Steve Schmidt Was Always a Hack

When John McCain’s 2008 campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, decided to throw the GOP’s vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, under the bus after losing the election to Barack Obama, I thought it was wrong.

Sure, the gamble on Palin ended up a bust, but Schmidt had picked her, and there is an implicit agreement of loyalty and discretion on a campaign. Just as smart legal defendants must level with their defense attorney, candidates must tell their campaign manager everything. This makes them vulnerable, which is why professionalism dictates keeping secrets the way a priest or an attorney might. (Okay, maybe you don’t take everything to the grave, but you wait a few decades before writing a memoir.) Read Full Article »