Rove "Wrong" About Palin, Steve Schmidt Says

In an interview with CBS' Katie Couric last night, John McCain chief strategist Steve Schmidt takes Karl Rove to task:

COURIC: I want to get your reaction to something Karl Rove told the Washington Post today. He said Sarah Palin was, quote, "not a governing decision but a campaign decision." What's your reaction.

Mr. SCHMIDT: Karl's wrong. She's an exceptional governor, a reform governor in Alaska. Fifty states in this country, she is the most popular governor of any governor of any state. Her approval ratings are 80 percent. When you look at the fact that Congress's approval rating is 9 percent, and 85 percent of the country thinks we're going in the wrong direction, she's doing something right up there.

She's fought the oil companies. She's building a huge natural gas pipeline. She's taken on the corrupt special interests. She's returned taxpayer money back to families in Alaska. She is the future of the Republican Party. She's going to be an outstanding vice president.

The simple fact here is that this is a mom of five children. There's been a private family matter and she's been under viscous assault and attack from the angry left. And we've seen that today. There's a lot of allegations and rumors, almost all of them untrue. The other side is throwing everything but the kitchen sink at her to see what sticks.

American people are going to love her when they meet her. She's an exceptional woman, an accomplished woman; and by any objective measurement, Katie, she is more experienced and more accomplished than Senator Obama. She's a woman who manages billion dollar budgets. She makes decisions every day. One of the most exceptional governors in the country.

COURIC: So you don't think pre--that Barack Obama's experience as a state senator for eight years and then a US senator for four years, how can you compare those two?

Mr. SCHMIDT: Well, Barack Obama was in the United States Senate for one year before he took off, and Senator Graham will talk about that, to run for president full time. When he was a state senator, he had no executive decisions. At 130 times tough votes, he took a pass and voted present. Leaders have to make decisions. Governor Palin makes decisions.

Couric also challenged Schmidt and Sen. Lindsey Graham on Palin's opposition to the "Bridge to Nowhere" project:

COURIC: So do you think Senator Graham, governors are better leaders than senators?

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Sen. GRAHAM: I think governors--having been in the Senate, probably. Governor Palin, I think, really compliments what John wants to do. John has looked at Washington as broken, and it's not nothing--something new to him. I was one of 14 senators who voted against "a bridge to nowhere." I was scared because I knew what was going to come my way. The governor of Alaska said no to the project.

COURIC: But didn't she initially say yes to the project?

Sen. GRAHAM: Yeah.

COURIC: So doesn't that kind of drive a hole into that argument?

Sen. GRAHAM: I think--I have earmarked. I confess on national TV. This has been a journey for Alaska and the country. She's seen what's happened in Alaska. John's seen what has happened in Washington. If you wanted to pick somebody that had a record of change and would tell their own party things they didn't want to hear, she's the best pick John could have made. She's a lot like John.

COURIC: But she did have a change of heart of that bridge to nowhere, correct? I mean, let's just set the record straight.

Mr. SCHMIDT: She did. And let's be clear. She killed it at the end of the day. It's OK.

COURIC: After initially supporting it, that's all. I think we should set the record straight on that.

Mr. SCHMIDT: There's no--there's no--there's no question that that's--that that's the case.

Sen. GRAHAM: Yeah.

Comments

[maddie0001]

Isn't is Schmidt's job to say that?

[jetsya]

I'll give the lady her 1/2 hour tonight, but the speech will have been written for her(as with almost every politician). I would have preferred McCain and his cronies putting forward a more formidable running mate, instead on putting this lady with so much cultural baggage in the limelight. I am convinced he is seriously out-to-lunch in making executive decisions, and that is real scary, to me, anyway!

[nutty4tahoe]

Obama wrote his own convention speech.

[AforO]

Along with most of his other truly memorable speeches.

Dear god, if Obama doesn't get elected one must really wonder...

[bagelmaven]

Lies, lies, lies nothing but lies. All the Republicans can do is lie. THAT'S what they are REALLY good at. Sarah Palin took on the oil companies...only when she didn't. Oh sure the Republicans are about taking on the oil companies my antlers they are. Ridiculous. The Republicans ARE the oil companies. Give me a break. HOW utterly DUMB do you think we are. Pretty dumb I guess.

[rcwblessed]

I have never agreed with Rove on anything, but I think he slipped up and called this one honestly. McCain was behind and still slipping in the polls. Selecting Palin was a knee-jerk move made out of sheer panic. If this is how he makes decisions that will affect the lives of Americans, then I say he's a loose cannon. You think Bush was bad? McCain is Bush on steroids!

