Bannon says he wants this film to show people that Palin is better than Romney. Yes, he doesn’t even mention a general election. This film is to re-vamp her image in the eyes of Republicans, so they will leave the theater and have a newfound “begrudging admiration for her.” It’s not for the general population.
“So your film is a primer for her in the primary?” I ask.
Bannon knows how to answer this question. His cheerful face stretches into an ear-to-ear smile. “I’m a commercial filmmaker,” he says.
“So she’s going to run for president?”
Same smile. “I’m a commercial filmmaker.”
The final 10 minutes of the film are spent comparing Sarah Palin to Ronald Reagan. People said that Reagan was too extreme, too conservative, and that he’d never be president — and they were all wrong, according to The Undefeated. “Why do you think I did that?” Bannon asks.
For the power of the association, I tell him. So people will think the two politicians have similar qualities. He says the tea party movement is like the Reagan Revolution. I tell him I disagree. Palin is much more like Barry Goldwater, if anything. Goldwater supporters stormed the San Francisco Republican convention in ’64, lots of them “never having been involved in politics before.” Just like we hear about the tea party. There was also the belief among Goldwater supporters that if there was ever a true conservative, the large bloc of dormant true conservatives would turn out to vote for him. Goldwater’s opponent, Lyndon Johnson, won in a historic landslide in the ’64 election.
Bannon ponders this for a second and says Goldwater was Reagan’s John the Baptist.
Why is the film called The Undefeated? Bannon feigns insult at the question. He declares he thought I was smarter than that. Basically, he starts busting my chops and it looks like he’s filibustering. “I know she’s lost elections! See her at the end of the film in Madison and it’s like water off a duck. She’s not down. She’s undefeated.”
Isn’t that technically “not defeated?” Sports teams who’ve never lost in a season are undefeated. But being undeterred is not defeated, not undefeated. I suspect another dog whistle. A phrase that at this point in the interview Bannon likes tossing around with a chuckle.
Is the film just glazing over failures in order to magnify the good parts of Palin’s history? I mean, the New Testament is more critical of Jesus than The Undefeated is of Sarah Palin. I asked Bannon why he thinks people don’t like Sarah Palin. He says it’s because they don’t like her politics. That answer satisfies him absolutely. They just disagree with her and that causes all the vitriol hurled at her.
When Bannon says he made the movie for me, he means women. He calls them “new agenda women.” Women whom Bannon describes as being still mad about how Hillary Clinton was treated during the primaries. Yes, Steve Bannon is trying to capture the PUMA and feminist vote by rebranding Sarah Palin.
If Palin were more competent she’d be far less controversial to women. Women don’t like how Palin is treated, but for some, it’s not because she’s criticized by the media or scrutinized — it’s because she’s held to a lower standard than other politicians. If a man had given any of her answers to Katie Couric or in any of her interviews since, no one would think to make a movie highlighting all his accomplishments while being governor of one of the least populated states in the nation for a fraction of a term. It feels condescending to women who are actually smart and accomplished that Palin gets called smart and accomplished.
But The Undefeated‘s director and writer admits his project is about subtext. And the intended subtext of our chat: Palin intends to run for president because she’s not defeated.
Principles. Ethics. A threat to the establishment. Kitchen table. CEO.
Principled and Ethical? DOES ONE THINK OF SARAH PALIN?
Syrin's Blog 
Jun 20, 2011 @ 13:08:06
Media whore, shallow, liar. I could keep going, but those are some of the words I think of when I hear her cursed name.
Jun 22, 2011 @ 13:01:47
Do you know the difference between Rommey and Palin? One quit their job as governor and spread her lies.
Jun 20, 2011 @ 13:34:14
When you lose the election when you are the VP candidate, you are not undefeated. You are the loser.
Republicans are now trying to change the English language. Why don’t they love America anymore?
Jun 22, 2011 @ 20:05:22
I agree..
Jun 20, 2011 @ 13:58:11
It is years too late to go after the PUMA vote – the women who were angry about Hillary Clinton not being the nominee. WAY TOO LATE! If that theory did not work for McCain, why would it work now? I do not know ANY women, even staunch Republicans, who will vote for a candidate simply because she has a vagina and is a “victim.”
That is what this movie is about – her VICTIM-HOOD. They even show bloody scenes of animals ripping each other apart, to signify sarah being bloodied.
