In a new article in Newsweek, the author Holly Bailey claims that:
The man in charge of John McCain's day-to-day presidential campaign is tired of reporters saying he's Rove's "protégé"—the implication being that he is willing to do anything to win.
The article goes on to detail how "pained" Schmidt is this campaign has turned out this way--neglecting, of course, of the single-minded way that the McCain campaign, under Schmidt's direction, has injected toxic negativity at every turn.
The article also makes curious mention of one of Schmidt's prior jobs:
After Bush won in '04, Schmidt took a job at the White House working for Dick Cheney. The vice president had the worst persona in politics—his popularity was in the low 20s—and Schmidt was given the unenviable task of giving the dour, secretive vice president a personality makeover.
Hmm, a campaign consultant whose job was to make over the image of a violently unpopular Republican political figure. (A job he failed to do, by the way.)
Say... you don't suppose that Schmidt, with his client John McCain highly favored to lose--and lose big--isn't possibly trying to pull the same PR shenanigans with the press for himself, do you?
Exit Turd Blossom 2.0?
Enter the kinder, gentler Schmidt whose feelings get hurt when someone even mentions Rove in his presence?
And, bingo:
Privately, Schmidt's friends say he has expressed worry about how he will be viewed after the campaign. "He does not desire to go through life with the tag of Karl Rove disciple attached to him," says one friend who asked not to be named talking about private conversations. "He has a life to go back to that has nothing to do with politics … But he also wants to win."
Aww, poor baby.
Maybe next time, Schmidty will realize that actions have consequences.
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