'Game Change': Sarah Palin Presidency 'Frightens' Former McCain Strategist Steve Schmidt

Steve Schmidt, a former campaign strategist for John McCain, discussed HBO's "Game Change" on Monday, stating that the film was a "very accurate" depiction of the 2008 presidential campaign. Schmidt also candidly discussed his part in bringing Sarah Palin onto the Republican ticket.

In an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe", Schmidt talked about the film, which premiered on Saturday night, and his role in McCain's presidential bid.

"I think it was very accurate," he said of the movie. "For all of us in the campaign, it really rang true. It gave you a little bit of PTSD at times."

Schmidt's take on the film is a departure from others depicted in the political drama, based on the 2010 book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. Palin dismissed the film as inconsequential, and said that she would not watch it. McCain, who also refused to watch, criticized the filmmakers for the way they portray Palin.

"They continue to disparage and attack her person," McCain said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. "I admire and respect her, I'm proud of our campaign and I'm humbled by the fact that I was able to give her [the vice-presidential nomination]."

Schmidt also discussed Palin's political future on Monday, stating that the idea of a Palin presidency "frightens" him.

"I think the notion of Sarah Palin being president of the United States is something that frightens me, frankly," he said. "And I played a part in that. And played a part in that because we were fueled by ambition to win."

Although Schmidt does not blame Palin for McCain's loss to Barack Obama, he seemed to express regret about putting a candidate on the ticket who was "unprepared" to be president.

"Politically, she was a net positive to the campaign," he said. "John McCain lost that race because the global economy imploded in the middle of September, and we were outspent by $250 million."

He continued, "I think a net negative in the sense that someone was nominated to the vice presidency who was manifestly unprepared to take the oath of office should it become necessary. And as it has become necessary many times in America."

Comments

[DavidEvan]

10:18 PM on 03/14/2012

I'm a liberal but I don't hate Sarah Palin as a person. I found that the film Game Change very much showed the likeable and emulate-able qualities of the woman. It did also show the challenges that most of us would have running for this high office if we admitted the dificulty and stress of this to ourselves.

What I really not only dislike but despise is her -- and Santorum's celebration of ignorance rather than the obvious flaws in her specific education. The President, in being Presidential, is correct to say that some level of vocational, if not academic and vocational post high school education is needed for most jobs.

I also feel that a disdain for education and knowledge is a violation of the 1st Commandment to love God with -all-of our mind, as well as our heart.

[Sharon Bristol]

03:35 PM on 03/14/2012

Palin Haters- This kinda makes you all look pretty foolish but i'll try not to gloat...too much!
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/03/13/Palin%2010%20HBO%201

[Thias Mha]

11:14 PM on 03/14/2012

What? ..you are so wrong..I myself am not a hater. It makes no sense to waste my energy hating. But I tell you what young lady..I would really love to see Sarah Louise Palin stay away from politics where she does NOT belong. She should find other things to occupy her mind.

[Sharon Bristol]

02:07 AM on 03/16/2012

Those that can, do. those who can't, sit around complaining about those who do. Maybe you should find other things to do with your own mind, jealousy is very unbecoming.

[Luv2Purple]

12:15 PM on 03/17/2012

this grizzlyLipped woman QUIT her last two government jobs. Usually when you QUIT your job you FORFEIT any input into the position. She became the one and ONLY person in US HISTORY to QUIT a governorship during their one and only half term. She ABORTED her public responsibility that she sore an oath to serve (guess her word is worth nothing) she ABANDONED the voters and the state. As "Game Change" accurately showed she is/was almost incomprehensibly ill prepared and ignorant. She's a big mouthed diva and the ultimate LOSER. Your heroine has become the BIGGESTBUTT of all political humor.

