What Happens When a Film about the Anti "Chicago Politician" Plays in Chicago

I had the opportunity to attend the screening of "The Undefeated" in Chicago on Saturday. The screening was announced late on Wednesday night and was shown on Saturday at noon, meaning that there was roughly 60 hours between the announcement and the screening itself. In spite of this, a lack of traditional advertising, and its liberal Chicago location, even known Palin critic, Roger Ebert, noted that the 200 seat theater was nearly full. The location of the theater was particular interesting, as it was situated just across the street from where Bill Maher would be “performing “later that evening and only a few blocks away from President Obama’s reelection headquarters, placing the theater in the symbolic midst of both Governor Palin’s personal attacks and her political opposition.

The reaction to the film has been a delight to see. As the Chicago Sun Times noted, even Chicago Democrats came away with a new found respect for Governor Palin:

Eddie Bryant, who attended the screening of “The Undefeated” at downtown’s Gene Siskel Film Center, is an African-American and Chicago Democrat. The retired 67-year-old Union Pacific employee said he was surprised to find he actually likes Palin.

“I came because my friend is always talking about Sarah Palin. People say this lady is brainless. She’s not only smart, but she’s a clean-government person. I gained respect for her,” Bryant said.

Roger Ebert, known for tweeting and writing rather hateful comments about Governor Palin, wrote a review that was relatively mild by the standards of any harsh critic of Governor Palin. If anything, the most revealing aspect of Ebert’s review is his inability to understand the difference between conservatives and Republicans. Yes, Mr.Ebert, sometimes the protagonist and the antagonists are on the same team.

Ebert also noted that the audience was attentive and began cheering when a clip from Rick Santelli’s now famous “rant” on the floor of the Chicago Stock Exchange was played. Applause erupted about a half a dozen times throughout the film particularly when memorable lines from Governor Palin’s speeches were shown. All in all, a very receptive audience in Chicago. Stephen Bannon engaged in a nice question and answer session with attendees following the film.

From my personal perspective, I had the opportunity to see a rough cut a few weeks ago, but seeing the finished version with nearly two hundred other individuals in a theater is completely different than watching it on your couch in front of a 20 inch TV screen. The spirit of The Undefeated showed throughout the film. Governor Palin took on the oil companies and won. She took on the political establishment and won. She took on corruption and won. It was not only her accomplishments that make the title “The Undefeated”, but the attitude which Governor Palin and the Tea Party movement carry themselves. Though I do not want to give away too much, I have to say that the final several minutes of the film provide a cinematic crescendo to the movement of the film with great commentary about Governor Palin, the political establishment, and the Tea Party from Andrew Breitbart, Tammy Bruce, Sonnie Johnson, Mark Levin and others.

Organize4Palin’s Illinois group and Students4Palin were at the screening handing out palm cards and signing people up with Organize4Palin before and after the film. Below are a few volunteers still ready for action, just after most attendees had been seated:

One of the individuals who signed up with Organize4Palin simply identified herself as “Chloe’s Mama Grizzly”. She had come up from Marion, Illinois—more than four and a half hours from Chicago. She spoke to me about her own personal story about an overreaching government and their neglect of parent’s rights. Her experience and the example of Governor Palin had planted a seed in her to possibly run for elected office.

Governor Palin’s story of reform and fighting corruption is likely why many Illinoisans, including Democrats like the aforementioned Mr. Bryant, have respect for her. Illinois has a bipartisan corruption problem and a massive spending problem. Just as the country as a whole needs Sarah Palin as a leader, so does the state of Illinois. As I drove back to Springfield from Chicago on I-55, I passed the Exxon Mobil refinery in Joliet, and it reminded me of how the film highlighted Governor Palin’s firm stance against the oil giant in holding them accountable to their lease. Additionally, the sometimes harsh Illinois winters will benefit from the completion of the natural gas pipeline that Governor Palin championed which will bring North Slope natural gas to the Midwest. Just as the cinematic story of her achievements came to Illinois, so do her political achievements themselves as well.

