'The Undefeated' Premiere: June 28 in Pella, Iowa (Updated)

Bad dog, Atlantic. No Bone.
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Politico's Ben Smith cites "a source close to the planning" to reveal that "The Undefeated" will premiere in Iowa next week:

The movie, which has won raves from her supporters and aligns her with an anti-establishment grassroots, will keep a level of buzz alive about a potential candidacy, though she has no formal connection to it.

Smith adds that how well Stephen Bannon's Palin documentary is received in Iowa may also be a test of Gov. Palin's appeal in the key early primary state.

The Atlantic's Joshua Green says the venue for the premiere will be the historic Pella Opera House in Pella, Iowa Tuesday, June 28th. Green apparently couldn't resist the opportunity to perpetuate the lamestream media lie that Gov. Palin "quit" her bus tour, when it has been widely reported that she has a jury duty obligation, and the One Nation tour will resume afterwards. Baaaad dog leftist. No bone link.

Update: Here's the full press release:

ARC ENTERTAINMENT & VICTORY FILMS TO PRESENT
THE WORLD PREMIER OF THE UNDEFEATED
AT PELLA OPERA HOUSE IN PELLA, IOWA

Documentary about Gov. Sarah Palin will be shown at 111-year-old historic Midwestern landmark

SANTA MONICA – Victory Film Group (www.victoryfilmgroup.com) and ARC Entertainment announced today the premier of The Undefeated at the Pella Opera House in Pella, Iowa on Tuesday June 28, at 5 p.m. Central.

The Undefeated, which was written and directed by Stephen K. Bannon and produced by Bannon and Victory Film Group co-founder Glenn Bracken Evans and Dan Fleuette, chronicles Sarah Palin’s rise from obscurity to national prominence. ARC Entertainment is the film’s worldwide distributor.

“The community of Pella encapsulates what Iowa and the Heartland are all about. Steve Bannon certainly found a location that has the ‘Iowa-ness’ he was searching for,” stated Craig Robinson, editor-in-chief of TheIowaRepublican.com.

Built in 1900, the Pella Opera House is presently a non-profit founded by area leaders committed to bringing the finest performances to the venue. During the preceding 111 years, the Pella Opera House building has served many functions including headquarters for the Women’s Federated Club, as well as showing the country’s first silent movies at the beginning of the motion picture industry.

Larry Peterson, Chairman of the Pella Opera House stated, “The building is the heart and center of the hard-working family-oriented people in our community. For over 100 years it has served as a symbol that has exemplified American values and continuation of our city’s Dutch heritage.”

Mr. Peterson continued, “The Pella Opera House is excited to be selected as the venue for the premier showing of the film about Governor Sarah Palin. As the premier performance center for the region, the Pella Opera House has traditionally followed its mission of presenting quality entertainment. From children’s theater performances, holiday and Branson-style variety shows to cutting edge concerts and musical events, the patrons of the Pella Opera House consistently praise the Opera House for its creative presentation and support of the values that are important to so many people of this region.”

The Undefeated features leading prominent political commentators Mark Levin, Tammy Bruce and Andrew Breitbart as well as conservative activists Kate Obenshein, Sonnie Johnson and Jamie Radtke. Additionally, the film features interviews with Alaskan civil servants, elected officials and advisors who were involved in Alaskan politics during Governor Palin’s tenure.

The film begins its national rollout exclusively in AMC Theatres in 10 cities the week of July 15th. The film will debut in Dallas, Denver, Oklahoma City, Orlando, Atlanta, Orange County, Phoenix, Houston, Indianapolis, and Kansas City, with plans to take it nationwide in additional markets thereafter.

Scott Conroy of RealClearPolitics called the film a “sweeping epic;” Jan Crawford of CBS News said, “Sarah Palin is either running for President or she should be: That’s the takeaway from ‘The Undefeated,’ a new movie about Palin’s life and leadership set to hit theaters next month;” Michael Falcone of ABC News noted, “The film’s re-telling of her accomplishments as mayor of Wasilla and Governor of Alaska portrays her as a courageous and unconventional figure willing to take on the political establishment — even in those early years. … She eschews the ‘smoke filled rooms’ of deal-making and comes across as a fighter for the people;” and Matt Lewis of the Daily Caller wrote, “If enough people see the film it could be a real game-changer for Palin’s presidential chances.”

