Game Change

I watched Game Change on HBO. I really enjoyed the book so I was looking forward to the movie. There were 2 things I kept hearing about it before I watched:

1) Julianne Moore is amazing.

2) Sarah Palin comes off as a sympathetic figure.

Well holy shit, we must have a liberal media because I do not agree with those two things.

First off, I liked the movie. I thought it was entertaining. But I'd hope that people who haven't read the book, do so. Because it is a lot better.

And while I did like it, I do have a problem with these types of historic/biopic movies that come out right after the events they're dramatizing happened. It's hard to look at Ed Harris as John McCain and Julianne Moore and find them believable, no matter how good they are. The reason? We JUST watched all of this play out on a daily basis on TV in 2008.

It's like when Michael Mann and Wil Smith did "Ali". A year before, there was a documentary about the very same subject that was extremely good. So now you want me to watch the same exact story but with actors? Why? I just saw the real thing with the real people. You're not gonna do better than that.

We need time. We need to get away from it for awhile and then come back to it. Game Change the movie coming out right now just feels too soon. It's too fresh, and I don't need to see actors when I'm still seeing the real life people every day.

This is doubly true because of Tina Fey.

I'm surprised that Tina Fey hasn't been mentioned more in the "Julianne Moore is awesome" talk, because when anyone thinks of a Sara Palin impression they think of Tina. She did it first, and she did it best, and we all know it.

It reminds me of when everyone's George Bush (the first) impression was really just an impression of Dana Carvey doing George Bush.

Now, I didn't think Julianne Moore was terrible. She wasn't great though. I would say "uneven" at best. I didn't like her at the beginning, but the impression grew on me in parts of the middle. But don't take my word for it, some crazy asshole put together 12 minutes (!) of back to back Sarah Palin and Julianne Moore...



There's something too slow and retarded about Julianne Moore's take. Sarah Palin believes in what she's saying and is completely confident in how dumb she is. Julianne Moore is too measured, and it's like she's thinking about her impression and accent the whole time. It's too self conscious.

Okay, point number 2. Sarah Palin does not come off as a sympathetic character in this film. The only way you could possibly think that is if before watching it you believed she was a drooling, Ann Coulter meets Hitler ignorant hick.

Well, maybe that wouldn't be that crazy of an assumption, but still...she does not look good in this, and I don't think anyone who actually likes her would think she does. Only someone that hates her already and thought the absolute worst of her could be like, "oh, well at least she had some human characteristics". I think George W Bush called it the soft bigotry of low expectations. So F-U, liberal media.

That doesn't mean to say that the film is wrong in the way she's treated. Many of these events come right from multiple witnesses in the campaign, and many more of the events are what we all watched happen on TV. And there is one person who may come off even worse, and that's Steve Schmidt.

Steve Schmidt was the senior adviser to the campaign, and a source for a lot of the book and the movie. He's the guy who should be denouncing the film as not true, but instead, he's saying this is what really happened. And that should tell you something.

Because he is admitting that Palin was his idea. That he was responsible for her (non) vetting. That he stuck with it even after he realized that she would be quite dangerous for the country if she was elected.

He was also the one who came up with the very, very, very stupid idea to "suspend the campaign" when the economy collapsed. The movie shows him to be the genesis of almost all the stupid things in the campaign.

Steve Schmidt really sucks at his job. And he's not just admitting it, he's profiting on it now! Weird. I haven't seen someone make so much money for being incompetent since...well, Sarah Palin. So let's bring it back to her.

This movie reminded me of how very important she is to me. She is the source of all my political confusion. She's the reason I've taken up the fight against conservative extremists for the last 3 years. She is the beginning and she is the end. Because here's the thing about hardcore conservatives that I can't make sense of in my head:

They refuse to admit that she is bad.

This is it! This is the thing. This is my problem with every single one of you.

I don't care about disagreements over the issues. Pro Life? Fine. Anti-Stem Cell? If you like. Think all girls are sluts? Whatever.

But admit you were fucking wrong about Sarah Palin! If you can't admit that, then we can't talk. Because my follow up has to be, what would you admit to? What would she have to do for you to say, "okay, she is bad".

Well, you might say, Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace and every single other person on that campaign is lying about her. Okay, fine. But look at what is on the record. Look at that interview with Katie Couric. I dare you to look at it. Or look at what she's done since. Look at her quit being Governor. Just look.

Yes, she should admired for becoming Mayor, then Governor. For having a million babies and being a mom. Those are (sorta) good things. She made a terrific speech at the convention. But she should not be considered a plausible candidate for anything beyond Alaska. And this is not a partisan thing, the fact is she was not ready to be a breath away from the presidency. She thought the Queen of England was calling the shots for England! What does it take for you people to understand this!

And again, it's not her beliefs that bother me. It's not that she's a woman. It's not that she's a bumpkin. It's not she criticizes Obama. I have no liberal conspiracy against her. I have a conspiracy against dumb people. And Sarah Palin, through the course of that campaign, proved herself to be too dumb to be Vice President or God help us, President.

And even worse, she was proud of her ignorance.

If you can't admit these things about Sarah Palin, then there is no debate to have about anything. Cause you are living in crazy town.