Crossposted here and here.

If Ignorance Is Bliss, Anthony Kaufman Must Be Pretty Happy!

Film Journalist and Critic, Anthony Kaufman, interviewed “The Undefeated” producer, Steve Bannon, earlier this week in a piece that appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Kaufman focused his questions on Bannon’s background, filmmaking influences, and what Kaufman perceived to be omission in the film. Following this article, Kaufman wrote a post at the film blog, Indiewire, expounding on the aforementioned perceived omissions and doubling down on his ignorance with an attack on Sonnie Johnson, who appeared in the film.

One of Kaufman’s complaints in his blog piece has to do with the amount of policy discussed in the film:

It’s this litany of accomplishments that really bogs the film down, and Bannon admits that he’s taking a risk with a 45-minute second act that is essentially about economic issues and energy policy. Not exactly exciting stuff.

Well, gee, Anthony. What were you expecting? A teen comedy where Governor Palin stars alongside Lindsey Lohan or perhaps a sitcom where she play opposite Alec Baldwin? Governor Palin is not Tina Fey. She is an accomplished, intelligent leader who set Alaska on solid economic footing and sought to optimize the development of Alaska’s vast natural resources. This is what Bannon focused on. This is the Sarah Palin that much of America does not yet know.

Kaufman takes issue with some perceived omissions in the film and builds a few strawmen in the process tying into his complaints about the accomplishments the film focuses on. He writes:

If you do some digging, any number of questions could also be leveled against Palin’s “accomplishments” and “meteoric rise” as a small-town mayor and governor of Alaska. I won’t bore you with all the details—although the film does—but suffice it to say that the movie, unsurprisingly, doesn’t tell the whole story about the Matanuska Diary (sic) or the Alaska Pipeline Project. It’s not hard to find out more; just check out the Wikipedia entry on the ‘governorship of Sarah Palin.’

In his WSJ interview with Steve Bannon, Kaufman asked questions about the dairy and the pipeline project as shown below:

I realize you need to make choices as a documentary filmmaker. But I also wanted to ask you about the MatMaid dairy privatization, which is used in the film to show how she turned around the state. But there’s some crucial information left out. Like she initially wanted it to stay open, and gave it $600,000 to keep it open. That seemed a little misleading.

[…]

I guess that also explains why there’s no mention that the Alaska Pipeline Project is now an ExxonMobil project, not just TransCanada.

One of the things Bannon highlights in the film is how Governor Palin privatized an Alaskan dairy that had been government owned for many years. In spite of what he claims, Governor Palin did not want the dairy to remain open, as shown by the Palin emails the mainstream media poured over looking for non-existent skeletons. This email from Governor Palin shows that she indeed did want to privatize the dairy (emphasis mine):

Dairy farmers were told their last day to deliver milk is June 27th. The state just broke its word again if we were to roll over for the board ‘ s ridiculous vote to shut it down without proper notice…Farmers will be dumping their milk in the parking lot of DNR if we don’t step in and show the leadership they’re craving and deserving.

We need to regroup and get good business minds in there to figure out close – out plan in next yr or so, or re -vitalization plan for Ag.

Kaufman’s other claim that the Palin administration devoted funding to keeping the dairy open is false as well, as an email from one of Governor Palin’s staff states that those funds were to help with the “transition” from the dairy being government to privately owned, not to keep it publicly owned.

Next, Kaufman builds a pipeline strawman. Questioning Bannon on why he did not include ExxonMobil’s role in the pipeline as if Bannon was trying to cover up some scandal. I had the opportunity to view a rough cut of the film, and Bannon largely focused on her policy accomplishments prior to her selection as Senator McCain’s running mate. Had he included more about Governor Palin’s frugal budgeting, rejection of stimulus dollars, or ExxonMobil coming on board the pipeline project in June of 2009 that occurred following her return after the 2008 campaign, Kaufman would have been even more “bored” by how accomplished Governor Palin is. If he really wants to know, ExxonMobil joined on the project in June of 2009. The first open season for suppliers to bid was last summer and included “several major players”, and the most recent project update from April of this year shows that the number of Alaskan jobs provided by the project is up 46% and the number of providers involved is up 21% since the previous report in October of 2010. Thanks for asking! Oh, and that Wikipedia link Kaufman provides confirms much of what I shared.

