Hollywood Honors Julianne Moore for Her Politics

I have never seen another industry hold as many award ceremonies to honor itself than the narcissist-class in Hollywood. Most professionals don't have the the low self-esteem required to devote so much time, effort, and money on events for the purpose of patting themselves on the back. To each their own, I guess.

Recently, Julianne Moore was honored at one such event, the "Critics Choice Television Awards," for her role in HBO's anti-Palin movie, Game Change.

Moore took home a little trophy in the "Best Actress in a Movie or Mini Series" category. Upon receiving her award, Moore stated:

“You can’t give a great performance without a great story. So I thank the Republican Party for fostering such a truly amazing American Story.”

I have some news for Ms. Moore... It wasn't a "great performance." Far from it actually. She portrayed Governor Palin's accent completely wrong (Moore sounded like she was portraying someone from Minnesota), and she didn't pick up on any character traits or mannerisms that the Governor possesses. Then there's the fact that Moore played a character in that movie who doesn't even exist. This "truly amazing American story,” is actually a truly amazing political hatchet job. But yes, by all means, Ms. Moore, thank the Republican Party for your new trinket. Especially the ones who used that "truly amazing political hatchet job" to cover their own behinds after they failed at their jobs. And the ones who stood by and watched silently as those covering their backsides, lied and maligned one of the people representing their party on a national ticket. Moore owed them a thank you.

Now that she has been given her first award for misrepresenting Governor Palin (in every aspect) to millions of Americans, she is being called "the 'get' star." From Randee Dawn at the LA Times:

[W]hen HBO, Roach and Strong approached her about playing Sarah Palin in "Game Change" — a movie based on a portion of the book of the same name by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin — the opportunity was impossible to resist. At least, in the first few seconds.

"I got a phone call saying, 'They just offered you Sarah Palin, and can you talk to Jay,' and it all happened really fast," recalls Moore, a leggy fair-skinned redhead who does not, initially, call to mind the rogue Republican 2008 vice presidential nominee. "So I kind of said yes before I really thought about it. My first thought was, 'OK!' and my second thought was, 'Oh, no! I really, really, don't know how to do this.'"

And she never figured it out... Dawn continues:

Capturing any real-life individual on film is one thing; when she's still living is yet another; when she's as polarizing as the former Alaska governor is — and you're part of the "liberal Hollywood elite" — it's on another plane altogether.

At least the writer had the decency not to insult her readers intelligence by suggesting that Moore is anything but a left-wing elitist. But Hollywood can cloud one's vision of reality, and it certainly did in this instance. Moore didn't capture anything remotely close to the real world, or a "real-life individual." The the writer states:

Moore in many ways is the polar opposite of Palin: Committed to LGBT rights...

Stop right there... No, Governor Palin doesn't support gay marriage, but she certainly supports the rights of every American. The left has trouble discerning the difference between rights and privileges though, don't they? Trust me, if Governor Palin was the "polar opposite" of someone who supports the "rights" of gay people, she wouldn't have the support she does have from the non-left-wing "LGBT community."

If anyone from the LA Times is reading this, I implore them to email me at stacy@conservatives4palin.com so I can put you in touch with some of the numerous gay Palin supporters that I know. It would probably make an interesting article.

She continues:

...getting rave reviews for edgy roles in such films as "The Kids Are All Right"and "Boogie Nights"

Okay, there she' totally right on this point. Governor Palin is the polar opposite of someone who would play a whore in a horrible movie about the porn industry. Yep.

The article continues goes on for a long time about how they got Moore to look like Governor Palin using makeup and dress. Then it goes on to discuss how excited all of the Obama fundraisers who made the film, were when Moore put on the wig and glasses. Danny “Victory Fund” Strong stated:

"Other actors are essential in the piece, but the whole film rode on her performance. If Sarah Palin didn't work in the film, the film was not going to work."

Gee, I wonder why that is? The book wasn't even about her, but the movie certainly was. And it certainly was (in the planing stages anyway) about the election in 2012.

The next part of the LA Times article is where it gets interesting. Dawn writes (emphasis):

Moore's out-of-the-park performance surprised many viewers not only because she was spot-on with her characterization but also because she tapped into the emotional well she and Roach were aiming for, creating a level of empathy for Palin that gave her a common humanity among even her detractors.

These people put together an entire movie to trash Governor Palin's character; they LIED about her having a nervous breakdown, and then claim they were actually "creating empathy" for their victim. If this movie created any empathy for Governor Palin, I would hate to see what the opinions were of the people it created it in, before they saw the movie.

