'The Undefeated' heads north to Alaska

The Sarah Palin documentary “The Undefeated” has been shown in Alaska, but never on the big screen. That's due to change Monday, as the theater version of the two-hour film will be screened in Palin country, according to a report in the Mat Su Valley Frontiersman:

Sponsored by the Valley Republican Women’s Club, the Alaska screening also includes a meet-and-greet event with the movie’s creator and producer, Stephen Bannon, from 4 to 6 p.m., Sunday at Colony Inn in Palmer. Tickets are $50 each or $75 per couple and include a light meal and a chance to speak one-on-one with Bannon.

“I’m looking forward to coming to Alaska,” he said Thursday by phone from Washington, D.C. He said this trip to Alaska will be a relatively quick since he is planning to spend Thanksgiving at Fort Campbell, Ky., with his daughter, a recent West Point graduate.

Bannon said when the movie was originally released, the theatrically company that distributed the film didn’t have any screens in Alaska.

“We’ve been actually trying to do this since August,” Bannon said.

Past Valley Republican Women’s Club president Julie Gillette said she met Bannon on Facebook before seeing the film. After watching “Undefeated” on pay-per-view at a friends’ house, Gillette said she contacted Bannon again and told him how much she’d enjoyed the movie and that she hoped he’d have a chance to come to Wasilla and show the movie someday.

“It’s fantastic to have the filmmaker here with the film,” Gillette said Friday.

While Bannon’s in Alaska, he said he also plans to record his weekly radio show here, which airs on KABC AM in Los Angeles.

[More]

The movie plays at 6PM Alaska Time Nov. 21 at the Wasilla Alaska Club Theater. Suggested donation is $5 and seating is limited to 150 people.

- JP

‘The Undefeated’ Goes North to Alaska

“We're going to make that announcement here in the next week.”
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In an interview for The Victory Sessions, filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon told Sarah Palin's brother Chuck Heath, Jr. that he's bringing his documentary film to Alaska for a Wasilla screening:


We're reminded of the Steve Allen song, “This could be the start of something big,” which was such a big deal that it replaced the theme music for the “Tonight Show” back in the day when Allen was the host.

The entire Chuck Heath, Jr. interview is well worth a listen, and you'll find it on The Victory Sessions website.

- JP

Levi picks up an endorsement

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No, not from the Palin Internets Smear Squad And Naysayer Team (P.I.S.S.A.N.T.):



- JP

Frontiersman: Restraining order issued against Palin, Cole stalker

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From the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman:

An Anchorage judge issued restraining orders yesterday against Shawn R. Christy on behalf of Wasilla residents Kristan Cole and former Gov. Sarah Palin, according to court documents.

Cole said she became concerned about Christy’s letters and e-mails 15 or 16 months ago, but it ended up in court yesterday after the man called her to say he was in Alaska.

“When someone sends you proof that they’ve purchased weapons. Proof that they know where you live. And said that they are looking into purchasing a one-way plane ticket to Alaska and then calls from a cell phone with a 907 number, it’s over the line and we need protecting.”

Wasilla Police Department also helped the two families put together a safety plan, she said.

(More)

Developing...

- JP

Sarah Palin and Joe Miller attend ‘9/11 Remembrance Rally’ in Wasilla (Updated)

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Gov. Palin joined the crowd at an event hosted by Alaska's main tea party faction, the Conservative Patriots Group, in her home town of Wasilla Saturday to remember the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to the Anchorage Daily News:

In a brief speech at the event marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, Palin praised service members. The home state public appearance was a rare one for Palin...

[...]

Palin received an enthusiastic welcome, with people surrounding her for autographs and pictures.

Joe Miller, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, also appeared at the rally. In remarks to the crowd, he talked about the need to protect American liberties.

The Alaska Dispatch reports that Gov. Palin was well received by the Wasilla crowd:

Much to the delight and surprise of many, Palin showed, got on the stage, and asked the now-familiar, "Do you know your freedom?" question. The response indicated that yes, they did. And that wasn't the only thing they loved.

She then asked all military veterans to stand and led a round of huge applause before saying, "It's really, really good to be home, and tonight I think I'll see some of you at the Glenn Beck event."

[...]

After her speech, Palin stepped off the stage and began a long round of handshakes and autograph signing, where she shook hands with everyone from Mead Treadwell to Sam Little, and signed everything from copies of her book to the back of a little girl's shirt to a small rock that a middle-aged woman handed her with a smile.