Kaufman also takes issue with the fact that Troopergate (or tasergate) was not mentioned in the film, nor did the film show any evidence in the film that the attacks on Governor Palin came from the Obama or his team. Let’s take a look at that. When the legislative inquiry into the tasergate situation (accusations made that Governor Palin pressured one of her commissioners to fire a state trooper who was once married to her sister) was launched by then state senator Kim Elton, it was purported to be an “October surprise” (i.e. it was political). During the inquiry process, the Obama camp made contact with the troopers’ union of Governor Palin’s former brother-in-law. Ultimately, the legislative inquiry found her as abusing power, while the personnel board, who were all appointed by Governor Murkowski, no friend of Governor Palin, exonerated her. Following President Obama’s election, Kim Elton was given a cushy job in the Interior department. It should also be noted that Elton also allowed former chief of staff to then Senator Obama and once interim chief of staff to President Obama, Pete Rouse, to use Elton’s Alaskan address so that Rouse could vote in Alaska even after he hadn’t lived there for more than twenty years. Regarding the numerous attacks following Governor Palin’s return following the campaign, a good number of those were levied by Linda Kellen Biegel (aka Celtic Diva) who was Alaska’s official DNC blogger during the 2008 campaign. Does the Obama team seem to have a role in all of this based upon these facts?

Kaufman’s most absurd observation comes in an attack on Sonnie Johnson, who appeared in the film. Just as Adrienne recently highlighted, some individuals live in willful ignorance of the fact that people of every race support Governor Palin. Kaufman writes:

For me, the most shocking moment in “The Undefeated,” however, comes with the appearance of a black person about two-thirds of the way through. I’m not sure if it’s what Bannon had in mind when he wanted to seize the audience’s attention, but the arrival of black conservative female activist Sonnie Johnson made me realize just how white everyone appears to be, in both Palin’s Alaska and Bannon’s Tea Party.

I’ll allow Ms. Johnson to respond to this absurd and ignorant charge herself:

I was able to meet Gov. Palin in Pella, IA for the premiere of “The Undefeated”. One of the first things she said to me was, “are you ready for all the hate that will come your way for being associated with me”. I told her, “I’ve got Palin in my blood”. I wish you would’ve known that little fact before you would downgrade me to the token black in your limited view of the Tea Party. I am no one’s token. Nor am I a punchline of what you think is a bad joke. If seeing me in the film was such a shock to your cerebral, then why didn’t you grow a sack and interview me yourself? Or is Breitbart right and your lack of a set is shown in your need to hide behind a blogpost. Are you a Enuch? (sic) …

If you want to know how Black I am, I dare you interview me yourself. Just tell me when and where. I’ll come to you. It would be my pleasure. Until then be grateful that, temporarily, you still have Obamacare. If my appearance was a shock to you, then just wait until our voices are really heard.

Kaufman may seem himself credentialed, as a film journalist and critic, to make ignorant projections at black conservatives or to claim scandal or incomplete fact when the facts are there. However, to quote another black conservative, Thomas Sowell, “credentialed ignorance is still ignorance”.

Crossposted here, here, and here.

"The Undefeated" and the Volunteering4Palin

Georgia Organize4Palin volunteer, Rob Cunningham, has written a great piece at the American Thinker encouraging people to see “The Undefeated”, not only to get the truth about Governor Palin’s record, but because it empowers the grassroots movement as well. He writes in part:

During this anniversary month that marks America’s independence, and inspired by a personal sense of patriotism, I implore every freedom loving American to see Stephen K. Bannon’s documentary on the life and career of Sarah Palin. And furthermore, every conservative, Tea Party activist, free-market capitalist, persons of faith or no-faith, and all influential leaders, regardless of whom their preferred 2012 presidential candidate might actually be, should leverage all their talents, skills, resources and creativity to ensure the maximum number of people experience this movie in public theaters.

