Sarah Palin in Iowa for premiere of 'The Undefeated,' a new chapter in the politics of documentaries

 
 

Sarah Palin heads to Iowa on Tuesday, but whether or not electoral politics are involved is in the eye of the beholder.

Palin has to face jury duty in July in Alaska, but, according to the Christian Science Monitor, the former Alaska governor and her husband, Todd Palin, are first going to Pella, Iowa, for the June 28 premiere of "The Undefeated."

Filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon's documentary portrait of Palin and her political record goes into limited distribution by ARC Entertainment in AMC Theatres the week of July 15 (locally, it will be in the City of Orange, in Orange County).

Interestingly -- likely coincidentally -- President Obama will also be in Iowa on Tuesday, promoting manufacturing jobs in Bettendorf. No word whether the two have a date to split corn dogs, but we doubt it.

Approached by Palin's camp to produce short films for SarahPAC, Bannon decided instead....

Sunday shows: Haley, Gingrich, Holder, Huckabee

ABC's "This Week" with Christiane Amanpour: Gov. Nikki Haley (R-S.C.), with Sheila Bair, Roger Altman, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Richard Haas, Robert Kagan, George Will, Amy Roberts and Cokie Roberts.

Bloomberg's "Political Capital with Al Hunt:" Obama Atty. Gen. Eric Holder.

CBS' "Face the Nation" with Bob Schieffer: House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) with excerpts from Wednesday's taped town hall with President Obama.

CNN Fareed Zakaria "GPS": Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Kishore Mahbubani, Joshua Cooper Ramo, Eric Schmidt and Anne-Marie Slaughter.

CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), Michael Gerson, Joe Lockhart, Admiral Dennis Blair and John Negroponte.

Fox News Channel "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace: Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), with Brit Hume, Nina Easton, Mort Zuckerman and Kimberley Strassel.

NBC's "Meet the Press" with David Gregory: Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), with Peggy Noonan, Matt Bai, Helene Cooper and Mark Halperin.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press (Haley).

Newt Gingrich inches closer to announcing run for president

Newt Gingrich updated his Facebook profile Monday by announcing that he will appear on Fox News' Sean Hannity show on Wednesday evening to "talk about" his "run for President of the United States."  This lines up with news Gingrich's spokesman told The Times last week that the former speaker of the House will officially be a candidate shortly.

Although the 10-term former member of Congress writes that he is "humbled by all the encouragement" he has received during the exploratory phase, it's hard to ignore the first three comments his statement received on his Facebook wall and speculate how the veteran politician will handle the scrutiny.

The first commenter demands that Gingrich name former Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate while the third commenter rebutted that idea with an all-caps "NOT" accented with not one but two exclamation marks.

But it's the second comment that not only bashed the forum on which the Georgia Republican is choosing to speak, but one of the sensitive skeletons in the former congressman's past. Gingrich has admitted to two affairs that he had during his first two failed marriages.

Georgia councilmember's 'cotton field' retort angers the NAACP; he says it wasn't 'a racial remark at all'

The city of Warner Robins, Georgia, was recently named by BusinessWeek as one of America's "best places to raise your kids," which may be true as long as your child doesn't grow up to be a black councilman, it would seem.

A heated exchange that occurred Monday night during a meeting of the Warner Robbins City Council made national headlines when a white councilman replied to a black councilman in a way that many have deemed racist. 

Daron Lee, who is black, was upset that he was often being interrupted during meetings. He was also carrying around anger for allegedly being called "boy" in a previous meeting. When he was interrupted on Monday, Lee expressed his anger.

"I was disrespected last Monday," Lee said, looking directly at his white counterpart, John Williams, who had previously interrupted him. "I'm getting about tired of you all, talking to me any kind of way. I'm not working in a cotton field."

"You should be," Williams retorted.

Social media wrap: Bachmann, Brewer, Rooney react to Florida healthcare lawsuit ruling [Updated]

 

(This post will be updated throughout the day.)

A lawsuit brought by 20 states seeking to overturn President Obama's  healthcare law can proceed, a Florida judge ruled Thursday.

In a blow to the administration, the ruling went against Justice Department arguments that the lawsuit, led by the state of Florida, is premature.

“In this order, I have not attempted to determine whether the line between constitutional and extra-constitutional government has been crossed,” wrote Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida. The ruling dealt primarily with procedural issues.

Politicians reacted on Twitter:

 -- Craig Howie

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Photo: President Obama electrifies a Florida crowd on healthcare, and perhaps sends one gentleman to sleep. Credit: Getty Images

Social media wrap: Baseball flag-day wager a line drive for Newsom, not so much for Reed

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has some 'splainin to do to his baseball-loving constituents as to why a San Francisco Giants flag is soon going to be flying above his City Hall. 

Essentially he bet the house, and lost. 

