community that we wouldn't have. we want folks like you to say you know what i am inspired by what you did and i want to help my community, too. i'm going to give $10,000 with those businesses black or not that invest in my community and give those kids more role models and then the celebrities give an incentive to do that, someone like tom joyner would say okay. if he were to do that he would get a free pass to the cruise or would come and say if you do that, if you get the $5,000 by june we will give you backstage passes to my concert. we want to get cool and hip to support our business is against we want celebrity support, the universities to continue tracking where our money goes. the crown jewel of the experiment so far is the foundation that my family runs. the point of the foundation is to track where our money goes. a lot of the research of their talks about our buying power.

what is. we want it to be the authority on where that buying power goes because right now it's not in oakland and its lot in newark. we want to show where that buying power can go and we want more of it to the went to detroit, more of it to go in the south side of the atlanta and in chicago, and to track of what that money can do. ..

>> good morning. thank you very much for being out here. rebirth. some of you were at the screening last night. they do to hbo and motion picture association of america to partner with "politico" are of this defense.

we will be taking questions from you throw. also on twitter. please join the conversation. before we get started mark halperin has a couple of guest. >> this is my father. [applause] and peter hart men. >> and karen from new york. [applause] with. >> we will start with number seven. >> when you interviewed her age talked-about national

security, a domestic policy? >> i thought they covered that. what did you ask her? >> we talked about it she would back you on positions if they deferred or if they prepared the. >> you did not ask your because you want to hurt to work. >> i was not in charge by. >> we have the real steve schmidt here. did that happen? >> we had a lot of discussions on the betting. i was not happy with the product. you have the process 10 weeks long that is distilled down into two hours per data of necessity some of the time lines are rearranged. but it is a true story of what happened. on the story of the

vetting, we got to the end of the process. senator mccain had not determined who he wants to pick. we came down to the decision it would be a bit difficult set up with the election circumstances. we would be outspent by 200 million and president bush approval rating was in the thirties. obama was speaking to crowds hundreds of thousands in europe and a fervor with his candidacy to figure out how to win. i am the person who said we should look at sarah palin from alaska sam negara you proud of that moment? >> it to freezes and slows down. [laughter] we spent a couple of days

that the jersey shore. i remember every aspect of the moment. i can smell the smell of long beach. i pick up the phone and i called rick davis and we should take a look at sarah palin. the vetting done, i said it is very important u.s. then charge of the process that she has been completely go through vetting, a go through a couple of days we have done over a couple of weeks. the first part you can do a documentary on this but i do want to make the part of

what we're talking about. the first part was the medical records. that was clear purpose second part is depicted where we have a discussion operationally how the campaign will run and how your life will change. the third part was the questionnaire the fitness for office and the fourth part is the interview with john mccain himself. would john mccain and sarah palin said is said known to be. it is known to them. the questionnaire and the results we did not have the inside of lack of prepared this. >> the gold standard congratulations. you had get-tough audience.

a lot of people were played on the screen, those who played extra is were there. many people said it was realistic enough it gave them the creeps. [laughter] many people said depressing. house did you take this slice out of the book that mark halperin and john heilemann roche? how did you decide? >> it was a practical reality we only have two hours. we learned from recount if you have a story about one specific group of people and 100 of time that can make a good political move the. we did look at the rest of the book. like the 10 burns multi part

miniseries but i just thought the clinton obama that we considered was episodic and took place over all the primaries, lasted a couple years. it could be a two-part inouye. something about this story. it is different that that is behind obama who gives a great speech then everything explodes i just got the power of those people stuck in that situation together. if you write that from scratch you would struggle to find force is perfectly designed to clash.

>> the authors said you were true to the book. true to history. you did your own reporting? >> i interviewed 25 people from the mccain/palin campaign. i wanted to get their stories. it is important to interview people that really loved sarah palin and were loyal to her with as well as those who were not. then i went beyond the those interviews to any other source material. and her own secondary source of going broke was her feeling and strong scenes come straight from her book

he is in a war zone he is in iraq and much of that dialogue is almost verbatim as she recounts it in her book. but a huge block of the movie is "game change" the book. then when you combine the interviews of all other books and magazine newspaper articles that makes up another 10%. >> i would like to talk to mark and john with your perspective. do you feel it is true to the slice of "game change"? there was a lot more in the book. is our representative of your work? >> representative. not a unique collaboration but a close collaboration from the beginning. we approached hbo even before we wrote the book.

