History Literature / GameChange

** Steve, when it's clear that they're going to lose, can barely get the words out as he apologizes to [=McCain=] for suggesting Palin as his running mate. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure McCain]], for his part, is very understanding.

** In [=McCain=]'s absence, Palin is thrust onto center stage, further highlighting how ignorant she is of national issues; when Schmidt tries to prepare her for questions about how the government is responding to the crisis, he has to start from scratch and explain to her (among other things) what the Federal Reserve does;

* {{Narcissist}}: John Edwards is portrayed as one of these: He lets crowd reactions go straight to his head, and he lets Rielle Hunter's constant praise go straight to his... head.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: One of the moments of high drama during the campaign occurred when [=McCain=] demanded that the debate with Obama be postponed, so [=McCain=] could return to Washington and help shepherd through legislation to address the financial crisis. It was intended to be a grand gesture of setting aside partisan politics for the good of the country as a whole, but it misfired badly:
** When he arrived in Washington, [=McCain=] was aggravated to learn that the bipartisan committee had all but finished hammering out the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), and demanded that the Republican representatives scrap the bill and start over - either because he needed to claim some credit for getting the legislation done, or because he took it for granted that any "progress" made by other representatives without his input was meaningless, or both;
** Insofar as he did sit in on the continuing TARP negotiations, most of the attendees were struck by how unprepared [=McCain=] was, and how little he had to contribute in the way of practical suggestions - especially compared to Obama, who was also a sitting Senator and had also returned to Washington after the debate was canceled; Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's Chief of Staff, Jim Wilkinson, had already donated $500 to [=McCain=]'s campaign, but after the TARP debacle, he asked for his money back, and cast his vote for Obama;
** In [=McCain=]'s absence, Palin is thrust onto center stage, further highlighting how ignorant she is of national issues; when Schmidt tries to prepare her for questions about how the government is responding to the crisis, he has to start from scratch and explain to her (among other things) what the Federal Reserve does;

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** Steve, when it's clear that they're going to lose, can barely get the words out as he apologizes to [=McCain=] for suggesting Palin as his running mate. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure McCain]], for his part, is very understanding.
** [=McCain=] has one when he realizes he's whipped up racism and xenophobia in his base by going negative on Obama.

** Steve has one when he tries to quiz Palin with a simple policy question about maintaining America's alliance with Britain, and she doesn't know that the Prime Minister is the head of government rather than the Queen.

* FreakOut: After the infamous Katie Couric interview Palin kind of goes into a downward spiral and people start worrying about her mental health (or if she was mentally healthy to begin with). It doesn't help that Palin blames her campaign manager for not prepping her despite the fact it's her own fault she didn't "study".

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: On Election Night, Nicole Wallace breaks down in tears and confesses to Steve Schmidt that she couldn't bring herself to vote for [=McCain=], her own party's candidate, because the idea of Palin succeeding him as President was too scary to contemplate. Schmidt hugs her and says he understands completely.

* StartXToStopX: As stated in TheDreaded, Obama was such a [[MagneticHero charismatic speaker]] that the [=McCain=] Campaign decided that the only way they would stand a chance is if they could get someone equally charismatic as [=McCain=]'s running mate. The problem though, as Schmidt would late put it:

* MistakenForCheating: A rumor circulates that [=McCain=] has had an affair with lobbyist Vicki Iseman. Both of them categorically deny so much as ever being alone together.

* DescriptionCut: When McCain is favoring Lieberman early on, Schmidt warns they'll have to keep it top-secret or the right-wing of the Republican Party will sink the pick - cut to a montage of news reporters lambasting the choice.

--> '''John McCain:''' If he heals a sick baby, we're really fucked.

--> '''John McCain:''' They used to love me, Steve. Now they're lighting me up like it's goddamn Mardi Gras.

* BaldOfAwesome: Steve Schmidt.

