Sept. 22, 2008
Ex-Bush Aides Help Steer McCain's Campaign
Washington Post: A Lot Of Old Bush Hands Have Joined Republican Nominee In Recent Months
-
Photo
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, followed by adviser Steve Schmidt, gets off his campaign charter airplane in Pennsylvania earlier this year. (AP)
-
Photo Essay
John McCain
Some call him a hero, some a maverick. Will Americans call him Mr. President?
-
Timeline
McCain's Quest
Mileposts in the Arizona senator's race for the GOP nomination and the presidency.
From Our Partner:
When Gov. Sarah Palin flew home to Alaska for the first time since being named the Republican vice presidential nominee, she brought along at least half a dozen new advisers to conduct briefings, stage-manage her first television interview and help her prepare for a critical debate next month.
And virtually every member of the team shared a common credential: years of service to President Bush.
From Mark Wallace, a Bush appointee to the United Nations, to Tucker Eskew, who ran strategic communications for the Bush White House, to Greg Jenkins, who served as the deputy assistant to Bush in his first term and was executive director of the 2004 inauguration, Palin was surrounded on the trip home by operatives deeply rooted in the Bush administration.
The clutch of Bush veterans helping to coach Palin reflects a larger reality about Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign: Far from being a group of outsiders to the Republican Party power structure, it is now run largely by skilled operatives who learned their crafts in successive Bush campaigns and various jobs across the Bush government over the past eight years.
The team has been assembled and led by Steve Schmidt, a sharp-witted, low-key strategist who has emerged as the campaign's day-to-day operations chief after the ouster of a group of sometimes undisciplined McCain loyalists. Schmidt's operation is tightly run and hard-nosed -- made up of policy advisers, communications experts, advance people and lower-level aides, many of them old friends who have worked together for the last eight years, and whose presence lends a familiar vibe to the Palin operation.
Republicans have been heartened by the effectiveness of the new McCain organization, which has helped put McCain back in serious contention for the White House, causing restlessness among Democrats who believed the race was Sen. Barack Obama's to lose. Dana Perino, the White House spokeswoman, expressed pride at what her former colleagues have been able to accomplish.
"We had a great team -- they're the best in the business, and I'm sure the campaign feels fortunate to have them," Perino said.
Yet others, including some sympathetic Republicans, have begun to quietly question whether McCain and Palin are well served by strategists so firmly anchored in the Bush establishment when the candidates are presenting themselves as a "team of mavericks" and agents of change. One Republican with long-standing ties to the Bush administration described the situation as a paradox in which Palin is especially vulnerable.
"If the McCain campaign is trying to prop up Palin as its change agent, and its inoculation against the 'third Bush term' rap, then why on earth is she surrounded by a cast of Bush advisers?" said the Republican loyalist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Since she's been selected, every single one of the senior aides that she's brought on board had prominent roles in Bush's White House or on his campaigns, or both."
While Schmidt has imposed a degree of discipline on the campaign that did not exist during McCain's dark hours in the primary season -- and Palin seems to have taken to that structure -- other strategists with reputations for independent thinking who onc surrounded McCain have been sidelined. John Weaver, who used to serve as McCain's top political adviser, is among them. He said McCain's reliance on Bush vets is logical.
"If you're going to fill a campaign out with experienced people, the last two general elections were won by someone named Bush," Weaver said. "Where else would they have come from?"
The ranks of the McCain-Palin team are now full of those veterans. Nicolle Wallace, Mark Wallace's wife, was communications director at the White House and is now offering senior-level communications expertise to both McCain and Palin (and joined Palin on her Alaska trip). Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who served as chief economist for Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, is now McCain's domestic policy adviser (and accompanied Palin to Alaska as well). Bush confidant Mark McKinnon stopped formally advising McCain once Obama became the Democratic nominee -- but he, too, is continuing to advise the group and crafted Cindy McCain's convention speech. A former Bush speechwriter, Matthew Scully, wrote Palin's convention speech.