With Atlanta residents presumably still sore about their team bowing out of baseball’s National League playoffs Monday night at the Giants’ hands, Reed may have to issue a mea culpa after his wager with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom that the series loser will fly the opposition’s flag over their municipal offices. 

A good sport, Reed on Monday night congratulated Newsom over Twitter after the Giants beat the Braves to face the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship Series: 

"Congrats to the #Giants and my friend @GavinNewsom for winning the NLDS. Hats off to Bobby Cox for a tremendous career."

Newsom had tweeted: 

"Made a friendly wager w/ my friend ATL Mayor @KasimReed. Winning team flag to fly over loser's City Hall in @sfgiants vs @braves series!"

So far nothing from Newsom, who for the last week has flown a Giants flag over City Hall in a show ...

Social media wrap: Obama, McConnell, Palin speak out on healthcare bill 6 months on

Barack Obama: "I refuse to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny a child healthcare due to a preexisting condition or impose a lifetime limit on care for a cancer patient. Those days are over."

Senate_GOPs: Mitch McConnell: "Americans never wanted this massive government-driven intrusion into their health care" http://bit.ly/bvBZLc

RepDianaDeGette of Colorado: New reforms take effect today, putting patients and drs back in control of health care. Learn more here: http://nyti.ms/cGrKde

MaryBonoMack (California): 6 Month Anniversary of ObamaCare...It is "even worse than critics thought" http://ow.ly/2ISNw ^RM

Senate_GOPs  Happy 6 month #hcr anniversary! "Rarely have so many political strategists been so wrong about something so big." http://bit.ly/ajdVOZ

WaysMeansCmte  WHAT A DIFFERENCE 6 MONTHS MAKE #1: Starting today your health insurance ...

Social media wrap: Obama, Boehner and Feingold have money on their minds

Money: It's a gas (if you listen to Pink Floyd), but often it’s also the oxygen of politics. Today, it’s clearly on politicians’ minds (Snoop Dogg).  But does it make the world go round (Liza Minnelli)? 

Inside the Beltway, you can bet your last dime it does. Here is today’s roundup of politicians’ tweets on the green stuff, after a slew of economic news and policy initiatives:

MaryBonoMack (Rep. California): believes that we must not bankrupt our future with reckless and wasteful spending and debt!

DeptofDefense: Secretary Gates wants to instill a culture of saving in the Department. http://go.usa.gov/c4J #sot#militarymon #milblog

johnboehner (House minority leader): Democrats want Congress to vote on a spending bill they forgot to name: http://is.gd/ea53W (via @CNETNews)

BarackObama: A minority in the Senate is blocking a vote on a jobs bill for small businesses, and that's a shame. It's time to move forward.

fredthompson (former presidential candidate): Gibbs: Obama economic team did 6 yrs of work in last 18 mo. Doubt it. In last 18 mo, they did at LEAST 10 yrs worth of spending. #ftrs #tcot

repblumenauer (Rep. Oregon): Republicans Demand Two-Month, Taxpayer-Funded Recess After Election http://huff.to/aJ3qze

edlabordems (House Education and Labor Committee): RT @ED_Outreach 8 mil more students are getting $ for college because of shift of billions of dollars from bankers to students. #hugewin

RepWalterJones (Rep. North Carolina): Why is the Obama Administration spending $10 million to train foreign workers so they can take American IT jobs? http://is.gd/eaapF

DrCassidy (Bill Cassidy, Rep. Louisiana): Oil Spill Commission notes “unanimity of opposition to....

Social media wrap: Real big Deal -- Sexism charge roils Georgia's GOP governor race

 

You’ve doubtless heard of the "Real Housewives of Atlanta." But a storm surrounding the use of the phrase “real women” has roiled the GOP gubernatorial race in Georgia ahead of Tuesday’s primary.

Karen Handel, who this week saw her stock – and her poll numbers – soar with an endorsement from Sarah Palin, has handbagged one of her rivals, Nathan  Deal, with accusations of sexism related to his campaign slogan.

The unlikely saga began when Deal, who uses the slogan “Deal. Real.” in almost all his campaign literature, wrote that “real women” support his campaign. As opposed to, say, Handel and a certain Mama Grizzly.

Of course, “real” is a pejorative term at the best of times and takes on a whole new meaning when applied ...

Weekly remarks: Obama on more veterans benefits; Phil Gingrey on unaffordable federal deficits

Remarks by President Obama, as provided by the White House

Last weekend, on the Fourth of July, Michelle and I welcomed some of our extraordinary military men and women and their families to the White House.

They were just like the thousands of active duty personnel and veterans I’ve met across this country and around the globe. Proud. Strong. Determined. Men and women with the courage to answer their country’s call, and the character to serve the United States of America.

Because of that service; because of the honor and heroism of our troops around the world; our people are safer, our nation is more secure, and we are poised to end our combat mission in Iraq by the end of August, completing a drawdown of more than 90,000 troops since last January.

Still, we are a nation at war. For the better part of a decade, our men and women in ...