[Sharon Bristol]

03:46 PM on 03/17/2012

She was forced out by jealous haters like you. Maybe the reason Palin is the only governor to "quit" was because she is the only one who actually cares about her state enough to know when it was being hurt because of what people like you were doing. It takes a really big person to do what she did .You obviously are too blinded by jealousy and envy that you cant even see a true selfless act when its shoved in your face. You would rather see another "quitter" aka Obama who barely served a day in the senate and quit his job to take on another job that even he himself admitted wasn't experienced enough to hold. Everything has gotten worse since Obama. His bailouts arent working, his green companies are going bust, our brand new Obamacare is actually going to cost 10 times more than obama said it would and everything we were warned about is happening. The housing sucks, gas prices are through the roof and Obama is too busy campaigning to be bothered. do you think he would be a big enough man to step aside for the good of his country and its people the way Palin did? OH HELL NO, he'll just keep screwing it up and to hell with the rest of us. I can see why you hold this man in such high esteem and call palin the failure.

[Sharon Bristol]

01:31 PM on 03/14/2012

Palin may be all those things people say but the reality is you guys are even dumber than Palin because the "qualifications" for president are as follows-
US Constitution, Article II, Section 1

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.

So yes she is "qualified" to president just as Obama was even though he has no clue what he is doing (which is very obvious now). This is why we have different posts that our presidents fill once they are elected such as the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State and so on. You dont have to "know" a damn thing yourself if you choose the right people to advise you. In fact maybe you can name one president or even one person for that matter who knows everything about everything ? Do you think Regan,Kennedy, Washington or Lincoln knew everything when they were elected? Not hardly, try reading up on our presidents and how much they all actually knew.

[Sharon Bristol]

03:36 PM on 03/14/2012

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/03/13/Palin%2010%20HBO%201

[DavidEvan]

09:54 PM on 03/14/2012

It's pretty sad when some diss-understand a legal birth record, usually due to the real problem too many have of accepting our President because of race. Besides even if Obama was foreign born, which he is not, and even if he is a Muslim, which he is not, I would still vote for him over Mitt Romney the Multinational capitalist who sees jobs not as American but as a CEO, for what helps the soulless free-market bottom line.

[magarch1]

09:43 AM on 03/14/2012

Is it just me, or is this Steve Schmidt guy getting off free and clear? The movie, which HE says is extremely accurate, clearly shows that HE made the decision to push for her because McCain was losing and they needed a "game change." Now, he's a squeeky clean TV pundit & takes no resposibility and isn't ashamed of what he did.
As far as I'm concerned, Schmidt foisted Palin on the American electorate, knew she wasn't capable, was willing to see her a heartbeat away from the Presidency, and kept his mouth shut all along...!!! Frightening!!! Much worse, when you think about it, Schmidt was responsible for bringing her to us, and thus, responsible for her co-opting the previosly 'normal' republican party, she was the beginnings of the fringe, right wing tea party, she started the hate talk & "clarified" for haters that Obama wasn't "one of us." American politics and reasonable discourse hasn't been the same since Palin entered the scene & divided the Nation and SCHMIDT IS RESPONSIBLE... It'll take a generation to overcome the diseases that are Palin and Schmidt.... Very discouraging to say the least....

[whenicyouucme]

08:46 AM on 03/14/2012

The scary part is Palin is just the tip of the ice berg for incompetence in Washington.

[TheBluesGuy]

08:13 AM on 03/14/2012

"John McCain lost that race because the global economy imploded in the middle of September, and we were outspent by $250 million."
__________

So, 69 million Americans voted for Mr. Obama because the global economy exploded 60 days before the election? And Mr. McCain's politics were not the issue for those voters?

[Thias Mha]

01:22 AM on 03/14/2012

..anyways..she may be suffering from a bipolar condition..i feel sad..so sad for her

[obamagal]

02:03 PM on 03/14/2012

I'm generally an empathetic person but cannot find any for her. The fact she was that close to the White House is a very scary thing and does anyone doubt the power struggle there would have been within the WH if the election had gone the other way? If this had been about a hockey mom, yes. About a VPOTUS? Never.