from the beginning is they wanted to make something compelling but true to history. true to the book matters but the important is true to history. we worked closely throughout the process. we would have been happy station happy if they deviated. the truth is borne out in the film. they have to do things that is mechanical but the discussion is the motivations, overall plot, even people have

raised questions about it. >> i think these guys learn to an important lesson with the recount but care about history in this environment people are always looking for when cider the other the best defense is truth. part of the reason why not having any real effect the way people see the movie is the recourse to say this is what happened. there are horror stories about non-fiction authors put it to say we will do

right bayou. people often ask what do mean? a good example is the schmidt has the conversation about the deaths of sarah palin how she struggles with debate prep and i am not sure if steve was in the broom closet. it does not matter but what matters. [laughter] >> i was in my office. [laughter] >> fewer cleaning products? >> >> it is another example of programming cuddy edge programming to win a and it

emmy awards. what have you learned from that process? >> everything. this and amazing process. the first time i have ever interviewed real-life participants to turn their story into a movie. >> what do you do if you have a conflict between the book? >> we had to resolve it. lot of that resolution came from mark and john and an example is sarah palin recently said she was never in a funk in the campaign been in her book she never describe the emotional defense leading up to that. the book lays it out. you have a conflict. how does that resolve? talk to the actual people

that were there. the overwhelming answer was the book was accurate. sometimes it is not the consensus and it you have to figure it out. >> that is a great example. i was concerned that momentum was humanizing part of the story. i knew it would get to people's attention. it was a week and desperate and dramatic moment. we talk to multiple people who act did it out. i needed to go -- julianna more to go for the accurate part -- portrayal. it was consistent among the number of people who were in

the room. >> these accounts are not just from people today who are not favorable to her but also big fans during the campaign and remains so today. >> it is the impression based on some of the comments and articles today that there was not careful research within the palin's camp. a technical and pfizer said frequently, chris separates who was absolutely part of the world we spoke to people who had been very, very close to her but we all spoke to the people. the story for me is about to those who had an incredible dilemma. there are so many factors in

play the public does not see all of them to make an ending suspenseful with incredibly a dire consequences. >> we will take a look at clip number one. >> we cannot win without our base. lieberman is the right thing to do but the wrong way to win. who have we vetted omnicom nine chris, plenty. >> who can we win with? >> november. obama just change the entire dynamic. it is a changed year. we need a game changing bigger. none of these men aged white guys are game changers. [laughter] you said vetting was a mess and in what way also can you

talk about how the campaign what goes into the decision to participate this this project and this representation? >> with the vetting process we looked at the campaign from the prison we're on a trajectory to lose. the worst environment and republican ever had to run for the presidency. we had to figure out how to win. the bush was tough but 50/50 we had to have an intercession and any event to take place and take risks. it is about ambition four victory fuels risky and i look back from the perspective of a couple years and the lovell of risk

that we took are willing to take does not stand up to the test of time. when i am on television and asking him the 2012 pic -- pic should be was that person prepared incense this latino republican from this swing state may helper cry have no idea if they can pick out iraq or afghanistan on a map. we were all through the campaign when is the moment we can get ahead on this race? we thought john would do all right to but there are huge moments in a campaign. we knew obama would give a great speech at the convention and john would do his best we were trying to figure out how do come out

of the republican convention and in this situation and not down 20 points to keep the race competitive? we decided to take a risk that was through the prism of a political risk. she may make mistakes or say things in error. we looked closely at the rollout of dan quayle and tried to prevent them. but it was a decision made trying to win the campaign. >> my a decision and to participate in the book when they say it is our story they talked to many, many people to save the word to out of money but for me when a presidential campaign end you immediately go to the

university of pennsylvania yugo to harvard university and all kinds of books underwritten as a part of history. i talk to the authors says university of pennsylvania yugo to harvard university and all kinds of books underwritten as a part of history. i talk to the authors says mark and john know, there are things that happened in the campaign that will never talk about that will never be public. [laughter] that is true from experience is with may rose schwarzenegger dick cheney our supreme court justices. but on my part when i did that "60 minutes" interview after the book came out is governor pay 11 roebuck and in my view it was a dishonest account of what happened to in the campaign

but once she wrote the book in my view i was released from any statute of limitations for what went on. >> one of your guests as a filmmaker to convey the pressure people are under. when nicole wallace tried to prepare syrup a line for then katie couric interview. she kept focusing on her a blackberry. it was buzzing. a list of of focusing she looked at the charger. that tells us a lot. [laughter] it is funny use a back. i love that moment. and made sure the proper was in place.

