Watch Live: Congressional Hearing on IRS Scandal

Live Now on TheBlaze Radio: ‘The Buck Sexton Show’

Media

McCain Campaign Adviser Bashes Palin and Party While Discussing ‘Game Change’

Mar. 12, 2012 2:28pm Christopher Santarelli

McCain Campaign Adviser Bashes Palin and Party While Discussing Game Change During Morning Joe Appearance

Protagonist of HBO’s “Game Change,” real-life 2008 McCain Campaign senior strategist Steve Schmidt has found some new friends as a frequent contributor for MSNBC. This may be a good move considering that Republicans, who he once worked for, are likely unimpressed with his comments about the HBO film while appearing on MNBC’s “Morning Joe” Monday. Schmidt has endorsed the film, which is based on the book of the same name that upon its publishing was immediately criticized for inaccuracy and called “a 450-page version of Page Six.”

“It’s a story of when cynicism and idealism collide, when you have to do the things that are necessary to win to try to get in office to do the great things you want to do for the country,” Schmidt said of the movie, in which he is portrayed by Woody Harrelson. “And I think it showed a process of vetting that was debilitated by secrecy, that was compartmentalized, that failed, that led to a result that was reckless for the country. And I think when you look back at that race, you see this person who is just so phenomenally talented at so many levels, an ability to connect. But also someone who had a lot of flaws as someone running to be in the national command authority who clearly wasn’t prepared.”

“Politically, she was a net positive to the campaign,” Schmidt went on to say of Sarah Pailin, who is portrayed in the film by Julianne Moore.

Schmidt said she was a “net negative” because “someone was nominated to the vice presidency who was manifestly unprepared to take the oath of office should it become necessary and as it has become necessary many times in American history.” [Emphasis added]

“The reality is is that both parties have nominated people in the last decade who are not prepared to be anywhere near the Oval Office,” Schmidt said. “John Edwards in the Democratic Party. Sarah Palin in the Republican Party. And we ought to take a pause and understand how that happened, why it happened and hopefully it’ll never happen again in our lifetimes.”

NewsBusters Noel Sheppard is unimpressed with Schmidt:

It appears that for a Republican to be held in high esteem by the liberal media, all he or she need do is run a failed presidential campaign – McCain-Palin suffered the biggest landslide since Michael Dukakis in 1988 – and then backstab the candidates you represented.

This strategy worked nicely for Wallace who in 2010 published the best-selling political thriller ‘Eighteen Acres’ which many believe took additional shots at Palin.

As for Schmidt, he’s now a regular MSNBC contributor.

Unlike crime, it seems failure and backstabbing do pay, and are enviable qualities for Republicans looking to curry favor with America’s media.

Nicolle Wallace was a senior advisor on the McCain campaign who said Sunday that the HBO film was “true enough to make me squirm.”

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (26)

NarnianWarrior
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 5:17pm
Schmidt is a schmuck and a bottom of the pole hireling. Apparently, that’s what you do to get ahead as a political adviser. Well, it’s not too far from the strategy and tactics of John McCain. His attacks while running against Romney where vicious, then he recently flipped to endorse him. That is a man that lacks real integrity by prostituting his values for gain. That is no different in this Schmidt’s case. I’m sure the MSNBC gave him a bonus to seal the deal. These slimeballs are so disgussting that I feel like puking everytime I hear them speak.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- carbonyes
  Posted on January 14, 2013 at 6:27am
  Schmidt the smuck and Wallace the bird brain are two perfect examples of why the Republican Party loses elections for President. With people of that calibre and integrity, both of which are lacking in them continue to be hired to direct and influence campaigns, we will be in trouble for a long time and fail to win the most important position in the world, let alone the United States.
  Furthermore, it wasn’t Sarah that was a detriment on the to ticket. It was John McCain. If we continue to put up old guard Republicans with no backbone and who go along to get along and are always reaching across the aisle when they should be standing up for truth and what is not politically correct, we will continue to slide down the slippery slope to utter destruction – not opinion, fact.
  
  Report this comment
cuinsong
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:48am
Steve Schmidt
I guess we know who you are now. One must wonder how stupid is it that you were actually an advisor to John M. But it does clear up some things. You obviously will work for anybody that will hire you and say what ever is needed to secure the position. Now when you voice your real political views you expect us to believe you have creditability! NOT! You are a second rate political hack looking to make money putting people down.
S. Palin has more brains and is more qualified to be president then NObama could ever be!
You are to blind & stupid to see the reality because your head is too far up your a&&!
This song fits you well “Their Wrong” http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_12090926

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
SandyfromChesterfield
Posted on March 13, 2012 at 12:33am
Steve Schmidt has a job for about seven months then they will discard him like the piece of trash that he is.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- db321
  Posted on March 13, 2012 at 1:33am
  I’m glad his 15 min are up – I hope he never runs another Rep Political campaign again.
  
  Report this comment
paperpushermj
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 9:54pm
Way to pick them Sen McCain.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Windsong
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 9:23pm
Did this guy actually refer tho the Republican vetting process as ‘debilitated by secrecy’? It seems odd that a ‘Republican’ wouldn’t mention the fact that the Democrats didn’t vet Mr. Obama before he was elected to a Senate seat – muchless, before the Presidency.