[Thias Mha]

11:04 PM on 03/14/2012

Yes you are absolutely right...she has NO place in politics! Her place is on the time-out chair in the corner..but I still feel bad for her

[janman50]

09:42 PM on 03/13/2012

Sara Palin will never become president because of one major character flaw:

She has no character!

[Celeste5793]

07:04 PM on 03/13/2012

But now Schmidt works for Msnbc.

[Lamar Chapman III]

05:11 PM on 03/13/2012

GREETINGS GHENRY:

REMOVE THAT POST! REMOVE THAT POST! REMOVE THAT POST! Who's dumb now?

LAMAR C. CHAPMAN III
OAK BROOK, ILLINOIS - USA

[ErrinF]

04:13 PM on 03/13/2012

What this all highlights is what purveyors of ignorance McCain and Palin are. And dishonest ones at that.

McCain and Palin have seen or will see the movie. They will just watch it secretly in private. They want their followers to not watch the movie, because if they did so, a few eyes might be opened to just what pols like McCain and Palin are all about.

[kcsmom]

03:26 PM on 03/13/2012

Having watched the movie I had some empathy for her for the first time; she didn't have the intellect to realize she wasn't prepared to be vice-president, and that's sad.
Many "good and decent" people have no business being vice president. What amazes me is that she still talks, not having yet mastered what constitutes a complete sentence.

Couric deserved an Emmy for keeping a straight face during the now historic interview.

[Womanvoter4Obama]

05:49 PM on 03/13/2012

I agree. And I knew this type of thing had been written about me and was being made into a movie and I wanted to continue in politics I would have done things much differently. I would have gone back to school and studied politics. I would have paid people to teach me the policy thing I needed to know. I would have studied and became a contender. I would not have sat on my twitter and Facebook pages for three years becoming a political sniper and arm chair politician. I would have tried my level best to become the woman the McCain campaign thought they were getting. But you see she has made absolutely NO effort to improve herself or her knowledge of the way government works. She's instead chosen to anoint herself an expert politician and has used Fox News and Hannity to strut her stuff. She really could have been a contender had she done her homework. The problem with her is, she doesn't like work or thinking too hard. It's hard.

[Dandylion]

11:00 PM on 03/17/2012

I don't think she is capable of understanding politics on a deeper level. She was picked for her star power. That the McCain team did not do their homework and check her back ground out before presenting her to the world stage of American politics is really an embarrassment to their abilities to anticipate and think of the big picture of the consequences of what they were doing. They took a risk and they messed up. She is an attractive woman but in no way should she ever have been considered for the job of Vice President.

[Womanvoter4Obama]

05:49 PM on 03/13/2012

Sorry for the grammatical errors!

[indy girl]

07:35 AM on 03/14/2012

That just makes it more authentic, you betcha! ;-)

[JeanVA]

03:04 PM on 03/13/2012

According to Schmidt: "Politically, she was a net positive to the campaign," he said. "John McCain lost that race because the global economy imploded in the middle of September, and we were outspent by $250 million."

$250 million? That's all? Oh, God, if we'd had super-pacs back then, Palin could very well be vice-president today. (Or Pres, if she's managed to trip John on the stairs...)

[truth be told again]

04:10 PM on 03/13/2012

"The fundamentals of our economy are STRONG!" - John McCain, 2008

[Twelve]

03:02 PM on 03/13/2012

While I applaud Schmidt's honesty now, he voted for the McCain ticket which could have led to McCain as president and Palin al;so if something had happened to McCain. The fact that he was willing to let this travesty go forward does not say much about his commitment to the country.

[golions]

02:53 PM on 03/13/2012

Four years ago who guessed that she was the beginning of a trend? GOP candidates these days are scary.

[redwingirish]

05:18 PM on 03/13/2012

You are correct, but it's been longer than 4 years!