The crowd was happy and excited to be so close to their former governor, pressing close to shake her hand and get a quick picture. When a reporter asked Palin to identify the biggest threat to the U.S., she answered "Our debt, which is a natural security issue," before turning back to her admiring fans. Palin's daughter, Piper, quickly became bored with the whole scene and asked her mother when they could go.

As Palin walked outside the sports center into the bright Wasilla sun and stepped up into a black Escalade, men standing in the parking lot yelled out "Praying for you!" and "Love you, Sarah!"

The rally was conducted just hours before a Glenn Beck event was scheduled to begin in nearby Anchorage. Thousands are expected to attend tonight's event, where Gov. Palin will introduce Beck. All but 700 of the 4,500 tickets for the Beck event have been sold, says Therin Ferrin, who is with a private contractor that operates the city's convention centers.

Update: ADN's photo gallery of the event is here.

- JP

A busy 9/11 Saturday in Wasilla, Alaska

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An organization called the Conservative Patriots Group is hosting what it calls "a non-partisan, non-political remembrance rally" at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla from noon to 2 p.m. Alaska Time today.

In a letter to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman last week, Frank Betti, a member of the group's directors, said the theme of the event is "Standing Strong for America":

We invite the entire community to join together with us to respect and honor those American civilians, military, police and emergency responders who lost their lives as a result of this horrific and unprovoked terrorist attack.

Wasilla Mayor Verne Rupright, U.S. Senate candidates Joe Miller and tentatively Scott McAdams will speak at this event on how the 9/11 tragedy has affected America and what we can do to prevent future attacks.

But according to the left-leaning Alaska Dispatch, a McAdams spokesperson said the Democrat will not attend due to a "scheduling conflict."

The Dispatch quotes a very unreliable source who claims that Gov. Palin will be at the rally, and that "attendees will follow her to Anchorage in a giant motorcade for her scheduled speech at Glenn Beck's event at Anchorage's Dena'ina Civic and Convention Center." A Palin rally appearance and motorcade was not mentioned in the Conservative Patriots Group's letter and has not been confirmed by the Palin camp, to our knowledge.

A local group of leftists has been busy organizing to protest the rally because, hey, "Standing Strong for America" obviously must be a bad thing to do. /sarc

- JP

Quote of the Day (May 27, 2010)

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Michelle Malkin:

"Todd Palin for border czar!"

- JP

Daily Caller Interview: Chuck Heath, Jr.

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Sarah Palin’s older brother said Thursday that the former Alaska governor is concerned about her children's safety due to her family's “creepy” new neighbor. Chuck Heath Jr. told the Daily Caller, “We’re creeped out by it, like everyone else is. It’s an unbelievable invasion of privacy.”

Heath, a 48-year-old schoolteacher in Anchorage, discussed Joe McGinniss and other subjects in a Daily Caller interview:

“Sarah hasn’t gone after the publicity, the publicity has gone after her,” he said. “She’s getting out there and she’s doing all she can to help this country.”

As if anticipating the question, Heath said critics might ask why Palin is doing a reality show this summer if she doesn’t like attention. “That’s an attempt to show off this state,” he explained. “And promote people coming up, increasing tourism, brings more dollars into this state. It’s going to help this state out. It’s just amazing how everybody blows everything out of proportion and they boil it down to what he said, ‘this is just a publicity stunt’.”

Heath said his brother-in-law Todd Palin and some buddies “worked through the night” to build up a 14-foot high fence between the Palin's house and the house McGuiness is renting to give his family at least some privacy from the stalker-reporter's prying eyes:

Asked if his sister might decide to leave Alaska entirely – say, by running for president in 2012 – Heath is noncommittal. “Nobody knows her plans except for Sarah,” he said. “That’s the $64,000 question that everybody, everywhere we’ve gone has asked us. And like we say, in total honesty, we have no idea.”

If she did run, he says, the family “would definitely support her run. And would be excited for her to do that… I can say that if Sarah was in charge right now, I think this country would be going in a lot better direction that it is right now.”

Read the full interview here.

- JP

Even Ruth Marcus says McGinness has gone too far

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Ruth Marcus is the least likely of all possible Sarah Palin defenders. Yet even the Washington Post columnist, who attacks Gov. Palin on a regular basis, writes that Joe McGinness' unhealthy obsession with Gov. Palin has gone too far:

McGinniss’s choice of venue is outrageously, unnecessarily intrusive. There is -- there used to be and should be, anyway -- a difference between reporting and stalking, serious journalists and papparazzi. Not that I’d want to make my living chasing celebrities, but the papparazzi, at least, have an excuse: they have to stick their cameras in people’s faces to do their jobs. McGinniss and Marcus don’t. People, politicians included, deserve a zone of privacy, literal as well as metaphysical.

