Phony "Maverick" McCain Can't Even Run His Own Presidential Campaign

He doesn't make the big decisions, Steve Schmidt does. And this is why McCain is no longer the man he used to be -- he has put winning the election as his only priority, and sold himself out to a fairly evil man to try to do it:

Retained in a summer shake-up intended to right McCain's faltering campaign, Schmidt, 38, quickly put his stamp on the operation, aggressively attacking Democratic nominee Barack Obama, often with biting ridicule, and vying to dominate every day's news cycle.

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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.

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Under Schmidt, the campaign is a tightly run operation. Previously, McCain allowed reporters almost unfettered access. Under Schmidt, the candidate went 40 days without a news conference.

Schmidt's hard-nosed determination to control the slightest detail is irksome to some members of McCain's staff. One senior aide referred to Schmidt as "message Nazi."

Americans are tired of puppet leaders like John McCain who are controlled by "message Nazis". And that's why McCain is going to lose.