Game Change: HBO stands for Help Barack Obama

Game Change debuted on HBO today.  I currently don't have HBO; I'll probably get it for a month so I can watch Season 2 of Game of Thrones, and in that time I may catch Game Change.

I emphasize once again: I loved the book Game Change.  John Heilemann & Mark Halperin's book about the 2008 presidential election was wild and trashy and suspenseful, even though we all knew the outcome.  I was thrilled when HBO announced they were going to make a movie out of it.  While HBO's political movies tend to make Democrats the heroes and Republicans the villains, Game Change was bipartisan excitement, and two-thirds of it would be about the fascinating trio of frontrunner Hillary Clinton, fresh blood Barack Obama, and delusional sociopath John Edwards.

Alas, HBO has revealed itself as Obama's own SuperPAC by cutting all of that out of the movie.  HBO, aka Help Barack Obama, elected to make Sarah Palin the main character, even though she is at best the fifth most prominent character from the book.  I would venture this was a calculated move by HBO, as they guessed Palin would be running for president and this would come out at a good time to weaken her in the primaries, remind people of all her flaws.

I don't care if they say it's a fair take, or it's accurate.  I am fine with them making the McCain-Palin part of the story a two-hour movie. But it bothers me to no end that they didn't tell the other four hours.  It should have been a miniseries.  If they needed to trim it down to two hours then it should have been trimmed down to its main plot:  Hillary Clinton vs. Barack Obama.

What can I say about HBO, or Heilemann & Halperin, or writer Danny Strong, or director Jay Roach?  It was cowardly, lazy, calculated and craven to give it the title of Game Change and then only tell the Palin story.  It's a bunch of Democrats washing away all the sins on their side to rehash the sins of the Republicans.  Of course it's politically motivated.  Of course it's partisan.

I'm no Palin fan.  I'm relieved she's not running for President.  But I deeply resent what HBO did with a book I enjoyed, and I deeply resent the authors for selling their souls and letting it happen.  If they make Game Change II and tell the rest of the story, maybe that'll be okay.  But I guarantee it wouldn't come out before November 2012.

Here's Byron York's take on the real bias of Game Change.