Stay with me on this, please.

Why do I make this claim? The simple clarity and raw truth offered in “The Undefeated” stands at the ready to educate tens of millions of citizens, perhaps influencing an entire generation of voters. This documentary deeply connects, on both an intellectual and emotional level, and stirs one’s very soul. This film brilliantly serves as a modern-day case study, and clearly illustrates how our agenda-driven news media, entertainment industry and political power brokers brazenly operate, in plain view and with cold-blooded intentionality, in a tireless attempt to destroy a very decent fellow citizen. When presented with basic facts, Americans will recoil in disgust.

If principled republicans, tea-partiers and libertarians choose to no longer remain silent, misinformed or “neutral” while one of our strongest and most influential “movement conservatives” is repeatedly and falsely attacked, we will empower every single person and candidate within our movement.

[...]

In no manner whatsoever is it being suggested that one’s movie attendance equates to support for, or an endorsement of, Sarah Palin. However, the entire conservative movement will become dramatically empowered, in direct proportion to, the actual number of people that witness this film. This movie delivers a liberating education and razor sharp awareness of the methods used both by the media and establishment politicians from the left and the right. It will awaken the senses for those previously unconvinced of exactly how the modern day “progressive” movement comfortably uses lies, ridicule, false narratives and intellectual laziness to mislead their audiences. This movie delivers a massive body blow to the media, it dilutes the effectiveness of liberal scare tactics and will vaccinate millions against infection from traditional “news” reporting. By powerfully highlighting the media’s methods of distortion, one of the most powerful weapons used against all conservatives, is damaged.

“The Undefeated” will be released the week of July 15th through July 21st at AMC theatres in 10 major US cities. A positive reception at each of these theaters is critical to ensuring a much larger national audience benefits from this film. Those interested can purchase tickets online athttp://theundefeated.cinedigm.com/tickets.html.

In one July week, our entire conservative movement can become enormously stronger if we work together and “get out the viewers.” Invite a few friends, visit with your neighbors or organize a youth group. By making a concerted effort to better educate ourselves and our fellow citizens, the best and brightest conservative leaders across our nation will benefit.

Cunningham has also put together the excellent and independent Volunteering4Palin project to implement the strategy that he discusses in his article. He and other Organize4Palin volunteers in Georgia and South Carolina have been working on this project, and all are encouraged to join them in getting involved in these efforts. Please check out the site here to see how you can be participate in this effort to not only set the record straight on Governor Palin's record, but to also help the grassroots remain empowered through this film. Please watch the video below that Cunningham and his wife have put together discussing how you can get involved in getting the word out about the film and inviting people to attend it in theaters throughout the country.



Again, please visit the Volunteering4Palin site to get involved.

Crossposted here.

The Undefeated--Re-Introducing America to the "Unknown Known"

This week, I had the honor of viewing Stephen K. Bannon’s new documentary on Governor Palin, the Undefeated. Personally, as a lifelong resident of Illinois, the film re-affirmed in particular one of the main reasons I support her—she is the anti-Illinois politician. Governor Palin took on the pervasive corruption and cronyism present in both in her own party and in the Big Oil companies. She governed with openness and transparency. She has not been self-serving, but has governed with a servant’s heart. She budgeted prudently. These are all manifestations of the character of Governor Palin that the film highlights. Unfortunately, her character has been wrongfully shrouded by the caricature created by the mainstream media and her opponents all across the political spectrum. This dichotomy between her character and her caricature are exactly why some refer to her as the “unknown known”. In essence, nearly everyone knows who Governor Palin is, but don't really know her. This “unknown known” status provides the perfect springboard for the film to introduce or re-introduce viewers to the real Sarah Palin.

