Opinion: McCain advisor Schmidt has two-word response to Murphy, Noonan criticism

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

We assume you’re on the edge of your seats wondering what the John McCain camp thinks about the disparaging remarks aimed at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin by former Republican aides Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy.

As The Ticket reported earlier today, Noonan, the former speechwriter for President Reagan, says the McCain campaign is “over.” Murphy, the former McCain strategist and the man who steered Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2003 gubernatorial campaign, said the pick reflects “cynicism” on McCain’s part.

You might think the disparaging comments, recorded in an MSNBC session when Murphy and Noonan thought they were not being recorded, might sting, coming as they did from GOP insiders and now being widely circulated on the Internet, including some obscenities added by the two Republicans.

Perhaps they did sting. But you’d never know it from Steve Schmidt, the man overseeing day-to-day operations of McCain’s campaign and the man Schwarzenegger chose to run his 2006 reelection.

“Who cares?” Schmidt said in an e-mail.

-- Dan Morain