Schmidt and Palin sitting in a tree...

I think it has been obvious for some time that John McCain did not pick sarah palin to be his running mate. That choice was made for him. We now have confirmation of this,

The effort peaked with the choice of Palin as McCain's running mate. Convinced that McCain needed a dramatic gesture to make the race competitive, Schmidt pressed McCain to pluck the Alaska governor from obscurity.

Other than the candidates, no one in the operation has more riding on that decision than Schmidt. And no one has worked harder to turn the decision into a success.

He defended Palin against what he called sexist attacks, and traveled to Alaska to brief her before her first TV interviews. For three days, he was ensconced at McCain's spread in Sedona, Ariz., helping Palin prepare for her performance on the biggest night of her career: the debate against Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden.

really it was obvious. Schmidt is a guy who demands absolute message discipline. he is a control freak which is why he cant allow mccain or palin of the very short leash. no unscripted time. Palin was selected to perform in the play Schmidt is directing. However his absolute message discipline makes for some interesting shifts when the campaign has to change course. they drill home one message with 100% effort then turn around the next day and drill in a different message leaving people to wonder, wtf?

McCain has been running battle to battle without consideration for his overall strategic position. It happens when one side becomes over matched they cannot stop and think about the long term because then everything would fall apart. McCain has been trying to hang on news cycle to news cycle putting up enough smoke and mirrors for people to think everything was stable enough to put a republican in charge. The financial crisis blew this apart.

McCain is now in a situation where he is fading and he is lashing out desperate to find something to slow the building narrative of an obama win. What he really needs is an outside intervention, some type of foriegn policy event where he can take a lead. Something that will get the economy off the front pages for a day or two giving him time to catch his breath. it aint gonna happen.