Maybe McCain does not know how to take full advantage, but his new campaign guy, Schmidt, will. He is supposedly, at 38 or so, the new Lee Atwater.
And I am not ready to conceded that McCain stumbled upon this, I think there was a well developed plan before the Palin pick was announced, and I see both Schmidt and Rove behind this. McCain understands battle plans. Plus, the early skirmishes in this battle show the quiet planning to be exceeding expectations. I do not believe that this was stumbled upon, I think this was all very well thought out. Just the people doing the thinking are not talking. Chuckling, yes. But not talking.
Just the people doing the thinking are not talking. Chuckling, yes. But not talking.
***Unfortunately there has been talk. The indicators behind the scenes are that McCain is livid about the press treatment of her, and that he views his relationship with the press differently as a result of this “betrayal”. That means he didn’t foresee it. We’ll probably never know, but we can only proceed from what evidence is presented.