Game Change's Backstabbing Failure Steve Schmidt Idolized on Morning Joe
As NewsBusters reported Sunday, despite his failure as the McCain-Palin campaign’s senior adviser, and his subsequent backstabbing of the candidates he represented, HBO’s “Game Change” made him the hero of its Palin-bashing film that premiered Saturday.
The crew on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, with Schmidt as its guest, continued with this pathetic idol worship Monday (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):
Co-host Mika Brzezinski began the segment by getting Schmidt’s opinion of the film and if it was accurate.
Not surprisingly given the belief that he was one of the authors’ primary sources of information, Schmidt said, “It was very accurate. I think for all of us who were in the campaign, it really rang true.”
All of us? Well, not including the actual candidates McCain and Palin who since the book came out have said much of its contents were nonsense. In fact, McCain made some comments about Schmidt and the film on Fox News Sunday just 24 hours earlier stating, "It's based on a book that's completely biased and with unattributed quotes."
But nobody on the Morning Joe panel asked Schmidt about that or whether he was a source of authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's. I guess that would have been too much like journalism for them.
Such was the reverence Schmidt was afforded Monday, as if he were a conquering hero returning from battle having slain a great enemy of the nation.
And it continued throughout as Schmidt complained that the McCain-Palin campaign was an example of political cynicism where folks do what they believe is necessary to win without regard for what’s in the best interest of the country.
He also said the vetting of Palin “was debilitated by secrecy” leading to “a result that was reckless for the country.” Palin “wasn’t prepared” to be on the ticket according to Schmidt.
Yet nobody on this panel – which included Willie Geist, former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.), and Mike Barnicle – asked him about whether or not Barack Obama or Joe Biden were prepared to be on the Democrat ticket. Schmidt also wasn’t asked to compare the media’s treatment of Palin versus Obama and Biden.
That wouldn’t have been in keeping with the idol worship. He was there to continue the narrative that Palin was a failed candidate and not to cast aspersions on anyone else, certainly not the current White House resident or his bumbling vice president.
Geist then asked if it was reckless of Schmidt to have picked Palin as McCain’s running mate. Schmidt was allowed to quickly swat this aside by saying he was “part of a team that settled on the result.” And then what should have been a pivotal issue was dropped.
This was the campaign’s senior adviser who just claimed Palin was a seriously flawed candidate, but he was allowed to disavow any responsibility by saying it was a team decision. Never mind that he was the team’s manager.
Think Palin would have been able to so easily deflect blame or criticism?
Schmidt then told his fawning audience, “I would rather lose by ten points trying to win than lose by one point and look back and say, ‘Did we do everything we could to win?’ And for me, the experience on this campaign is that there are worse things than losing.”
Yes, it’s easy to lose when you’re hailed by the media as almost a God for doing so because you decided to attack the object of their disaffection you just so happened to previously be representing.
One quite imagines that if Schmidt had kept his mouth shut and remained loyal to those he had previously served, he wouldn’t be receiving this kind of media adoration nor be a contributor to MSNBC.
Not surprisingly, none of this came up Monday morning.
To further illustrate the absurdity on display, Schmidt told the panel, “This was a person [Palin] who was in distress at some points during this campaign, and I look at did I do as a person, did I interact with a person who was in distress the way that you would want to interact with a person in distress? And I always think that I did a great job on that.”
Brzezinski responded – and I’m not kidding – “Wow!”
So this senior adviser to the campaign that suffered the biggest landslide since Michael Dukakis in 1988 told a panel of three so-called journalists and one former Congressman that he did a “great job,” and the only response was, “Wow!”
Even more preposterous, Ford then asked the backstabbing failure to advise the current Republican presidential candidates on how to pick a running mate.
I kid you not!
Please take this in for a moment: Should the senior campaign adviser who led a team that not only got clobbered in the previous election but also selected in his view a seriously flawed vice presidential candidate be giving anyone advice on how to choose a running mate?
