This blog's name comes from former Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan's off-camera description of the process that John McCain employed in choosing little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate in the 2008 presidential campaign.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Mike Lupica: Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin has delusions of grandeur if she thinks she can be President (New York Daily News)
Now Sarah Palin comes right out and says it, that she really is thinking about running for President in 2012. She says it in the same starry-eyed way kids talk about growing up to be astronauts, but actually seems to believe it, that somehow she can go from being this kind of pinup girl for her Tea Party friends to the White House.
"I think it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country," Palin told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday."
Now there are many, many ways Sarah Palin could help this country. Running for President will never be one of them. You listen to her long enough and actually feel yourself getting dimmer by the minute, like a dying light bulb.
BY Tina Moore
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Sunday, February 7th 2010
Sarah Palin was the life of the Tea Party Saturday night.
The former GOP vice presidential candidate teed off on President Obama's leadership, saying a failed attempt to blow up an airliner on Christmas Day was evidence of how he's mishandling the war on terror.
"To win that war, we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law," Palin told followers of the grass-roots conservative movement.
Palin, the former governor of Alaska, also told about 1,000 people at the event in Nashville, Tenn., that Obama's proposed 2011 budget is "immoral" because it increases the national debt, which she called "generational theft."
WASHINGTON — Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, apologized on Saturday for saying that he believed Barack Obama could become the country’s first black president because he was “light-skinned” and had the advantage of carrying “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”
The apology was prompted by the release of a new book on the 2008 presidential campaign, which reported that Mr. Reid privately urged Mr. Obama to seek the presidency more than three years ago despite his limited experience and the historical obstacles to making a successful bid for the White House.
“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words,” Mr. Reid said in a statement. “I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African Americans for my improper comments.”
Goodwill Belittles Presidential Candidates With Thinly Veiled Barb (AdRants.com)
Image by circulating via FlickrADRANTS.COM: OK so not everyone in America has thousands of dollars to spend on clothes but should a person who can afford such clothes be given a back handed slap upside the head for looking good on national television while running for the President of America? It would appear that's what Goodwill is doing to Barak Obama and Sarah Palin in a new ad campiagn asking them to donate their clothing on November 5th when the Presidential dust has settled.
Contact: Mark Ballard The Rosen Group Mark@rosengrouppr.com
10 Great Film Cameos From Politicians!
Grand Rapids, MI (October 23, 2008) – Earlier this month, Spout.com presented its list of “The 10 Coolest Film Presidents”—now Spout.com offers the flipside of that coin: actual politicians! Always hungry for the camera, it’s only natural that many politicians would embrace the silver screen. Heck, one President even came from the silver screen (Bedtime for Bonzo, anyone?). The premier online destination for film discussions and recommendations, Spout.com presents their list of "10 Great Film Cameos From Politicians."
10 Great Film Cameos From Politicians
10. Gerald Ford in The Bees (1978) A cameo that probably wasn’t authorized, yet it’s not a very good movie, so the former U.S. President’s uncredited appearance probably wasn’t a very big deal—even if the filmmakers try to make it seem that a swarm of killer bees are a threat to Ford as he’s riding on a Rose Bowl Parade float. If Hollywood ever remakes this film, they’ll probably use effects wizardry to make it look like the President actually gets stung and dies.
9. George W. Bush in Death of a President (2006) Thanks to similar movie magic, the current U.S. President was able to be seamlessly edited into this movie so that it truly appears as though the real G.W. Bush has been shot. To think, back when Forrest Gump was made, there were such innocent ways of featuring a deceased or unauthorized personality in a movie or TV commercial (remember John Wayne hawking Coors?), but now they’re killing presidents and employing dead child stars (that controversial new Poltergeist Direct TV ad). I wonder how far the ethics will be stretched in another decade.
8. John F. Kennedy in Forrest Gump (1994) Thanks to movie magic, the former President of the United States was able to make a cameo opposite Tom Hanks sixty 31 years after he’d been assassinated. Of course, another actor provided his line for him, but I’m sure the real JFK would have been down to knowingly costar with an Oscar winner and memorably say, “I believe he said he had to go pee.”