Some of those now working for McCain-Palin have overcome past political conflicts to join the team. Eskew was once reviled by McCain loyalists for his role running Bush's 2000 primary campaign in South Carolina; he not only joined Palin on her trip home to Alaska but also is serving as one of her closest aides. Stephen E. Biegun, a former member of Bush's National Security Council, was on the trip, too; he is helping give Palin foreign policy briefings.
Palin spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt worked on the Bush campaigns and, more recently, at the Republican National Committee. Two other Palin press officers, Maria Comella and Ben Porritt, worked on Bush's 2004 reelection campaign. W. Taylor Griffin, who worked on the 2004 campaign, is helping manage Palin's communications effort in Alaska. Another Bush advance pro, Chris Edwards, is helping to stage-manage Palin's appearances around the country.
It is not clear whether Palin will bring much of an outside apparatus with her at all, apart from an aide or two from Alaska. Comella did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
While a handful of McCain's longtime allies -- including his closest aide, Mark Salter, and two former lobbyists, Rick Davis and Charlie Black -- continue to hold senior posts in his campaign, many of his advisers from his first presidential bid now play tangential roles at best. In addition to Weaver, McCain's 2000 campaign manager, Michael Murphy, and press adviser Todd Harris are largely out of the McCain circle. The housecleaning, aides said, has been conducted largely by Schmidt, whose own Bush credentials run deep: He helped run the communications shop in the 2004 campaign and went on to work for Vice President Cheney and to shepherd the presidents controversial nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court. Schmidt then ran California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful reelection campaign before withdrawing from national politics -- until he joined the McCain campaign in December 2006.
The personnel shift has become a cause of distress for some Republicans, who had hoped for a new brand of Republicanism to take hold, fueled by players who had experience outside Washington. "It's insane to me that at the same time that it's running saying it's not going to be the Bush administration, this campaign looks like the Bush campaign on steroids," said one Republican strategist.
No parallel exists on the Democratic side -- where the last White House team dissolved with President Bill Clinton's departure in 2001. And in a Democratic Party that has long been divided between Clinton people and non-Clinton people -- with most of the old Clinton hands working on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid until three months ago -- Obama has wound up with an inner circle whose members have never worked in the West Wing.
Staff researcher Madonna Lebling contributed to this report.
By Anne E. Kornblut and Juliet Eilperin
© 2008 The Washington Post Company
|
|
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 82 CommentsWHo needs Florida!?
So the add is true McCain is taking the low road the same one that he despised when Bush did it to him.
Good luck good old boys you will need it this election. Your network will not fool us a second time.
She is required to take orders from her husband, not the American people.
That will be a mandate. Democrats will control congess too. New Us Spupreme Court Justices.
Happy Days are here again the skies are Blue, da, da, da, da.
Where''s my friend McVet? Jump in anytime old boy and let those republican pigs know there days are numbered.
No way around it!
"And virtually every member of the team shared a common credential: years of service to President Bush."
_____________
And we aren''t supposed to believe this is 4 more years GWB?
And we are supposed to believe that McCain/Palin will be different by excluding Wahsnigton insiders?
Posted by notmudrose at 02:54 PM : Sep 22, 2008
________________-
Not necessarily. Unless a Supreme Court justice retires or passesaway he/she is there for life.
This is what puts the repugnant in Republicans. It is insane that people are so easily duped into believing.
Repubs out!
Are you better off now than you were eight years ago?
Are you better off than you were eight years ago?
Just say no!
McSame and his Republican friends out=hope for America''s future.
Obama/Biden 2008!
Of course they have, Rats don''t like sinking ships.
Posted by Stormy0ne
Bush and friends told 935 lies which led us to Iraq!
Now they have crashed our economy with their econ. policy "deregulation" and they want us to vote for more of the McSame, no thank you.
Good judgment/truth?
Posted by notmudrose
Maybe they have found comfort in a fantacy world
like FoxNews.com
Are you better off now than you were eight years ago?
Posted by david1737
Hah! After what has happened on Wall Street, even some of America''s rich Bush supporters can''t answer Yes to that question.
"White people must save America.Elect McCain/Palin."
