A Growing Rift
From Second Feud: The Bobby Kennedy and LBJ of the 21st Century by Dan Balz
Steve Schmidt and Sarah Palin were not friends and it was their feud that defined the 2010's. Schmidt was an influential adviser to McCain. Never elected, never holding constitutional influence. Palin was the opposite. She was the Vice President. She'd been elected, the constitution gave her powers, but she had little say on the day-to-day operations of McCain's Administration. It was a fight that began with the 2008 Presidential Election when Schmidt, who originally suggested Palin, grew to feel a great sense of regret in the aftermath of the announcement. Schmidt moved in to the McCain White House when John McCain won that election and Palin took up shop as the Vice President.
Schmidt and Palin were brutal to each other, nasty to each other. Their genuine hatred tore the McCain White House apart and forced Senior Staffers and, in some cases cabinet members, to take sides. The feud worked its way up to the Oval Office where John McCain was pressured into an uncomfortable position. Here's where things get murky. Some documents and reports suggest that McCain was on Schmidt's side while some say he was on Palin's. McCain was not all too pleased with Palin's performance but truly felt she needed to be kept in the loop in case something happened to him. He felt obligated to make sure she was kept up-to-date and that she knew what was going on. By the spring of 2009 the Auto Industry was crumbling and it was clear it would require Presidential action. Schmidt fought vigorously to keep Palin out of talks while McCain felt firmly that she needed to be involved.
With Speaker Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid fighting to move McCain to the left, Palin was fighting to move him farther right. In reality, the McCain White House was a clusterfuck of confusion and inaction. It was incredibly difficult to release so much as a memo because they couldn't get anything done without the Vice President's office releasing its own opinion and inner-office tensions were tearing the White House apart and there was only one place left to draw the lines: The Oval Office.
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Balz wrote that "the constitution gave her powers" about when Palin was Vice President. But it gave her NO administrative powers. The Vice President's constitutional powers are only to preside over the Senate. Of course we all know that the VP becomes President if the President dies or is incapacitated (we know that too well) but that's only a potential power when the VP ceases to be the VP.
As VP the only administrative responsibilities of the VP are those delegated to the VP from the President, the same as any Senior Advisor.
Palin was an over reaching, stupid, ego maniac. Some of us new it from the start and when she went on Meet the Press we knew the disaster she was.
(From the comments section of the Huffington Post article that was the above excerpt)
LOL, how is that?
Jack Kennedy shot, LBJ becomes President.
John McCain dies......
oh, lol it was more of a reference to the feud between LBJ and Bobby