Palin Helped McCain

Talk about your buried lead - after going on at length about how Sarah Palin was a drooling, ignorant liar, McCain strategist Steve Schmidt offers this:

And Schmidt says, on balance, Palin helped the ticket.

"I believe, had she not been on the ticket our margin of defeat would’ve been greater than it would’ve been otherwise," he said.

Comments

[Xrlq]

Yer link is bad. I presume you meant to link here: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/75097-palin-derided-by-top-mccain-aide-book

[daddy]

Saw bits of his Anderson Cooper interview on FOX.

Tried hard to negatively tar Sarah as stupid and robotic with the way he said she answered as to why she wasn't all giddy and nervous after being tagged by McCain for VP. "It was God's plan", he said she responded, but the quick dismissive way that he acted how she said it, was part of an effort on his part to paint her as a religious cretin.

What a cad. He's an unprincipled creep and understands nothing about people that do have principles. In a different age he'd be horsewhipped, but in this one he'll probably get David Gergen's Chair at CNN.

Personally, what the hell is wrong with a Christian saying they think what happens in life is part of God's plan? Isn't that part of being born again, where you turn your life over to God?

What a pathetic excuse for a man. I wouldn't hire him as a night manager at a McDonald's.

[Janet]

Thank you daddy...amen to your whole comment.

[squaredance]

Oh let that scum tar her all they want. She can take it.

For once this nation has a clear choice. I doubt if they make the right one, but at least we get to unambiguously get to see the reality of the nation for what it is.

Sarah has her priorities in order. I hope that she has her personal security in order too.

[Captain Hate]

Hey night managers at McDonald's have real responsibilities; ones which a loser like Schmidt obviously couldn't be relied upon to do well. Picture this: He trains the late night people poorly on how to do their job but their intuitive positive manner leads them to do well anyway; then he complains about them when a few people take their fast food business elsewhere because the manager is such an obnoxious douche.

Ask yourself this: Who would you rather be right now: Sarah Palin, Steve Schmidt or Anderson Cooper? Would any pol who wants to win allow Schmidt to get within a time zone of their campaign?

[bunky]

The only reason Mac was competetive at all was Palin. The day of her choice was the beginning of this current awakening.

[Jacques]

His acknowledgement that she helped the ticket -- because it tells against him -- is the one statement he makes that's assuredly true.

But it's also sufficient reason for him to resent her deeply.

[Pofarmer]

Ya know, as much as this is a "no shit Sherlock" kind of moment, somehow, we still need to keep the libs from giving us another McCain candidate in 2012. Open primaries are a problem.

[Jane]

I don't get people like Schmidt. I would love to know what it is that really bugs him about Palin, because I don't think we know that yet. (I wonder if Sarah does)

[narciso]

He's an amoral tactician, Sarah points out how he came up with the 'global test' albatross to wring around Kerry, Which doesn't seem that innovative frankly. She
cast his abusive, even occassionally profane
side, before the debate, Which would be all well and good if he wanted to win, but much like the Coach of the 1919 BlackSox, he threw
the game. He didn't have any larger vision of the stakes ahead, which Sarah did.

[centralcal]

Jane: actually, I think the comment by Jacques nailed it. Palin gets most of the credit for McCain even having a snowball's chance. Schmidt is jealous and delusional, because he wanted the credit, being the smarty pants consultant and all.

[Captain Hate]

O/T: Spitzer: The Banking System is Broken

Isn't part of the recovery from addiction asking forgiveness from people they've badmouthed before?

[blastopocles]

Let this book be the last time Steve Schmidt is quoted anywhere. What an insufferable loser!

Steve, darling--You are the past. We're done with you. We are moving on.

[narciso]

Captain, puts his finger on a wider point. Edwards, is a slimy, no good hypocrite but he's no player in the political game anymore. Whereas Spitzer, who threw more than a few spanners in the works is being rehabilated
in a number of places, and had his little mishap as client No.9, not been revealed, he might have been shortlisted for VP, two years from now.

[matt]

within the Beltway-ism is a real problem, and Schmidt is a perfect example. Somewhere along the way, the constituency becomes "the rubes", and principle no longer matters.

Perhaps long ago he had some principles, but I have rarely met a political operator who did. It's blood sport and cynicism writ large.

The funny thing is that the reporters all know this anyway and are part of the whole charade. It's all a scam to fool us.

[Neo]

What is that ? ... 14 months to get this admission.

Frankly, what Republican candidate (in his/her right mind) would hire Schmidt, Davis or McKinnon ?

[Clarice]

Shows you how brilliant he is, doesn't he? No one in his right mind would ever hire him again. And maybe the thing that really rankles is tht he was outflanked and outsmarted by a beautiful , religious back woods WOMAN.

