About Schmidt

September 11th handed George Bush his second term -- yet he almost managed to lose. And this against a second-rate candidate in John Kerry.

I am more and more convinced as this campaign goes on that Steve Schmidt (Karl Rove's bullet-headed clone) is not all he was hyped up to be. And this of course means that Karl Rove was not all he was hyped up to be. A number of prominent conservatives have been calling for McCain to re-boot his campaign, change the focus, ask for a do-over. They keep telling us John McCain needs to go back to being John McCain. And not the erratic, negative, irrascible old man whom we've seen the last month.

Two things I would say in response to this:
1) Karl Rove is not and has never been the genius everyone hyped him up to be. He is a smart tactician and political thug, but his greatest good fortune is that he was in the right place at the right time -- post-Lewinsky politically-disengaged America. He was somehow lucky enough to be corrupt enough to be dismissed from the Bush administration before the shit really hit the fan and before he could be named to be McCain's acknowledged political advisor. Instead, it's his even-more thuggish and not-as-smart protege who is left with the egg in his face.
2) John McCain has always been a political opportunist. He has always done what he believes will get him to where he wants to go. And he will do it recklessly. Ask the Air Force. They're out five planes.