The epic failure of the McCain campaign and Schmidt's inglorious role in it put an end to his career as a GOP consultant. A friend of mine who was hired for McCain's general election campaign described its epic disorganization and the astonishing scene every Sunday as a couple of dozen of McCain's campaign paladins and senior NRC strategists gathered at his palatial ranch in northern Arizona, with McCain at the head of the table.
The strategy meeting was usually held at the outdoor barbecue pavilion, with a meal and drinks beforehand catered by McCain family servants. The campaign staff and attendees might begin the meeting in a structured manner, but they were soon diverted by McCain asking for more detail, posing questions, and launching into jokes and stories of war and politics.
Every weekend, the result was a constant backlog of campaign management issues unaddressed and decisions unmade, which McCain might (or might not) take up chaotically during the ensuing week. One does not need a graduate degree in psychology to recognize that was how McCain wanted things, vainly and foolishly maximizing his role in the management of his campaign.
Due to character flaws, McCain sabotaged his campaign, but he contrived to have the glory of making some of the best GOP talent available sitting at his feet, awaiting his favor. As for Palin, I think that, initially, McCain liked her maverick ways. Soon though, he soured on Palin due to the enthusiastic GOP grassroots approval of her as injecting new life into a flagging campaign effort. And so, from McCain to Schmidt to Wallace, the order went out to serve Palin up to the news media.
I think Sarah Palin’s “Going Rogue,” said nothing to put McCain as the cause of her sabotage. It was Schmidt who had ultimate control over the “B Team.” He waged so much control over Sarah Palin, it destroyed her positive contribution to the campaign. Schmidt did nothing to destroy the attacks against her. The prank call Sahah took from a impostor of French President Nicolas Sarkosy, was a good example. It was a prank that even Schmidt would have fell for. But he used it as his final straw: “As Schmidt’s rant blazed on, I pictured cell towers between D.C. and Florida bursting into flame.” It was the final event that revealed Schmidt’s hyper efforts to control Sarah Palin was a sign of his own incompetent management style. Soon afterwards, her team staffer, Jason Recher, announces that, “Someone from headquarters was calling to tell the B Team to “put her back in the truck!” I am sure it came from Schmidt who blamed everything that went wrong on Sarah Palin and when she needed his support, did nothing.
If Sarah Palin were the VP pick for someone like Donald Trump, The campaign challenges would have been handled. Sarah’s attacks would have been countered. She would have attracted huge rallies and guaranteed a landslide victory.