Slate’s Jack Shafer says he has “no problems, ethically or morally, with him getting as close to his subject as possible” and puts McGinniss’s behavior within a “long journalistic tradition of wearing sources and subjects down until they surrender.” His examples include “knocking on the door of a grieving family to ask them, "How do you feel?” and “frequenting a subject’s favorite bar, place of worship, and subway stop until he cracks.”

I’ve had to do that knocking -- not easy -- but I was taught not to besiege grieving families. If that’s changed, too bad on us, but there are remedies against such harassment. Going to a public place in pursuit of a source is different from essentially spying on the source in her private domain.

[...]

In a statement, McGinniss’s publisher promised that he “will be highly respectful of his subject’s privacy as he investigates her public activities. Really? So respectful of her privacy that he invaded it? Plow through all the papers, interview all the sources you want. But seizing the opportunity to live next door is creepy.

Joe, if you're bashing Sarah Palin, and you've lost Ruth Marcus, you've lost your argument. Go back to your real home in Massachusetts, finish your smear job of a book and leave this family alone.

- JP

Joe McGinness to ABC News: "Get off my property!"

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ABC News discovers that stalker Joe McGinness is also a hypocrite:

McGinniss, who is being accused of invading the Palins' privacy, himself claimed that his was being invaded when ABC News knocked at his door to get a comment.

"Get off, you're trespassing," McGinniss said through his window. "I am going to have to call the Wasilla police. Get off my property, now, I am going to put in the call."

It's not your property, Joe. You're just renting.

This little stunt of yours was a lot of fun for you and your leftist fellow travelers when you thought you could intimidate Gov. Palin and her family wasn't it? But when the shoe went on the other foot, you sure lost your cool fast! That's the thing with "progressives." They love to dish it out, but they can't take it.

- JP

How to build an anti-stalker fence in just one day

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Now if only the feds would complete that border fence they promised over a year ago to build...

h/t: GretaWire

- JP

The Palins Pitch In

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Todd and Sarah Palin and the kids spent a good part of their Christmas Day practicing what their faith preaches -- loving and helping their brothers and sisters. Blogs 4 Palin blogger Tracey Porreca was also lending a hand at the event, the Christmas Friendship Dinner in Wasilla, Alaska. Tracey has a great report from the dinner with lots of pictures at her blog, Finding Myself In Alaska, and it is also cross-posted at Sarah's Web Brigade.

- JP

Big crowd turns out for Sarah Palin's Wasilla book event

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A crowd of 1,000 turned out at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Sarah Palin's hometown of Wasilla to get their copies of the former Alaska governor's best-selling memoir signed.

Anchorage Daily News reporter Zaz Hollander described the scene at the spacious sports complex as more of a homecoming than a book signing:

Sarah Palin got treated like a homecoming queen when she brought her national book tour to Wasilla today.

[...]

Palin got a rousing welcome from about 750 people waiting below when she strode up the ramp to the second floor of the sports center at 11 a.m., wearing black boots with 4-inch heels and a red jacket covered in raised cloth roses.

The event Tuesday marked the first chance for the general public to attend a Palin book-signing in Alaska. Earlier this month, Palin signed copies at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage and Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, but neither of those events were open to the general public.

Palin signed books on the upper floor of the sports center with her husband, Todd. Fans waited in lines downstairs, and then were ushered upstairs in small groups during the three-hour event.

- JP

Sarah Palin adds book signing event in Wasilla

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Sarah Palin will sign copies of Going Rogue in her home town of Wasilla, according to this Tweet from her close friend Kristan Cole:

"Governor Sarah Palin will be at a book signing at Curtis Menard Memorial Sports center on Tuesday the 22nd Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m."

Gov. Palin also Tweeted:

"AK book signing is Dec22, 11-2@local Sports Arena...very excited about this bc we'll get 2see old&new friends&share holiday cheer@same time!"

The Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center should provide plenty of space for a book signing event, even for Sarah Palin, who is known to be able to draw huge crowds. The complex occupies 102,000 square feet of Alaska's Mat-Su Valley.

Update: The Frontiersman reports that books will not be available for purchase at this event, so BYOB (Bring Your Own Book).

- JP

It's a small world, even in Alaska

Chip Sloan of Greer, South Carolina got quite a surprise when his group's tour bus stopped in Alaska's Mat-Su Valley. The Middle School principal wanted to snap a photograph of the sign just outside of Sarah Palin's hometown which read "Welcome to Wasilla."

