Sarah Palin’s “The Undefeated” Pulls No Punches
June 6, 2011
by Lara Brown PhD
|The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.
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Last Saturday night in Manhattan, filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon screened a “rough cut” of his new documentary on former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, which is set for release next month. Eager to see the buzzed about film, I rode Amtrak’s Northeast Regional to Penn Station and attended the screening with The New Agenda’s President Amy Siskind.
Whether or not Palin is your political cup of tea, the film serves up a strong and lively brew. Its title, “The Undefeated,” captures both the documentary’s narrative and the moral of the story. Palin’s not only a fighter, but also a winner. Hoping to better the lives of honest, hard-working Alaskans, she knocked out tough opponents and corrupt politicians – from Big Oil to entrenched Republicans to popular Democrats – all across her beloved frontier state on her rise up the ranks from concerned citizen after the Exxon Valdez oil spill to Wasilla mayor to chair of the state’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to Alaska governor.
Although the documentary has, as Bannon put it, “a point view” and that view is most certainly pro-Palin and her populist brand of conservatism, it reveals her unrelenting tenacity – a character trait often ignored by the mainstream media, but an essential ingredient of successful politicians.
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As my research on presidential aspirants demonstrates, the ones who win are the ones who don’t give up, even when they lose. Both Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson lost presidential elections before they won. Abraham Lincoln lost two senate races before winning the Republican nomination and the presidency in 1860. Grover Cleveland managed a still unprecedented feat in 1892: winning the presidency for a second time after having lost as an incumbent in 1888. The most impressive comeback story in modern times belongs to Richard Nixon who triumphantly claimed the White House in 1968 after successively losing both the presidential contest in 1960 and California’s gubernatorial race in 1962. Even Ronald Reagan, the currently idolized father of Republican conservatism, lost a bitter nomination battle to Gerald Ford in 1976, before securing both his party’s endorsement and the presidency in 1980.
In each of the above instances, conventional wisdom incorrectly counted these politicians out.
If I had one wish for Bannon’s film from an accuracy perspective, it would be for it to focus on not only Palin’s tenacity and her wins, but also the losses she has sustained (e.g., her race for lieutenant governor, the 2008 presidential contest, and some of the media battles, which have marred her reputation among sizable portions of the public) and her resiliency. Doing so, would have further contextualized Palin’s career trajectory, while still lionizing her achievements, which was its goal.
Similar to other presidential aspirants, Palin’s true story is more “Undaunted,” rather than “Undefeated.”
I hope we get a chance to see this (in it’s entire context). I can’t believe that it will get air time on any of the corporate advertising venues that make up our TV viewing options. I guess we could probably get it from Netflix.
I fight every day to set the Palin deranged straight on her outstanding record of service to the state of Alaska. She was unfortunately run out of office by the Obama Mafia (we know how he does women) as they attempted to bankrupt her by filing 16 bogus ethics charges agaisnt her. But in the 18 months that she did serve she did amazing things for Alasks and for America’s energy independence. I am embarassed to say that before 2008 I spent my adult life as a democrat. The liberal left cannot respect the kind of strong, independent morally sound person Sarah Palin is.
While watching a discovery channel program on climate change and how over fishing contibutes more than anthing to it, Alaska was referenced as having the most exemplary fishing regulations in the world. Palin did that and many other amazing things for her state. That is how a Governor, (who cannot print money) gets an 80% approval rating.
Not to fret, just as she retreated from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commision because crooked Governor Murkowski put a gang order on her when she was exposing the corruption and unholy alliance of big oil and the governors office and AOGCC; she lalter returned to take on the establishment republican in the primary and win the governorship of Alaska.
In 2012, Palin will have her justice again when she and v.p. Allen West steam roll over Obama and take the white house!
And by the way, she was absolutely correct about Paul Reviere warning the British of the awaiting militia after they captured him!
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