[Jack is Back!]

Lesson number one for Republicans:

Every time in the last 20 years that the Republicans have won the Presidency they did it with outsider consultants running the campaigns and the party. Lee Atwater and Karl Rove.

When you go to the Beltway types this is what you get. Remember, no matter what you think of the Obama campaign it was run by outsiders: Plouffe and Axelrod.

Beltway think is not good for national campaigns and elections.

[Neo]

“The relationship between Barack Obama and Joe Biden grew so strained during the 2008 campaign, according to a new book, that the two rarely spoke and aides not only kept Biden off internal conference calls but refused to even tell him they existed. …

“[W]hen Biden, at an October fund-raiser in Seattle, famously predicted that Obama would be tested with an international crisis, the then-Illinois senator had had enough.

“‘How many times is Biden gonna say something stupid?’ he demanded of his advisers on a conference call, a moment at which most people on the call said the candidate was as angry as they had ever heard him. …

“Speaking to his own staff, Biden insisted that it hadn’t really been a gaffe. And feeling a bit defensive, he invoked one of the worst memories of Obama’s primary campaign.

“‘I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t say anything about bitter people who cling to their guns and religion,’ Biden cracked, the authors paraphrase.”

Guess Joe missed the memo to "Go Rouge"

[Jane]

Schmidt is jealous and delusional, because he wanted the credit, being the smarty pants consultant and all.

Credit for what tho? Running a losing campaign.

I might have to actually read that book. It seems to me that the authors are going to end up persona non grata in DC.

[Pofarmer]

I would love to know what it is that really bugs him about Palin,

She's a commoner, obviously not fit to lead us.

[narciso]

They deserve each other, don't they, sadly we don't, or maybe we do in the smallpox inoculation sense of the word.

[Jim]

I voted for Palin, not mccain. His politics scare me because he is a conservative only in the minds of the msm. I was hoping that he would not last 4 years because of his age. If he did last 4 years I would have felt a fool.

[maryrose]

Sarah represents the future and captured the imaginations of so many people. I was excited to see her in person in Cleveland 2 weeks before the election. I also saw McCain and guess who had the bigger turnout? Schmidt is a Neanderthal who resents strong women. He's no prize and unlike Sarah has no future.

[Neo]

Jim: ditto

[Janet]

"within the Beltway-ism is a real problem..."
I agree with matt on this. The discussion the other day on another thread about the staffs of Senators and Reps. was really interesting in the same way. Like a shadow government with front men/women. Puppets that are beholden to others. The successful ones just do as they are told.....Sarah wouldn't do as she was told.

[Neo]

A selection of the "evil of the two lessers"

[Janet]

LUN No one has been punished under congressional ethics rules.

[Clarice]

In the same book and unlikely to get the Schmidt treatment is the far more piquant tale that Hillary believed Obama cheated in Iowa (I do, too) and was extremely reluctant to work with him'

LUN

[narciso]

Yet she did, even signed on to his cabinet, where he proceeded to humiliate her yet again.

[Fritz]

I wonder if Schmidt was pushing for another VP candidate but was overruled. He is now dissing Palin to prove that his choice would have been better.

[Captain Hate]

Laura Ingraham is skewering Schmidt the eunuch's inability to take any responsibility for one of the worst campaigns ever run and contrasting it to Palin's admission that the Couric interview wasn't her finest moment. Keep digging that hole, Steve.

[Extraneus]

Lieberman?

[Mike Myers]

I was watching Schmidt last night; a person with a pig face, pig ears--and a personality and character to match.

A disloyal loser and abuser of the team he supposedly coached. Adios muchacho insofar as future political adviser employment--at least by those who actually want to win their campaign.

[AMDG]

Isn't this guy killing his future?

Who would hire a backstabbing failure?

If Palin doesn't run in 2012 (and I don't think she should) she will be the Republican king maker - especially if she his successful in helping candidates in 2010 and shows an ability for harnessing the Tea Party movement. Would any potential nominee not named Sarah Palin hire Schmidt if he were to seek Palin's heart endorsement?

What is he thinking?

[Jane]

She's a commoner, obviously not fit to lead us.

Po,

You may be right. And if so, the revolution can't come soon enough.

BTW the MA state police just endorsed Scott Brown - which is huge given that they always go democrat and she is the AG.

[Clarice]

Yes, I was about to post that myself. Maybe you could get them to serve as poll watchers and guardians of the absentee ballots.

Apparently to know Coakley is to support her opponent. No?