This isn't the first time someone has been awarded for attacking Governor Palin, and it probably isn't the last trinket Julianne Moore will receive from her industry for doing the party's dirty work. They will continue to perpetuate their lies, while lowering their standards to honor the talentless and agenda-driven.

Bristol Palin: Bill Maher is More Than a Comedian

Bristol Palin published a new piece today on her blog titled "Responding to the Viral Sensation, Loving my Brother." She responded to some of the numerous comments people left on her "Mr. President, When Should I Expect Your Call?" post, but she also pointed out how the left is giving Bill Maher a pass by stating that he's merely a "comedian." She wrote:

Bill Maher is much more than a comedian. He’s a big-time political player who hides behind the “comedian” label whenever he gets criticized. His guest list represents a huge chunk of the Washington establishment and sometimes even includes prominent Republicans. And as I said in my original post, he’s put himself straight in the middle of presidential politics by giving $1,000,000 to President Obama’s SuperPAC. Bill Maher isn’t just some guy behind a microphone in a seedy comedy club in the middle of nowhere. He’s a comedian and political commentator like Rush is an entertainer and political commentator. He’s a little bit less popular, but his professional failure compared to Rush doesn’t make him any less accountable for his vile speech.

You can read her entire post here.

Also, John Nolte points out Bristol's piece over at Big Hollywood.

Plus, check out this article over at NRO by David French, who is married to the editor of Patheos. It seems they had a little server melt-down yesterday due to Bristol's blog:

Nancy tweeted it to her few hundred followers (she and I have a rather pathetic contest for twitter followers; right now I’m barely in the lead with a whopping 776), and Bristol facebooked it. Within hours, it had been shared 8,000 times. Already it was taking off.

Then Sarah Palin tweeted.

Patheos’s server promptly melted down. One of the most-trafficked religious sites on the web, its server still spontaneously combusted. A small mushroom cloud was spotted over the server farm. Eleven additional servers had to be brought online to handle the traffic flow, and by the end of the day, 8,000 shares had turned into more than 85,000 (update: 100,000), and the story of Bristol’s challenge to the president had been reported not just in the political and mainstream media but also in the Hollywood media as well. Thousands of tweets, and tens of thousands more Facebook shares from Fox to the Huffington Post to the Hollywood Reporter took the post well beyond the familiar and comfortable enclaves of the conservative blogosphere.

That, in essence, is Palin power. No other name in the conservative movement can instantly break through the wall of separation between conservative punditry and popular culture. Bristol powerfully and concisely told the truth — and reached an audience so large it resides only in most pundits’ wildest dreams.

The Reccurring Omission of 'Game Change' Defenders

I have been witnessing a trend with those in the media who are defending HBO's movie, 'Game Change.' They keep repeating the same line about Governor Palin's aides, the ones who stood up for her last week to correct the record, not seeing the film yet. Therefore insisting that these people simply cannot speak on the matter. Never mind the fact that anybody can see from the trailers what this movie is trying to imply, it's funny that these film critics would use this line to defend the movie. Especially when you consider that HBO spoon-fed it to them in a letter that accompanied their copies of the film to screen. Via Politico:

In a letter to news editors that accompanied “Game Change” screeners, HBO’s Executive Vice President for Corporate Communications, Quentin Schaffer, writes:

“There has been some noise about the film … Much of it has come from several Palin aides trying to discredit it even though they haven’t yet seen it.

As Adrienne noted in this fine take-down of Rachel Weiner, "The Fix" writer used the line, and so did David Zurwik from the Baltimore Sun. I'm sure there will be more, if there isn't already. HBO sent it to everyone and considering they're all on the same team, it stands to reason.

The same writers in the media who repeat HBO's talking point regarding Governor Palin's aides not seeing the entire movie, completely omit from their analysis the fact that some of these people asked HBO to screen the film but were denied. Why didn't HBO address this in their letter since their statement was meant to address the comments made by these aides?

John Nolte took HBO to task again, for their latest attempt to save face. He writes:

Before we get to HBO’s latest lame defense, here’s what the network (and Politico) won’t tell you…

Below are the names of eight people who have gone on the record to declare the book “Game Change” a falsehood, and what they’ve seen of the film (HBO refuses to screen it for them — but never mentions that in the statement) is just as false:

1. Governor Palin, who detailed life on the campaign trail in her autobiography “Going Rogue.” (In an obvious attempt at a publicity stunt, HBO did offer to screen the film for the Governor but, for some creepy reason, only at her home.)

