Former Republican strategist and MSNBC contributor Steve Schmidt said Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) was "just awful" and had a "spectacularly bad" night at the Democratic presidential debate Wednesday night moderated by MSNBC. Later, when Gabbard was interviewed by MSNBC host Chris Matthews, Schmidt, a former adviser to Sen. John McCain in 2008, chimed in that her positions are "extreme." <blockquote>STEVE SCHMIDT, FMR. REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I thought that Mayor Pete had an exceptional night. He really demonstrated tonight in a performance that was pretty flawless yes has risen into the top tier of candidates. All of the candidates had good moments with the exception of one, and I think that the vice president had probably his strongest debate performance and when you look at the race and you look at the things presidential candidates have to do whether it's one on one on the stump, whether it's giving speeches, that for Joe Biden his weakest venue, his away game is the debate stage. He doesn't have to win the debates; he has to survive. And he did well enough tonight to not just survive but I think to advance his cause on a number of different fronts. And I think he got better as the debate went on. I think that Tulsi Gabbard was just awful. Spectacularly bad. In fact, in a week between Prince Andrew, Jim Jordan, and Devin Nunes she made a legitimate run for the medal podium. And just dishonest, at a pretty large level. But I think all the candidates have reason to feel good coming out of this tonight. </blockquote> More Schmidt: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Hi-TAiq9Zsc" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>