... and what have we learned little Johnny?
Posted on 10/11/2009 8:23:33 AM PDT by Saije
Former presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) acknowledged on CNN's State of the Union Sunday that tensions flared during his campaign between senior strategist Steve Schmidt and those allied with his running mate, then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
"With a high-pressure situation, there's always tensions that develop within campaigns," McCain said in a video excerpt posted online. "And there were clearly tensions between Steve Schmidt and people in the Palin camp."
Schmidt has recently become a vocal public critic of Palin, predicting that a presidential run by her in 2012 would prove "catastrophic" for the Republican Party. McCain did not criticize Palin and called her an overall asset to his campaign for whom he still has affection.
"There are fundamental facts ... that cannot be denied," McCain said. "When we selected or asked Sarah Palin to be my running mate, it energized our party. We were ahead in the polls, until the stock market crashed. And she still is a formidable force in the Republican Party."
"And I have great affection for her," he continued. "Did we always agree on everything in the past? Will we in the future? No."
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
So be a man McCain, and stand up for the lady.
You spineless dork.
With Sarah’s #1 best seller book coming out, mccain is in CYA mode.
Timely observation.
Jeez - as bad as Obama is proving to be, about the only thing worse than him winning would have been McCain winning. And I worked on the McCain/Pailn campaign.
No more wasted nominations!
Can’t wait for my book ... Find out what kind of man McCain isn’t.
You’re so right - 100%! Juan’s shartting hisself.
Fixed.
Maybe he should retire— for the sake of the country. Or maybe he should have spared us his candidacy. Or maybe he should be a REAL conservative.
And of course there never has been tensions between the President and Vice Presidential candidate aides in any other election. /s
Steve Schmidt is the Walter Mundale of the Repub Party. Never understood why he was so important.
Pray for America and Gov Palin
#clip & save*
Well, thank you John McCain. Music to my ears. It's the most positive thing you could possibly say.
McCain is following Obama’s playbook. Have your minions trash your foes, then stand above the fray and look like the adult.
WOW! Capt obvious, leader of the idiot rino brigade talks and proves he is fricken clueless moron.
Remember the name Steve Schmidt. He is a negative for the conservatives....He will be floating around attached to someone in the upcoming elections and should be shunned and tossed aside when considering anyone he is attached too. I will send this article to Rush. It is important that these people are flushed out and to the serface of all Conservative’s awareness. Steve is a piece of the corruptive force that is trying to destroy the conservative movement and drive it to RINO thinking!
Exactly what I was thinking. Best thing he could do for her would be to repeat this as much as possible.
Fixed it.
IT WAS McCAIN WHO PROVED DISASTROUS FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!
Without Palin McCain would have been even more soundly whooped.
What is more disastrous for a party to lose ALL THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT after 8 years of a supposedly conservative president?
This whole sentiment that Palin will be disastrous for the Republican Party is ridiculous. I’ll take my chance with someone whose heart is in the right place about her country, instead of someone who is Democrat lite.
After 4 years of Obama ruining this country the electorate will be ready to vote for Donald Duck! Sarah can make a real killing.
A rare occasion where Juan says something I agree with. They were ahead, by 4% as I recall, until the financial crisis broke and Juan went into his man on the white horse routine and made all the wrong moves, including a threat to cancel the first presidential debate at Ole Miss. (And he sure didn't help the cause with his debate performances.)
And that true statement from Juan throws into doubt everything this Schmidt character has been saying, that the selection of Palin was a big mistake, and that it damaged the Republican chances. The opposite is true, they surged ahead until Juan blew it with his mishandling of the financial crisis.
Not all of our enemies are democrats. You burned your bridges Schmidt . I'm sure you'll have a future being a political analyst for MSDNC or CNN.
Sarah and McCain will probably continue a cordial relationship but McCain should have a talk with Schmidt and tell him if you want to work again shut your trap about Sarah Palin.
Sarah Palin is a formidable force FOR Americanism.
Not only her book, but in cya mode for 2010! I think he knows his @$$ is grass.
