Lack of honor is the most revealing aspect of the HBO movie “Game Change.” Yes, there is the horrific character assassination of Sarah Palin, much to the satisfaction of the Left.
However, as the movie progresses, it becomes obvious that the blatant betrayal by members of Sen. John McCain’s own staff is the culprit. After the film concludes, the permeation of this betrayal rises to intoxication.
Palin is not the villain. The villains are two of McCain’s staffers, Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace.
I was prepared to write a piece about how the Hollywood Obama machine twisted a damaging propaganda piece against Palin – who they thought would be making a substantial 2012 presidential bid – timing the release right after Super Tuesday.
I was prepared to write a piece about how liberals can’t accept a strong, conservative woman because she threatens their coveted gender gap and their ironic Big Government mainstay – keeping women dependent on Big Daddy.
I was prepared to defend Palin’s character by pointing out the Left’s attempt to thwart her impact on both the country and the 2012 race. However, what is most abhorrent about the movie is the betrayal of Republicans by Republicans. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked McCain what he thought of Schmidt’s words, “I regret playing a part in a process that yielded someone on the ticket who was not prepared to be president.”
McCain, with steely, somber reserve and flushed cheeks, replied, “I regret that he would make such a statement.”
In the movie, the vehemence that spews from Woody Harrelson’s mouth toward Palin represents both his own personal detestation and the reality of the hatred inspired by the man he portrayed, Steve Schmidt. Is Schmidt’s a passion to protect the country or a passion fueled by ego and vendetta?
Meg Stapleton, senior campaign advisor and spokesperson for McCain-Palin, said in the Hollywood Reporter, “Schmidt is infamous for lining up and destroying. He is abusive. He is abrasive. And he is nothing short of a world-class bully.”
Jason Recher, who traveled with Palin on the 2008 campaign, told The Hill, “that neither author of ‘Game Change’ was ever present and that Schmidt was present on only five of 200 bus or plane trips taken by Palin during her two months of campaigning.”
Most haunting of all is the sobbing confession by Sarah Paulson, portraying Nicolle Wallace, revealing that Wallace just couldn’t bring herself to vote for McCain – because of Palin. This was the lowest blow. Could this be true?
Tellingly, Wallace has continued her attacks on Palin by writing a book, “It’s Classified,” about a mentally unstable female vice-president. In a Time magazine article promoting the book she states, “The idea of a mentally ill vice president who suffers in complete isolation was obviously sparked by the behaviors I witnessed by Sarah Palin.”
It is easy for Wallace to sit back and make these accusations when she was not the one who had recently given birth to a baby with Down’s Syndrome.
She was not the one with a son who was fighting in Iraq, with a pregnant teenaged daughter, whose family was under attack, e-mails were being hacked, and who was being ridiculed nationwide.
She was not the one with a reputation and governorship to lose. Simply put, Wallace was not the one making the sacrifice.
Perhaps Palin was uncommunicative with Wallace and Schmidt because she did not trust them, and rightly so.
Shameful betrayals have inflicted damage on the Republican Party during a time when the country is on the edge of oblivion. They have tried to crush of a woman that many Republicans instantly loved and to demean a senator America has long revered.
Yet, McCain and Palin have endured, emerging from it all with class, dignity, character and love for country. Game change it is.
Examiner contributor Janine Turner is a longtime actress and talk radio show host on KLIF in Dallas. She appears regularly on Friday editions of Fox News’ “O’Reily Factor.”
