This weekend the film "Game Change" aired on HBO. In case you've missed some of the segments on our show or haven't read any reviews, the movie is based on a book by our friends, reporters John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, about the 2008 presidential election.
The film, in large part, focuses on the McCain campaign and the decision to bring on Sarah Palin.
This morning, former McCain campaign strategist and MSNBC regular, Steve Schmidt, joined us to share his thoughts on both the film and Palin.
There's a fairly-well documented history of not-so-good vibes between Palin and Schmidt. Palin took Schmidt to task in her book "Going Rogue," and since then Schmidt has fired back his own criticisms.
Today was no exception.
"It was very accurate," Schmidt told us this morning about the "Game Change" film. "I think for all of us who were in the campaign, it really rang true. It gave you a little bit of PTSD at times."
Asked if Palin brought any positives to the campaign, Schmidt says: "Politically she was a net positive to the campaign…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…"
"This will sound strange though to people who are watching because you’re the guy who picked her," Willie Geist said in response to Schmidt's comment.
"I was part of a team that settled on the result. I didn’t wake up one day and say ‘Let’s pick her,'" Schimdt said in response.
Schmidt also went on to say the thought of Sarah Palin has president is something that "frightens" him and that both the Democrats and Republicans are to blame for considering flawed candidates.
"I think the notion of Sarah Palin being POTUS is something that frightens me, frankly," he said. "And I played a part in that. And I played a part in that because we were fueled by an ambition to win…There are important lessons to learn. The reality is is that both parties have nominated people in the last decade who were not prepared to be anywhere near the Oval Office: John Edwards in the Democratic party, Sarah Palin in the Republican party. And we ought to take a pause and understand how that happened, why it happened, and hopefully it will never happen again in our lifetimes."
NBC News' Andrea Mitchell also asked Schmidt if she believed Palin has a future as a national leader in the GOP.
"I hope not," Schmidt said. "And the reason I say that is because if you look at over the last four years, all of the deficiencies in knowledge, all of the deficiencies in preparedness she’s done not one thing to rectify them or correct them. She has become a person who I think is filled with grievance, filled with anger, and who has a divisive message for the national stage when we need leaders in both parties to have a unifying message."