* BerserkButton: Bill Clinton is a patient, wizardly figure in Hillary's campaign; a master of the rules of politics like no other. But during the primaries, he is repeatedly hammered by former friends and a media, which he is convinced is in the tank for Obama, for supposedly playing the race card. The final straw is when a reporter in South Carolina suggests that he is using similar tactics to Lee Atwater, George H.W. Bush's infamous 1988 campaign manager. Bill loses it at this point, forgoing his own rules and berating the reporter for a solid five minutes, leading to the famous "shame on you" incident.

A TV film based on the book, primarily focusing on Sarah Palin, aired on Creator/{{HBO}} in 2012. It starred Creator/JulianneMoore as Palin, Creator/WoodyHarrelson as Steve Schmidt and Creator/EdHarris as John [=McCain=].

* BerserkButton: Bill Clinton is a patient, wizardly figure in Hillary's campaign; a master of the rules of politics like no other. But during the primaries, he is repeatedly hammered by former friends and a media, which he is convinced is in the tank for Obama, for supposedly playing the race card. The final straw is when a reporter in South Carolina suggests that he is using similar tactics to Lee Atwater, George HW Bush's infamous 1988 campaign manager. Bill loses it at this point, forgoing his own rules and berating the reporter for a solid five minutes, leading to the famous "shame on you" incident.

* CriticalBacklash: [[invoked]] Despite the [=McCains=]' efforts to keep it secret, word got out that Joe Lieberman was set to be [=McCain's=] running mate, setting off anguished cries of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the end of Conservatism as conservatives knew it]].

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: An extremely disturbing real life example wth Rielle Hunter to Edwards. She was fascinated with New Age philosophy, astrology and reincarnation, and would announce to people she had just met that she was a witch. She also pumped Edwards up, claiming he could be as great a leader as Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi. Other Edwards campaign team members who were interviewed describe how she just insinuated herself into the entire campaign, becoming Edwards's constant companion - when she had just been hired to run a documentary film crew about the campaign. To this day, that video has never been publicly released, despite the fact that it was the ''one job'' that Rielle was officially supposed to be doing. The reason why is that the other campaign team members state that when they watched the rough cut, Hunter and Edwards were clearly flirting throughout it. Pause a moment and ask yourself: 1 - How ''blatantly obvious'' must their flirting have been that even a TV audience that didn't know them personally would pick up on it? 2 - This is the video ''Hunter herself'' submitted to them: she had become so removed from reality that she gave them a final cut of a video in which she was obviously flirting with Edwards, with ''zero thought'' to the consequences. For that matter, Edwards also knew in most of these shots that he was on camera - but he was so wrapped up in Hunter's praise that he didn't even think to stop flirting with her.

* TheUnchosenOne: Sarah Palin — [=McCain=]'s original pick for VP was Joe Lieberman

''Game Change'' is the 2010 book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin that documents the 2008 race between UsefulNotes/BarackObama and John [=McCain=], and the events leading up to it.

-->'''Steve:''' Governor, the Katie Couric interview didn't go well. And it wasn't Nicole Wallace's fault. It wasn't Katie Couric's fault. It wasn't the liberal media's fault. It was your fault, because you didn't prepare. And there can never be another instance of something not going well because you didn't prepare.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: The Clintons managed to put aside their initial dislike of Obama and support him in the coming election. Hillary even [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments made a surprise visit on the Democratic Convention floor asking the covention to declare together that Obama would be their candidate and president]]. It should be noted that subsequently, Obama even made Hillary his Secretary of State. As she explained it, she was surprised when she received his phone call offering the position, and warned him that due to the previous scandals surrounding her husband, the media would use her presence in his cabinet as further ammunition to criticize him. Obama responded that he was aware of what her ties to Bill Clinton would bring, but he was still offering the job, because he genuinely ''needed'' someone of her expertise in such an important position. She was genuinely touched, and they apparently had a good working relationship afterwards.

* TheLastDJ: John [=McCain=] gets betrayed as one, being old fashioned in a sense that he no longer has a chance to compete against the charismatic Obama.

* ClusterFBomb: [=McCain=]'s way of speaking. Keep in mind that [=McCain=] was a Navy pilot, and the phrase "cursing like a drunken sailor" has become proverbial: Navy men tend to curse very casually. According to people that know [=McCain=], that's just the register of how he talks. He does try to restrain it when in public.

