I got the very strong impression while reading Robert Draper’s New York Times Magazine piece on how the McCain campaign has presented it’s case to the American public that Steve Schmidt was already trying to pre-spin a McCain loss and to blame it on other voices in the campaign. Meanwhile, some other source, obviously closer to Draper, blames Schmidt primarily for what he sees as the McCain campaign’s forthcoming loss.
Schmidt is given almost sole credit in the piece for the Palin pick, the celebrity ads, the decision to shut out the press, the insistence on message discipline and on “controlling” McCain, and the push of the “winning” the surge versus Democratic quitters message, and the overall negative campaigning. Schmidt is given credit for being able to win many news cycles with these tactics – but the overall thrust of the piece is that McCain has been winning news cycles while losing the campaign. I’m certain reading through this that Schmidt himself was all to happy to take credit for some of these tactics, as much as I am certain he wouldn’t have wanted to take credit for others.
Reading the piece it looks all too much like the pieces written about Kerry’s team in 2004 – although not as bad as the constant backbiting in Hillary’s team this year. This doesn’t mean McCain has lost – but it does seem like the political operatives are sensing that this time around they need to cover their asses.