Steve Schmidt (Senior McCain Campaign Strategist-- The
Character played by Woody Harrelson in the Movie) was on MSNBC this morning
said some interesting things in the process of taking nothing back from the
movie "Game Change" which absolutely blistered Palin's cynicism as
well as her unpreparedness for the Pres or VP role.
Schmidt said Palin
was "manifestly unprepared" to be on the ticket . After
someone brought up Palin's lack of preparedness for the 2008 race Schmidt was
asked how he would feel about her now, noting that there had been media reports
suggesting Palin as a solution to a brokered convention. Plain, herself has
said she would make herself available in such circumstances. Schmidt said that
Palin embraced the bitterness of the 2008 campaign and learned none of the
lessons. Moreover, she did not appear to have in any way made an attempt to
fill in the glaring holes in her knowledge. He went on to discuss the issue of
celebrity in presidential politics. He made this point by relating a short
anecdote in Patraeus' book about the cost of war and the need to know the
lessons of history. Twice in the last decade, Schmidt, said, the parties have
put up a candidate who was wholly unqualified to be president: Edwards and
Palin. I hope it never happens again. For those libs inclined to defend Edwards
on some sort of sliding scale in comparison to GOP sins, please don't. He would
have been a disaster for the country and for democrats.
In the tradition of the fast and loose with the facts
approach Palin evidenced on the campaign trail in 2008, her website today
stated had the following statement: "The movie is at best historical
fiction - historical only in that Sarah Palin was nominated and campaigned for
the office of Vice President. The movie is a series of scenes where the
dialogue, locations and participants are invented or rendered unrecognizable
for dramatic effect. HBO and its surrogates continue to argue that they spoke
to 25 sources. None of them are on the record nor is their level of involvement
in the campaign disclosed. Not one source is on the record in either the book
or in the movie and it is clear why." Mr. Schmidt was on national TV this
morning to tell his version of the truth on the record in front of cameras. He covered
this ground in an extensive 60 minutes interview in 2010. Schmidt and Palin clearly did not like each
other, especially at the end of the 2008 campaign so there is room for debate
as to whether part of this is story is one-sided to the campaign aides point of
view. However, there can be NO debate as to whether anyone will step forward
and corroborate. Schmidt was at the heart of the decision to add Palin to the
ticket and play a leading role in preparing her for public events. In addition,
Nicole Wallace who was Palin’s communication director, and the aide responsible
for debate and media prep, said today, "I believe that if she were on the
cusp of becoming the nominee for the Republican party a whole lot of people...
would talk about some of her more troubling deficiencies. Her incredible
cynicism, her bitterness, her aggressive attempts to claw anyone that points
out an area for her to work on, I think these things will continue to reveal
herself and the people that love her will continue to love her, but the people
who are not so sure about her will, I think, formulate harder opinions and more
clarity about her." These are too highly placed, well connected Republican
operatives. Schmidt worked for Bush/ Cheney in 2004, and in 2005 and 2006, he
was the White House strategist in charge of the U.S. Supreme Court nominations
of Samuel A. Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Ms. Wallace joined the
Bush–Cheney ’04 campaign as the Communications Director.
I thought Sara Palin came off quite well in some aspects, particular
in her ability to relate to people, and there especially with families with
special needs kids, and also as a mother. There are aspects we see initially of
someone who is, dare I say it, likeable. In the context of family, she seems to
have been struggling with much the same challenges as a lot of everyday
Americans. If she had stayed in Alaska as governor, she may have settled with a
legacy of some accomplishment. Though she is staunchly Pro-Life, early on Palin
evidenced some willingness to act in a bipartisan manner. She did in fact take
on corruption in the oil and gas industry in her state. Political leaders of both parties were ensnared
in the fallout.
As Governor there were issues of abuse of power. The movie
makes clear that there were state findings which affirmed that and Palin
muddied the waters simply by denying what she knew to be true when questioned. Ms.
Palin does not recognize the truth when it is uncomfortable to do so. That was
the case when she was governor, for all of two years, and when she ran in 2008,
and it is true now as her website promotes the obvious lie that Game Change was
formulated completely by anonymous sources that refused to come forward. Steve
Schmidt and Nicole Wallace came forward today.
Most conservatives I know say the movie is either a “Hollywood
hatchet job” or not worthy of their time. They do this in defense of Palin. However,
by this method they really do miss the point of the whole movie. Americans are fixated
on and stuffed with celebrity in our every waking moment. This is opium for a
lot of people, but when it seeps in to the political arena it can be very dangerous.
Palin, for all her strengths, knew
entirely too little about America and the world to be VP just a health problem
away from the presidency. Americans ought to ask how we let that happen. And as
Steve Schmidt said today make sure it never happens again.
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