Nobody on the set noticed this pathetic hypocrisy, and Schmidt was allowed to pontificate without interruption as if he were the expert on the subject.
But then Schmidt uttered the line that is going to be played over and over again by Palin-hating media members for days if not weeks: “I think the notion of Sarah Palin being President of the United States is something that frightens me, frankly, and I played a part in that.”
He continued, “I played a part in that because we were fueled by ambition to win. And I think that ambition to win, to victory, it’s what drives people in politics. It is a chess match in a lot of ways, but that result and how we got there is something that troubles me a lot, and doesn’t stand the test of time in my view.”
This elicited several “Wows” from Brzezinski.
Enter NBC’s Andrea Mitchell by satellite who asked Schmidt if “Palin is now a different person and whether she has the qualifications - because we’ve heard ruminations about her playing some role at the convention - whether you think that she has a role as a national leader in the Republican Party?”
Talk about softballs over the middle of the plate. Here’s a man that has been backstabbing Palin for years who just a minute prior said her being President frightens him.
With the seams of the ball bigger than they’ve ever been in front of his eyes, Schmidt said, “I hope not, and the reason I say that is because if you look at over the last four years, all of the deficiencies in knowledge, all the deficiencies in preparedness, she’s done not one thing to rectify them, to correct them.”
How would he know? Did anyone on the panel or Mitchell from another location ask him if he’s had any contact with the former Alaska governor to be qualified to make such a statement?
Of course not. This is exactly what they wanted to hear from their conquering hero about the woman they hate, and he couldn’t have done a better job of once again stabbing her in the back with the cameras rolling.
In the end, politics sure does make strange bedfellows.
In sports and business, backstabbing failures are scorned.
But this is what becomes of failed Republican campaign advisers willing to proudly disparage those they used to work for: they are heralded as heroes rather than goats by a fawning media with what should be an obvious agenda, especially to those on the receiving end of the hypocritical praise.
For his part, Schmidt - clearly lacking a soul or a conscience - is going to ride this wave as far as it can go, as for him, the selection of Palin really was a game change.
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Comments
The latest inductee to the Dick Morris Turncoat Hall of Shame.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 10:45am.
I suppose Schmidt will now be offered a coveted Shmoe 'frequent regular guest' spot, much like the sometimes lovely but always vicious Nicolle Wallace.
Let them run against Sarah Palin
Submitted by pilsener on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 12:32pm.
Let them run against Sarah Palin.
All but the most hard-core Democrat voters realize that for the last 4 years Sarah Palin has been in charge of nothing. Sarah Palin has not wrecked the economy, raised taxes, driven the U.S. deeper into debt, weakened the U.S. militarily, or apologized to the world.
Think about how delusional you have to be to - WOW! - believe that Sarah Palin was the reason that McCain lost.
As unprepared as Palin was
Submitted by inquiringmind on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 10:59am.
As unprepared as Palin was for the National spotlight, she would have been a better VP than than our current bumbler VP. Didn't Biden get chosen for his foreign policy chopps? That has been a huge mistake.
And if the worst had happened and McCain passed away during his Presidency and Palin thrust into that top spot , she would have still done a better job than Obama.
Steve Schmidt has no other
Submitted by Free Stinker on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:12am.
Steve Schmidt has no other way to "stay relevant" than by slandering Palin.
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Who's fault is it???
Submitted by c5then on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:12am.
The QB drafted out of college because he is excellent at the triple option, or the coach who tries to use him in a drop back passing offense?
Palin was picked because she had certain qualities that the McCain campaign was looking for (at least ostensibly) and then was not allowed to use those qualities because the "advisors" didn't understand them. Schmidt is a typical political opperative who thinks winning at any cost is the goal. What he and the other people running the campaign failed to understand (McCain too) was that Palin helped offset McCain's RINO status, but they wouldn't let her be the conservative that she is. They kept trying to out populist Obama.