Oh, and just to refresh some memories. Sarah Palin was on many news shows with relative frequency long before she was even named as a prospect for VP. I knew exactly who she was. She was the Governor with the highest favorability rating of any Governor in the United States. She was the brave woman who took on her own party, oil companies and the Democrats at one point or another. You don’t get a favorability rating of around 86% if you aren’t making sound decisions which seem to please all people most of the time. The fact that she was pretty well known to millions of us is the same reason we weren’t surprised to see her get the VP nod. I realize that re-writing history has become the favorite game of the left, but even the thirty year olds were familiar with Ms. Palin’s stellar record.

I do hope Soros is paying Mr. Schmidt a decent wage. What is the going salary for selling your soul – and integrity – these days?

Saw part of a trailor of this…movie. Four sentences in, the lies and distortions had begun…and that’s from someone who had no idea where Wasila was but knew about Ms. Palin because of her poplularity as Governor.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Marine25
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:44pm
Sarah Palin was elected Govenor by fewer people than live in most of the 435 House districts, in a state with a very scant press and media presence. Anyone who believed she was going to not be exposed as an undereducated extremist was, and is, a fool. The film, yes I watched, was mostly a re-hash of what we all watched; botched responses to simple questions, innacurate and incindiary comments on the stump, designer cloths and a Down’s child used as a prop. Her approval rating is in the low 20′s yet some call for her to run. You’ll get your wish, in 2016 she’ll likely face off against Hillary for the Presidency. That will mean 12 maybe 16 years with Democrats in the White House. Sarah is a farce, don’t believe me? She won’t even be asked to speak at the convention.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- DatabaseSue
  Posted on March 12, 2012 at 9:07pm
  What rock did you crawl out from under?
  
  Report this comment
- Robert2078
  Posted on March 13, 2012 at 12:40am
  Something tells me the country wont make it to 2016. Damn the RINO’s, Liberal and Progressives who have destroyed our country. May God have mercy on their pathetic souls.
  
  Report this comment
- carbonyes
  Posted on January 14, 2013 at 6:41am
  Marine? You got to be a joke. Did you know which end of the gun a bullet comes out? If your performance as a marine is any thing like your assessment of Sarah Palin, sure would not want to depend on you to protect me, my family or my country. Hopefully you are not the calibre or type of service man or woman that is being pumped out today. I served honorably and don’t believe I would want you protecting my back. You have either been sniffing glue or just another troll. Wake up and smell the roses – much better than what you appear to be sniffing.
  
  Report this comment
lylejk
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:00pm
Just more proof that Palin was right when she said that her handler’s were screwing things up; this guy just proves it to me. I would call him traitor, but that would entail that he really was a true Republican in the first place. He’s an obvious toad of a Progressive spy. Go away already. :)

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- carbonyes
  Posted on January 14, 2013 at 6:51am
  A fair assessment indeed. The problem is that many in the leadership of the Republican Party either have an inability to discern their picks for important positions like helping direct campaigns, or, more frightening, and I believe there is more than an element of this than meets the eye, the leadership is either part and parcel of knowingly selecting a misfit like Schmidt and don’t give a hoot, or they are engaged in back room shenanigans that involve the selling out of our country, which is even more scary.
  Bottom line we are in deep trouble no matter how you want to look at it.
  
  Report this comment
JEANNIEMAC
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:42pm
Watch “The Undefeated” on TV Monday, March 12, 10 PM EST Reelz channel. It tells the true story of Sarah Palin and how she took control of the government in Alaska, wresting it away from corrupt politicians. The McCain campaign was infested with socialist radicals who did not want McCain to win, and who silenced Sarah Palin when she spoke about Obama hanging out with terrorists. If there is a brokered Republican convention, I sincerely hope that Sarah Palin throws her hat into the ring.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
teddrunk
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:22pm
McCain, his offspring, and his staff are becoming the Republican version of Jimmy Carter. A loser that just won’t go away, and keeps coming back like a bad case of **** roaches.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
destrecht
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:08pm
He forgot to mention Obama when he was talking about people unprepared to take the oath of office.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
michael48
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 5:56pm
he’ll make a great dem-wit…typical of the rino-tards…clueless and willing to prove it…

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
jungle J
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 5:32pm
The mentally ill are so powerful in media….only the sane understand this.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- destrecht
  Posted on March 12, 2012 at 6:09pm
  Palin was the only reason McCain did as well as he did.
  
  Report this comment
- lylejk
  Posted on March 12, 2012 at 7:04pm
  I agree with you destrecht; McCain didn’t even try to win imo. Sarah gave it her all and I still like her and am glad she continues to rub these progressives in the face. After nearly 4 years, she’s not going away. lol
  
  I’m only mad that she decided to vote for Newt who I still blame for our current economic woes (NAFTA/GATT). Also mad at her for not running this round. Still, being mad at someone doesn’t mean I don’t like her; still do and like hearing her comments on Fox when she guests on the various shows there. :)
  
  Report this comment
I.Gaspar
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 5:18pm
msnbc douc*ebag…He never was a republican…and probably played a big role in the 2008 loss.
Another third rate hack on the lean forward roster.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
cja23
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 5:18pm
Game change is total crap, Schmidt, produced by big libs, paid for by big libs and big lib actors, enough said! Sourced my arse, Julianne.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
mbean
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 5:02pm
“portrayed by Woody Harrelson” That would set me on a rant too….

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
marine249
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 4:53pm
dip s— do as dip sh– do

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Robert-CA
Posted on March 12, 2012 at 4:42pm
Jealous jealous jealous .

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- lillymckim
  Posted on March 12, 2012 at 4:57pm
  Wow this man (?) has had his panties in wad for what 3 1/2 years now?
  Time to put on the big boy pull-ups and move on and a hypocrite to boot..
  
  Report this comment

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.