The continued attacks on Sarah Palin by campaign Aides to Senator John McCain are almost beyond belief. Continued attacks on Palin, and on her performance as the Vice Presidential candidate by McCain Aide Steve Schmidt, are particularly ridiculous given Schmidt’s track record of incompetence and missteps by the Senior McCain Aide during the Presidential campaign.

Schmidt is, after all, part of the gang that had McCain suspend his presidential campaign and rush back to Washington to take the exact same position as Barack Obama on the first Federal bailout bill which in the end, only bailed out Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street Bankers. With his endorsement of the bailout, McCain lost any chance to draw a contrast with Obama and wage a competitive race for the Presidency.

Schmidt, the political genius was also party to the late October announcement that the McCain campaign was writing off Michigan. Even if polling showed that Michigan was beyond reach, why would you announce it publically so the Obama campaign could shift resources from Michigan to another toss-up-state?

Schmidt also made the rookie mistake of releasing campaign videos on a regular basis which almost always stepped on the subject matter of McCain’s speech on any given day. The pathetic “Paris Hilton” video is a perfect example. It drowned out media coverage of McCain’s speech on healthcare that day. Under Schmidt, the McCain campaign was sending mixed and conflicting messages to the media. Insiders tell me Schmidt was running his own campaign from his end of the office, rarely coordinating with Campaign Manager, Rick Davis, or the traveling party.

There is no doubt about the fact that the situation on the Palin campaign tour was chaotic. The candidate was rarely on time, baggage was lost, daily schedules were not printed or distributed on time, and Palin’s speeches were rarely given to the press in advance as is customary in a presidential campaign. This is all because Schmidt insisted on appointing two of his college buddies with no previous political experience whatsoever to run the Palin tour. Jason Recher was Palin’s Tour Director and Andrew Smith, Schmidt’s college room-mate, was her Chief of Staff. The complete lack of any political experience by both ensured the chaos that surrounded Palin.

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