** When Palin's advisors warn her they'll have to prepare for when the press starts sniffing around about Palin's past and personal life:

* HandsOffParenting: He has very little interaction with Palin and at the end he's no longer sure he can control her.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Both Steve Schmidt and John [=McCain=] arguably. Schmidt was more interested into turning Palin into a "celebrity" to combat Obama's popularity that he completely neglected the fact that she was completely ignorant to politics. [=McCain=] completely turned a blind eye to her [[AttentionWhore media whoring.]]

* {{Irony}}: [=McCain=] criticizes Obama for his lack of experience and "star power." His team later disregards other looked at options such as Meg Whitman (lots of business experience), Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas (15 years in the Senate at the time), and Susan Collins from Maine (11 years in the Senate, though admitedly not very charismatic) in favor of Palin despite her (relative) lack of political experience (4 years on the city council, then 6 years as mayor of a mildly populated city, and then a year and a half as the governor of one of the most sparsely populated states in the country) because she's charismatic and gun-toting. And [[StacysMom milfy]].

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: "[The day after the elections] no one will know who Sarah Palin is."

* NeverMyFault: Palin, particularly after the disastrous Couric interview, when she gets into a heated argument on the phone with Wallace about it. In all fairness, Palin is a local politician and it was the campaign's fault for selecting her as [=McCain=]'s running mate, so she could have made the humble defense that there's only so much preparation she could do for questions about national issues in a matter of weeks. Instead, her actual response is, "Nicolle, it wasn't my fault! I wasn't properly prepped (by you)!" Wallace desperately retorts that she wasn't "properly prepped" because she didn't listen to Wallace and her other advisors, instead ignoring them when they attempted to prep her. Palin then pulls a 180 turn (forgetting that she just accused Wallace of not prepping her at all), and declares that it's Wallace's fault for overwhelming her with ''too much'' information.

* TookALevelInJerkass: After Palin's debate with Biden her confidence soars and she starts making unplanned statements to reporters, contradicting [=McCain's=] policies about stem cell research despite saying she wouldn't, and most importantly, even wants to make her own concession speech on election night. As Schmidt sternly explains to her, no Vice Presidential candidate has ever given their own concession speech ''in all of American history'', and her request is shockingly arrogant. She counters that traditions change. True, the first black man was just elected president - but Schmidt explains that the concession speech is a solemn occasion to cement American democracy (the US isn't prone to starting civil wars when one side loses an election because the losing side always respects the election results). Palin can't seen to understand that even if there is no official reason she can't give her own concession speech, that purely from a public relations perspective the press would tear her apart for being self-centered if she gave one. Her behavior is so aggravating that [[spoiler:even her own campaign manager couldn't vote for her]].

* ForegoneConclusion: [[CaptainObvious Everyone knows]] [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama who]] [[CaptainObvious won in the end]].

* PretenderDiss: At one point, Palin compares herself to UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton -- who, whatever her faults, is indisputably[[note]]well-respected Senator, called one of the finest modern Secretaries of State in American history, and the first woman to be the presidential nominee of a major political party in 2016[[/note]] the most politically accomplished woman in American history. Nicolle Wallace is ''extremely'' unimpressed, and makes that quite clear.

A TV film based on the book, primarily focusing on Sarah Palin, aired on {{Creator/HBO}} in 2012. It starred Creator/JulianneMoore as Palin, Creator/WoodyHarrelson as Steve Schmidt and Creator/EdHarris as John [=McCain=].