The person who wrote this is the kind of person who can be manipulated by politicians so that they can continue to make a profit off of keeping us devided.
White people and black people and red people and brown people and yellow people (did I miss any?) must come together and save America---and vote for Obama. And I cannot state that strongly enough. I do not know how much more abuse our planet and our country can withstand. I think we are at a point where we are in crisis and this nation and democracy is in danger. I think we can save them. But it will take all of us working together. We have to stop worrying about stupid issues like the color of skin---besides Obama is half white. Vote for a truly great man--Obama and a really good, competent man, Biden.
Posted by mr22581
One thing absolute about you mr--you''re an absolute hatefilled-bigoted-racist idiot!
Don''t forget--there IS such a thing as KARMA!
Posted by mr22581 at 03:51 PM : Sep 22, 2008
Actually it''s the white people in Washington who have put this Country in the shape it''s in---stupid!
Posted by mr22581 at 03:51 PM : Sep 22, 2008
HA HA HA!!!! Do you REALLY work for the OBAMA CAMPAIGN??? Keep it up the good work!!! You and your buddies are making the McCain Campaign look like a bunch of RACISTS!!!! Imagine how much being aligned with REPUBLICAN RACISTS will turn off some voters....
####
Well, that explains the looks on McCain''s face...
McCain CAMPAIGN MANAGER RICK DAVIS took MILLIONS from Failed Financial Companies to FIGHT REGULATION OF THE FINANCE INDUSTRY.
Senator John McCain%u2019s campaign manager, Rick Davis, was paid more than $30,000 a MONTH for five years (almost $2 MILLION) as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.
McCain has recently begun campaigning as a critic of the two companies and the lobbying army that helped them evade greater regulation Incensed by the advertisements, several current and former executives of the companies came forward to discuss the role that Rick Davis, Mr. McCain%u2019s campaign manager and longtime adviser, played in helping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac beat back regulatory challenges when he served as president of their advocacy group, the Homeownership Alliance, formed in the summer of 2000. Some who came forward were Democrats, but Republicans, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed their descriptions.
More of the same old Repug Neocon Bushit!
Enough!
####
Well, that explains the looks on McCain''''s face...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted by IOWEIGN
Yes, we all know what must be done to turn a bull into a steer!!
Going from Bush to Bush II--what a concept!!
I don''t think they''ve heard the Voters in America DON"T WANT more of the past 8 years.
They will continue the double talk of change moreover, their lack of subject matter on to low road politics.
Who really wants to risk 4 more years with these criminals?
You are an ignorant bigot, and I pray this country has gone above you, and your bigoted mind, and go in droves and votes Obama. The day I vote for a lying crooked imbecile with a another radical at his side Mc Same who has not said anything but attack and destroy the true message. I will not vote at all. I will vote for Obama and I am a white woman
Posted by Dibs977 at 04:02 PM : Sep 22, 2008
+ report abuse
Thank you for your post it gives me hope America will not tolerate these lies and fear games the republicans are so famous for. If the real Americans out there listen well we can fix it, but if they fall for Faux Nooz, and Mc Same, Karl Rove, Rick Davis, we will be worse off than we are now
McSame = Country CLUB First
McSame campagin must be afraid of America finding out about her.
Just more of the same ********* from the Repugs.
McSame=Bu$h
Same lies, same Special Interests. Nothing would change. Our standing in the world stays in the toilet etc.
Vote Obama/Biden!
Now, we have an astronomical deficit.
If a CEO of a company ruined his company like that, he would be fired in a blink of an eye.
We must fire the GOP and all their cronies and those who masquerade around saying he is "different" from current president.
In fact, she sounds so much like Bush, I had just assumed she had Bush aides, lobbyist, campaign workers, or henchmen working for her!
I mean, it makes sense doesn''t it?! McSame is 90 to 95% Bush in terms of agreeing with him on policy, so
it''s only appropriate that Bush would want to ''help out''!
This only serves to make it OFFICIAL! That is, the McCain campaign IS heavily spear-headed by George Bush! Instead of doing it in the shadows, he''s out in the light now!
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 82 Comments