As Sloan trained his camera on the large welcome sign, he heard a car pull up behind him on the side of the road. The South Carolinian turned around to see a woman dressed in running gear with her hair in a ponytail step out of a black Volkswagen just a few yards away from him.

"I thought, 'that looks like Sarah Palin, but it can't be.'" Sloan said. "Then, when someone approached her, I heard her say, 'I'm Sarah.'"

"I was blown away," Sloan said.

The 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate chatted by the side of the bus with those who had stepped out to take photos, then went inside the bus to greet each member of the tour group, shaking hands, exchanging hugs, posing for photos and signing autographs.

While all of this was taking place, Todd Palin was still sitting the car. Chip Sloan approached him and struck up a conversation:

"It was like we had known each other a long time. He was as nice as anyone could be," Sloan said.

When the bus left the spot, Sloan had more photos recorded in his camera than he had expected to shoot, and Sarah Palin got a later start on her daily run than she had planned.

- JP

Quote of the Day (July 25, 2009)

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The AP reported the size of the crowd at Governor Sarah Palin's Wasilla Picnic Friday as "more than 1,000 people" -- which is factually true, but misleading. Our QOTD comes from the Alaska Pride blog:

"The Anchorage Daily News, KTUU Channel 2, and KTVA Channel 11 (which leads to a Topix Forum thread) reported that event coordinators, who had planned on 5,000 attendees, roasted 4,008 hot dogs and had fixings for about 4,000 root-beer floats. By the last hour of the event, the dogs were almost gone."

- JP

Crowd of 1,000+ turns out for Palin's Wasilla picnic

Dwarfing the numbers that traditionally show up for the governor's annual picnic in Wasilla, Alaska, more than a thousand people turned out Friday for Gov. Sarah Palin's last such event that she will host as governor in her hometown.

Some in the crowd came from as far away from Wasilla as Louisiana and Texas. Adrienne Ross, media director, New York State organizer and an executive board member of the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee was there, and she posted an after action report with lots of photos on her blog Motivation Truth here.

Alaskan Tammy Swofford was also there, and she blogged it (also with photos) here. Another Alaskan, June, who blogs at Sunhusky's Alaska, blogged with photos here. Ben Wargo, yet another Alaska transplant, blogged it here.

As for the legacy media, KTUU's story and video is here. KTVA's story is here. The AP story is here. Raw AP video of the governor signing autographs, serving hot dogs and mingling with the crowd is here. A video of her speech to the crowd is here.

After the picnic, the governor tweeted:

"Great 3rd(& final) Governor's Picnic in hometown tonite;loved the focus: honoring military&Blue Star families;no politickin' just patriotism"

Looking ahead to the Saturday and Sunday picnics, Gov. Palin sent this message:

"Tomrrw host Anch Gov's Picnic; LtGov Parnell/I love these events- literally getting to serve you!Then Sunday Frbnks Picnic/Transition speech"

- JP

Sarah at home: "She is a beautiful person"

When Dee Lofton of Yuma, Arizona told friends and neighbors she was going to Wasilla, Alaska to visit her daughter, the standard response was, "Tell Sarah, 'hello.'" So she decided to do just that:

"I made a card for Sarah that said, 'Hello from your friends in Yuma, Arizona.' It had 200 signatures and personal notes. Three local bands also gave me their CDs, and some of the business people here gave me cards to give her."

Since Sarah and Todd Palin don't make a habit of inviting strangers to visit their home, Lofton had a problem. She contacted government offices in Alaska to try to arrange a meeting, but could not get through the red tape. So she tracked down Palin's father-in-law, Jim Palin, who arranged for Lofton to meet Sarah at her home. Jim Palin told Lofton that, aside from media figures who have interviewed the governor in her home, this sort of thing has never happened before:

"I think it was the 200 signatures that did it."

Lofton, said the people who signed the card were a sort of bipartisan coalition:

"The people who signed the card included liberals and conservatives from both parties. How they feel about Sarah was important, not their party affiliation. Sarah and I did not discuss politics at all."

So what was it like to meet a 2008 vice presidential candidate on her own turf?

"I was not nervous when I met her because she is not that kind of person. Even though she is the governor, she is also a wife, a mother and a grandmother and is very friendly. She does not put on any airs. She is a beautiful person and has a bubbly personality."

We hear similar reports every time an everyday person meets Governor Palin. Each and every time they say that she is the real deal. Which goes along way toward explaining the ease with which Sarah Palin connects with ordinary Americans. As so many of them have said, "She is one of us."

- JP