Schmidt Agonistes – Game Change – Book Review and Blog Backwash
By mw | Related entries in Barack, Edwards, McCain, Media, PalinHeilemann and Halperin make extensive use of anonymous sources to bolster their claim of an ultimate insider perspective with unique insights into the historic 2008 campaign. It is clear that the book was anonymously sourced primarily by the operatives, campaign staff, aides, and professional politicos who managed the major campaigns. While not all emerged unscathed, to the extent that any sympathetic characters are to be found in Game Change – it is these campaign operatives. Whether they deserve that treatment is another matter. To a large extent, the authors reported their stories, through their eyes, and unsurprisingly, they told stories that made themselves look good. In the process, most of the politicians, candidates, their spouses, and competing campaign staff are made to look bad. Nowhere is this more obvious or true than in the four chapters distilled into the movie. It is clear from the promotion and early reviews of Game Change The Movie that Steve Schmidt (played by Woody Harrelson) is the primary source for the four chapters of the book that the movie is based on
