John McCain: "Tensions" Existed Between Governor Palin and Steve Schmidt

I watched with interest John McCain's interview this morning on CNN with John King. I have been going back and forth over whether or not this is worthy of a post. Ultimately I have decided to post it because it has gone viral on the internet and is being talked about on the cable news channels. In the interview, McCain is first shown a video clip of Steve Schmidt's unhinged rant, previously discussed here, here, and here. After this, King asks McCain to comment. CNN's Martina Stewart discusses the interview:

Former Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain is openly admitting that there were tensions between his former campaign manager Steve Schmidt and those close to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain’s one-time White House running mate. Still, McCain calls Palin “a formidable force” in the GOP and remains open to the possibility of Palin being his party’s presidential nominee in 2012.

“With a high-pressure situation, there's always tensions that develop within campaigns,” McCain says in a wide-ranging interview that airs Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. ”And there were clearly tensions between Steve Schmidt and people in the Palin camp.”

Still, McCain said, Palin was an asset to his presidential campaign.

“There are fundamental facts … that cannot be denied,” McCain adds. “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.”

“I have great affection for her,” McCain continues. But “did we always agree on everything in the past? Will we in the future? No.”

While McCain said he could not predict what would happen in the next presidential election, the Arizona Republican says he is open to many potential nominees for his party — including Palin.

“Look let's let a thousand flowers bloom. Let's come up with a winning combination the next time. … let's all go through the process, rather than condemning anybody's chances,” he says, reacting to recent comments about Palin by Schmidt. “And I'm happy to say we have some great people out there, and Sarah is one of them.”

More here, including video. While this is not exactly an endorsement, McCain does seem to be waking up to the reality, however slowly, that Governor Palin, to quote Chris Cillizza, "is a -- if not the -- prime mover in the Republican Party".

What really struck me about the interview, however, is the fact that McCain finally admitted, unambiguously, that "there were clearly tensions between Steve Schmidt and people in the Palin camp". The likely reason why Schmidt made such a foolish statement earlier this month is to preemptively defend himself against what is sure to be an unflattering portrayal when Going Rogue is released next month.

I remember reading about Governor Palin's efforts to break free from morons such as Schmidt toward the end of the campaign. Schmidt and other "campaign insiders" then accused Governor Palin of being a diva, of "going rogue", and other such nonsense. The following example is excerpted from an October 26, 2008 CNN article:

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."

A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.

[...]

The Politico reported Saturday on Palin's frustration, specifically with McCain advisers Nicolle Wallace and Steve Schmidt. They helped decide to limit Palin's initial press contact to high-profile interviews with Charlie Gibson of ABC and Katie Couric of CBS, which all McCain sources admit were highly damaging.

Steve Schmidt is an incompetent fool who's practicing some CYA. However, the blame for his absurd mishandling of the campaign's best asset, Governor Palin, rests with McCain. Schmidt should have been fired immediately as soon as the "tensions" McCain spoke of above between Schmidt and Governor Palin were known. This was John McCain's campaign, not Steve Schmidt's campaign. There is no logical reason McCain should have kept Schmidt on board when he clearly did not have Governor Palin's best interest in mind. Her interests coincided with what should have been the campaign's sole interest: victory. In today's interview, McCain seemed to be taking Governor Palin's side. It's too bad he didn't take her side during the campaign, when it may have made a difference.

Schmidt has said McCain's loss was pre-ordained. In other words, he didn't believe in his own campaign. McCain should have replaced him with someone who did see a path to victory. Someone not afraid to employ their best asset, Governor Palin, in a manner consistent with the goal of victory. To use a football analogy, would you hire a head coach who didn't believe the team could win? Governor Palin was (and is) a self-made political star. She didn't need to be "handled". Throughout her political career, she has always thrived when she did things her own way. She has far more experience at winning elections than Steve Schmidt will ever have.

I believe it's fair to assume that Governor Palin will never let Steve Schmidt within a thousand miles of any future campaign. For that reason alone, it's in Schmidt's best interest that she not win the nomination. Anyone who hires Steve Schmidt to run their campaign in the future will deserve the loss they will undoubtedly incur. Mark Levin, in the video below, has some career advice for Steve Schmidt:

If I had been the former chief campaign strategist for John McCain, I think I might leave that profession and be in charge of the French fry fryer at Burger King.

It's difficult to argue with Levin on this. I just hope I don't order fries at the Burger King Schmidt works at. I suspect he cooks fries with the same skill he manages campaigns.