If they had allowed the campaign to be about a young socialist with questionable citizenship combined with an old socialist with questionable mental stability versus an experienced populist and a young conservative, they may have had a shot at it. Instead they allowed the campaign to become a young black man against an old white guy.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
RINO? What RINO?
Submitted by needle on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:31am.
I wonder to what degree McCain understand that he is a RINO.
I suspect that he thinks that he is as conservative as anybody, and that his numerous flirtations with Liberals are lamentably misunderstood by those less sophisticated people who do not live around the Beltway. And BTW, how is the poor guy going to get any love from the [thoroughly Liberal] media, if he does not throw them a bouquet once in awhile.
But RINO?!? Who dat?
Yeah, who dat indeed!
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.
Ah! the liberals obsession with Palin is endless
Submitted by gruyere cheese on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:34am.
I watched the CNN interview with the HBO producers of this movie over the weekend and boy, they both looked desperate to plug this movie in with the public. There are more serious issues to be discussed on the airwaves which involves the Liberals' President, but instead they chose to yak, yak over Palin's movie on HBO?
What does picking a loser like Schmidt...
Submitted by Jman449 on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:34am.
...say about McCain? Obama is a disaster, but let's not forget that McCain would have been a disaster, too. Where did he dig this stiff up to manage his campaign? What is simply amazing is that the Republican Party is about to do the exact same thing this year. Another "electable" candidate with a liberal history. Wonder how many Steve Schmidt-types are lurking in the Romney campaign?
And there'll be more of the same with RINO Romney
Submitted by russedav on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:36am.
if he's the GOP nominee, another infantile liberal, Santorum being the only reasonable adult running for President. Cantor disappointed me that he could be so foolish as to support Romney. Anyone who supports a member of the depraved Moron cult is an ignorant and stupid irrational bigot, like founder Joseph Smith, though hopefully not as immoral with his many wives, some young enough to be his daughters and some who already had husbands from whom the "prophet" (read "profit-ed")took them. It sadly proves most Americans are who ring egotistical fools who know nothing whatsoever about Christianity and they will sadly have to give God an account for it at the Judgment, though not nearly as frightening an account as their leaders. God save us.
CHILL OUT!
Submitted by Mrs. Vito on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 7:09pm.
I'm a conervative woman, and you sound like an intolerate liberal! Mormons do have First Amendment protections. Get a grip and stop acting like 'them' because you don't agree.
They Lie to Your Face...The Back Stabbers
Submitted by cobokat on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 11:51am.
I watched this segment with disgust. I think this should be a lesson to the current crop of candidates and any future candidates...choose you staff wisely. Nicole Wallace is just as bad...these people are truly creepy!
Schmidt is a collaborator pig.
Submitted by JLin on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 12:01pm.
One could not have done more to deliberately sabotage Palin and the McCain-Palin campaign itself than what Schmidt did. It is clear that this guy was a sabateur from the beginning. No wonder they lionize him. He should be permanently blackballed - from Republican campaigns at a minimum.
The American People were treated like chumps in a rigged election.
Brzezinski, Schmidt, Halperin and other panel particants
Submitted by NVRAT on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 12:43pm.
Probably line up every morning on their knees and worship (sic) Obama and Biden. I think that Obama and Biden have proven that they are not capable or competent of performing their duty`s as President and VP and have proven it time and time again. If our MSM were truly Journalists and the Networks were truly objectionable then the truth would come out for all to see and the two top politicians would be exposed for what they really are...Marxists, Communists or what ever you want to call them. I envision all of these guy`s as little brown objects floating in the toilet bowl.
Do not watch MSM propaganda, do not watch HBO and do not support Hollywood productions. Hit them in the wallet, that's the way to get even.
NVRAT
Submitted by Model850 on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 3:24pm.
If our MSM were truly Journalists and the Networks were truly objectionable
They ARE truly objectionable! Pretty sure you meant objective.
Sorry. No offense. It's humorous sometimes when our fingers get ahead of our brains while typing.
Schmidt
Submitted by Free Stinker on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 1:39pm.
