August 29, 2008. That date will forever be stamped in my mind. 6 years ago..
August is a month with a lot of those dates – the 12, my Dad’s birthday. The 16th, the death of Elvis.
Probably the image above has given away what I am talking about. Those are the feet of John “Walnuts” McCain and Sarah Palin, as seen on the day that John McCain announced she was going to be the vice presidential candidate.
Thank the deities, the horrible possibility of that woman being one heartbeat away from the nuclear codes never came to pass.
I am sure one day a woman will be in that position, a woman will even be president. But they will deserve to be there, not be picked just because someone is desperate to shake things up in a campaign, barely vetted or asked any questions before being thrown into the spotlight a mere 2 days after first meeting the presidential candidate.
If you have never seen the movie Game Change which tells the story of how Palin came to be chosen.. the story of the campaign staff trying to prepare her for media interviews and epically failing.. the story of how she pretty much melted down under the fierce spotlight and the pure perfection of Tina Fey portraying her on Saturday Night Live.. the story of how she wanted to give a speech after they lost the election and was firmly rebuffed by campaign staff and when she wouldn’t listen to them, by John McCain himself as no vice presidential candidate gives a speech when they lose..
It is such a great movie that it joins movies like Tootsie, Groundhog Day, Mrs Doubtfire, The Devil Wears Prada, Notting Hill, Pretty Woman, and many others on the quite long list of movies I cannot possibly flick away from – once I stumble on them playing, I’m stuck there watching them until they end.
It has Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin and she is absolutely amazing. even better than the Tina Fey impersonations and Tina Fey looks scarily like a doppelganger of Sarah Palin. It has Ed Harris who is downright unrecognisable as John McCain. It has Sarah Paulson as the long suffering Nicole Wallace, and it has Woody Harrelson as Steve Schmidt.
We’re only just over two years away from the next US election and the long, seemingly never-ending primary season will begin in January 2016. Fingers crossed any memorable dates next time will be for good reasons.
I completely agree about the movie Game Change. Great, great movie. The book was good too, but different from the movie because it gave a glimpse into the Obama camp as well. I also agree that The Devil Wears Prada is a “can’t stop watching” flick.
Six years ago yesterday I blogged about the campaign: http://pamela-j.blogspot.com/2008/08/go-o.html.
And then I commented on my own post, saying “I think I’m happy about McC picking Palin as his VP. I think this will help O/Joe get elected. But I haven’t been spun yet, and it’s a long, long time until November.”
Apparently back in the early days of my blogging I would post something and then comment on it….odd of me…