gotten the zero emphasis Barack Obama and the Clintons get.
"Starring Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson and Ed Harris, HBO Films’ GAME CHANGE follows John McCain’s (Harris) 2008 presidential campaign, from his selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (Moore) as his running mate to their ultimate defeat in the general election."Byron York points out how odd this is. Instead of focusing at least equally on three people who today hold high public office (Obama, Clinton and McCain--with Obama even running for re-election as President)
". . . HBO decided to focus on an out-of-office, former half-term governor of Alaska who was on the losing ticket in the 2008 election and isn't running for anything today."*Why? The left loses its sanity when it comes to Palin. She lives rent free in their heads blocking out everyone else. Even the first black President and first woman presidential candidate from a major party aren't interesting enough to figure prominently in an adaptation of book in which they are more than half the story and Palin less than 1/5th (appearing in only 4 of 23 chapters).
"Everyone knows that Hollywood, the entertainment industry as a whole, and much of the liberal establishment all suffer from a continuing obsession with Palin. So in the end, it's no surprise HBO turned 'Game Change' into a Palin biopic."-----
UPDATE: *Palin was a game changer in the 2010 elections (with over 60%** of her endorsed candidates winning) and may be a game changer in the 2012 primaries and elections (cf. Gingrich's huge unexpected win in South Carolina after two great debate performances and Palin saying she would vote for him). She also was the most cheered speaker at the latest CPAC meeting, and is the only living Republican able to rally huge crowds of tens of thousands. For an in depth view of Palin's amazing success in 2-1/2 years as Alaska's governor see The Undefeated.
**The Washington Post which tracked Palin's endorsements in 2010 didn't bother to track Obama's or anyone else's endorsements. Hmm. But, Wapo did track the losing issues. Hmm #2.
2 comments:
April Gavaza was speaking of the fatuous comments of Julianne Moore, who after her portrayal of Palin in the biopic feels well founded in commenting on Palin's candidacy and political acumen:
"It was so shocking to me when she resigned the governorship of Alaska when the presidential election was over. ‘I was stunned. I just think that shows such an unbelievable lack of interest in the actual governing."
Well Julianne, for my part I’m shocked to learn that after presumably studying for a role to portray the person you are playing, you know absolutely nothing about the efforts brought by outside Democrats to undermine her term as governor, the efforts to exhaust her financially and emotionally, and the very cheeky and well considered response that catapulted her to key player in the Republican rise in the 2010 congressional races.
“Ironically the appointment of Palin was supposed to energise John McCain’s flailing 2008 campaign and help see him to victory over then Senator Barack Obama. But upcoming film portrays the move as a disastrous gamble that torpedoes his chances of election and almost leads her to a nervous breakdown.”
Oh, right. John McCain had just captured the imagination of the conservatives, till that darn Sarah Palin showed up on his ticket. Are you kidding me? First of all, who chose her as a running mate? That would be John McCain, so if it was a dumb decision the dummy was the guy at the head of the ticket. But the truth is it was the only good decision McCain made. Following her placement on the ticket enthusiasm for the McCain ticket swelled, until his disastrous decision to stop the campaign to work out a solution with the Democrats to address the financial market collapse. But guess what? The Dems weren’t willing to make a deal with Johnny this time, because he was the head of the ticket rather than the maverick that was undercutting the party.
Julianne said she spent months preparing for the challenging role, which will be under the microscope among fans and haters of the controversial politician alike.
That puts her right up there with the James Brolin portrayal of George W. Bush and the Sean Penn portrayal of that liar Jokin’ Joe Wilson.
Really, you leftoids and the West Wing fantasy world you live in, do you ever question yourselves, ever?
JN, Thanks for your good take down of Julianne and HBO's Game Change since I didn't get into its fabrications and errors which are too many to easily number.
John Nolte also notes the absurdity of the "Palin didn't know there was a prime minister in England" charge that Steve Schmidt (also losing campaign manager for Chris "I voted for Obama in 2008" Dudley) apparently made. http://admin.bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2012/02/21/game-change-hit-job-video-from-2008-proves-hbos-latest-attack-on-palin-is-absurd/
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