Dear Commons Community,

If you are not doing anything special tonight (Saturday, March 10, 2012) and you are at all interested in the 2008 presidential election, you might want to consider Game Change, a made for TV movie on HBO (9:00pm Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time).    It is based on a best-selling book of the same title by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.

A New York Times review states:

“Game Change is an engaging HBO docudrama …told through the eyes of the advisers who developed the losing strategy of Senator John McCain of Arizona and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. In this iteration Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson), the senior adviser, is the war hero, and Senator McCain (Ed Harris) comes off as a crusty old soldier who follows orders but can’t help grousing.

There are some cracks in Julianne Moore’s portrayal of Governor Palin: she leaves out the sexy sassiness.  But considering the challenge — not to mention the incomparable Tina Fey parody — Ms. Moore plays the candidate with surprising finesse. This is a sharp-edged but not unsympathetic portrait of a flawed heroine, colored more in pity than in admiration. Ms. Palin’s detractors will consider it generous, and her advocates have already dismissed it as a liberal smear job…

Senator McCain, though convincingly played by Mr. Harris, is a secondary character, decent and sympathetic to his running mate’s plight but preoccupied with his own problems. Ms. Palin dominates as a disarming egotist whose presumption is balanced by charisma and animal cunning — and in this film, as in life, she has the last smirk.

At the end of “Game Change” top aides watch Senator McCain deliver his concession speech with Governor Palin at his side. “Still think she’s fit for office?” Mr. Schmidt mutters bitterly to Mr. Davis.

“Who cares?” Mr. Davis replies. “In 48 hours no one will even remember who she is.”

Tony