!!This book features examples of:
* BattleCouple: [[UsefulNotes/BillClinton Bill]] and [[UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton Hillary]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Elizabeth Edwards, despite her public IllGirl persona

* DefeatMeansFriendship: The Clintons managed to put aside their initial dislike of Obama and support him in the coming election. Hillary even [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming made a surprise visit on the Democratic Convention floor asking the covention to declare together that Obama would be their candidate and president]].
** Subsequently, Obama even made Hillary his Secretary of State. As she explained it, she was surprised when she received his phone call offering the position, and warned him that due to the previous scandals surrounding her husband, the media would use her presence in his cabinet as further ammunition to criticize him. Obama responded that he was aware of what her ties to Bill Clinton would bring, but he was still offering the job, because he genuinely ''needed'' someone of her expertise in such an important position. She was genuinely touched, and they apparently had a good working relationship afterwards.
* EnemyMine: [=McCain=] ended up employing people from Bush’s campaigns, despite the fact that they ran extremely nasty smears against him during the 2000 primaries, including claiming his adopted daughter from Bangladesh was really his illegitimate child.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: An extremely disturbing real life example. Rielle Hunter to Edwards. She was fascinated with New Age philosophy, astrology and reincarnation, and would announce to people she had just met that she was a witch. She also pumped Edwards up, claiming he could be as great a leader as MLK Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi.
** Other Edwards campaign team members who were interviewed describe how she just insinuated herself into the entire campaign, becoming Edwards's constant companion - when she had just been hired to run a documentary film crew about the campaign. To this day, that video has never been publicly released, despite the fact that it was the ''one job'' that Rielle was officially supposed to be doing. The reason why is that the other campaign team members state that when they watched the rough cut, Hunter and Edwards were clearly flirting throughout it. Pause a moment and ask yourself: 1 - How ''blatantly obvious'' must their flirting have been that even a TV audience that didn't know them personally would pick up on it? 2 - This is the video ''Hunter herself'' submitted to them: she had become so removed from reality that she gave them a final cut of a video in which she was obviously flirting with Edwards, with ''zero thought'' to the consequences. For that matter, Edwards also knew in most of these shots that he was on camera - but he was so wrapped up in Hunter's praise that he didn't even think to stop flirting with her.

* TrueCompanions: All the campaigns started out with one. [[TearJerker Only Barack’s survived.]]
* TheUnchosenOne: Sarah Palin — [=McCain=]’s original pick for VP was Joe Lieberman

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Right after Steve tells one of his colleagues to stop making fun of Dick Cheney, who he thinks is "misunderstood", he has to stop himself from laughing at the next joke. ("How does he eat wearing [[StarWars Darth Vader's]] mask?")

* AttentionWhore / ItsAllAboutMe: Palin is so concerned about her status in Alaska that she demands they do a poll despite the fact it costs $60,000 and the campaign has half the funds of Obama's. What's worse, she wasn't even running for re-election at the time, her term ended in 2010. After her successful performance at the Vice Presidential debate against UsefulNotes/JoeBiden, her attitude only gets worse.
** Though as the movie is more than somewhat slanted, this coverage has also gotten its share of fire. The poll itself [[ItMakesSenseInContext makes more sense in context]] that isn't provided; given the [[WeAreStrugglingTogether state of Alaskan state politics]] and the rampant mutinees in the Republican base over [=McCain=] and/or Palin, it was essentially meant to see whether Palin's "base state" was secure. This was for the same reason it's wise for a general to make sure [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs the enemy isn't running amok in their base while they're away]]: to keep a safe location and source of support, and avoid potential scandals popping up where they can least afford them.

* BasedOnATrueStory / ForegoneConclusion
** VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: A common accusation. While a lot of the events and politicking are accurate, a lot of them are at best...dubious. A basic rule of thumb is the more a given fact focuses on Palin, the less likely it is to be reliable.

* BlatantLies: Palin claiming to reporters that she was cleared in the "[=TrooperGate=]" investigation, when in fact she was censured for it. Schmidt calls her out on this.
** In real life, this was a bit more contentious and subject to FlameBait behind the scenes; she was indeed censured by one report, but this report was under suspicion for being a politically motivated hatchet job since many of those who did it were political allies of Obama (or at least enemies of Palin). A later report- by an attempt at a bipartisan/nonpolitical investigation- exonerated her.
* BookEnds: Steve Schmidt's interview with Anderson Cooper on ''Series/SixtyMinutes''.

