He's a scary mother--and he's a quick study.
Jake Tapper writes:
Did you read the National Enquirer this week?
I didn't.
Why am I bringing it up?
Because I just got an e-mail about it from the McCain-Palin campaign.
He goes on to quote Schmidt:
"The smearing of the Palin family must end... The efforts of the media and tabloids to destroy this fine and accomplished public servant are a disgrace...
"Members of this campaign went to off-the-record lunches with reporters today...and they were asked if she would do paternity tests to prove paternity for her last child. Smear after smear after smear, and it's disgraceful and it's wrong. And the American people are going to reject it overwhelmingly when they see her."
Tapper concludes that the McCain Camp is just uneccessarily fanning the flames of these rumors.
But actually what Schmidt is doing is far more insidious and Rovian.
By lumping all of these sources together: the traditional media, the tabloids, the blogosphere, Schmidt is trying to create this amorphous blob of a media strawman--one that is spending every single moment trying to crush his candidate.
But this is a complete fallacy. In fact, this is little more than the promise of a "Global War of Terror"-style Orwellian perpetual war that can never end, but delivers McCain a conceptual opponent that, unlike Barack Obama, he may actually be able to defeat.
(Steve Schmidt, artist rendition)By the way, with respect to the National Enquirer story-- which before the ABC piece I had only seen referenced on the right-wing National Review blog section here.
Well, all I can say is: Wow. If that one turns out to be true--and pursued by the media--then John Edwards ended up doing the Democrats a serious solid this year.
UPDATE:
It seems like the McCain people are turning the National Enquirer pushback up to an Edwardsian 11.
Me thinks the lady doth protest too much?
1 comment:
The Tapper piece is really fascinating. Thanks for linking it here.
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