Steve Schmidt: Palin picked over Romney due to Cindy McCain's shitload of houses, not Mitt's taxes
Romney's Wealth, But Not His Tax Returns, Was Factor In McCain's VP Decision, Says Steve Schmidt
Posted: 07/16/2012 5:32 pm Updated: 07/16/2012 5:46 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/mitt-romney-tax-returns-n_n_1677556.html?ref=topbar
WASHINGTON -- John McCain's top campaign strategist in 2008 says that Mitt Romney's much-discussed tax returns were not the reason that the Republican candidate chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, but he did acknowledge that Romney's wealth played a factor in the decision.
"I get the political hyperbole and all, but that’s not the way the decision was made," Steve Schmidt told The Huffington Post. "We never sat around having a discussion about Mitt Romney's taxes through the prism of a liability if he were chosen" for the ticket.
But he added that Romney's wealth was seen as a liability - "Sen. McCain got caught flat-footed answering a question about how many houses he owned. In fact, they were Cindy McCain's properties but that distinction was lost in the political optics and we knew it would be a big liability that the presidential and the vice presidential candidates together owned more than a dozen homes. It was like something out of a 'Saturday Night Live' skit. I mean, come on."
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"It's totally unfair. They don’t know any of the facts," Schmidt said of the inference about Romney's tax returns. "But it's hard to refute. And the bottom line is the American people don’t trust politicians so nobody gets the benefit of the doubt and the utterance of the accusation does damage. People believe you’re hiding something. It's wrong, it's unfair, but it's life in the big leagues.”
= new reply since forum marked as read
ie, that political operatives in his own party could be setting
him up, aiding the opposition for their own nefarious reasons.
But it makes sense; and is bound to be an excellent movie,
soon, a political thriller, all the betrayals and schemes and deals
behind the scenes, just within the political party, eating itself
alive in pursuit of omnipotence.
Here's a working title: The Political Party
featuring the religious right, tea baggers, one percenters,
moderate conservatives, sleazy corrupt long time political insiders,
plus all the Moneybags and their minions and subsidiaries,
and Jesus knows who all else, though probably Jesus wasn't
a Republican, and wasn't there, so how would he know, but
anyway, all those members of the Political Party find themselves
together at a party. Maybe it's a party to celebrate their wonderful
diversity. Let's see how well they party.
Murders and mysterious improbable alliances;
incest, family secrets, cult ceremonies,
speaking in tongues, oily deals, magic underwear,
sex in bathroom stalls, crazy people making pledges,
creepy things everywhere. Maybe a horror/thriller.
Maybe it takes place in an insane asylum.