[mediabuster11]

how dumb do we know you are? oh the poor livid left is bummed out that the vp for the GOP has more experience than their upside down ticket. I love it when the left gets livid good job McCain! its working the whiners can stand it anymore. thank god the Dems. have CNN licking their wounds!

[maddie0001]

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

She also came into Wasilla with zero debt and left them with $22 million in debt. Haven't we had 8 years of that?
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate

[nutty4tahoe]

Wow, I've seen a lot of lame comments on this blog and yes, even some out and out lies, but this one hits a new level of pathetic. Just goes to show you how panicked the GOP has become.

[Nagarjuna]

So, mediabuster11, you're saying that you Republican trolls know that the rest of us are dumb, and that's why you lie about Palin taking on the oil companies? Are you sure that this is what you mean to say? Are you admitting that this is a Republican lie?

[ldillworth]

so poor judgement followed by slightly better judgement? (ps, the bridge to nowhere was already dead in the water when she decided to change her mind) What a leader.

the GOP should really stop talking, for their own sake, about Palin's 20 months of gov experience as being better than senatorial experience. McCain's never been a govenor or held executive office, so if they keep on with this talking point, won't people beging to wonder "so why isn't she the top of the ticket instead of McCain?"

Way to continue to undermine your own arguments GOP, I love it!

[arthur2008]

With all their self-serving machinations, George W. Bush and Karl Rove did not fully destroy their party. That makes it all the more ironic that John McCain and Steve Schmidt are coming pretty close to doing that, in their boundless cynicism (and rotten judgment).

[bison1]

This is frightening. The more I learn about Palin, I am convinced she is not a Republican. Her thinking is more in line with the Alaskan Independent Party of which her husband was a member.

[DaveNorthwest]

You think James Carville inspired all political consultants to shave their heads?

[shelsay]

Obama needs to create an ad with these two explaining this away. He could highlight how very confused they are this week and how they can't even agree on the reasons McSame made his first presidential decision.

[377thCSH]

my suggestion is to send palin, mcsame, and the entire repub party back to alaska, let palin, seperate from the states, he AIP party which she is a member wants to do that anyway. i mean come on, there is nothing there in alaska but open land. they could set up their own little compound. with no birth control there is soon to be plenty of inbreeding. oh, yeah, let the moose roam free and piss all over the BUSHes.

[shelsay]

Awh don't say that, I like Laura. She's classy and patient. Could you imagine being married to that man for 1 hour?

[JinChicago]

drug companies...

[renoir]

oh, plu-lease. classy? she's a sycophantic downed-out mess and her karma sucks. anyone with an ounce of human empathy or personal integrity would have left him when he was a coke-head... but she stayed and stayed and smiled and smiled. while iraq burned, while our schools went down the tubes, while new orleans suffered, while her man did a fist pump and grinned while calling us "the world's worst polluter". laura smiles and smiles. she's charming that way.

the only difference between those two is that people somehow still like her. these people are sociopaths. please don't give her a pass.

i do sense you you are joking... but i'm just so disgusted. please forgive me.

[Ourrias]

Katie, Katie, Katie.

How many times must you prove what a lousy interviewer you are?

[SailawayJane]

Apparently, a lot.

[Rogermac]

Schmidt said, "When he [Obama] was a state senator, he had no executive decisions. At 130 times tough votes, he took a pass and voted present."

Both he and Couric should know that in the Illinois senate it takes a majority vote of all the senators -- not just those who are present -- to pass something. This means that a vote of "present" has the same effect as a vote of "no." State senators sometimes use a vote of "present" to defeat a measure while signaling that they might approve it in an amended form.

I do not know what precise blend of malice and ignorance Couric and Schmidt were putting to work here, but is is sickening.

[PLDChicago]

I don't care if you don'tlike Obama, but must you lie. According to State Senator Cullerton voting present is a no vote with an attitude--to paraphrase.

While you people like to blame Democrats for all your troubles, you can blame the loss of this election on John McCain's lack of leadership and knowledge. He was in the lowest five people in this class.

[loball]

Am I wrong or did they secure the funds for the bridge to nowhere project and then kill it keeping the money for the state anyway? Kind of a bait and switch.

[ricehq]

I'm part of the "angry left".

And to think of it, "bitter", too.

[Msohio]

If they are so confident about her qualifications, let the media fully vet her.

[InspiredByTruth]

Under republican logic, if you are manager at Wendy's you have "executive experience" and qualify for Vice President. Are they trying to throw the election on purpose??

[Jaradan]

Yes. Only McCain wasn't in on the meeting.