* ClusterFBomb / GoshDangItToHeck: [=McCain=] and Palin's way of speaking, respectively. Keep in mind that [=McCain=] was a Navy pilot, and the phrase "cursing like a drunken sailor" has become proverbial: Navy men tend to curse very casually. According to people that know [=McCain=], that's just the register of how he talks. He does try to restrain it when in public.

** Ironically, this portrayal is one example where the film fell into this, or has been accused of it. The best thing that can be said is that the more focused it is on Palin, the less reliable its fact checking is; in the case of the vetting, there was very little doubt that Arthur Culvahouse was in charge of handling the policy decisions, and he did vet her.

* FreakOut / HeroicBSOD: After the infamous Katie Couric interview Palin kind of goes into a downward spiral and people start worrying about her mental health (or if she was mentally healthy to begin with). It doesn't help that Palin blames her campaign manager for not prepping her despite the fact it's her own fault she didn't "study".
* TheGhost: Barack Obama never appears in person in the movie, and is only shown sparingly in stock footage. Oddly enough, McCain's in-film depiction is superimposed on real-life news reports over his real-life face, but no such treatment is given to Obama. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that the movie portrays [=McCain=] barely even interactive.
* GilliganCut: [=McCain=] tells his crew they're going to be adults in this election -- cut to them laughing like schoolboys at [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AE847UXu3Q this YouTube video mocking John Edwards, another early contender in 2008.]] Even more funny when you consider that all three men watching the video (one of which was a member of Edwards' own party) served with Edwards in the Senate.

--> '''Palin:''' Oh gosh, I can't think of anything I haven't already disclosed...
--> ''Cut to Schmidt surrounded by reporters bombarding him with questions about Palin''
* GoneHorriblyRight / TookALevelInJerkAss: After Palin's debate with Biden her confidence soars and she starts making unplanned statements to reporters, contradicting [=McCain's=] policies about stem cell research despite saying she wouldn't, and even wants to make her own concession speech on election night. Her behavior is so aggravating that [[spoiler:even her own campaign manager couldn't vote for her]].
** As Schmidt sternly explains to her, no Vice Presidential candidate has ever given their own concession speech ''in all of American history'', and her request is shockingly arrogant. She counters that traditions change. True, the first black man was just elected president - but Schmidt explains that the concession speech is a solemn occasion to cement American democracy (the US isn't prone to starting civil wars when one side loses an election because the losing side always respects the election results). Palin can't seen to understand that even if there is no official reason she can't give her own concession speech, that purely from a public relations perspective the press would tear her apart for being self-centered if she gave one.
** HoistByHisOwnPetard: Both Steve Schmidt and John [=McCain=] arguably. Schmidt was more interested into turning Palin into a "celebrity" to combat Obama's popularity that he completely neglected the fact that she was completely ignorant to politics. [=McCain=] completely turned a blind eye to her [[AttentionWhore media whoring.]]

* HypocriticalHumor: Steve tells [=McCain=] to stop watching KeithOlbermann and Creator/{{Fox News|Channel}}, because "it's all just bullshit." Then Steve quickly turns off his TV, which is tuned to Fox News, which is just as biased as what McCain was watching, just towards the other party.
* TheIngenue / NaiveNewComer: Palin (and Obama, although he's not the focus of the film).
* ImplausibleDeniability: When Steve comments that Todd Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party for seven years, Sarah responds that he checked the wrong box, [[SarcasmMode because people can hold the completely wrong party registration for multiple years]]. [[RealityIsUnrealistic Which has still happened, even if it is incredibly unlikely.]]
** Todd might honestly have checked the wrong box and not noticed he'd registered with the Independence Party for years. Such mistakes have been known to happen. What Palin lies about is that she tells Steve that Todd checked the wrong box "and rectified the error immediately". Todd checking the wrong box isn't "implausible" - what Steve is angry about is that it is a blatant lie to claim that he fixed it "immediately" when the indisputable, recorded fact is that he at the least didn't notice it until seven years later - and that even if the accusation is trivial, making an implausible lie to deny it altogether is drastically worse.
* {{Irony}}: [=McCain=] criticizes Obama for his lack of experience and "star power." His team later disregards other looked at options such as Meg Whitman (lots of business experience), Kay Bailey Hutchison from Texas (15 years in the Senate at the time), and Susan Collins from Maine (11 years in the Senate, though admitedly not very charismatic) in favor of Palin despite her (relative) lack of political experience (4 years on the city council and then 6 years as mayor of a mildly populated city and then a year and a half as the governor of one of the most sparsely populated states in the country) because she's charismatic and gun-toting. And milfy.