she had to blackberry's. it was a telling detail that she elias psychologically to support networks per people, friends, family, bec ause she stopped trusting the people around her. it gave me a clue into the psychological reality. i wanted the audience to relate. i am surrounded by people who don't have my interest in mind. who can i tap into? we heard it was based on the research she was always on her blackberry. constantly we're all glued

to our black berries ridiculously. >> you have the iphone. [laughter] >> john mccain comes up with of solid figure but not frequent so why do decide to portray him not as a major presence? >> the criticism is he gets the of a total pass. >> i don't think so. it is clear there were people advising him. it was his choice. it is clear at a very key moment he could make of big adjustment. my favorite scene win he goes to mccain to say i need your help.

this is gotten to a very dysfunctional place. you need to step down. he said i will not do it. at that moment to show of hint of the year to show the consequences and to not to seize the day is indicative of the way hedican paid was run how he was reluctant to display real leadership. that was an incredible moment. i have acquired john mccain i cast one of my favorite actors who i knew would play him with incredible depth. an american hero. whenever issues i have a what he did, i thought we owed him that respect to

play him that well. i knew it harris would take it all away. >> senator mccain is portrayed as passive, a spectator, taking no responsibility. >> to be that says it is not a free pass. but to answer that specifically, that is what i was told time after time. not to actively involved, a few interactions with governor pay when. considering she is the centerpiece of the phone. and then i heard again how he was detached from the campaign, he would go off message, not in fall day today so the campaign was

very dysfunctional. things were going wrong because he was erratic and not a manager the way the people from the bush campaign felt george debut bush was a wonderful manager of his campaign. >> is that your sense of mccain and his relationship? >> yes. [laughter] and earlier seen one section deals with the republican nomination. we talk about how he starts to plan his campaign after the midterm. the impression all senior advisers have of him. this is what will happen. have the front-runner campaign. at that point* he seems distracted. his attitude was he knew you

had to have a strategist and people but somewhere in his heart he thought to get me a few appearances on me to the press and some plane tickets and i am good. add to his heart flying by his pants he would approach political life as a fighter pilot the solo act. blue sky and fly off into the future. it worked really well after his campaign collapsed in 2007 that is how he ran the campaign. but the general election in contrast to obama, of $500 million operation, like a fortune 500 company, that is what all campaigns should

be pre-he is not that kind of guy. that is unambiguous from every source that we talk to the campaign in 2000 or part of the year reprocess. >> outside of our showing surveillance pack was giving out to the playbills saying "game change" is a false narrative of fiction and governor palin did an incredible service to you by causing so much attention to the film. why do they hate it so much? >> and of think any candidate enjoys all aspects of what goes on in the most private parts of the campaign revealed. i applaud not want anyone to

know what it is like to make a movie and the private rooms with actors, writers, i would not want them to see my weak moments. it is a protection of the brand. ever many dysfunctional moments. some more shocking. of course, you desire not to have that the scene there is a certain amount of denial that goes on with governor pay 11 and now she refers to the katie couric interviewed as a set up. instead of taking responsibility she gave a bad interview. there are things she genuinely thinks that are

untrue. so you have something like this. instead of refuting the fell on its merits, it is just dismissed as a blanket work of fiction. i have yet to see any specifics what is fiction. >> now we bring you into the conversation. maggie is the ringmaster. you are at her mercy. we will look at a clip people point to that governor palin's should not be as unhappy about this but it is a balanced portrait. we will look at clip number 13, the moment in the movie of her supporters. >> [applause] delegates and fellow citizens, i will be honored to except your nomination for vice

president of united states. [cheers and applause] thank you. our nominee is a man who wore the uniform of his country 22 years and reduced to break face with those troops and i iraq. >> good. she is really good. >> we were so blessed in april. todd and i welcome our littlest one into the world. of perfectly beautiful baby boy. he requires a very special love. to the families of special

needs children all across this country, i have a message for you. i pledge if we are elected you'll have a friend and advocate in the white house. >> she is incredible. before i became governor of that great state of alaska, my was the mayor in my small town i guess it is sort i'd like a community organizer except you have responsibilities. [cheers and applause] now we know why they call her sarah barracuda. [laughter] know the difference between a hockey mom and eight pit bull? lipstick. >> tolino archives to help elect the next great

