Replies

Just got back from the 1:50 PM showing of The Undefeated in Grapevine, TX. Attendance was roughly 75 people (I sat by the entrance and counted). The Undefeated is everything that rave reviewers have claimed. Thankfully, my wife and I saw the G rated version, so we weren't assaulted by the filthy vitriol in the clips of the rabid leftists at the beginning of the movie. There were an awful lot of *bleeps* during that part.

Because I've paid close attention to Governor Palin ever since her arrival on the national stage, I'm already familiar with much of what was in the movie, but Steven Bannon managed to tell some parts of Sarah's life story that I wasn't familiar with. He provides a lot of detail around her rise through Alaska politics that you won't find in her book. Interviews with people who rose along with her, or who were on hand to watch that rise, really add a lot of depth to her story. It helps to explain just who this woman is, and what her core values are.

Bannon goes to great lengths to show how she stands apart from partisan politics, and how she is much more of an American Originalist, than anything else. I've made the same observation about Palin myself, but Bannon seizes on this one unique aspect of her character, and boldly underlines it.

There's a reason that she enjoyed an 88% approval rating among Alaskans before joining John McCain as his running mate. It's because she doesn't approach public service from a perspective of partisanship (although there's no doubt that she's staunchly Republican). She approaches the task of governing as a hard-nosed administrator of the Constitution - pushing back against anything that deviates from, or which violates that basic framework. Like Reagan, she believes that government should be a servant of the people, with limited powers, subject to The People's authority.

The Undefeated shows a person of unimpeachable character and good will, who simply wants to see our nation achieve its full potential. The movie shows a person who sees big government, high taxes, corruption and cronyism, violations of our Founding Charter, and feckless politicians as the stumbling block to us achieving that promise, and one who is determined to do whatever it takes to see this country righted.

What I got out of the movie, is a picture of someone who has clean hands, and who cares far less about partisan politics, than getting this country back on the right track. I also saw someone who has more courage in her pinky toe, than any ten politicians have in their entire bodies.

After seeing the movie, I can also say that I see someone who's running for president. It's quite clear that that office lies along the natural trajectory of her path in life. Watch the clips of her acceptance speech in 2008, and you can clearly see that she had the natural bearing of that office, even then. It's in her eyes, in her speech, and pours forth from every pore of her being. I saw it then, and I just saw it again today.

Go see the movie, no matter where you stand on the developing presidential race. If you already support Sarah Palin, you're going to learn a great deal more about her than you already do. If you don't support her, you may discover that you agree with her a lot more than you did previously.