Posted on 06/28/2011 11:49:06 PM PDT by xjcsa
I attended this evening's premiere of The Undefeated in Pella, Iowa with several of my friends. I thought it might be beneficial to provide my firsthand account of the night's events.
We arrived in Pella about 3:30pm, which gave us a little time to kill before doors were to open. We decided to visit the famed Jaarsma Bakery, known for their Dutch Letters and other pastries; some of us wanted to purchase goodies to take home.
There were quite a few people milling around, and there was a line clear out the door of the bakery; given its reputation we just assumed we weren't the only ones with the same idea. To our surprise, at the front of the line (at the counter) were none other than Todd and Sarah Palin, getting some pastries and happily meeting and greeting everyone in the store. We snapped a few photos and got to chat briefly with the Palins and shake their hands. They were as kind and friendly as could be; even when Todd was working to usher Sarah out the door and on to their next stop, they both quickly agreed to all photo and autograph requests. You could tell they didn't want to turn anyone away, and there was nothing forced about it.
A couple observations: Sarah is *really* thin in person. Not sickly thin - just in *really* good shape, especially considering she has five children. Todd is exactly what you would expect - a down-to-earth, friendly, nice guy, but obviously a guy who can take care of himself if he ever needs to.
We got our pastries and left, then moved on to the Opera House. The scene outside was a bit of a zoo: several satellite and microwave trucks for TV networks, a big crowd, and tons of media. We got our tickets at the will call tables inside and took our seats in the balcony.
Once inside the auditorium, we sat and waited for the program to begin. Background music was provided by an organist playing on the house organ; it was pretty cool. The program began with someone we didn't know welcoming us and talking a bit about the building; he wasn't the most charismatic speaker and it dragged on a bit, but I'm sure he's a great guy. We then sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic and This Is My Country. Next the mayor got up and spoke briefly, mentioning that he liked the fact that Palin isn't afraid to rock the boat: "rocking the boat is sure better than sinking the boat," something along those lines.
Finally Stephen Bannon (the producer) spoke briefly, introducing the film, after which they darkened the room and started the movie.
The movie was shown from video, not film (perhaps it was produced on video?) on a nice, bright HD projector. It looked good and sounded OK (some dialogue got a bit muddy); the "only OK" sound was likely due to the sound system, not the movie's production.
The movie itself was quite good. I have more knowledge about Palin's background than most people do, so I didn't learn a lot that was new, but it does help put some things (i.e. her resignation) in a different light. It does an effective job of arguing that resigning was really the only choice Palin had at that point, for reasons completely beyond her control. It also shows her impressive record of accomplishment in Alaska; it's a good reminder of *why* she had 80%-plus approval ratings as governor.
After the screening, Bannon took the stage and invited up the "cast members" who were present. Andrew Breitbart was there (he was awesome in the film), as were Tammy Bruce, Sonnie Johnson, and a few others. Bannon spoke, then invited the Palins up. Sarah spoke for maybe 5 minutes; then Breitbart said a few words.
When this was finished, we wound up exiting the theater right behind Gov. Palin; she waited for Todd for a bit but he had gotten lost in the shuffle somehow; he caught up a few minutes later. Sarah led us out the door, down the block, through an archway, and to the cookout area; the going was a bit slow because she was working the rope line (for those outside it; we were fortunately *inside* the ropes). She also took some questions from the press; she was completely swarmed by reporters and cameras from the moment we left the theater (they weren't allowed inside).
At that point we went through the buffet line (awesome/huge BBQ chicken sandwiches, beans, potato salad, dessert) and found an open table and sat and ate. Sarah eventually did the same; after she ate she did another meet & greet on her way out, taking as much time as she could to shake every hand and sign every program/baseball/shirt that came her way.
There were a number of political "celebrities" (some specific to Iowa) in attendance, including:
Andrew Breitbart
Tammy Bruce
Sonnie Johnson
Bob Vander Plaats (former gubernatorial candidate and President of the Family Leader)
Chuck Hurley
Peter Singleton (a California lawyer "unofficially" organizing Iowa for Palin)
Michelle McCormick (a Texan heavily assisting Singleton)
Craig Robinson (owner of theiowarepublican.com)
This is just a list of the people I met or spoke with; I'm sure there were many that I missed.
I'll be following this post up with some photos soon. It was a fun night.
Lucky You and .. Thanks!
Thanks for the wonderful report, and a BTT.
I’m sooooooooo jelly!
Is envy really a sin?
It really was a lot of fun.
That was a good read, good reporting, thanks.
You might get a free pass on this one.
I appreciate the post, Thank You!
Sounds like it! I hate to admit that I really would like to just shake Sarah’s hand and look her in the eye and tell her “good job”. (Don’t wanna sound creepy!)
That's not far from what I said to her.
Good reporting. I grew up not far from there. I could see it all through your words. Thanks.
Thanks for the report. It will be interesting to contrast this with media news tomorrow.
Thanks a bunch for this account. Been hoping to see one. Can’t wait to hear he say she is running.
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