Posted on 10/11/2009 8:23:33 AM PDT by Saije
Former presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) acknowledged on CNN's State of the Union Sunday that tensions flared during his campaign between senior strategist Steve Schmidt and those allied with his running mate, then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
"With a high-pressure situation, there's always tensions that develop within campaigns," McCain said in a video excerpt posted online. "And there were clearly tensions between Steve Schmidt and people in the Palin camp."
Schmidt has recently become a vocal public critic of Palin, predicting that a presidential run by her in 2012 would prove "catastrophic" for the Republican Party. McCain did not criticize Palin and called her an overall asset to his campaign for whom he still has affection.
"There are fundamental facts ... that cannot be denied," McCain said. "When we selected or asked Sarah Palin to be my running mate, it energized our party. We were ahead in the polls, until the stock market crashed. And she still is a formidable force in the Republican Party."
"And I have great affection for her," he continued. "Did we always agree on everything in the past? Will we in the future? No."
(Excerpt) Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com ...
There’s no way any other GOP candidate but W would’ve beaten either Gore or Kerry.
I blame McNut for King Obama’s election. That pile of sh!! is the most stubborn egotistical peace of dung that the Republicans ever admitted to allowing the R back of his name. Even so, I would rather have him as President than the communists leader King Obama. Palin would have been a fantastic VP and might have kept that nitwit in line.
And we had warnings BEFORE the 2000 election too. Which is why the election was so close between Gore and Bush and had to be contested. A lot of TRUE CONSERVATIVES like myself knew what Bush was from the beginning. Our warnings fell on deaf ears.
He didn’t stop it while it was going on during the campaign. So that to me speaks volumes especially when she was “going rogue” when she called the talks without the campaign knowing it. Sarah is too straight forward to have not made her concerns known when the two were at joint venues.
Sarah was McCain’s VP pick, and as such it was her duty, in normal circumstances, to do what he said and to listen to his handlers.
It’s only too obvious that McCain’s handlers deliberately sabotaged her from the first minute they met with her, setting her up for two rotten and stupidly chosen interviews, refusing to let her talk to the press, and so forth. Finally McCain intervened and replaced the handlers, but it was already too late.
And, of course, Sarah was STILL under orders from the Boss not to talk about matters that might have led to Obama’s defeat. Reverend Wright—out of bounds. Communist mentors and pals—out of bounds. Obama’s extreme abortion record—out of bounds. And so forth.
Hard to win an election when your hands are tied. In the circumstances, it’s amazing how well Sarah did.
I THINK Pawlenty hired McKinnon. If any Republican hires Schmidt they should finish behind the Green candidate.
You will be able to recognize him immediately; he'll be the one that will be attached by the nose in a RINO's rectum.
I believe that is impossible to say. The Republicans nominated a one worlder “compassionate conservative”, which is a euphemism for “Democrat Lite”.
If we don’t learn our lessons from the past we are doomed to repeat them.
NO MORE RINOs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They were railroaded.
Bush should have pardoned them both, on day one.
The only good thing McCain did in recent years was to introduce America to Sarah Palin.
Yes, she “energized” the Party.
Yes, it MUST have become clear to McCain and his handlers
and strategists that her appeal gave the ticket several million more votes that it might not have had, millions more ENTHUSIASTIC votes. Enthusiasm of the kind McCain could never create on his own.
SO, acknowledging that fact, in the wake of defeat, is the factor that created all this animosity towards Sarah Palin, who is being blamed still for all the inadequacies of McCain himself.
I am sick and tired of McCain and his chauvinist-fool spokesmen, sick and tired of hearing them cling to this
conceit of theirs, thinking it’s a way to keep McCain ‘relevant’.
In the real world of electoral politics, McCain will NEVER be relevant again, if he ever was.
Just like a member of the other party, cowardly to the core, he cynically put a woman out there and sacrificed HER
for HIS ends. This makes me positively HATE John McCain, and explains why I cringe every time I see him or hear his asinine words quoted. He MUST be defeated.
PAWLENTY IS A LOSER, then!!! Mark McKinnon is a DEMOCRAT!! And he goes easy on the OPPONENETS BECAUSE OF IT!!
HE SOLD HER DOWN THE RIVER FOR A PROMISE FROM THE CHOSEN ONE.
I think his behavior after the crisis became the big news is what sunk the ticket, leaving the campaign trial and going back to DC, threatening to cancel the first debate which was about three days away, and generally appearing panicky rather than calm. Clueless Obama looked better saying nothing for several days and just standing to the side.
I doubt many people specifically based their vote on McCain's supporting the bailout. Obama sure supported it, so there was no distinction there, just as there was no distinction between McCain and Obama on several major issues.
“Timely observation.
Jeez - as bad as Obama is proving to be, about the only thing worse than him winning would have been McCain winning. And I worked on the McCain/Pailn campaign.
No more wasted nominations!”
It hurts me to say, but I agree. The blame for all of the s*** going on in D.C. will fall on the liberal anti-conservative movement. If Juan was elected and doing similar actions I do not think the sleeping giant would have awakened like it has to this magnitude.
Yes, Barry is way worse in terms of policies than Juan would have ever been. He is much more radical and really seems to hate America. But Carter brought us Reagan, so I have my hopes up.
I wasn’t happy about the last election until Palin jumped into the ring. I voted for her and no one else.
McCain is following Obama’s playbook. Have your minions trash your foes, then stand above the fray and look like the adult.
_____
Exactly! He’s doing damage control because her book is coming out next month and just may make him look like a bigger fool than he already is.
I suspect Palin did not hark on the fact that he hung her out to dry as he cowered at the attempted crucifixion by the Lamestream Obama run media. But I bet she’ll have a subtle way of getting the point across at the treachery of Don Juan McCain.
Which proves he lacked sufficient control of his campaign. There's a news flash!
There apparently is no concept of Liberty & Tyranny
With evidence withheld by Johnny Sutton. Do yourself a favor and get the “rest of the story” before parroting the media’s talking points. If you’d like to know much more, find research by Laura Ingraham and Megyn Kelly.
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