'Commander In Chief' Creator: Idea of Palin Facing Down Russians Is 'Idiotic'

Photo of Tim Graham.

Rod Lurie, the liberal creator of the President-Hillary-imagining ABC TV series "Commander in Chief," thinks the Sarah Palin pick makes him look prescient. "I think Geena [Davis] and I need to be paid royalties by the Republicans." In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he went on to slam Palin as unprepared:

Lurie was reached by phone as he was leaving the Democratic National Convention, en route to Toronto, where he will screen his new [Plamegate-cribbing] film "Nothing but the Truth." A Barack Obama supporter, Lurie criticized the real-life manifestation of his TV fiction.

"People who understand politics know anything is possible," he said. "Picking a woman is an absolute strategic idea from McCain's point of view. He's not talking about governing right now. The idea of this woman actually facing down [Vladimir] Putin and negotiating with [Dmitry] Medvedev is idiotic."

This wouldn't be the first time Lurie abandoned his female-President dreams, even if he still thinks Hillary is wildly qualified, unlike Palin. He wrote about his support for Obama on The Huffington Post in February:

Several years ago, I wrote and directed a film called The Contender in which Jeff Bridges played a president who nominates a female senator, played by Joan Allen, to be his vice president. In 2005, I created the TV series Commander-in-Chief in which Geena Davis played Mackenzie Allen, America's first female president. In both cases, the conservative press descended upon me like I was some sort of typhoid-riddled Beelzebub and, of the latter, I was accused of making nothing more than a commercial for Hillary Clinton.

I have to admit that all of us creatively involved with Commander absolutely intended to put the term "Madam President" into the zeitgeist. I can't deny it. Indeed, if Hillary somehow gets the nomination, I'll be out there waving a flag for her like I was in the cast of Les Miserables. I respect her, think her wildly qualified, and wise. But until that time, I'm rooting for Barack Obama.

Why Obama? Because we apparently need a black president worse than a female president. Take this sentence:

We are viewed by the world as a quasi-racist state in which we allow natural disasters to obliterate our minority community, in which our penal system is designed to treat blacks unfairly, and in which we let the medical and educational systems in our ghettos fester to the level of some third world countries.

It sounds like Lurie could make a thrilling movie lionizing Reverend Wright.

—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center

Read commentsFree bias alerts

Comments Policy

All comments are owned by whoever posted them and are subject to our terms of use. They should not be assumed to represent the views of NewsBusters.

Viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Idiotic

"The idea of this woman actually facing down [Vladimir] Putin and negotiating with [Dmitry] Medvedev is idiotic."

Two words- Condoleeza Rice

If that woman can do it, why not this one?

Wisdom from a Lib who thought Geena Davis was Believable.

This wisdom from a  man who thought Geena Davis was believable as commander in chief.

Lady Thatcher... Thank

Lady Thatcher...

Thank God for conservative women.  They will ensure the continuance of Western Civilization.

Who would you rather have

Who would you rather have stare down the Russians:

War hero and tough coldwarrior, John McCain or "nuanced" Community Organizer, Barack Obama?  The answer is obvious for anyone with two brain cells to rub together.

How about a legislator and "nuanced" Community Organizer vs. a Gov. of Alaska who's trimphed agianst long odds  and who hunts in Alaska?  The Dems are toast w/ the Obama ticket.  And we've not even gotten to the biggest blowhard in the Senate, Joe Biden (even Obama's figuring that out now, anyone see Leno last night?)

"The idea of this woman

"The idea of this woman [meant to say despicable woman] actually facing down Putin and negotiating with Medvedev is idiotic."

We've already been treated to how Obambi would face down Putin & Co. Pre-order your red Lenin t-shirts now.

Lurie: To assuage your white guilt about how blacks are 'unfairly' treated in the penal system, why not set an example and go bail out and then adopt some crack dealers, carjackers and gangbangers? Then YOU could provide the healthcare and education they so richly deserve.

WOW

Wasn't that a movie? Did it ever make a dime? Do you know what movie actors, creators and writers do? They put on a show, some would call it make believe, it's called acting. Much like what Obama does when he goes to the podium and reads a written script.

To think this fake American understands anything about America but it has 57 States is just stupid on it's face.

When did people begin to think that make believe is real, they need help ... Or is it just a disease that afflicts those in the acting business.

I know I have seen my share of stupid actors pontificating on things they have no knoweldeg of. That's crystal clear to the listeners.

Air up those tires, let's roll.