Her low-information, fundy xtain base will love it – but they are already sold, no matter what.
Thankfully, there just aren’t enough of them to carry an election.
I predict more ridicule and more disgust as this movie is reviewed. It will have to be skillful criticism, of course – or else all critics will simply be jealous of her beauty and her ability to speak for God.
Jun 20, 2011 @ 14:53:25
ella, I see this “PUMA” thing rearing its head again because this is the adolescent level of the people in this “movement”. If you look back on the “PUMA”s, it’s obvious that they were Republican operatives all along.
“Steve Bannon is trying to capture the PUMA and feminist vote by rebranding Sarah Palin.”
And they think that what “worked” then (hah!) will continue to “work”: i.e., dividing and conquering “the feminists”.
See Mansour, Tammy Bruce, Elaine Lafferty, Shelly Mandell and all the LA-based pseudo-feminists who sang Sarah’s tune when their palms were crossed with more money than I make in a year:
http://palingates.blogspot.com/search/label/elaine%20lafferty
Jun 20, 2011 @ 14:21:36
I thought it was hysterical when Palin was presented as the Repub anecdote to Hillary’s loss of the Dem nomination. Do these people even have any idea how ridiculous this is? No. And, they obviously still don’t get it. We are talking shallow and vapid Sarah Palin who went to five colleges where no professor remembers her versus Hillary Clinton, a woman who completed a law degree at a high-end competitive school where she was considered by her profs as brilliant.
And, Hillary is an incredible parent with a very accomplished daughter.
Jun 20, 2011 @ 14:50:45
It cracks me up everytime I see Sowah in that scarf. Methinks someone punked the chic who could uphold a vow of public office.
Saw a new bumper sticker in good ol’ Wasilla, on Father’s Day: “AZ is just fine with me.”
~snort~ it was below a “Worst Govenor Ever” bumper sticker.
It sure is a pretty day in wonderful Mat Su valley. The berries are getting plenty of moisture, the wind has kept the misquitos at bay and the robins are finding plenty to pull out of Gods Green Earth!
Jun 20, 2011 @ 14:53:52
My comment should read:
” who could NOT uphold a vow of public office.”
Jun 20, 2011 @ 17:30:58
Anyone who could accept Palin as a substitute for Clinton can’t see past the vagina.
Did Mr. Bannon mention anything about his TARP funds?
Jun 20, 2011 @ 19:40:55
A person who is so pathetic that she would write letters praising herself is anything but ethical.That’s pretty darn low on the ethics ladder. A person who would refer to a state legislator as “Vajayjay” is immature, a bully, trashy. Ethical? Not even by accident.
Jun 20, 2011 @ 20:14:25
Palin truly is the dumb mean girl who gets propped up by her even more clueless followers and goes into the world thinking she can fool everyone with smoke and mirrors. But the more she tries, the more her incompetence shows.
Jun 20, 2011 @ 22:06:32
IIRC, PUMA was coined from “party unity my ass,” i.e., pro-Hillary Democrats who refused the call to support Obama for the sake of party unity. There weren’t many of them. Today, I’ll bet for every Democratic PUMA who would vote for Sarah because she is a woman (heaven forbid!), there are a thousand WRAP’s — Women Republicans Appalled by Palin.
Jun 21, 2011 @ 00:51:11
Sarah Palin is the epitome of mediocrity. She is a stupid, angry, shallow, vindictive little girl. She thinks it is all about her. She is a malformed infant in an aging body.
Jun 21, 2011 @ 20:11:46
I would say that Sarah Palin is the epitome of vularity and lewdness.
Jun 21, 2011 @ 11:07:06
Seriously, principled and ethical are words that should never be uttered in the same sentence as Sarah. Of course it is ironic that she can point out all the NON principled and NON ethical people (even if it is in her own mind!) all the while ignoring all her own problems.
How could anyone at this late date even think women would care about her after Hilary? The only thing positive about the election was that it showed that Hilary was a helluva lot smarter than SP. Even republicans can’t ignore that fact. They might not like her but they sure can’t say she is stupid.
Never ceases to amaze me what people are thinking. Undefeated my butt!
Jun 21, 2011 @ 14:19:15
I know this is OT but it is so good, I wished to share;
This is the best I’ve seen in a long time! Short and simple!
Check this video out — The Truth About the Economy;
http://t.co/pCe0hry