[Jane]

Apparently so Clarice. BTW Scott is doing a "money bomb" today hoping to raise $500,000. At 8AM he had 92K and now he $218k (up 10k from 5 minutes ago).

[Clarice]

I suspect Kirk's comments are helping Scott enormously.

[Jane]

Me too.

[glenda]

Well, if the report on Hot Air is right, Sarah will do part-time consulting work at Fox..a talking head, hmmn, pundit, hmmnn, like Huckleberry? This would seem to mean she's not running in 2012--who else has the charisma to beat the campaign "Obama", as Harry Reid says, that light-skinned negro who talks so good!

Jane, I sent $41.00 to Brown yesterday! :)

[narciso]

No, it doesn't seem that solid, in fact there are very few details, and that this would emerge in a little known site called the decoder, as usual we will actually find out
from other sources

[Jane]

You go Glenda! Why that amount?

[Porchlight]

I donated to the Brown moneybomb today - been watching the progress. +$20K just since my modest donation a few minutes ago! He's nearly at $300K, well on track to meet and surpass the $500K goal.

Red Invades Blue: Scott Brown Moneybomb

[Jane]

$319k now.

[Extraneus]

Wouldn't hurt getting some TV experience now if 2012 is in the cards, not to mention a bigger megaphone going into the 2010 campaign season.

[Porchlight]

$331K now. Seems to be about $1000/minute since I started watching, though the website is updating in bursts. I wonder if there will be another big surge during the after-work hours.

[boris]

"can't come soon enough"

If SP is too common, too fly over, too plain spoken, for the GOP ... then the odds they can choose somebody even better falls to zero. Along with the odds of me voting dimorat-lite. In that case then the sooner the better.

[Elliott]

Why that amount?

41st vote?

[centralcal]

Palin on FNC! Wonderful! Ailes has, in his youthful past, helped to rehabilitate the non-telegenic Richard Nixon. I think he will help Palin, too.

[narciso]

WEll in that case, take that Joe McGuinness

[centralcal]

Glenda - what a terrific idea! I just did the same thing - $41 bucks for 41 votes.

[Jane]

$403!

[Porchlight]

Yippee! One HotAir commenter said that after they reach $500K they should start coloring the MA map on the website a darker shade of red. :)

[Porchlight]

$415K now! How high could it go? I predict $750K at least.

[Pofarmer]

If SP is too common, too fly over, too plain spoken, for the GOP ... then the odds they can choose somebody even better falls to zero. Along with the odds of me voting dimorat-lite. In that case then the sooner the better.

I'm not sure, but sometimes I think boris and I were twins separated at birth or something.

[boris]

"twins separated at birth"

Heh, IIRC you are younger than I.

[Jane]

$466 K

[Jane]

You can hear Scott on the radio right now here:

[Joan]

Sarah on Fox: "Boom, Taste my Nightstick"!

[Jane]

$485k

[glenda]

Jane...Elliott is right---41 for the 41st vote against Obamacare!

Looks like he will go beyond the 500 prize!

[Frau Atomkraft]

Pofarmer - Jane said that we JOMers were *all* separated at birth. Did you mean just the females, Jane?

[Jack is Back!]

Just did another $50 and put it in PUK's name.

Hope the FEC doesn't check to see if Manchester, Lancashire is a state (its actually the 53rd of the 57 states).

Employer: Self

Occupation: Snarky Guitar Virtuoso

Also gave a false Zip code in the hope that I will receive a bundle of stimulus money.

[Porchlight]

Goal reached! Over $501K right now...

[centralcal]

"Also gave a false Zip code in the hope that I will receive a bundle of stimulus money."

LOL!!!

[centralcal]

They upped their Goal - now at $750K!

[Porchlight]

So cool re: the Scott Brown news. I bet they get to $750K by midnight.

JiB, you just gave me an idea. What if the fake zip codes at recovery.gov correspond to fake addresses given by bogus online Obama voters during the 2008 campaign? That would explain a lot...

[Pofarmer]

"Heh, IIRC you are younger than I.3

Well, that complicates things.

[Sue]

$626,375.87 at 4:06 PM Central time. Wow.

[Jane]

There is a Brown Coakley debate tonite at 7:00 on all the local stations and local Fox. I suspect it is being live streamed. I'm running out to a meeting so I don't have time to find where.

[Sue]

$658,522.43 at 4:17 PM CST.

$32k in 11 minutes.

[Jane]

It's on C-span.

[Sue]

(Watch a live stream of tonight's debate on Bostonherald.com)

[bgates]

$693,344.36 at 4:42 CST.

[Porchlight]

Jane, do you know when the debate starts? We're Central Time and my blood pressure goes way up every time I have to check the Time Warner cable listings, they're so diffcult to decipher online.

