Saradise Lost - Book 5 - Chapter 65: Hannity Pimps The Undefeated on FOX

Although the impending release of Stephen Bannon's film, The Undefeated, has gotten more coverage today, it is mostly from the perspective of "does this mean Palin is going to run?" rather than what I wrote about yesterday, which is "when will FOX News ask her to step down?"

Outside of the closed world of the Palin shrine sites, even conservatives are viewing the descriptions of how this movie is going to turn things around for Palin rather skeptically. Here's Daniel Larison, for The American Conservative:

Palin’s documentary is supposed to “reintroduce” her to the public. It sounds as if it takes the her most tiresome, grating themes of victimization, resentment, and grievance politics and puts them in cinematic form. Maybe this is intended as a prelude to a presidential bid, or maybe it isn’t, but if it is I don’t see how it is going to work.

A sympathetic documentary changes nothing, and it isn’t likely to persuade well-disposed Republicans to believe suddenly that she is qualified for an office when they previously assumed that she wasn’t. As for unsympathetic Republicans, of which there are more daily, the documentary will come across as the latest in the series of embarrassing cries for attention and exercises in self-promotion. The documentary will become fodder for mockery, and it will be one more piece of evidence that Palin should not be allowed anywhere near the national ticket ever again. Palin would retain her dedicated cadre of admirers and supporters, and they would be enough to have a significant impact on the primaries, but rarely would they be enough to help her win anywhere.

The National Journal reports about the film's release timing:

It “seems to be a nuclear strike to preempt Michele Bachmann, who’s [Palin’s] biggest threat,” said Steffen Schmidt, an Iowa State University political scientist. Bachmann, who was born in Iowa, has said she will announce a decision about entering the presidential race in June, but Schmidt said the Palin production may alter her timetable.

“Bachmann is probably not going to want to wait [to announce] until after this movie comes out,” Schmidt continued, “because a lot of conservatives will flock to what’s bound to be a complete whitewash of Sarah Palin that makes her look like she can walk on water. And then Michele Bachmann is sitting there looking pretty silly, because no one’s bothered to make a movie about her.”

The two women, who share a similar conservative constituency, seem to have been playing a cat-and-mouse game in recent days. Hours after word about the Palin movie, first reported by Real Clear Politics, raced through social media sites on Wednesday, Bachmann sent a fundraising e-mail to supporters asking them to donate to a 24-hour “money bomb” campaign that would help “make Barack Obama a one-term president.” Last week, the day after Bachmann grew less coy about her presidential intentions, Palin showed up on several Fox News shows to say she's still "seriously considering" a presidential bid.

Schmidt said Palin's entrance into the race could be the kiss of death for Bachmann. “Even though they seem similar, they are in many respects very different,” he said. “Palin was a vice presidential candidate, and I would imagine she’s raising a lot more money with all her enterprises and TV shows, so she has deeper pockets there. I think if she wants to get in, she’ll be able to choke off the oxygen on Michele Bachmann.”

Ouch! - a catfight.

In Alaska, Jeanne Devon, taking a break from non-stop promotion of stridently anti-choice, anti-union, anti-birth control, anti-women's rights, anti-gay rights Frank Bailey's tome writes:

“Really? You think she’s running?”

I’ve been asked this question dozens of times by incredulous-looking people with furrowed brows.

Yes. Yes, I do.

Devon goes on to list her choice of Palin's reasons:

a) She believes in unforeseen and extraordinary acts of God.
b) She can continue to bask in the warmth of the body heat of cheering people and the golden rays of the klieg lights.
c) She and her new inner sanctum can have fun and slam people they don’t like.
d) They can also make buckets of money.
e) It’s a competition, and “the undefeated” doesn’t like to lose.

More seriously, though, what emerged over the past 24 hours on FOX News appears to be what may be the most brazen attempt by a so-called news organization to promote one of their own employees in a political arena in recent American history. Here's Sean Hannity's introduction of how he is going to be exclusively running stuff from the film:


At my post Tuesday at firedoglake on this, one commenter asked:

When does equal time for the networks become a legal problem? If Sarah is running de fecto and putting this film out in Iowa is a Presidential move then can’t the Dems demand equal time?

FCC regulations should start fining Fox right or will Obama decline to prosecute yet again?

I replied:

If anything, the Obama administration will do everything they can behind the scenes to NOT get in her way. For the FCC or FEC to complain about her whoring on FOX will only play into her followers’ “victim” meme.

Besides that, the Obama administration knows Palin. As Geoffrey Dunn so clearly illustrates in The Lies of Sarah Palin, the day after McCain picked Palin, the Obama camp had more background on her limitations than did McCain's.

In a sense, it's beginning to look like Sarah is Obama's BFF, in that his people know her better than her own people, and welcome her presence in the GOP race. They'd be the last to complain about Palin's continuing presence at Newscorp.

More likely, the complaints will come from her competitors.