president of the united states. god bless america up. my god. [cheers and applause] seventy-four we get to audience questions, that encapsulates there is the sense i felt like i was on a roller-coaster also ptsd but you have the sense you never know what is about to to come out of her mouth. >> morceau as the campaign went forward it got to the point* later on is to god any given night when i finally went to bet before the tracking polls came in

the especially post financial crisis i did not know of the plane would take off in the morning or go where it was supposed to. issue would appear on stage with those she was to be on stage with. it was enormously stressful because it is a giant traveling circus. hundreds of people, multiple airplanes, a giant logistical operation before you even get to the strategy or tv commercials. but on that speech is a moment with the harrelson says we can win i remember for the first time this worked. this% is saddle level above and beyond one of the great convention speeches anybody has ever given in any party. the movie shows how

extraordinarily talented she is. and the ability to connect with people singular in american politics. talking to a colleague in new york and said it makes me remember why we like tercel much in the beginning. >> is it true per teleprompter broke? >> it did. it rolled over a couple of lines becker had the experience of working with arnold schwarzenegger and he was meticulous in his preparation for a speech and ago through 100 run-throughs. he could ozzy the teleprompter at his speech it was blocked out by the signs. i said to her in the beginning we are going to ask you to practice the speech not 10 times are 20

times but closer at 100. i was amazed at the capacity of performance under pressure to memorize then the ad libs the when john mccain is informed of that he has a great line what would happen to him tomorrow if the teleprompter broke. [laughter] i will not be this boiler. it is dead on. exactly what happened to. [laughter] we have microphones. >> this question is for mark and john. i want to take your work from the book to see how it

is translating now when it is so important to political campaigns but now of megaphone everybody involved in the administration and romneycare pain try to frame their story for cody uc now it is harder to get that authenticity day today because they see "game change" ii to see the story gets out to stick it to whoever frustrates them? >> we will tell the history of what happened. we did not approach the last one with an agenda or this one. history matters. people feel a responsibility to let the country know what

happened with the chief election. that is a fundamental goal that we have and the desire to be a part of that stays the same there has not been a presidential campaign that has not produced multiple books but we can go through these cycles there are these books around because the authors want to tell their stories and think it is important to do so. we have not changed anything in that regard. >> first of all, thank you to our panelists and "politico" for having this this morning. my question is the long term impact of the 2008 election. we went straight 2010

reduction of women in congress. 2012 this tango viable candidate was weeded out early. from the political perspective what is the long-term impact and how does having a book and movie contribute or create any long term legacy of having a republican woman on the ticket? >> we are in the middle of a media transformation consolidation, mergers, diff erent television networks and appeal to the ideological audiences as the business model, the social media, this began to play out in 2008 and the first election in a new age much the same way than 1860 was

the first television election. we will continue the trend. twitter have a much bigger impact and 2012, 2008 it was still youtube and facebook was much less mature than it is now. it is a historical election in the first african-american president was elected and in which there was generational change record not every election is generational change as that was. was the things the movie does is give the window to the political campaign and it raises some questions that real people all across the country will watch this.

if you think honestly of the dimensions -- dimensions of the challenges to have a political process that is appropriate for the challenges the country faces, i have opinions on that. looking at it from that perspective, people could render an opinion when they see the movie still make the biggest legacy is michelle bachmann. almost no commentary in any way that was the glass ceiling. secretary clinton and sarah palin and did change the game. it still makes a challenge to raise the money and the experience but it did change the game going forward as governor romney running as a

mormon has made it easier for himself. that is a great legacy. and and important barrier. >> one of the things that the movie makes clear but do have a future beyond the campaign, and the portion of the republicans and the populist grass-roots part of the party became a huge important part but then to see again and then she still

speaks to those people but for the future of that and then in 2016 it is said huge story. sarah palin and will always be emblematic of that change in the party. amend then will be as visible as anybody. >> what ended up on the cutting room floor? >> besides my line? [laughter] did you get a cameo also? >> [laughter] there is one scene i wish we had time for. it is arbitrary limit of two stores by personally love to those pauses, the moments i don't want to cut it so

quickly but not have the moments to think what the hell is going on? one of the scenes phi misses the scene where talking to the lawyers about why they had to do the vet in total secrecy. partly because of the vermette idea had slipped out. they wanted to to drop this bomb after the speech. they could not talk to a lot of people in alaska which it would have liked to have done. it is important for a tough why this was so difficult to the lawyer and astonished like how could i do the of vet without talking to

