Our guess is: not likely. Ever wanted to know who Todd Palin is giving his political support to? We didn’t think so. Although his wife still hasn’t announced who she’ll endorse in the 2012 election, Todd is banking on Newt Gingrich. Great? Sarah said that she’s “still in that process with probably 70 percent of Americans trying to decide.” Great. source
I hope that people will go to the polls and forget all the media people that say this one can’t go on or that one doesn’t have the money, because this is the process, and if we don’t let the process happen — I just think it’s so unfair and I hope that people will vote their conscience.
Michele Bachmann • Offering a strong defense of letting people make up their own minds in Iowa. Bachmann is banking on such sentiment — she’s far behind her rivals in the polls and even longtime supporters, like Sarah Palin, are suggesting she quit the race. In related good timing, Bachmann dropped this line in reference to Margaret Thatcher, currently the subject of a Meryl Streep biopic: “My goal is to be America’s iron lady.” Would she make a good Iron Lady for the U.S.? Do Americans need one of those? source
Not taking the hint: Regardless of your opinion of Sarah Palin, that she inspires her core supporters cannot be denied (Mitt Romney wishes he were so lucky). After announcing she wouldn’t run for president, following months of touring about on a campaign-style bus and giving fiery speeches in early primary states, one might expect a mass exodus of support. Having left her job as governor of Alaska, then subsequently pocketing millions in donations that people no doubt expected to fuel a presidential run, even an ardent fan would have reason to balk. Not “Conservatives4Palin,” though; they bought time for this ad urging Palin to run, spending more of their passion and money in service of a person who seems to care only about the latter. source
one According to a recap of the book by the National Enquirer, Sarah Palin was a former cocaine user, most notably during a snowmobiling trip.
two The book also repeats the claim the Palin had an affair in the mid-90s with one of her husband’s friends. She’s already denied this.
three Most shockingly, the book claims that Palin had a one-night stand — prior to her marriage — with former NBA star Glen Rice. WTF?! source
» Wait, is this stuff actually true?! Well, that depends on if you believe Joe McGinniss, the best-selling author of “The Selling of the President 1968.” McGinniss is no stranger to controversy, and he certainly wasn’t when writing this book — see, he moved to Alaska, within shouting distance of the former vice-presidential candidate, leading to rebukes from Palin’s staff. It will be interesting to see what happens when people besides Garry Trudeau get the book.
As you might guess I am torn. On the one hand I understand their reasoning. They did the same thing to my comic strip Prickly City a few years back in a series on Ted Kennedy. This was before I was on staff here. So this is not a new policy aimed squarely at liberal comic strips as has been suggested. On the other hand, it ticked me off when it happened to me. As a creator you never want your work stiflied. You know that.
Chicago Tribune cartoonist Scott Stantis • Discussing his paper’s decision to pass on running a week of Doonesbury strips that openly cite passages from a biography on Sarah Palin — “The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin,” an unauthorized tome written by Joe McGinniss. The Tribune’s reasoning for skipping out on the strip this week is reasonable — the book isn’t on the market yet, so they can’t check it on their own — but nonetheless has ruffled a few feathers. Stantis’ take, of course, is interesting. source
63%the 2nd week box-office dip for "The Undefeated" source
» Not showing staying power: While the Sarah Palin documentary didn’t suffer the steepest dip this weekend (that honor goes to the final “Harry Potter” film, which didn’t even score two consecutive weeks at the top of the box office), it didn’t show the growth that many slow-rollout films often do. For a small release like “The Undefeated,” though (which actually expanded its theater count slightly, but has only made roughly $100,000 during its two-week run), that’s not very good for its long-term prospects — nor was its $1,714 per-screen count. You know what would be? If Sarah Palin announces a presidential run. (h/t ohheybill)
$169Mthe amount Harry Potter's final film made — the biggest single weekend gross ever, BTW, but one that was very front-loaded
$75kthe amount Palin's "The Undefeated" made this weekend in 10 theaters (roughly — see, the distributor didn't report exact estimates)
.04%share of Palin's box-office take to Harry Potter's take, which is like comparing an ant to an elephant, but still pretty fun source
» A huge amount of spin here:ARC Entertainment threw out a press release today claiming that “The Undefeated” actually did quite well amid adversity. “We expect word-of-mouth to keep ticket sales strong and we will definitely expand the film to a wider national audience,” said Trevor Drinkwater, the distributor’s CEO. “With merely three weeks of preparation and a virtually non-existent traditional advertising spend, the film did exceptionally well.” The distributor also noted that the film did the kind of business a film would normally require millions in advertising for. Which, let’s put it simply, isn’t true. Two fairly low-budget films this weekend — Errol Morris’ “Tabloid” and the poorly-reviewed “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” — still managed to have larger grosses than Palin’s film despite the fact that all three films showed in less than 30 theaters. And on top of that, the movie has gotten plenty of traditional media coverage in part due to its star. A dud is a dud. Sorry.
tennumber of theaters the Sarah Palin documentary, “The Undefeated,” opened in this weekend — mostly conservative test markets
threepeople were in a recent Orange County showing — including a fairly lonely reviewer for The Atlantic; the other two left after 20 minutes source
» A pretty bad test weekend: While some estimate that Palin’s film could make as much as $4 million over its entire run — good for a rally-the-troops conservative film — the weekend that they chose to test it is one where most filmgoers of all political persuasions are preoccupied with Harry Potter. But one thing to keep in mind — if she decides to run, the film could do a lot better. For what it’s worth, the other two girls in the theater with Atlantic editor Conor Friedersdorf probably thought “The Undefeated” was an action movie, so maybe she’ll get some business from confused moviegoers.
It’s a tough decision, it’s a big decision to decide whether to run for office or not. I’m still contemplating. I am still thinking about the decision and you know a lot goes into such a life-changing, relatively earth-shattering type of decision.
Sarah Palin • talking about her decision to run for President. She still isn’t giving anyone a straight answer on what she plans on doing, but her daughter Bristol said some stuff on Fox that says she does have a plan. She told the news station that Palin knows what she’s going to do, and Bristol thinks her mom should go for it. But why would Palin run if Bachmann already did? They’re basically the same kind of candidate — and Palin has pretty much already lost her opportunity to get back into the national spotlight after her bus tour kind of sputtered. It’ll be interesting to see what happens. source