[bgates]

Sucks that all that money is needed - doesn't it just go to the DNC propaganda wing (papers and tv stations)?

[Porchlight]

Oh, never mind, I see C-SPAN has it at 6-7 pm Central time.

I must have scanned 4 or 5 news stories about the debate and not a single one mentioned the time. This happens to me all the time with things like this. Is it just me? I like to think I'm pretty good at finding information online.

[centralcal]

not necessarily bgates: some will surely go to GOTV efforts.

[centralcal]

It is not even 6 pm (est) and Brown has passed the 700K mark.

Maybe a $million by midnight?

[Porchlight]

I think it might happen, centralcal. Only problem I see is that the debate occurs between now and then, which might distract potential supporters.

However, if he performs strongly in the debate, that could send thousands back online to donate.

[Porchlight]

Holy cow..up to $718K now...

[rse]

He's broken $750,000.

Go Brown!!

[JM Hanes]

I think you can listen to the debate 7:00 on the WBZ radio site. Click "Listen Live" which seems to jump around from one position to another at the top of the page.

It looks like they will be streaming live video at boston.com, but for some reason, I'm not getting any sound from their video player.

[JM Hanes]

In the meantime: Schmidt is a political whore.

He was the guru brought in to "save" the McCain campaign from squabbling aides. He was the one who persuaded McCain that Lieberman was a no go, which paved the way for Palin. and he was the designated Henry Higgins who was supposed to whip her into shape -- and clearly met more than his match. He's got a Palin problem in the PC/DC crowd of potential clients and PC/DC pundit climes. She's not just an impediment to a Schrum-like rise from the ashes, she's also the albatross around the neck of a guy looking to rehabilitate his insider bona fides.

Schmidt can't outright deny Palin's positive effect on the McCain campaign, but the real skeleton he's trying to hide in the closet here is that she didn't just help the campaign more than he did, he, himself is the most likely suspect in McCain's demise. That's a competence problem which gives him yet another incentive for redirecting the spotlights and painting Palin as the hopeless cause. In reality, the candidate Schmidt couldn't whip into shape was John McCain, and Schmidt was the campaign manager who couldn't manage to come up with a persuasive, consistent campaign narrative.

His efforts to wiggle off the hook have hardly been consistent either. Back in April, when he hooked up with Plouffe at the University of Delaware, he was playing the predestination card, along with this gem:

When Lehman Brothers collapsed in the fall I knew pretty much right away that ... from an electoral strategy perspective, the campaign was finished

The skeleton in that closet is that the disastrous decision to "suspend" the campaign and send the McCain back to the Senate was apparently Schmidt's brilliant idea.

[Porchlight]

$790K now. New goal $1M!!!

[Ann]

You can watch the debate live on C-Span Here:

http://cspan.org/Watch/C-SPAN_wm.aspx

[Porchlight]

Thanks, Ann! I'm supposed to be making dinner but maybe I will steal a look or two. If anyone sees a live thread on a blog somewhere, let me know...

[JM Hanes]

It's running also on C-Span 1.

[Ann]

It is not the Ted Kennedy seat, it is not the democrat seat, it is the peoples seat - Brown

Woo Hoo!

[Porchlight]

That was awesome!

[Jane]

So how did he do?

[Ann]

I thought he was great, Jane. Really great!

Someone just now on Twitter:

Wow - TV7 just said Scott Brown won the debate clearly - MSM not acting like normal in MA :)

[daddy]

Yippee!

Keep it up guys. Please spread the news and provide links to the debate if and when they become available.

[rse]

I thought he was very good on the military tribunals vs criminal defendant argument.

His home run though was what he said about stopping AQ and the Taliban in Afghanistan to avoid losing Pakistan and causing greater proliferation of nuclear weapons. He hit that well in a "you don't get it moment".

[rse]

Anyone else cringe when Gergen said he got his questions from consulting with people he trusted "like the media" ?

[SWarren]

My gawd, Coakley is a moron!

Free Republic live-blogged. LUN

[Jane]

I'm watching it on Tivo and trying to figure out how a MA audience will react. I'm not impressed with Gergen.

[pagar]

Some one has suggested helping Brown by canceling your Dish Network Contract and telling them when you call to cancel that you are not interesting in supporting Coakley.

The Charlie Ergen - CEO of Dish Network. is shown as a host for the Coakley fundraiser in the LUN.

Anyone who receives Dish Network anywhere in the US can make their feelings known.

[pagar]

"from consulting with people he trusted "like the media" ?"

IMO, there is no group that can be trusted less than the media except Democrat politicians.