Time: McCain's Outraged and Outrageous Campaign

[Bubbha Jo]

Steve Schmidt, John McCain's bald-headed message maven, made his first mark on national politics in the Bush-Cheney war room in 2004. Schmidt specialized in the generous dispersal of indignation — like a friendly neighbor handing out Halloween candy — to a quote-hungry press. "It is simply outrageous that John Kerry is questioning people's patriotism," he told the New York Times in April of that year. "John Kerry will say anything for his political benefit," he told Reuters in October. "Now his
In the heat of a campaign, Schmidt understood that outrage could cut through the news clutter like a buzz saw. It didn't matter much if the outrage was fueled by fact — better if it was fueled by emotion, which would tweak the fury of his base, leading to exciting exchanges on cable television and fresh chatter around the water cooler. Unlike healthcare or foreign policy, the emotional charge of outrage has a magnetic effect; voters are forced to take sides and respond, shifting the debate.

Now four years later, Schmidt and the McCain campaign have returned to outrage, and there is little doubt that the tactic is again having the desired effect.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1841131,00.html?xid=rss-topstories