"Idea of Palin Facing Down

"Idea of Palin Facing Down Russians Is 'Idiotic'

But the idea of Geena Davis "staring down the Russians" makes for a realistic television series?

McNotObama '08

About Rod Lurie

Fifteen years ago, working as a movie critic for a Los Angeles newspaper, Rod Lurie savaged the family movie, Free Willy, and personally attacked the character and talent of its twelve year-old star, Jason James Richter.  One small problem: Lurie had not actually seen the movie.  So, it's not surprising to hear Lurie, now a failed, frustrated writer/director, trash Governor Palin without actually seeing what she is capable of.  It's just his M.O.  Lurie can be safely written off as talentless, uncouth and hypocritical, and be simply ignored.  But, what do we do about the entire Democratic Party and its leadership who essentially feel the same way as Lurie?  I think Sarah Palin will take care them in one speech tonight.

Just what sort of

Just what sort of credentials does this person bring to the vetting process.

My guess is slim to none.

 

What irony

If you've ever seen The Contender which is written and directed by Rod Lurie, you'd notice that what's happening with Sarah Palin is eerily reminiscent of what happens to the Joan Allen character in that film. Granted, the political parties are reversed and instead of her family under attack it was a manufactured sex scandal, but the story is essentially the same.

I don't mind Lurie being an ultra lib, but I have no respect for him as a filmmaker or as a person for trashing Palin after saying the whole point of that movie(both in interviews and on the DVD audio commentary) was that there should be no double standard. That women candidates should be treated exactly the same as men.

seriously ...

how many of us ever envisioned a bloated al gore (someone who eerily seems to be looking more and more like hermann goering) dealing with someone like putin?  yes, it's totally laughable.

i feel a lot more confident in a gun-toting sarah palin negotiating a deal with putin than an empty armani suit spewing a scripted speech (written by his puppeteer ... joe biden).  and yes, "puppeteer" was used instead of "puppetmaster" for PC reasons.

geez ... we all know an elected obama will be nothing but a frontman for a joe biden presidency.

Would you trust Sarah Palin to negotiate with Mahmoud Ahmadinej?

The subject line got your attention didn't it?

Before I give you the link to the article that answers that question I must disclose that I copied the subject line from the first sentence of the article. I also must disclose that it was Rush Limbaugh who recommended this article and read some excerpts on his program today.

The article was written by a former Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Guess who has been on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for many years and who is now its Chairman. Why that 'expert' in everything foreign, the one and only Senator Joe Biden, who Barry Obama chose specifically to make up for Obama's lack of foreign experience.

The article not only answers the Palin question but asks the additional question: "SO HOW DOES the experience of Sarah Palin stack up against the experience of Joe Biden?"

Okay. You've waited long enough. Here is the link to the article written by James P. Lucier titled A Negotiator Without Preconditions.

Since we are discussing Joe Biden let me also recommend a short article on the Power Line blog titled Talkin' Joe Biden, the Foreign Relations Committee years"

------------------------------------------------------------------

The liberal media continues to sacrifice ethics and morals for the greater cause: This time for the Election of a Democrat to the Presidency of the United States.

Thanks for the links

Thanks for the links

I'd ask this idiot to remember Jackie O

Some would argue that it was jackie O who had an effect on Krsuchev to scale back during the cuban missle crisis. according to the History channel's president series documentary on Kennedy, Kruschev had a crush on jackie O and was notably smitten with her.

You would understand why this would be after seeing kruschev's house frau of a wife.

Those who knew K best said in the doc. that he was mesmerized by her glamour and beauty.

This is something that a man can't do, black or white. And feminity and beauty was never Hillary's strong points either.

It is one of Palin's.

Perhaps it would impress Putin if Palin were to go hunt with him???

Lurie, put that in your leftist pipe and smoke it.

 Mr.L

Next Story for MSM

Since 2006, when Sarah Palin became govenor of Alaska, the Russians have been quitely taking over the Aleutian Islands.  They are building geo-thermal power plants there to re-charge their electric submarines, so they can more easily attack the US mainland.

... Sorry, for a minute there I was taken over by the spirit of a pimply fourteen-year-old script-kid blogging on the Daily Kos.  

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."  - Sir Winston Churchill

Correction

"The idea of any Democrat actually facing down [Vladimir] Putin and negotiating with [Dmitry] Medvedev is idiotic."

Ah, much better.

Idiotic, how???

Trust me, this is FAR from idiotic.  The Soviet Union may have gone away but the Russians still like to play.  

Whoever casts a vote for Obama-Biden is nothing more than a common thief.  Whoever fails to vote against them is nothing more than a moral coward.