2. Meg Stapleton, the Governor’s former spokeswoman.

3. Jason Recher, who handled vice presidential road operations for the McCain-Palin campaign and was with the governor during nearly every waking moment of the campaign.

4. Tim Crawford, Treasurer of Governor Palin’s PAC.

5. Randy Scheunemann, foreign policy adviser who advised Palin during the ‘08 campaign and who vigorously disputes the book and film’s portrayal of her as anything other than engaged and informed on foreign policy matters.

6. Thomas Van Flein, the Governor’s former lawyer, who was in almost daily contact with Palin during the ‘08 campaign.

7 and 8. Aides Doug McMarlin and Andy Davis.

That’s EIGHT people declaring on the record that it’s all a load of bull.

Here’s all HBO has:

1. Steve Schmidt, a top adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign who only now has come out as one of the book’s “background sources.” This was the genius who suggested McCain suspend his campaign during the financial crisis which, as we all know, is one of the main reasons for the loss. Furthermore, even before the campaign ended, both Schmidt and Nicholle Wallace were openly suspected of leaking lies meant to embarrass the Governor and blame her for their mistakes. Today, both are considered pretty toxic in party circles.

2.Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s, the authors of “Game Change” who never spent a moment with Palin during the campaign.

3. An untold number of background sources (Schmidt? Wallace?). The book is about 450 pages long and somewhere around 10 percent of it is about Sarah Palin, and yet….

There is not a single on-the-record source with respect to anything written about her. Not one.

—–

Both HBO and the authors had the choice of choosing between telling the story told by those willing to stake their reputations and word on the record, or those who chose to throw rocks while cowering behind a cloak of anonymity. And we all know which way they chose to go.

So here’s the latest from HBO’s Executive Vice President for Corporate Communications, Quentin Schaffer:

“There has been some noise about the film … Much of it has come from several Palin aides trying to discredit it even though they haven’t yet seen it. HBO has a long track record of producing fact-based dramas, going to great lengths to get the story right. I want you to know about the efforts taken on this film.

That’s because HBO is afraid to let them see it. What the Palin aides are disputing is both the book and what they have seen of the film in the form of the trailer and other snippets that have been released.

If the 90 seconds or so that these aides have seen are filled with falsehoods, what will the entire film look like?

If the book upon which the film is based is all falsehoods, what will the film look like?

“It is based on the acclaimed book by well-respected veteran political reporters Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, both of whom served as consultants, checking every draft of the script to ensure its historical accuracy and thoroughness. When their book came out in 2010, it went unchallenged and unrefuted by the Palin camp. The script for Game Change was written by Danny Strong who also wrote the HBO Film Recount which was praised by both sides for its accurate portraits.

First off Halperin and Heilemann weren’t with Governor Palin during a single moment of the campaign and they are CHOOSING to rely on sources who refuse to go on the record as opposed to those willing to go on the record.

What does that tell you?

Secondly, to say that the book went unchallenged is provably false. Governor Palin

“In the process of writing Game Change, Strong spoke to 25 people intimately involved in the campaign, including the most senior advisors. He also reached out to Governor Palin and Senator McCain who declined to talk to him. They were also offered a chance to see the finished film but again declined. Secondary sources included Palin’s own memoir ‘Going Rogue,’ a beat-by-beat account of how she felt throughout the race, as well as other books on the campaign and many newspaper and magazine articles.

Who are these 25 people? Are they willing to go on the record? Because the eight people who are on the record have only seen about 90 seconds of the film and that was enough for them to cry foul.

More and more it is becoming glaringly obvious that what HBO and the book’s authors did was to CHOOSE who they were going to listen to based on what they wanted to hear.

In another eye-opening piece, Big Hollywood writer Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, does some more digging into the political donations of HBO management. He turns up some pretty predictable information. You can check it out here.

This whole thing boils down to credibility. The people who spoke in defense of Governor Palin last week, consisted of both current and former aides. Objectively speaking, it's safe to say that her former aides had nothing to gain or lose by speaking in her defense. They spoke for the sake of the truth and if you read Meg Stapleton's words, with much conviction. These are people who dealt with Governor Palin for long stretches of time, on a close, personal basis. They have credibility. The two jokers on this video, don't. Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace said one thing to cameras and something different to leftist authors behind the scenes, once they knew they weren't going to win. They certainly had something to gain by trashing Governor Palin. That being, her as their scapegoat for a failed campaign.