The film opens with about a three minute sampling of the vitriol that has been thrown at Governor Palin the past nearly three years. The audio clips and images used in this segment of the film leave one almost feeling as if they should clean out their ears with soap and bleach their eyes after viewing, but it solely depicts the true level of unsubstantiated hatred levied at Governor Palin.

The next segment of the film highlights the uniqueness of both Alaska and Alaskans—drawing from the knowledge and life experiences of several individuals who served in Governor Palin’s administration or in worked with her on some level in local or state government. Throughout the film, still images and shots panning the beautiful and epic landscape of Alaska are used. These images of Alaska seem to be representative of two of the themes woven throughout the documentary—the harshness of the Alaskan weather analogous to the harshness of her critics and the colossal Alaskan mountains analogous to the seemingly insurmountable electoral and legislative victories she achieved.

The film highlights her time as Wasilla mayor where she focused on fiscal restraint and improving infrastructure. The infrastructure development she championed brought businesses, jobs, and economic prosperity to the town of Wasilla. The famous line from the film Field of Dreams comes to mind—if you build it, they will come (as a side note, one of the proposed locations for the premiere of the film in Iowa was the Field of Dreams farm). She did this by twice defeating an opponent who made sexism a major part of his campaign tactics.

Throughout the Undefeated, Governor Palin’s fight for ethics in government is center stage, whether it was calling out Alaska GOP head, Randy Ruedrich, for unethical behavior when she was oil and gas commissioner, championing major ethics reform, or re-vamping the state’s oil tax structure so that it was done with Alaskans’, not oil companies’, best interests in mind. This focus on ethics was seen not only seen in her legislation; it was also seen in the individuals with whom she surrounded herself. The film included extensive interview footage with some members of the “Magnificent Seven”—members of the Murkowski’s administration who were either fired due to their unwillingness to agree to his unethical plans or who resigned in protest to this wrongful firing. These individuals became part of the Palin administration, showing Governor Palin’s wisdom in whom she chooses to surround herself.

The film touches briefly on her Vice Presidential run in 2008, highlighting her ability to connect with everyday Americans and how she electrified GOP voters. Upon returning from the campaign, Alinsky tactics targeting Governor Palin’s strength—ethics—were used against her. Frivolous charge after frivolous charge was leveled at her and subsequently dismissed. These dismissed charges did not come cheap in terms of both financial and human resources as well as state progress, and Governor Palin resigned in order for the state to move forward. The film effectively addresses the circumstances, reasoning, and the impetus that led her to step aside from office.

The Undefeated closes with a lot great footage from various Tea Parties including Governor Palin’s barnburning speech in Madison, Wisconsin and great commentary from the likes of Tammy Bruce, Andrew Breitbart, Mark Levin, and others. These strong conservative voices speak of Governor Palin’s threat to the GOP establishment and the Left. The final clip shows Governor Palin challenging President Obama with her electrifying cry of “Game On”. The name of the film—the Undefeated-- is also the spirit of the film and the attitude with which Governor Palin conducts herself. The film shows Governor Palin to be one who puts principles and pragmatism ahead of party and who fights for those whom she is serving with tenacity and grace.

I would encourage you to see the film and bring others with you as well, those of all political stripes, as the film provides an excellent opportunity to re-introduce or introduce for the first time to the “unknown-known” –Governor Sarah Palin. The film shows that Governor Palin has the ability to reach people all across the political spectrum. After all, she did have an approval rating above 80%. Character is not a party platform nor an ideology; it is a necessary part of solid leadership. This documentary shows a woman of character. You can find out more about the film here. You can order tickets here and can request that the movie be shown near you here. You can also receive an early release copy of the film by making a $100 contribution to SarahPAC.

Update: There is a great review of the film at the Southtown Star by Fran Eaton, an editor for the Illinois conservative blog the Illinois Review. As you can see by her review, disenchanted Illinois conservatives have found Governor Palin to be a breath of fresh air compared to the corrupt politicians in both parties that we have been subject to at both the stat and national levels. (H/T Ellebb)

Crossposted here, here, and here.