GOP knowlingly hires 'Quisling Consultants' like Schmidt and Murphy which is why they lose

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11/29/12, "The Quisling Consultants," Jeffrey Lord, American Spectator

"Steve Schmidt, Mike Murphy, and the political consultant-big government complex"

p. 4, "And Rush isn't the only one Schmidt disdains. He's famously not a fan of McCain's running mate, former Governor Palin. Or Donald Trump. It is no accident that both Palin and Trump have the same disdain for the political consultant-big government complex as well.

What's interesting here in light of the latest defeat of yet another moderate presidential candidate is that complaints are beginning to surface about the GOP consultant class, who, as Rush noted, get paid well no matter the results. With consultants escaping responsibility not only for losing campaigns but for the results of winning campaigns. Case in point: the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger -- whose first campaign was a Mike Murphy moment and whose re-election was Schmidt's "triumph." 

To borrow from Ronald Reagan, California was not left better off after the election of Murphy and Schmidt's client.

Peggy Noonan over at the Wall Street Journal recently spoke at length with an unnamed GOP senator who had this to say about the GOP's political consultant problem. While neither Murphy nor Schmidt were mentioned, they are in fact emblematic of the senator's point:

"As a former and likely future candidate, the senator is sensitive about the amount of blame going to unsatisfactory candidates. "There's something in that," but if you want to aim at a larger and more recurring problem, "this professional political and campaign class is the real culprit. They're just there to get a cut of the billions spent. Candidates come and go [to them]. 

That's why they love self-funders" -- wealthy candidates. 

"You don't even have to get 'em to the fundraisers! We have a real problem with this whole political campaign class. They just have to be purged."

Will they be? Probably not, the senator says. They'll diffuse responsibility. "They're all pointing fingers at some of the other people who deserve some of the blame." Anyway, "who do we have who would take their place?""

The senator told a story of a "solid" U.S. Senate hopeful in the 2012 GOP primaries. The candidate seemed "perfect for the state." He began to hire staff, including a strategist with the right experience and deep statewide knowledge. A rival national political operative with a grudge against the strategist immediately inundated the hopeful with "30 calls and emails" from potential backers telling him he'd kill his own chances with that strategist. The hopeful got scared off and hired someone else. His candidacy began to wobble, and the end result was the election of an unpopular incumbent."

Notice the anonymous senator's line? This one? "They'll diffuse responsibility."

That's exactly what Schmidt did. He wasn't responsible for losing the McCain campaign. It was Sarah Palin. It isn't people like himself who were responsible for the losing Romney campaign. It was Rush Limbaugh. Or Donald Trump.

In short? The Republican Party does in fact have an enormous problem on its hands.

It's people like Steve Schmidt, Mike Murphy and the "political consultant-big government complex" the two so effectively represent in their public appearances that is the problem.

They have long ago turned their backs on conservative principle and are aiding and abetting the behemoth that is literally bleeding America financially dry.

The real problem for the Republican Party isn't Rush Limbaugh and the "conservative entertainment complex." It isn't the Tea Party. It isn't you.

The real problem is the Quisling Consultants." via Free Republic


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