Not to mention that his fat daughter MEGHAN MCCAIN (smile) is another queer-lover and so is his wife... 
Warning: this links to the Huffinton Post!... We should not go there, but that is where the article came from)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/17/steve-schmidt-mccain-camp_n_188354.html
If McCain had voted AGAINST TARP he would have won.
He didn’t set himself apart from fake conservative Bush or liberal Democrat Obama. They all promoted and voted for TARP.
If McCain had taken a principled stand and NOT VOTED FOR TARP I am convinced he would have won.
Yeah, they've been really effective campaigners and legislators this past decade, wouldn't want to see their sterling record of achievements, vision, and backbone tarnished.
{Do you honestly believe McCain is behind the trashing of Palin by ALLEGED McCain/Palin staffers?}
I believe McCain is capable of many things.
Leni
ANY Republican...ANY who would hire Schmidt or Mark McKinnon are TOO STUPID and to win!
The McCain candidacy was a result, not a cause of COP problems.
You are saying McCain is worse than Barry? Unbelievable!
Who has hired Schmidt and McKinnon this year????
I posted in the live thread, the evening of McCain’s concession speech, that something was awry.
That evening, the body language between McCain and Palin revealed that there were tensions between the two camps.
McCain seemed to handle the brief event awkwardly. IIRC, he hardly acknowledged Palin and did not give her a opportunity to speak.
If Mccain has any chance of a legacy in politics, Palin will be it.
I can’t believe he’s not supporting her better.
You have to go back even further. If the Republican Party had not nominated fake conservative Bush, but a REAL CONSERVATIVE, there is NO WAY that ALL THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT would have fallen to socialists.
IMHO the GOP implosion began at a very specific moment in time:
That moment, was when George W Bush called those Republicans who had voted for him, supported him and considered him their inspiration: “Vigilantes”.
Then, threw those two border agents in jail, sucking up to Mexico to such an extent - as to utterly demoralize the entire conservative movement in America.
That was the beginning of the GOP’s current mess.
For all the good things George W Bush did - he really jumped the shark on globalism.
There’s no way any other GOP candidate but W would’ve beaten either Gore or Kerry.
I blame McNut for King Obama’s election. That pile of sh!! is the most stubborn egotistical peace of dung that the Republicans ever admitted to allowing the R back of his name. Even so, I would rather have him as President than the communists leader King Obama. Palin would have been a fantastic VP and might have kept that nitwit in line.
And we had warnings BEFORE the 2000 election too. Which is why the election was so close between Gore and Bush and had to be contested. A lot of TRUE CONSERVATIVES like myself knew what Bush was from the beginning. Our warnings fell on deaf ears.
He didn’t stop it while it was going on during the campaign. So that to me speaks volumes especially when she was “going rogue” when she called the talks without the campaign knowing it. Sarah is too straight forward to have not made her concerns known when the two were at joint venues.
Sarah was McCain’s VP pick, and as such it was her duty, in normal circumstances, to do what he said and to listen to his handlers.
It’s only too obvious that McCain’s handlers deliberately sabotaged her from the first minute they met with her, setting her up for two rotten and stupidly chosen interviews, refusing to let her talk to the press, and so forth. Finally McCain intervened and replaced the handlers, but it was already too late.
And, of course, Sarah was STILL under orders from the Boss not to talk about matters that might have led to Obama’s defeat. Reverend Wright—out of bounds. Communist mentors and pals—out of bounds. Obama’s extreme abortion record—out of bounds. And so forth.
Hard to win an election when your hands are tied. In the circumstances, it’s amazing how well Sarah did.
I THINK Pawlenty hired McKinnon. If any Republican hires Schmidt they should finish behind the Green candidate.
You will be able to recognize him immediately; he'll be the one that will be attached by the nose in a RINO's rectum.
I believe that is impossible to say. The Republicans nominated a one worlder “compassionate conservative”, which is a euphemism for “Democrat Lite”.
If we don’t learn our lessons from the past we are doomed to repeat them.
NO MORE RINOs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They were railroaded.
Bush should have pardoned them both, on day one.
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