Gamechange (HBO Original movie)

[Scrib]

The most striking scene in the movie was the one where Palin randomly flipped out over the phone at her advisors after the Katie Couric interview. The idea that her first reaction to her own failures was to find every possible way to blame someone else was astounding. It seems rather clear why the only place in the world she could win a legitimate political office was a backwater land like Alaska.

What's astounding about it? She was a happy politician and all of a sudden she's dragged on the national stage and is supposed to face the fact that she actually knows fuck all instantly? Changing one's view of oneself from competent to incompetent (in this case extremely so)is difficult at the best of times,let alone when you're thrown into an election race. I'm not surprised that she lashed out at the new people in her life rather than herself. Seems a pretty common reaction -though most people would probably take aim at Couric, I suppose she was unavailable.

[Metahive]

What's astounding about it? She was a happy politician and all of a sudden she's dragged on the national stage and is supposed to face the fact that she actually knows fuck all instantly? Changing one's view of oneself from competent to incompetent (in this case extremely so)is difficult at the best of times,let alone when you're thrown into an election race. I'm not surprised that she lashed out at the new people in her life rather than herself. Seems a pretty common reaction -though most people would probably take aim at Couric, I suppose she was unavailable.

Is that supposed to be a valid excuse? Someone running for the second highest office in the country I'd damn well expect to either know one's own limitations or at the very least be able to pretend to be knowledgeable when on goddamned national television. "It's all your fault because you didn't tell me how stupid and ignorant I am" is childish to the extreme and makes her look like a massive ass.

Also, it's not like she was forced to become VP candidate, you know.

[Scrib]

What's astounding about it? She was a happy politician and all of a sudden she's dragged on the national stage and is supposed to face the fact that she actually knows fuck all instantly? Changing one's view of oneself from competent to incompetent (in this case extremely so)is difficult at the best of times,let alone when you're thrown into an election race. I'm not surprised that she lashed out at the new people in her life rather than herself. Seems a pretty common reaction -though most people would probably take aim at Couric, I suppose she was unavailable.

Is that supposed to be a valid excuse? .

It's supposed to be a valid question, namely the one I asked in the first line. I don't see how lashing out when one's self-image is threatened is a strange reaction.

Someone running for the second highest office in the country I'd damn well expect to either know one's own limitations or at the very least be able to pretend to be knowledgeable when on goddamned national television

A person who does not know their limits is not going to be concerned about having to pretend on TV because they don't think they need to.

[Metahive]

If a one-legged cripple aimed for gold at the 100m dash, predictably failed and then lashed out at everyone around him, I would call that big amount of un-self awareness and delusion quite astounding.

Sorry, but your question is invalid and borders on Palin apologia.

[thejester]

I've only seen the last third of the movie but I thought it represented most of what is wrong with the framing of American politics. I'm sure that in a narrow sense it's accurate. But its framing of politics as a game in which Sarah Palin turned out to be TO strikes me as missing the point pretty dramatically about what happened in 2008. John McCain didn't lose because of Sarah Palin.

[Scrib]

If a one-legged cripple aimed for gold at the 100m dash, predictably failed and then lashed out at everyone around him, I would call that big amount of un-self awareness and delusion quite astounding.

Surely there's a difference between a purely cognitive bias and (one involving)a physical disability?

I've only seen the last third of the movie but I thought it represented most of what is wrong with the framing of American politics. I'm sure that in a narrow sense it's accurate. But its framing of politics as a game in which Sarah Palin turned out to be TO strikes me as missing the point pretty dramatically about what happened in 2008.John McCain didn't lose because of Sarah Palin.

TO?

[Thanas]

John McCain didn't lose because of Sarah Palin.

No and nobody claims so in the movie. They make it quite clear that they are already losing before they pick her in the movie. The movie makes the claim that John McCain lost because of several factors, one of them being Sarah Palin. Which is a fair (and IMO correct) position to take.

[Flagg]

John McCain didn't lose due to Sarah Palin. But he did disqualify himself by choosing her.

[CarsonPalmer]

TO?

The talented but petulant professional football (American) player named Terrell Owens who blew up several potential championship teams by alienating everyone around him and destroying team chemistry.

[Dalton]

John McCain didn't lose due to Sarah Palin. But he did disqualify himself by choosing her.

I don't think the choice was entirely his, but in the end he's the one who said yes.

[Stark]

Do we think political success isn't also full of petulant prima donna crybabies? Its easy to point and laugh, but I'd be pretty sure people just like her are still there.

[thejester]

John McCain didn't lose because of Sarah Palin.

No and nobody claims so in the movie. They make it quite clear that they are already losing before they pick her in the movie. The movie makes the claim that John McCain lost because of several factors, one of them being Sarah Palin. Which is a fair (and IMO correct) position to take.

Nobody explicitly claims so and I understand the whole decision to pick her was an effort to reverse a losing trend. But the unrelenting focus on how poisonous she is tells it's own story, IMO.

[Thanas]

Does it really? All it does for me is that they didn't realize what they were getting and that Palin would be a bad choice for high office.

[Scrib]

TO?

The talented but petulant professional football (American) player named Terrell Owens who blew up several potential championship teams by alienating everyone around him and destroying team chemistry.

Thanks. That sounds hilarious, I'll have to look that up.

Nobody explicitly claims so and I understand the whole decision to pick her was an effort to reverse a losing trend. But the unrelenting focus on how poisonous she is tells it's own story, IMO.

She's an asshole. I don't know how poisonous she actually was. I mean, there a points in the movie where the message seems to be that she is an asshole specifically because she is highly popular and knows it. McCain gets slammed but he was losing at the beginning and throughout the movie and even at the end I don't recall it ever being linked particularly strongly to Palin. Sure, the campaign staff fucked up and they would try to minimize the damage but there was never the sense that Palin was the one sinking the ship and that McCain would have been fine otherwise. In fact, iirc, his personal pick for the VP spot was also unpalatable for his own reasons.

Do we think all high-level success isn't also full of petulant prima donna crybabies? Its easy to point and laugh, but I'd be pretty sure people just like her are still there.

Fixed that.

[Temjin]

Finished watching this movie today. I think it was done much better than Recount. I read the book a couple of years ago, and it's pretty faithful to it. In fact, she was a little bit worse in the book. In the movie, there was only one scene of her ignoring everybody around her to focus on her cellphone. In the book, she was doing that for weeks.

I was rather disappointed at the lack of one particular scene though. For me, it was the most memorable part of the book.

As Nov 4th was getting quite near, the Republicans got together a focus group of undecided voters and asked them what was keeping them from making up their minds. One woman really started tearing in Obama, saying how he was a muslim, he's not an actual American citizen, blah, blah, blah. Basically every bad thing anyone was saying about Obama, this woman fully believed. They finally stopped her and asked why, if she thought all this stuff about Obama, was she still undecided? She replied with (paraphrasing) "Because if McCain wins, Sarah Palin is only one heart attack away from the button!"