everybody? sorry. you cannot. it made it clear it is a decision and a process of a strategy oriented situation over the wise choice. wisdom took the back seat. we have references in the film and the great scene with mccain on the phone and we tried to tell the story but last night at was thinking i wish i had time to hit that point* harder. >> i don't remember the line of. [laughter] >> it is in the german dvd if you are interested in. [laughter] >> the casting i think was

inspired. thoughts on how that came about? >> the whole cast was incredible. the main focus 95% of the job, once you have a great script based dined incredible material and a central character whose story with that moment was a believable when i saw the interview with alice cooper but who would play sarah palin? they have seen tina fey over and over. high expectations. we talk about a lot of people. danny said julienne more

would be great. i was skeptical because she is one of my favorite actresses ever. but i did not get it. we took a photoshop process put the glasses and the hare and the close on her and dresser up like a computer and it hit. but the main goal was to make sure we have an actress that would play the character in a relatable with the dimensions to go past the media iconography and the persona for pricing julianne has so much good will so i knew they would say it is serious my favorite movies when she

watches tina fey play a wish i could be there when she does. i hope she will watch the movie did to people playing hurt in the same shot. [laughter] five or to that shot all three of them. [laughter] one of the most difficult choices was ed harris for john mccain. i had nobody else in mind in. nobody. the sense of humor, the unpredictable combust ability all of the qualities of john mccain even if harris was so thin. he gestured it to eat more. [laughter] and he gained weight. once that happened we are lucky he said yes.

woody harrelson he is a dream and negative i have not seen a movie i do not like him. one last point*, coby did not want to make a propaganda piece. we had no interest in not telling the best story and respectful of these people as human beings trying to do the best that they could. but up against a series of complexities and each other that would doom them to this dysfunction. you cannot do that without the greatest possible actors. i cast my three favorite because i believed and i need did you to go in with them to experience this in the most empathetic and possible way. that was our goal every character. >> i want to to lodge a

complaint. look at julienne more and sarah palin. it seems unfair to cast somebody who is not as and some. [laughter] >> this comes from twitter even attacks by his own people wonder if he would be a good president. this came from earlier portrayal bayou says sources described him as not to part of the ed day-to-day management. what is your sense of that? >> and a vast majority think say without a doubt he would be a better president than barack obama. there are some i have talked

to that they say based on his first stage performance during the financial crisis gave him some positive fee would have done a good job. something in the book go beating operative of his operation and chose not to approach four john mccain because he was troubled by his leadership during the financial crisis. but i think the vast majority supported him and be a better president than barack obama. >> it has changed over time. when we were reporting on the book after the 2000 campaign -- 2008 campaign we ran into more we ran into people who were fined the of senator mccain.

very senior republicans and hard-core partisan republicans saw the way became behaved in reluctantly said i think there are a million things wrong with barack obama does not understand foreign policy but he runs a good campaign and mccain at that moment was at sea. i am comfortable with obama becoming president. now many of the same people would revise that. to have the skills of they have seen them play out and policies. feel is new he would be liberal on policy but even the things they thought they gave him credit for, they

have changed and look back to say we were wrong about that. he also has not run a good demonstration. >> one thing they're really like is how john mccain is portrayed. in the movie for a lot of us why we love john mccain. the integrity and decency of the man. someone in the middle of presidential campaigns and chairman of the board could not to a better job. communicating, speaking, the dysfunction to view him as a

manager even a couple of years later, routinely referred to as a campaign manager of the campaign. when i go on and television for the organizational principle, the notion there is a lack of clarity of who is in charge that there is something wrong. there is a lot of challenges in that space. navigating the campaign is the totally different endeavor. effect is it has almost nothing to do with each other. campaign is not about talking in the honest way. if you look at the

$16 trillion debt to, mitt romney is dog on the roof of a family vacation as a major campaign issue, john mccain is not a trivial man. i think the country would be in a better position today had john mccain ben the president. obviously the american people decided otherwise. you have to except the votes of the people. >> >> hello. reading the book i thought i was sitting in on the staff meetings and those private events that steve said

earlier there are things he will never talk about the is there one moment you wish you could have heard about zero or be a fly on the wall? >> we did an incredible job describing what it was like in this era palin hotel suite during the week of the republican convention during those five days. if you ask if i would like to be baked into the wall. [laughter] as chaotic as the film portrays that moment it was much more chaotic and that. what they had to do to make it watchable was the yearly foreign policy tutoring taken out of the convention but put it further down the line so the beginning began in