%%* MSNBCConservative: [=McCain=] and Steve Schmidt.

* NewMediaAreEvil: Thanks to Website/YouTube and the 24 hour news networks none of the candidates get any relief from criticism and mockery (even from ''Fox News''!). Ironically Palin was picked partially because she looked good on You Tube.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Steve, when it's clear that they're going to lose, can barely get the words out as he apologizes to [=McCain=] for suggesting Palin as his running mate. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure McCain]], for his part, is very understanding.

* OhCrap: Many of these occur among the campaign workers during their various dealings with Palin.

* PretenderDiss: At one point, Palin compares herself to UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton -- who, whatever her faults, is indisputably[[note]]well-respected Senator, called one of the finest modern Secretaries of State in American history, and the first woman to be the presidential nominee of a major political party, 2016[[/note]] the most politically accomplished woman in American history. Nicolle Wallace is ''extremely'' unimpressed, and makes that quite clear.

-->''"You,'' Sarah Palin, will not change the importance of this '''proud. American. Tradition.'''"

** HandsOffParenting: He has very little interaction with Palin and at the end he's no longer sure he can control her.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To {{Creator/HBO}}'s other election movie ''Recount'', about the 2000 ballot count and directed by the same person; possibly a trilogy with ''Too Big To Fail'', about the 2008 financial crisis.
** HBO is also prepping ''Double Down'', a planned film about the 2012 election.

* StartXToStopX: As stated in TheDreaded, Obama was such a [[MagneticHero Charismatic Speaker]] that the [=McCain=] Campaign decided that the only way they would stand a chance is if they could get someone equally charismatic as [=McCain=]'s running mate. The problem though, as Schmidt would late put it:

--> '''Mark Salter''' You might not only lose the election, John. You just might lose your reputation right along with it.
-->'''John [=McCain=]''' {{Beat}} I'm not running for my reputation. I'm running to be President.
* TroubledProduction: The campaign gets shades of this in a very bad way once Palin comes aboard.

It covers all the major events of the campaign, with most of the focus on the contentious Democratic primaries, in particular the fight between Barack and Hillary. In addition, it offers startling and perceptive insights into the behind-the-scenes drama during the election — Obama’s attempts to remain in the race; the Clintons’ increasing ire at the media for its soft coverage of Obama; the complete destruction of Edwards’ campaign and marriage before, during and after his affair with videographer Rielle Hunter; the last-minute switchout of UsefulNotes/SarahPalin over Joe Lieberman for Republican vice president; and the increasing chaos of the [=McCain=] campaign after the financial crisis, and through it all the constant interplay and threats of racism and sexism. An engaging read for anyone interested in politics, regardless of party preference. Though it is worth keeping in mind that both movie and book drew heavily from the off the record testimony of Steve Schmidt, whose actions in real life are [[FlameBait controversial]] and--like anyone else--fall into UnreliableNarrator territory.

* PretenderDiss: At one point, Palin compares herself to UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton -- who, whatever her faults, is indisputably[[note]]first woman to be the presidential nominee of a major political party, 2016[[/note]] the most politically accomplished woman in American history. Nicolle Wallace is ''extremely'' unimpressed, and makes that quite clear.

* PretenderDiss: At one point, Palin compares herself to UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton -- who, whatever her faults, is indisputably one of the most (if not ''the'' most) politically accomplished women in American history. Nicolle Wallace is ''extremely'' unimpressed, and makes that quite clear.