[Arkinsaw]

Mistake. You don’t appoint a knife-man as your Chief of Staff. That position requires a lot of different things. A knife-man in that position will end up being hated by his own side more than the opposition. He controls access to the President and has to have some level of diplomacy and tact or he ends up being seen as an obstacle and targeted.

[dfwgator]

Mistake. You don’t appoint a knife-man as your Chief of Staff

Yep, instead of Tom Hagen, he appointed a wartime consigliere.

And while we're referencing The Godfather, McCain ran his campaign like Fredo.