7. Jim Garrison in JFK (1991) It’s typical for people to have cameos in films about themselves, so it’s not too surprising to see the former District Attorney show up in Oliver Stone’s film. Not only did he get to make a small appearance, though, he actually got to portray someone as famous as Earl Warren. And he kind of did a better job of it than Kevin Costner did portraying Garrison.
6. Ed Koch in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) Koch is a huge cinephile (he even moonlights as a film critic) and has appeared in a ton of NYC-set films, good and bad. When I was a kid, nothing made me think Koch was cooler than his appearance alongside the Muppets.
5. Rudy Giuliani in The Out-of-Towners (1999) It’s definitely appropriate for an NYC mayor to make an appearance in a movie that promotes Manhattan tourism, but Giuliani picked the wrong movie to be associated with. Possibly one of the worst remakes ever, it’s more likely to dissuade viewers to come to the Big Apple.
4. Al D’amato in The Devil’s Advocate (1997) There’s no more appropriate place for a politician to make an appearance than a movie about the Devil. Right? Well, D’amato’s cameo is unfortunately a little more innocent than it seems, though he is still seen cavorting with employees of Satan.
3. Patrick Leahy in The Dark Knight (2008) What’s a U.S. Senator doing in a comic book movie? More importantly, what’s a Democrat politician doing in a Republican’s wet dream? Well, Vermont’s Leahy is apparently a huge Batman fan and has also appeared in Batman and Robin and lent his voice to an episode of Batman: The Animated Series.
2. Christopher Dodd in Dave (1993) When I was in high school, I had no idea who my state’s U.S. Senators were. Fortunately, I saw Dave and saw Dodd’s cameo, complete with a caption telling who he is. Other state’s youth who might have had similar experiences include Iowa, Ohio, Illinois and Wyoming, as the political comedy also featured cameos from Senators Tom Harkin, Howard Metzenbaum, Paul Simon and Alan Simpson. Representative Tip O’Neill also appears, but everybody knew who he was, right?
1. John McCain in Wedding Crashers (2005) Few of us noticed or thought much of it when Senator McCain appeared as himself, shaking hands with Christopher Walken and Jane Seymour, in this romantic comedy. But so far this year you’ve probably seen the cameo, or a photo from it, more times than you’ve seen the rest of the movie. I wonder if McCain and Walken had time to chat about the latter’s role in The Deer Hunter.
For any additional information on Spout.com, please contact: Mark@rosengrouppr.com .
Image via WikipediaGrand Rapids, MI (October 2, 2008) – As election season reaches its peak and the debates take center stage, the film gurus at Spout.com have offered up another topic for debate: The 10 Coolest Film Presidents. Silver screen Presidents have come from almost every film movie category including comedy, drama and action-adventure. Spout.com took all of these into account in selecting their top 10.
“As Presidential campaigns have become big budget affairs, they’ve almost become cinematic in their own way,” said Christopher Campbell, Spout.com. “So if McCain and Obama really want to get ahead in the polls, they might consider taking some pointers from the following Presidents...well, maybe not Lloyd Bridges.”
The 10 Coolest Film Presidents
10. President Lindberg (Tony “Tiny” Lister), from The Fifth Element I’m not saying that being cross-eyed or incessantly receiving calls from your mother is cool, though both could very well be thought so in the year 2263. That’s so far in the future that Lindberg isn’t just the President of the United States, he’s head of the “United Federation” (like in Star Trek). No, I’m saying that Lindberg is cool because he’s really big and badass and could probably do some sweet damage to some Mangalores all by his lonesome. Unfortunately, Lister never gets to display his old wrestling moves in any action scenes.