Trevor Drinkwater, CEO of ARC Entertainment, added, “We are pleased to present this highly anticipated controversial film and couldn’t imagine a more appropriate setting that captures the spirit and messaging of the film.”

Co-founder of Victory Film Group Glenn Bracken Evans stated, “We are very grateful to the city of Pella and the Opera House for providing the perfect venue for our film.”

Pella is about 40 miles southeast of Des Moines.

h/t: The Iowa Republican

- JP

Has HuffPo banned Trig Troofers?

"The whole theory should have, by all rights, collapsed"
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Ben Smith says leftsite Huffington Post is at least giving the appearance of banning Trig Truthers. Though HuffPo has since scrubbed the stuff from its website, it had no qualms about posting such filthy fare in the past. Perhaps AOL is trying to make the place more respectable or -- more likely -- they're afraid of an advertiser exodus similar to the one now taking place at Wonkette.

At any rate, here are excerpts from Smith's blog post:

Palin critic Geoffrey Dunn, who has contributed a long line of attacks on the former Alaska governor to the site, published his version of the "Trig Truther" theory to Business Insider today, after Huffington Post turned the blog post down.

"We did pass on a submission by Geoffrey Dunn about Trig, as it ran counter to our policy against conspiracy theories," Huffington Post spokesman Mario Ruiz confirmed in an email.

There's a solid bipartisan tradition of such purges, which includes in the online era the DailyKos ban on 9/11 Truthers and RedState's Birther ban. But the Trig theorizing had mostly avoided that fate, partly because it never developed the sort of mass following of the others, partly because there's so much vitriol for Palin on the left and partly because its most visible proponent, Andrew Sullivan, is a unique media property with a large audience of his own, valuable enough to the Daily Beast that they'll shrug off the Trig theories as an eccentricity as long as his readers abide it.

The theories of Trig's nativity seem -- to my nonexpert eye -- to share one thing in particular with the conspiracies about Obama's birth: They began in one form, then changed to evade inconvenience (sic) facts.

[...]

In any event, if Palin decides to run for president, she'll if anything benefit politically from attacks on her motherhood. Indeed, Palin's allies online are spending today denouncing -- and drawing attention to -- a blog's attack on her son. And of course popular disgust with such attacks won't stop them...

[More]

- JP

Smith: Palin would base campaign in Maricopa County (Updated)

"Alaska is an extremely difficult base for national politics"
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Based on what he hears from "a source with no name," Ben Smith writes that the Palin team, despite all the media buzz that it is not laying the groundwork for a 2012 presidential run, has been brainstorming how a campaign would be organized if she decides to run:

One early decision, a source says: It would be based in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Bristol Palin recently bought a house in nearby Maricopa.

One lesson of Palin's sometimes-difficult time in the spotlight has been that Alaska is an extremely difficult base for national politics. From a distant political culture to a daunting time difference, Palin hasn't been terribly well served by the fact that her state is little-known to reporters in the lower 48, and that email inquiries arrive at 3:00 a.m. needing answers by 5:00 a.m.

And Arizona carries its own significance: Basing a campaign there would be a provocative rejection of any lingering political cost from those who connect her harsh rhetoric and Gabrielle Giffords' shooting -- a traditional refusal to retreat. It's also the core of the politically contested, fast-growing new West.

Smith says Palin aides haven't respond to his inquiry about the rumored plans.

Updates...

Comment from Katrina Trinko at NRO's The Corner:

If accurate, this is another interesting hint that the Palin camp, despite having made no public overtures in early states like Iowa and New Hampshire, is still very seriously considering a run.

Smith's rumor is the seed from which even more bizarre rumors spring, as The Arizona Republic's Dan Nowicki blogs:

On Tuesday, state Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, forwarded a rumor that Palin was contemplating coming to Arizona to run for retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl’s open seat in 2012.

