Steve Schmidt's war against Sarah Palin

[Dulcinea]

-snip-


A losing campaign always brings out the knives, but usually they are wielded in the shadows. The pure spectacle of a former campaign strategist going on national television to trash the candidate whose image he once stage-managed – as Schmidt did Sunday on “60 Minutes” - is virtually unprecedented.


Among Washington operatives the response to Schmidt ranges from quiet admiration for telling uncomfortable truths to mystification that he and Palin would belabor internal disputes that in an earlier era of politics would have stayed behind closed doors.


At least a half-dozen Republican operatives declined to discuss the matter, instead voicing the plaintive hope the dispute will simply go away. But one Democrat praised Schmidt’s willingness to take a stand, even at the risk of hurting his livelihood as a California political consultant.


“I don’t think he has anything to gain from it. It’s not going to get Schmidt a whole lot of clients in Republican Party and he’s not selling a book. So it just may be that he is telling the truth,” said Paul Begala, a former Clinton White House adviser.


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31420.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I can understand why. She helped him ruin his career as a consultant.

[TwilightGardener]

2. Maybe Steve Schmidt has a tiny little smidgen of love and concern left for America, after all--

and this is his way of showing it.

[karynnj]

3. You mean the Steve Schmidt who worked for Bush/Cheney and supported the SBVT

That Schmidt?

I assume that it is his self interest. Remember that Palin dissed everyone in the McCain camp. He is fighting back here after being attacked. Begals's comment is disingenuous. Schmidt's help in taking down Palin, who is already taking herself down, is likely welcomed by some Republicans.

[tabatha]

4. Maybe he wants the facts about her to get out

because if she ran in 2012 it would be a disaster for the GOP and the country.

[golfguru]

11. Nothing would energize me against GOP like if Palin is their nominee

She does not have enough gravitas to be VP, much
less commander in chief.

[Dulcinea]

12. She doesn't have the brains to be VP!

OK, maybe she's not completely stupid, but she's definitely not presidential material. (Neither was Boy George, so what do I know?)

[Orsino]

5. If the GOP had any other gimmick to run in place of Palin, this would make perfect sense.

I guess he figures that the same rich old white men can lose just as handily without ceding any power to a woman.

[jmondine]

6. What nerve! It's not like Palin has been publicly trashing him and others from the... oh, wait

[NatBurner]

8. right?

[Jennicut]

7. I think he is secretly pissed at McLame for picking her in the first place

and placing the burden on Schmidt for having to make her look semi-intelligent somehow. Impossible job, you know?

[livetohike]

9. I agree. This all says a lot about McCain too in a back handed

way. The Palin pick has ruined a few careers now.

[Cha]

10. I don't even care what the reasoning is behind this!

I missed the 60 Minute thing and this is the first I'm hearing about it.

Good on steve schmidt since mccain doesn't have the nerve to do it.