9. President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (Terry Crews), from Idiocracy Another African-American wrestler-turned-president, also in a future setting. Only this time it’s the character who is a former pro wrestler (Crews is instead a former pro football player) and the setting is even further in time, 2505, when the people of the world are very, very stupid. But is it stupid to elect a man with an awesome chopper and a tendency to sing his speeches? If Teddy Roosevelt were alive, he’d probably also have a motorcycle and a machine gun, though maybe he wouldn’t shoot the latter while standing before Congress. Or maybe he would, and maybe we’d still re-elect him.
8. President Devlin (George Clooney), from Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over If George Clooney stopped simply talking politics and actually ran for president, a lot of people would vote for him simply because he’s a cool celebrity. Fans of the Spy Kids films got a taste of what President George Clooney would look like when his character, Devlin, became commander-in-chief by the third installment.
7. President James Dale (Jack Nicholson), from Mars Attacks! Of course, if there’s one actor even cooler than Clooney, it’s Jack Nicholson. What if the presidential race consisted of these two actors up for the position? If you truly voted based on the coolness of the candidate, you’d have to go with Jack. But only if he wore sunglasses during every public appearance, including especially the State of the Union Address.
6. President Joseph Staton (Dennis Quaid), from American Dreamz In a crazy instance of life imitating art, George W. Bush appeared on American Idol in 2007, just one year after President Joseph Staton appeared on American Dreamz (the fictionalized version of the popular show).
5. President George W. Bush (James Adomian), from Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay This list is basically limited to fictional presidents in film, but we can make an exception for Adomian’s portrayal of Bush, as it’s no more accurate a representation than is Neil Patrick Harris’ portrayal of himself in the same film. In this movie, Bush is a much cooler guy. He gets high, has an awesome rec room, and he’s like a rebellious yet spoiled teenager. Heck, if ‘Rold and Kumar like hanging with him, you’d probably like hanging with him, too.
4. President James Marshall (Harrison Ford), from Air Force One People used to prefer a leader who’d proven himself in battle. Now, it’s not so important for a presidential candidate to have served in war or even been shown to have some sort of fight in him. But let’s face it, to kick a bad guy’s ass while also avoiding falling out of an airplane cargo door.
3. President Thomas “Tug” Benson (Lloyd Bridges), from Hot Shots! Part Deux President Benson has been through enough to make McCain look like a lazy hippie. He caught a bazooka round in Okinawa, took a bullet in Corregidor that went straight through both ears, took a torpedo in the lower abdomen that resulted in the removal of his intestines, he has a shell the size of his fist in his head and he was shot down on more than 194 air missions. He’s not too bright these days, but he’ll still take it upon himself to go into Iraq and fight the enemy face to face. With a light saber.
2. President Mays Gilliam (Chris Rock), from Head of State He’s not as cool as his running-mate (who is also his brother, played by Bernie Mac), and the movie isn’t as funny or insightful as Chris Rock’s political stand-up, but Mays Gilliam is like an even hipper exaggeration of Obama. Not only does he listen to rap, he plays Nelly at formal events and gets old ladies to dance and sing along. He takes mudslinging to a new level with “Yo Mama” jokes. And his “That Ain’t Right” slogan is like a cooler, possibly more genuine, inverse of Obama’s “Yes We Can.”
1. President Max Frost (Christopher Jones), from Wild in the Streets As the hit song from the movie goes, “nothing can stop the shape of things to come,” and I take that to mean that inevitably a rock star will one day be elected to the presidency. After all, there has already been a movie star president, and eight years ago plenty of young music fans were ready to vote Jello Biafra into the White House, simply because he’s Jello Biafra. Despite the uncool things done by Max Frost and his band, The Troopers, such as putting LSD in the capital’s water supply and detaining citizens over the age of 35 for re-education, they do carry out some really hip ideas, such as lowering the voting age to 14, and gaving the world some classic garage rock tunes.
Spout.com is the premier online destination for film lovers and film discussion. Featuring up-to-date news, trailers, reviews, podcasts, festival info, and vibrant forums where users can discuss and debate the best in film, the worst in film, and everything in-between; the mission of Spout.com is to connect everyone with more films they are likely to love. Whether it’s big budget blockbusters, independent releases or foreign films, Spout.com has a recommendation for you.
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