I'm sure if Schmidt lived in 1940 France he would trip over himself rushing to colaberate with the Gestapo.
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
To me the most interesting
Submitted by tcm14 on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 1:55pm.
To me the most interesting part of this is that they are wondering if she is more electable now. They are STILL terrified of her.
I hope she runs again someday, if for no other reason than to watch them crap their pants.
When it comes to 'backstabbing' don't forget Nicole Wallace...
Submitted by Conservator on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 2:23pm.
...the other heroine of the HBO lefty bias movie. I forced myself to watch this trash so I could respond to those who are praising the movie. However as I watched it, the two people who looked dreadful in this fictitious movie was Schmidt and Wallace. I doubt Repubilicans will look for advice from these political wimps and loosers. In addition, when 'Game Change' viciously attacked Hillary and Bill Clinton as well.
Amazingly, that's not part of the HBO hit piece:
"...Except for Barack Obama, who in this and all campaign histories is ever the embodiment of cool, the major camps in the 2008 race come away from this book wounded, looking more like their public caricatures than ever. There's already been some collateral damage, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid having to apologize for a passage in which he said Obama does not have a "Negro dialect" unless he wants one. But there's more where that came from.
The following is a run-down of some of the more interesting factoids and anecdotes in the 436 pages of this book.
The Clinton Camp
The book starts off with a bang, detailing early on how Hillary Clinton's campaign was preparing from the get-go for dealing with rumors of her husband's infidelity.
Then-campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was disturbed, according to the book, about the very specific rumors she was hearing about the former president. They touched on affairs with actress Gina Gershon, a member of Canada's parliament, and a "wealthy divorcee," according to the book. The campaign considered the rumblings a big problem, and created a "war room within a war room" to deal with "the threat posed by Bill's libido." They worked to discredit most of the rumors, but according to the book discovered that at least one of them was true.
"Bill was indeed having an affair -- and not a frivolous one-night stand but a sustained romantic relationship," the book said.
The war room braced for the impact that ultimately never came. But tensions remained high.
Hillary Clinton reportedly lashed out at Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill after she said in an interview that Bill Clinton was a great president but she doesn't want her daughter "near him." Hillary Clinton in response canceled a fundraiser she was set to hold for the Missouri Democrat.
"F--- her," Clinton told an adviser.
As it turned out, the trouble for the Clinton campaign wasn't the former president's libido but his mouth. His public comments about Barack Obama were seen as insensitive, and at times racial - among those comments was Clinton's claim that Obama's opposition to the Iraq war was a "fairy tale," interpreted by some Obama supporters as a broad comment on the Illinois senator's campaign as a whole. Yet according to the book, Clinton bragged after his wife's New Hampshire primary victory that that comment was "pivotal" to her win..."
Source: Game Change: Latest Account of 2008 Campaign Full of Juicy Bits
These facts might have made the movie more interesting, but the writers and producers only cared to bash Sarah Palin one more time.
John Edwards
Submitted by NC Boy on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 2:31pm.
Now that he is up on felony charges, those liberal "journalists" are happy to throw him under the bus. But they were completely content with his qualifications when he was running for PRESIDENT, and it took the National Enquirer to stop him.
Qualifications? What qualifications?
Submitted by needle on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 6:11pm.
[L]iberal "journalists"… were completely content with [John Edwards's] qualifications when he was running for PRESIDENT.
Oh, you mean that he Is a liberal Democrat. That sums up vetting for the MSM. Anything else the MSM want you to know they have already told you. Whatever they have not told you, they prefer you not to know, which, of course, is why they have not already told it to you. Gad, this is simple.
Now if one is running as a Republican…, well that is ENTIRELY different.
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.
mj
Submitted by amyshulk on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 5:55pm.
Way to go Joe - you got me to quit watching your train wreck of a show.
Ronald Reagan
Double post
Submitted by needle on Mon, 03/12/2012 - 6:12pm.
Double post
- Looking forward to the self-annihilation of the Manipulated Stories Machine.