But if a Democrat says something, it's always a pretty good bet that it's a lie. From Henry D'Andrea at Politicons we learn:

SarahPAC treasurer Tim Crawford emails, “There has been no decision about where a campaign would be based.”

Crawford's denial hasn't quelled the buzz:

Political analyst Jamie Molera cited several reasons to give the rumor credit.

"I don't think its something where she threw a dart on the board and said, 'Arizona's going to be the place we're going to start from'. I think they've done polling data, I think they've talked to a number of individuals within and outside of the party structure, and I think she made a calculated decision that Arizona is going to be a good place top launch her national platform," Molera said.

Molera said the large population of tea party members in the state and Palin's overwhelming popularity within the group may also help explain choosing Arizona.

- JP

Politico Again Slaps Bad Vanity Fair Palin Attack

-By Warner Todd Huston
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As we discussed here yesterday, Vanity Fair published a badly sourced attack piece on Governor Palin. But the piece is even worse than first thought.

As Politico's Ben Smith discovered, the Vanity Fair piece contained yet another lie passed off as "journalism."

Smith highlighted the part of the VF piece that led the reader to think that the Palins used son Trig as a political prop at the rally held in Kansas City.

Smith excerpted this section of the VF piece:

Backstage in the arena, a little girl in Mary Janes pushes her brother in a baby carriage, stopping a few yards shy of a heavy, 100-foot-long black curtain. The curtain splits the arena in two, shielding the children from an audience of 4,000 people clapping their hands in time to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The music accompanies a video “Salute to Military Heroes” that plays above the stage where, in a few moments, the children’s mother will appear.

When the girl, Piper Palin, turns around, she sees her parents thronged by admirers, and the crowd rolling toward her and the baby, her brother Trig, born with Down syndrome in 2008. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, bend down and give a moment to the children; a woman, perhaps a nanny, whisks the boy away; and Todd hands Sarah her speech and walks her to the stage. He pokes the air with one finger. She mimes the gesture, whips around, strides on four-inch heels to stage center, and turns it on.

But he found out that the whole story was bunk.

The problem: Trig wasn't at the event, according to its organizer, Karladine Graves, a 61-year old Kansas City physician and who, in 2009, founded one of the wave of new local conservative groups, this one called Preserving American Liberty. The "woman, perhaps a nanny," was the boy's mother, St. Louis talk radio host Gina Loudon, according to the event's organizer, Graves.

Ah the lies of this VF piece continue to amaze, don't they?

-WTH

Warner Todd Huston is editor of Publius' Forum and a contributor to Texas for Sarah Palin as well as Big Government, Right Wing News, and a number of other websites.

Weigel: Palin Facebook post is 'despicable'

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Perhaps the only thing even more creepy than Joe McGinniss moving all the way from Massachusetts to fifteen feet from Sarah Palin's house in Alaska to stalk her are the reactions of Ben Smith and Dave Weigel to Gov. Palin's Facebook post about McGinness' extreme exodus. Weigel, a liberal, was hired by the Washington Post to blog about the conservative movement and the GOP, two things he doesn't have the first clue about.

At leftist Politico, Smith characterized the Palin attitude toward the stalker next door as "a recurring preoccupation", while Weigel, at his WaPo blog "Right Now," went even deeper into left field, saying the governor's post about being creeped out by McGinniss' obsession with her was "strange, unprofessional and paranoid."

Say what?

Jim Treacher, in a Daily Caller op-ed, schools Smith and Weigel:

I don’t know if Ben Smith or Dave Weigel have any kids, but I wonder how they’d put up with the sorts of things that have been said about the Palin family. I wonder how Ben Smith or Dave Weigel would like it if some jerk moved in right next door to them for the express purpose of writing a book about them. I wonder if Ben Smith or Dave Weigel would think their concern for the safety and privacy of their own children was “despicable” or a “preoccupation.”

I’m guessing they wouldn’t.

Anyone who doesn't recognize what McGinniss has done as obsessive and more than just a little scary needs professional help.

- JP